It was located in the Black Belt of Georgia, where slaves outnumbered whites and did the work to support cultivation of cotton as a commodity crop.

Epidemics of malaria and smallpox caused high fatalities in the early 1860s; the remaining residents in Oglethorpe fled south to Americus to escape more disease.

[8] It sits on high ground west of the Flint River, which forms the boundary between Oglethorpe and the larger city of Montezuma.

State Route 128 leaves Oglethorpe to the north with SR 90 but leads 19 miles (31 km) to Reynolds.

[10] As of the 2020 United States census, there were 995 people, 561 households, and 351 families residing in the city.