The history of education in Delta County began in 1847, when a group of pioneers from Shiloh, Tennessee constructed a combined church, school, and community center on the bank of the South Sulphur River. The building was known simply as the Shiloh School. In 1859, the second school in the area was founded, when inhabitants of Giles founded Giles Academy, which was run by Thomas Hockaday and was respected by the region. Although citizens of the Delta County area were divided between secession and Sam Houston's unionist views, the region generally escaped any Civil War conflict. The only major event was the court-marshal and hanging of three underground Union soldiers. Having effectively avoided the war, the area had little rebuilding to do after the end of conflict. However, during the period when the rest of the country was going through reconstruction, the Delta County area focused on expanding its education. Before and during the war, there were just nine schools in what would become the county. By 1880, this number had increased to around thirty, and served 998 students during four-and-a-half months of the year. One of the new schools was the Horton School, built around 1867, which served as the community center of the flourishing small community of Horton. The majority of the new schools were ones serving individual small communities. Sylvia Wood and Judy Falls wrote that "Even the early rural communities had some type of schools".