[7] Camilla and Mitchell County were originally Creek country, surrendered to the United States in the 1814 Treaty of Fort Jackson.

Citizens hesitated to improve land, according to an early twentieth-century history the region "which God Almighty had left in an unfinished condition.

[11] The local sheriff and "citizens committee" in the majority-white town warned the black and white activists of the impending violence and demanded that they forfeit their guns, even though carrying weapons was customary at the time.

[11] The marchers refused to give up their guns and continued to the courthouse square, where a group of local whites, quickly deputized by the sheriff, fired upon them.

This assault forced the Republicans and freedmen to retreat as locals gave chase into the swamps, killing an estimated nine to fifteen of the black rally participants while wounding forty others.

"[11] The Camilla massacre was the culmination of smaller acts of violence committed by white inhabitants that had plagued southwest Georgia since the end of the Civil War.[8](pp.

1–2) On July 23, 1962, a group of civil rights activists tried to visit fellow demonstrators from Albany, Georgia, who had been jailed in Camilla.

Its southerly latitude in Georgia causes a greater tropical influence resulting in very mild winters in comparison with Atlanta for example.

District schools include:[citation needed] Andersonville Theological Seminary has its headquarters based in Camilla.