In April 1927 , as water levels on the Mississippi River began to rise due to heavy rains , an unknown number of Negro prisoners were brought in chains to Mound Landing by the National Guard to fill sandbags at gunpoint in an effort to reinforce the levee . On April 21 , the levee at Mound Landing broke , killing at least 100 prisoners and carrying their bodies several miles from the settlement . The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was one of the most damaging floods in the United States , inundating of land in the Mississippi Delta , taking 246 lives , and displacing 700,000 people . A historic marker describing when " the Mississippi River broke the levee at Mound Landing " is located on Mississippi Highway 1 , about east of the former settlement
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
Mound Landing, Mississippi