Weakley County was created in October 1823 from some of the lands that the Chickasaw ceded to the United States in the Treaty of 1818. The county was named after Colonel Robert Weakley, a member of the House of Representatives, a speaker of the State Senate, and the man commissioned to treat with the Chickasaw. The county has a total area of 582 square miles with a population count of 33,415 residents.