Mitchell County, home to Beloit, Cawker City, Hunter, Glen Elder, Simpson (part), Scottsville and Tipton, was named for
 Captain William D. Mitchell, a Kansas Civil War soldier in the Second Kansas Cavalry who was promoted to officer rank in
 the Second Kentucky Cavalry and was killed in 1865. Joseph Decker; John Rees; Amos A. Bell; Timothy Hersey; George
 Campbell; Alexander Campbell; Charles H. Morrill; Edward Valentine; William C. Ingram; and Daniel Kepler organized the
 county on October 4, 1870.

 In August 1868 through 1870 Indian raids intimidated settlers resulting in the killing of some and the capture of two white
 girls. The girls were later returned. A stockade was constructed near Cawker City to aid in the protection against the Indians.
 The arrival of the first railroads in the Beloit area, beginning with the central branch of the Missouri Pacific in 1879 aided in
 bringing additional settlers to the area.