Meridian

Sherman marched out of Vicksburg on February 3, 1864 with about 20,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry and artillery, ordering that not a tent be carried. Federal feints toward Mobile led General Polk to guess his target wrong. Sherman reached Meridian on February 14 and for five days his men destroyed the railroads: one column alone took 55 miles of track, 53 bridges and 19 locomotives. Forrest stopped Sooy Smith's cavalry before it could join him. Sherman reported that Meridian no longer existed, and he was back at Vicksburg by February 28, having rehearsed the March to the Sea.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience — 0.2 mi
  Meridian's two-level museum of Mississippi artists and entertainers, opened in 2018, with a Hall of Fame and a Walk of Fame that leads to it from the Riley Center.
• Jimmie Rodgers Museum — 0.4 mi
  The museum in Meridian that holds the guitar of the Singing Brakeman, Jimmie Rodgers, the first inductee of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
• Meridian Civil Rights Trail — 0.4 mi
  An 18-stop self-guided trail through Meridian, from the Black business district and the 1964 Freedom Summer office to Wechsler School, the federal courthouse and James Chaney's grave.
• Highland Park Dentzel Carousel — 1.6 mi
  The last two-row stationary Dentzel menagerie in the world, in its original carousel house in Meridian's Highland Park, a National Historic Landmark since 1987.

More markers nearby

• Moe Bandy — steps away
• Elsie McWilliams — steps away
• Meridian Rhythm & Blues and Soul Music — 0.3 mi
• Temple Theater — 0.4 mi