It has seemed that the land of East Central Mississippi, where the ground is covered with fragrant pine straw and where Choctaw moccasins once walked the trails, yes, the land has always been and shall always be. Especially our own little corner of the world here in Meridian and Lauderdale County, which is remembered as a part of history that is worthy, time-tested and as well has always lived deep in the hearts of our people.  It must not be forgotten.

As the great state of Mississippi has celebrated bicentennial this year, it is appropriate to remember the history of Mississippi’s Frontier, which a great part is located here in Lauderdale County and the City of Meridian.

Some might ask what made this area of the State significant. What was it in Lauderdale County and Meridian that persevered?  

Simply put –it was the strength of the people that forged this community. East Central Mississippi is a land whose beauty is second only to the strength of its people. So, yes, it was the people. 

1700s – 1830

The peoples of the mighty Choctaw Nation dwelled among the ridges and piney woods of what was known then as the Mississippi Territory. The main center of their government, which thrived between the late 1700s and into the 1800s, was a village named Coosa, with a population of approximately 1,200. It was located on a bluff overlooking Lost Horse Creek situated in northeastern Lauderdale County.

The great Choctaw Chief, Pushmataha, who lived in Coosa, was loved and respected by his people. Author, W. B. Morrison, described him, “In personal appearance he was every inch a chief.  He was of the purest Indian blood, six feet, two inches tall and robust in proportion to his height, with form and features finely modeled. His deportment was calm and dignified.  The Indians sometimes called him the ‘Panther’s Claw.’

He was by nature a leader among men, and that not alone in his own tribe.  No Indian of his day was so highly respected by white men as was Pushmataha.  He possessed wonderful powers as an orator.  General Sam Dale, the famous Indian fighter, who witnessed Pushmataha appeal against Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, declared him to be the greatest orator he ever heard.  The Indian’s picturesque word for Pushmataha flow of language was the ‘waterfall.’”

Another giant personality involved with the formation of Lauderdale County was Samuel Dale.  He was the son of Scotch-Irish immigrants. He was known as a brave and colorful warrior on the Mississippi frontier. By 1803 “Big Sam” was hired by the American government as a guide for a party which mapped a new highway from Georgia to the Mississippi River. As the Choctaw began to encourage trade, after the turn of the century, Dale ferried pioneer families from Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia west toward the Mississippi Territory. On his return trip east, Dale carried Indian goods to be sold upon his return.

In December, 1814, Samuel Dale and his war horse, Paddy, served General Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812. Later General Jackson declared, “There isn’t a man this side of Hell can stop Big Sam.”

Eventually, Samuel Dale yearned to settle down and after he had witnessed the lands that ranged from Virginia to the Mississippi River, he chose two sections located near Lizelia, which is in northeastern Lauderdale County. Today one may visit his monument that bears his name, which is located in the small village of Daleville. Some have said Samuel Dale was physically and morally like the Indians who were part of his life.

Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek – 1830

As Mississippi Territorial history continued to its next stage, the wheels had been set in motion for a giant influx of pioneer immigrants coming to the area, which would lead to the signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.

The state of Mississippi was formed in 1817, however, there was a large tract of Choctaw-dominated land with its rugged, red clay hills and ridges and woodlands located west of the Pearl River, which resembled the areas of Georgia and South Carolina from which many of the Scot-Irish families had once lived.  

Ephraim Kirby, appointed by President Andrew Jackson as U.S. commissioner in the Mississippi Territory east of the Pearl River wrote to President Jackson, “The people inhabiting this section of the Mississippi Territory are peculiarly cut off from communication from other parts of the United States. It is about as easy to pass by land hence to Georgia, as to Natchez. In either case, the traveler must go through several hundred miles of wilderness, possessed by savages, and be compelled to encamp in the woods, and swim unfordable streams.”

The negotiations which affected the treaty began on Saturday, Sept. 18, 1830. It was said about 6,000 Choctaw camped near the forks of the Dancing Rabbit Creek located in Noxubee County, where the negotiations took place,  in order to support their spokesmen who were from four Choctaw Districts: Greenwood, Leflore, Moshulatubbe and representing Coosa was Chief Nittakechi. President Jackson appointed Secretary of War, John Eaton and General John Coffee to represent the U.S government.

The treaty was signed on Sept. 27, 1830. Many testified as to the “intimidation and moral coercion” levied toward the Choctaw during this time. By the signing of the treaty, 10,423,130 acres were brought into the Mississippi Territory and as well there was a 175 percent increase in population, just in the year of 1830.

Formation of Lauderdale County

Lauderdale County was formed on Dec. 23, 1833 which was one of 16 counties that were created by the signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. Named as new officials were sheriff, Isham Pace, first circuit clerk, John Culbreath, and representing the new county in the state senate was Joseph A. Marshall. Also representing in the lower house was Sam Dale.

The pioneers, with their strong backs and great determination, were described by historian, W. H. Sparks, “ … were not agriculturists in a proper sense of the term: true, they cultivated in some degree the soil, but it was not the prime pursuit of these people, nor was the location sought for this purpose. They desired an open, poor, pine country, which forbade a numerous population.”

Mrs. C. E. Flourney, who arrived to the area from South Carolina in 1835, described life in these words, “I was 20 years old before I ever saw a match, a lamp, a cooking stove, concentrated lye, a washboard or a sewing machine. We had to borrow fire from a neighbor, or get it by striking it with our tinder horn device. We had to keep an ash hopper for getting lye with which to make soap and in washing we used a batten instead of washboard. We cooked in a fireplace or by a fire in the yard. We sewed with our fingers and burned pine knots for giving us light.”

Despite innumerable hardships experienced in the newly formed county, throughout the 1840s great strides were made which resulted with the first churches, schools and eventually small villages formed. The population swelled from 5,348 in 1840 to 8,713 by 1850. Two of the earliest settlements were Alamucha and Chunkeyville. Sageville which is located in the Arundel area became a stagecoach stop. The most significant early village was the settlement of Old Marion and was named first county seat.

An observation was made by a traveler as he passed through during the early years of the formation of Lauderdale County, “… lived farmers, Scotch-Irish families from the hills of the Carolinas, and they did not farm cotton, nor own slaves, nor import china, nor drink Madeira.”

Richard McLemore – father of Meridian

Richard McLemore claimed 700 acres in 1834 soon after the signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. He was a North Carolina native, once having lived in Covington County, Mississippi.  He and his wife, Nancy Perry Hill, built their first log cabin near what is now 18th Avenue and Eleventh Street. He began to send word back east about the potential of the beautiful land.

It was said, “In surveying his surroundings, Mr. McLemore in his loneliness recognized that he was, at least, in a hunter’s paradise, for he could stand in his front door and kill a deer or wild turkey any morning. The country abounded in game, and the streams were filled with all kinds of the finny tribe and he, therefore, suffered no uneasiness about the high cost of living.”

With two sons and seven daughters, McLemore yearned for a thriving community. He offered “ample lands to many who he thought would make desirable citizens.” McLemore also helped to organize Oakey Baptist Church. It would take several decades but eventually the village of Meridian was formed.

McLemore’s great, great, great granddaughter, local resident, Elizabeth Carter Kahlmus said, “His cornfield was located where MSU-Riley is today and he had a logging pond where the Lauderdale County Court House is.”  

Richard McLemore and his family are buried in their small private cemetery located on Fifth Street in downtown Meridian.

Meridian and railroading

While the cities of Natchez, Columbus and Vicksburg prospered with the availability of access to their locations on rivers, the Lauderdale County area needed an incentive for growth. The answer was to be the railroad. Historian, W. T. Vance said, “About this time there was a great railroad fever going around the county.”

Word began to spread of a coming railroad to the area. It was to be the Mobile and Ohio. Yes, word traveled fast and two men moved quickly to purchase land from settler, Richard McLemore. Enter Mr. John Ball and Mr. Lewis A. Ragsdale.  Mr. Ragsdale purchased eighty acres, which included the McLemore farm and all the land east of present-day 27th Avenue, which included the major portion of the business district as it stands today.  Within a matter of days, Ball purchased eighty acres as well which lay west of what is now 27th Avenue.

These two men are known as Meridian’s Founding Fathers. Although they were extremely competitive, the founding of Meridian was achieved mainly by their efforts. Meridian was incorporated on Feb. 10, 1860. The first boundaries were set as what is now 31st Avenue as the west side and 14th Street as the north boundary, south to St. Andrews Street and east to 10th Avenue.

The exact population number at the time is unknown but it was a small village with three or four small stores, one school, one shingle mill, three boardinghouses and two churches (Baptist and Methodist). But looming nearby was the railroad.

Burning of Meridian during the Civil War

St. Valentine’s Day, 1864, was the day Meridian was destroyed. By this time, the city had become a railroad center and had immense depots, warehouses and large amounts of sidetrack.

The Confederate forces had moved into the area with large amounts of corn, bacon, meal and other valuable foodstuffs. The commander of the Confederate forces, General Leonidas Polk, used Meridian as his headquarters. It is recorded that the Union troops under the leadership of General William Tecumseh Sherman moved eastward across the state after the fall of Mississippi’s leading river port, Vicksburg. As “Sherman sighting” reports reached the ears of Meridianites, the city was in a state of alarm.

Mr. Ward Calhoun, director of Meridian Archives and History, has related this story. “Mrs. Semmes lived in a plantation house near what is now Meridian Community College. Her husband and all of the area’s men of age were away fighting in the war. Because the Semmes family house was the largest in the community, she had invited all women and children, plus the elderly to seek refuge there. When Sherman’s soldiers arrived at the front gate, she was informed to vacate the house – which the soldiers would soon set afire. Mrs. Semmes immediately fell to her knees in prayer. It was said that as she prayed an illuminating light encircled her. It frightened the soldiers and they immediately informed her that they would not burn her house after all. The soldiers immediately galloped away.

But the rest of Meridian did not fare so well.  Sherman’s final report: For five days 10,000 men worked hard and with a will in the work of destruction, with axes, crowbars, sledges, clawbars, and with fire and I have not hesitation in pronouncing the work well done. Meridian, with its deport, storehouses, arsenal, hospitals, officers, hotel and cantonments no longer exists.

But Sherman was wrong. It is recorded that the tracks were thoroughly repaired in just 26 working days and were suitable for trains as they had been before. The city had been sacked and those left were neighbor-helping-neighbor, who would overcome. The “cruel, cruel war” ended April, 1865. Meridian was to thrive once again.

Meridian’s Golden Age

In the years following the Civil War, Meridian grew abundantly. Railroad activity continued and educational opportunities expanded, doctors and lawyers arrived to open offices plus a huge influx industry was started. By 1873 an out of town visitor wrote, “The growth of Meridian is truly wonderful. The latest and most notable improvement is a large and handsome brick hotel which will be ready for guests this summer. It presents a truly metropolitan appearance. …With the location of the Court House, the establishment of gas works, and converging here of many railroads. Meridian may yet be the Chicago of the South.”

In December, 1890, I. Marks and his half brothers, the Rothenberg’s, together, they commissioned the building of the well-known five story structure located on 22nd Avenue between 5th and 6th Streets. The first floor was for retail trade and the four upper floors housed the wholesale business. Included with this project was the Grand Opera House, which is now MSU-Riley Center. It was at this time that Marks-Rothenberg was the largest wholesale firm of its kind in Mississippi and one of the largest in the entire South.

With the addition of Joseph Baum Company, cotton buyers, plus the Threefoot and Sons wholesale business which opened in 1869, plus several more profitable businesses spurred onward by the Jewish community of Meridian, the city was well on its way to garner great success.

World Wars

WWI and WWII brought turmoil to Meridian and Lauderdale County. Young men were sent to unknown places to risk their lives for liberty while the home-folks were left to carry-on. Women went to work in what was traditionally known as employment for men, such as factories and refineries.

The following letter written May 29, 1943 from a Meridian girl to her sweetheart during WWII reveals life at the time.”Dearest honey, how is my darling tonight? Today is Friday and I don’t have to work tomorrow (Burnley Shirt Factory). I’m so happy because we have worked double-shifts three days this week. I need the rest. We will have another black-out practice Monday night. It will last for about an hour. We heard yesterday that they are going to start rationing clothes. I’ve got to get shoes with my stamp tomorrow before it expires.  We can start getting sugar on June 1st. I think it is five pounds per person and must last until August 1st. My work is so hard that I would like to quit but I know I can’t. I’m just lucky to have a job. Oh, by the way, do you get your mail okay with your new command? I haven’t heard from you in over a week. Well, honey I guess I will close for now. It just hurts so much sometimes when I think of how long it has been since I last saw you. So long for now and I hope I have a letter in the mail tomorrow. Lots of love. PS My cousin and I walked downtown to see a Bob Hope picture show last night but I didn’t laugh too much, although it was funny, I suppose.”

…

Life has continued in Meridian and Lauderdale County. The struggles have been real and our people remain strong. As Mississippi novelist, William Faulkner once said, “To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi” and that would include East Central Mississippi.

No, we don’t claim to be easy to understand. We know that nothing of significance is untroubled and contented, but we, here in Meridian and Lauderdale County, have persevered as our people have walked hand-in-hand in order to conquer our problems and as well to savor our accomplishments.

Governor Haley Barbour declared in 2005 after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, which took a heavy toll on our community, “Mississippians hitch up our britches and we go to work.” And now in 2017 these sentiments remain. We are survivors. We are strong and we never give up.

Anne McKee is a Mississippi historian, writer and storyteller. She is listed on the Mississippi Humanities Speakers Bureau and Mississippi Arts Commission’s Performing Artist and Teaching Artist Rosters. See her website: www.annemckeestoryteller.com

References:

“Meridian: The Queen with a Past” by Jack Shank

“Paths to the Past” by Laura Nan Fairley and James T. Dawson

“Historic Photos of Mississippi” by Anne B. McKee