Created on February 7, 1818, by the Alabama Territorial Legislature from lands ceded by the Choctaw Indian Nation, the county was named for Marengo, Italy, where Napoleon won a victory over the Austrians in 1800. After Napoleon's defeat, some of his exiled officials came here in 1817 in a vain attempt to establish the Vine & Olive Colony. The county seat, Linden, was surveyed in 1824 and named for Hohenlinden, Bavaria, where the French won another victory over the Austrians.