The territories of Appling, Irwin, and Early counties were land newly ceded in 1814 and 1818.

[6] Irwin County had 372 white residents and 39 slaves in 1820, when the census covered a large portion of central south Georgia.

During the American Civil War, like the United States in general, Irwin County was also ideologically divided.

The county also provided several regiments to the Confederate Army including: In May 1863, several companies of Duncan Lamont Clinch Jr's Fourth Georgia Cavalry were charged with searching Irwin County for deserters.

They spent a month searching the county, but were only able to find twenty-two deserters on May 22, the day they arrived.

He was a miller and operated a steam-powered mill on what was then Bones Pond and presently Crystal Lake.

A lieutenant of the local militia protested the action, but was knocked down with a musket by Bone.

[8][9] Willis Jackson Bone was hanged near his pond in late April 1865 after he killed a local justice of the peace named Jack Walker while Bone was bringing food to an escaped slave named Toney.

[10] A few months later, Irwinville became the site of the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Davis tried to escape towards the creek wearing an overcoat and his wife had tied her scarf around his shoulders, but members of the First Wisconsin and Fourth Michigan Cavalry Regiments captured him.