The years following the Civil War were a time of rapid growth in Meridian. Our city school system was no exception. Numerous schools were built in Meridian and Lauderdale County, and construction of the city’s first high school, Whitfield, began on this site in 1886.

During the war this was the location of a Confederate hospital. In the early morning hours of February 15, 1864, the patients being treated here were evacuated in the bitter cold and rain. The hospital, along with all other buildings used by the Confederate government, was burned to the ground by Union General William T. Sherman’s forces.

The location of the hospital had been all but forgotten when construction of Whitfield began. While preparing the foundation, crews uncovered remains of the soldiers who died at the hospital and were buried beside it. What a sad reminder of the widespread devastation in Meridian – 100 fallen soldiers lay here and no one knew. To properly honor those lost Confederates, their remains were exhumed and transported by wagon to Rose Hill Cemetery, where a burial mound and monuments were erected.