Friendship Cemetery

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]

• William Edwin Baldwin (1827 – 1864), Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War.[7]
• William Barksdale (1821 – 1863), Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War. Cenotaph only, Barksdale's remains were interred in Greenwood Cemetery (Jackson, Mississippi).[11]
• William S. Barry (1821 – 1868), member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States (1861 – 1862).[3]
• William Cocke (1748 – 1828), U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1796 – 1797, 1799 – 1805).[7]
• Cornell Franklin (1892 – 1959), judge who served as chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council (1937 – 1940).
• 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]
• Joshua Lawrence Meador (1911 – 1965), Disney animator.[12]
• 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 Edward Warden (1915 – 2007), Career officer in the US Air Force; father of the B-52.[13]
• Henry Lewis Whitfield (1868 – 1927), Governor of Mississippi (1924 – 1927).[7]
• James Whitfield (1791 – 1875), Governor of Mississippi (1851 to 1852).[7]