Although Meridian sent many of its men away to war, the area itself saw very little fighting during the Civil War. Believing General William T. Sherman’s true target was Mobile, Alabama, Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk evacuated his Confederate troops ahead of Sherman’s advance into Meridian. Very few Confederates were left behind to face the Yankees. One notable exception to the lack of fighting occurred here at Missouri Ridge, now known as Highland Park.

Missouri was a border state, producing soldiers who fought for both the Union and the Confederacy. A group of Missourians fighting on the Union side made their encampment here on this ridge. There are accounts of lively skirmishes between the soldiers from Missouri, under the command of Colonel Edward F. Winslow, and Confederates, led by Brigadier General Samuel W. Ferguson.

Confederate veterans held annual mock battles here to commemorate these skirmishes for many years after the Civil War, until around the turn of the century, when city expansion made that no longer possible. Locals reported finding Civil War buttons and minié balls in and around this area several decades after the end of the war.