In 1831, Richard McLemore received a federal land grant of 2,000 acres located in the future Lauderdale County, Mississippi. He gave free land to those he considered good neighbors and built his home within the one square mile that would be incorporated as Meridian on February 10, 1860. On Valentine's Day 1864, Gen. W.T. Sherman's troops marched into the small railroad town. After burning the town, Sherman wrote in his journal, "Meridian . . . no longer exists." Meridian did survive and became Mississippi's largest city due to its railroad and timber industries and progressive settlers like the Weidmanns, Marks-Rothenbergs, Threefoots, Rushes, Rosenbaums, Rileys, Andersons, and others. Within these pages, meet the people who proved Sherman wrong and continue to influence the area today.
June Davis Davidson, author of Images of America: Meridian, is listed on the Mississippi Arts Commission Artist Roster, served on the board of directors for the Mississippi Writers Guild from 2010 to 2012, and is a member of the Mississippi Alliance for the Arts in Education. Richelle Putnam, a Mississippi Arts Commission Teaching and Roster Artist and a Mississippi Humanities Speaker on the literary arts, is also the special features director for Southern Writers magazine and a regular contributor to many publications. She is the author of Lauderdale County, Mississippi: A Brief History.