Toombs County was designated in 1905 from portions of Tattnall, Montgomery and Emanuel counties. It is named for General Robert Toombs who had served in both houses of Congress and was likely the most prominent spokesman for secession. He was secretary of state of the Confederacy, a brigadier general and, by his own insistence, "an unpardoned Rebel" in that he had refused amnesty at the end of the war. Lyons, the county seat, was built around a railroad depot on a line connecting Macon and Savannah.