Friendship Cemetery
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Friendship Cemetery
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| File:Friendship Cemetery 281-001.JPG | |
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View within Friendship Cemetery
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| Location | 1300 4th Street South, Columbus, Mississippi |
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| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Area | 70 acres |
| Built | 1849 |
| NRHP Reference # | 80002287 |
| USMS # | 087-CBS-1601-NR-ML |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 23, 1980[2] |
| Designated USMS | December 14, 1989[1] |
Friendship Cemetery is a cemetery located in Columbus, Mississippi. In 1849, the cemetery was established on 5 acres by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.[3] The original layout consisted of three interlocking circles, signifying the Odd Fellows emblem.[4] By 1957, Friendship Cemetery had increased in size to 35 acres, and was acquired by the City of Columbus. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and was designated 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]
Memorial Day connection
During the American Civil War, Columbus served as a military hospital center for the wounded, particularly after the Battle of Shiloh.[6] More than 2,000 Confederate soldiers were interred in Friendship Cemetery,[7] along with 40 to 150 Union soldiers.[8]:127
On April 25, 1866, the graves of these fallen soldiers, both Confederate and Union, were decorated with flowers by a large group of ladies from Columbus. The women's tribute – treating the soldiers as equals – inspired poet Francis Miles Finch to write the poem, The Blue and the Gray, which was published in an 1867 edition of The Atlantic Monthly.[7][9] 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.[10]<templatestyles src="Stack/styles.css"/>
The cemetery contains two Confederate monuments:[3]
- An obelisk erected in 1873
- A statue of an "unknown Confederate soldier" erected in 1894
Notable interments
- William Edwin Baldwin (1827 – 1864), Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War.[7]
- William Cocke (1748 – 1828), U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1796 – 1797, 1799 – 1805).[7]
- Jeptha Vining Harris (1816 – 1899), Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War.[7]
- James Thomas Harrison (1811 – 1879), member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States (1861 – 1862).[7]
- Clyde S. Kilby (1902 – 1986), noted American author and English professor.[7]
- Stephen Dill Lee (1833 – 1908), Confederate lieutenant general during the American Civil War.[7]
- Jehu Amaziah Orr (1828 – 1921), member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States and the Second Confederate Congress.[7]
- Jacob H. Sharp (1833 – 1907), Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War.[7]
- Jesse Speight (1795– 1847), U.S. Senator from Mississippi (1845 to 1847).[7]
- Henry Lewis Whitfield (1868 – 1927), Governor of Mississippi (1924 – 1927).[7]
- James Whitfield (1791 – 1875), Governor of Mississippi (1851 to 1852).[7]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ National Park Service, Digital Asset Management System (Friendship Cemetery) Retrieved 2018-01-02
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. With 9 photos from 1980.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
