January 1802: Pickering County renamed Jefferson County by Legislature to snub Federalist secretary of state Timothy Pickering
February 1802: General Assembly moves territorial capital from Federalist-dominated Natchez to Washington, six miles east
Plan of the Town of Washington
April 1802: Georgia relinquishes claim to lands in Mississippi for $1,250,000 from federal government
July 1802: Andrew Marschalk begins publication of Mississippi Herald
Andrew Marschalk
Marschalk printed the state’s first publication, a ballad entitled “The Galley Slave” in 1798, and the first laws of the Mississippi Territory. After his success with the Herald, Marschalk founded several other newspapers and was appointed the state’s public printer.