He served as a congressman in the Republic of Texas, and was also the father of Confederate brigadier general William Polk Hardeman.

[1] Settlers began arriving in the area that is now Hardeman County in 1819, following a treaty with the Chickasaw allowing settlement in West Tennessee signed on October 19, 1818.

[5] Among these earliest settlers were the county's namesame Thomas Hardeman and Ezekiel Polk, the paternal grandfather of president James K.

[6] Thereafter, further settlers arrived from Middle Tennessee, Alabama, North and South Carolina, and Virginia.

The town's location along the river led to recurrent flooding, and ultimately the decision was made to relocate the settlement approximately one mile south to what is now Bolivar.

The largest of these was the Battle of Hatchie's Bridge which took place on October 5, 1862 and resulted in 900 total casualties.

[5][6] The town of Grand Junction was the site of the first contraband camp, organized by John Eaton to shelter and employ enslaved individuals captured by the Union.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 25,462 people, 8,891 households, and 5,816 families residing in the county.