Thomas Hough founded Augusta in 1848 and named it after his favorite cousin, Miss Augusta Cald, of Virginia. For generations the place was known as Chickasaw Crossing. The first settlers came in 1820, and it was incorporated in 1861. During the Civil War, Augusta was almost entirely destroyed by Federal troops. It was a major White River steamboat port, and its one mile railroad, which operated from 1887 to 1958 and was once the shortest in the world, connected Augusta to the main line.