[2] The land that would become Newton County was purchased from the Choctaw under the terms of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.

[4][5] The Battle of Newton's Station was fought in the county on April 24, 1863, during Grierson's Raid of the American Civil War.

Sherman stopped during the return trip from Meridian and slept at Boler's Inn in the town of Union.

[7] On October 8, 1908, a Black sharecropper named Shep Jones had a dispute with his white employer regarding his work schedule.

In response, a white mob terrorized the local Black community, destroying property, burning a church and meeting lodge near Gardlandville, and threatening families.

Unable to locate Jones, the mob targeted and lynched his father-in-law, William Fielder, on October 9.

The following day, the mob lynched two other Black men, Dee Dawkins and Frank Johnson, who were associated with Jones.