01 September 2015

The Monument to Col. Samuel Hammond

More than 100 years ago, a monument was placed in Augusta, Georgia in memory of Colonel Samuel Hammond. He was a patriot, a soldier, and a statesman who "gave 60 years of public service to the cause of America." It was the hope of Col. Hammond's grandson, Hugh Vernon Washington, that the momument be sculpted and located in Augusta. Unfortunately, he did not live to see it come to fruition. When the monument was presented to the city, it was by Ellen Washington Bellamy, Hugh's sister, on his behalf.

Via Waymarking.com.

Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)
29 March 1913, pg. 7
SAMUEL HAMMOND LIVES IN MEMORY

Monument to Patriot of Country's Early History Presented to Augusta by His Descendants

DR. M. ASHBY JONES ORATOR

Accepted on Behalf of City by Mayor L. C. Hayne -- Exercises Presided Over by Judge William F. Eve -- Mrs. Bellamy, of Macon, One of Donors

The presentation to the city of Augusta of the monument to Col. Samuel Hammond of revolutionary fame was a most impressive event of yesterday afternoon. The granite boulder, upon which the heroic bronze bust of Colonel Hammond is to be placed, is erected on the 600 block of Greene Street. At the hour of 5 o'clock, a crowd of interested spectators gathered and the presentation ceremonies began upon the arrival of Mrs. Ellen Washington Bellamy, of Macon, who is one of the donors of the monument, the other donor being her brother, the late Hugh Vernon Washington, of Macon, a grandson of Colonel Hammond...

Mayor Hayne's Acceptance
..."For over a century his [Colonel Hammond's] remains have rested unmarked on the banks of our own Savannah, where the holiest requiems have continuously been sounded from the winds that blew over the grave of this intrepid hero, who dared to die, that his country might live...

Mrs. Bellamy Speaks
Mrs. Bellamy then spoke a few words of appreciation, explaining that it was the wish of her brother, the late Hugh Vernon Washington, of Macon, that this monument be erected in Augusta, whose history their illustrious ancestor helped to make, and that the monument was his gift as well as hers...[Entire article may be viewed online at GenealogyBank.]
According to Waymarking.com, Samuel Hammond was born September 1757 in Richmond County, Virginia. He died at Varello, near Augusta, September 1842 (on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River).

Regarding Col. Hammond's Revolutionary War career, the monument provides:
WITH GENERAL GREENE IN EVERY IMPORTANT
ENGAGEMENT THROUGH VIRGINIA,
THE CAROLINAS AND GEORGIA: ON THE FRONT
LINE AT EUTAW, COWPENS AND KINGS MOUNTAIN.
AT THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON,
SAVANNAH AND AUGUSTA
The news article above implies Hammond's grave was unmarked in 1913. It is definitely marked now, with a military marker and a 5 foot pyramid. According to his FindAGrave memorial, "In 1991, the grave of Colonel Samuel Hammond was relocated to the Hammond Family Cemetery on the property of the Charles Hammond house in North Augusta, SC from it's original location 1.6 miles away in New Richmond, SC because of the development of the Riverview Park Complex."