Randolph is a rural unincorporated community in Tipton County, Tennessee, United States, located on the banks of the Mississippi River.

The fortunes of the community began to decline in the late 1840s due to failed railroad development, an unfavorable mail route and other factors.

The settlement is located on the second Chickasaw Bluff, the landscape is dominated by valleys carved into the soil as a product of erosion.

The surface soil is composed mostly of silt loam, derived from eroded loess, and is found in different qualities and at different stages of erosion.

Randolph is situated on the southeastern edge of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, an area with a high earthquake risk.

The park is intended to promote the Civil War history of the community and make the unique views of the Mississippi River available to a wider public.

[5] In the early 19th century, the terrain of the Chickasaw Bluffs provided promising locations for a harbor on the Mississippi River for Randolph.

[6] Early in the 1820s, investors John T. Brown and Robert Bedford were the owners of the land that would form Randolph a few years later.

Only 40–50 miles (60–80 km) north of Memphis by water, they described the area as "a good landing for Mississippi River flatboats".

The fort was Tennessee's first military training camp in which soldiers could gain experience in the construction of fortifications and the setup of artillery batteries.

[24] In a dispatch published by the New York Times in March 1862, Fort Randolph is described as a "rough and incomplete earthwork (...), more than 100 feet above the river".

In 1862, Union Army Major General William T. Sherman (1820–91) and his troops assumed control of Memphis and the surrounding areas.

To his superior officer, General Ulysses S. Grant, Sherman reported that he had "given public notice that a repetition [of guerrilla attacks] will justify any measures of retaliation".

About 15% of the surface soil consists of "Adler silt loam" with a slope of 0–1%, found in the frequently flooded plains at Randolph.

The remaining surface soil is composed of other silts, sands or clays, including "Robinsonville fine sandy loam" (ca.

[31] Eroded loess consists of extremely fine, sandy particles and forms silt in environments that provide sufficient moisture of the soil, usually caused by occasional flooding or precipitation.

The settlement of Randolph is situated on top of the second Chickasaw Bluff, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River in Tipton County.

The four Chickasaw Bluffs are high grounds above the Mississippi River flood plains, composed of eroded pre-historic loess over glacial gravel.

[32] The Chickasaw Bluffs west of the community, on the banks of the Mississippi River, and flat cotton-fields east of Randolph dominate the rural landscape surrounding the settlement.

[23] Ravines and gorges are valleys or canyons carved from the landscape as a product of erosion, caused by a stream or river or by seasonal precipitation, funneling water towards less elevated locations of the drainage basin.

The landscape cut into the soil of the Mississippi River bluffs by water erosion for centuries is still present in modern times.

[33] As of 2010, the remaining fragment of Old Randolph Road is destroyed, the land on which the historic mail route was located is used as an industrial property.

In the 1820s, the Hatchie River at Randolph was accessible to steamboats for 60 miles (100 km) upriver to Bolivar in Hardeman County.

[7] The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the federal agency responsible for navigable waters and flood protection, among many other peacetime and wartime tasks.

[38] From 2005 to 2007, the USACE spent $9,773,662 to ensure the navigation of the Mississippi River at Randolph for boats and barges and to provide flood protection for the immediately surrounding areas of the town.

[39] Maintenance related projects include dredging of the navigable channel of the Mississippi River at Randolph to remove sedimented sand and mud.

[40] Tasks related to conservation include dike construction to protect low-lying areas at Randolph from flooding and subsequent erosion.

2, issued by the USACE in 2006, describes a stone dike construction at Randolph with an approximate elevation of 25 feet (7.6 m) at river mile 770L.

[37] Located on the southeastern edge of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, the settlement of Randolph is situated in an area with a high earthquake risk.

[49] The location of the epicenter was near the first Chickasaw Bluff, about 2 miles (3 km) east of Fort Pillow State Park and ca.