Friendship Cemetery
Friendship Cemetery | |
 View within Friendship Cemetery | |
   | |
| Location | 1300 4th Street South, Columbus, Mississippi |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°28′51″N 88°25′50″W / 33.48083°N 88.43056°W |
| Area | 70 acres |
| Built | 1849 |
| NRHP reference No. | 80002287 |
| USMS No. | 087-CBS-1601-NR-ML |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 23, 1980[2] |
| Designated USMS | December 14, 1989[1] |
Friendship Cemetery is a
Mississippi Landmark in 1989. As of 2015, the cemetery contained some 22,000 graves within an area of 70 acres and was still in use.[5] The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science hosts a public event every April at night in the cemetery. Students complete a research project on someone buried at the school, before dressing up and doing a performance as the person they researched.[6]
Memorial Day connection
During the American Civil War, Columbus served as a military hospital center for the wounded, particularly after the Battle of Shiloh.[7] More than 2,000 Confederate soldiers were interred in Friendship Cemetery,[8] along with 40 to 150 Union soldiers.[9]: 127
In 1866, four women, who became known as the
The Atlantic Monthly.[8][11] In 1867, the remains of all Union soldiers were exhumed and reinterred in Corinth National Cemetery.[3] Over time, these grave decoration days – honoring those who died in military service – eventually morphed into Memorial Day.[12]
Monuments
The cemetery contains two Confederate monuments:[3]
-
Monument to Confederate dead (1873) -
Monument to an unknown Confederate soldier (1894)
Notable interments
- William Edwin Baldwin (1827–1864), Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War.[8]
- William Barksdale (1821–1863), Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War. Cenotaph only, Barksdale's remains were interred in Greenwood Cemetery (Jackson, Mississippi).[13]
- William S. Barry (1821–1868), member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States (1861–62).[3]
- William Cocke (1748–1828), U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1796–97, 1799–1805).[8]
- Shanghai Municipal Council(1937–40).
- Jeptha Vining Harris (1816–1899), Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War.[8]
- James Thomas Harrison (1811–1879), member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States (1861–62).[8]
- Clyde S. Kilby (1902–1986), noted American author and English professor.[8]
- Stephen Dill Lee (1833–1908), Confederate lieutenant general during the American Civil War.[8]
- Joshua Lawrence Meador (1911–1965), Disney animator.[14]
- Second Confederate Congress.[8]
- Jacob H. Sharp (1833–1907), Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War.[8]
- Jesse Speight (1795–1847), U.S. Senator from Mississippi (1845–47).[8]
- Henry Edward Warden (1915–2007), Career officer in the US Air Force; father of the B-52.[15]
- Henry Lewis Whitfield (1868–1927), Governor of Mississippi (1924–27).[8]
- James Whitfield (1791–1875), Governor of Mississippi (1851–52).[8]
References
- ^ "Mississippi Landmarks (Lowndes County)". Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
- ^ National Park Service, Digital Asset Management System (Friendship Cemetery) Retrieved 2018-01-02
- ^ a b c d "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Friendship Cemetery". National Park Service. April 28, 1980. Retrieved 2018-01-01. With 9 photos from 1980.
- ^ "Welcome to IOOF". www.ioof.org. Advanced Solutions International. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
- ^ "Historic Friendship Cemetery is still open for business". The Commercial Dispatch. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
- ^ McCollum, Anna. "Columbus students tell 'Tales from the Crypt'". Mississippi Today. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
- ^ "Lowndes County, Mississippi History". lowndes.msghn.org. Archived from the original on 2018-01-21. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
- ^ ISBN 9781439657591.
- ^ Lipscomb, William Lowndes (1909). A History of Columbus, Mississippi, During the 19th Century. Press of Dispatch printing Company.
- ^ "Image 191 of A history of Columbus, Mississippi, during the 19th century,". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
- ^ Fallows, James. "A Famous Civil War Poem Comes to Life in Contemporary Mississippi". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
- ^ "Memorial Day". www.usmemorialday.org. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
- ^ William Barksdale biography Archived 2013-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, Sons of Confederate Veterans.
- ^ Wilson, Sarah (October 18, 2009). "Son of Disney animator speaks on father's legacy". Dispatch. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
- ^ Swopes, Bryan (2018-12-08). "8 December 1945". This Day in Aviation. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
External links
Media related to Friendship Cemetery (Columbus, Mississippi) at Wikimedia Commons