MERIDIAN —     In the sweltering Mississippi heat, a group of more than 100 from Texas, Mississippi and Alabama gathered Sunday afternoon to see the unveiling of a new monument in Rose Hill Cemetery.

    The monument serves to honor the memory of five Confederate veterans buried in the cemetery, all of whom are from Texas.

    Women wearing their Sunday's finest and elegant hats dotted the audience, as did many umbrellas. These women comprise the Texas division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

    "The men did not have a marker of any kind and their names were just merely on a sign," said Shirley Woodlock, president of the UDC Texas division. "When I found out there was no marker, then my chapter raised the money by selling (pins)."

    The chapter raised $1,500 by selling the pins, then purchased the monument for the mound.

    Woodlock has been a member of the UDC since 1996, explaining she joined the group because it's "part of my heritage, and I love it." She learned about the group of 148 Confederate soldiers buried in Rose Hill Cemetery while researching a military service award for a man who is also the descendant of a Confederate veteran.

    That man is Gary Rozzell of Mineral Wells, Texas. As it turned out, his great-great-great-grandfather, Archibald Skinner, is one of the soldiers buried in the cemetery.

    "Personally I think it's pretty neat," said Rozzell, who has been a historical re-enactor for more than 20 years. "We remember them on the battlefield when we're doing living history, but it's really nice to know people do remember them in genuine, loving memory of them."

    The Ala-sippi Rifles (comprising re-enactors from Alabama and Mississippi), donned Confederate soldier fatigues and assumed the role of color guard and gave a rifle salute for the ceremony.

    Ward 3 Meridian City Councilwoman Barbara Henson served as acting mayor while Mayor Cheri Barry was in Washington, D.C., and other city officials were out of town. Henson announced that June 27 would be remembered as United Daughters of the Confederacy Day in Meridian for years to come.

    "It's an important part of our history with most of our ancestors," Henson said.

    Several groups besides the UDC attended the event, including Sons of Confederate Veterans, Descendants of Confederate Veterans, the Meridian-based Major Constantine Rea Historical Society and others.

    "We need to remember our heroes because these men left home (and) many of them never came back," said Ward Calhoun Jr., records manager for the Lauderdale County Department of Archives and History. "They're buried in mounds, and in the woods, and who knows where."

    After unveiling the monument, members of the UDC Texas division poured soil from their native state on it, giving the soldiers beneath a little piece of home. As was said during the roll call of the buried soldiers, "They are gone but shall not be forgotten."