The first American settlement in the area now known as Scott County was Clark's Ferry or Clark's Landing (now Buffalo) in 1833. Other early towns included Davenport (now the county seat and largest city) and the town of Rockingham (which ceased to exist in 1847). The area was fully surveyed in 1837, and the county was established by the Wisconsin territorial legislature in that same year. Scott County is named for General Winfield Scott, who was the presiding officer at the signing of the peace treaty ending the Black Hawk War.