Colonial Park Cemetery, Savannah

Originally the parish burial-ground of Christ Church, some of the earliest inhabitants of the Colony of Georgia here sleep…On the moldering tombstones of the little cemetery there are scores of historic names, not a few of which are still bright on the muster rolls of the Revolution; but Whigs and Tories alike lie here entombed.  For more than fifty years after Georgia became a State, men of distinction in every sphere of life were here laid to rest in the very core of Savannah's heart.  Just when the first burial was made in Old Colonial is uncertain; but three distinct eras have contributed to the treasury of sacred dust which this little plot of ground contains – Colonial, Revolutionary, and Commonwealth.  No interments have been made here since the early [eighteen] fifties; but it was not until 1895 that by decree of the Superior Court of Chatham County it became the property of the city of Savannah.  With this transfer of title, an old issue between the parish and the town was happily adjusted, the walls on three sides were taken down, a competent force of workmen employed to repair the tombs, to open new walks, and to beautify the grounds; and thus out of the remnants of Colonial Cemetery emerged what is today known as Colonial Park.

…Here, at almost any hour of the day, when the weather is pleasant, may be seen groups of little children, playing hide and seek among the tombs; energetic business men moving briskly along the walks which afford them convenient passage-ways to points beyond; or sightseers strolling leisurely over the green-carpeted area to read the inscriptions upon the ancient monuments.  Some of the oldest of the tombstones have disappeared forever.  Others rescued in broken fragments have been placed against the brick wall which still remains.  It is only fair to historic truth to state that the agencies of time, in producing this harvest of ruin, were re-enforced by the vandalism of Sherman's men, during the last year of the Civil War.  Not content with rifling the vaults for silver, they even made them abodes of habitation, emulating in this respect the example of a certain demoniac who lived at Gadara; and to judge from the mutilation of epitaphs the latter were no less possessed of unclean spirits than were the former.  ~ Lucian Lamar Knight, Georgia Historian, 1914

A Duel Between Colored Men

Some say the custom of dueling had as its home, the antebellum South.  I think most of us would admit, when we think of a duel, we picture two white men.  But that wasn't the case 100% of the time.  Here is a newspaper article telling the details of the summer of 1868 duel between Jackson Brand and Eugene Morehead, both of Savannah, Georgia.  (Image is of a shorter article printed in Michigan's Jackson Citizen.) There is one commonality amongst all the duels I've covered, including this one:  politics.

Daily Constitutionalist (Augusta, Georgia)
5 June 1868 [via GenealogyBank]

From the Savannah News & Herald, 4th.

Duel Between two Colored Men – One Killed.

A duel was fought yesterday at Screven's Ferry, on the Carolina shore, between two colored men of this city, respectively named Jackson Brand and Eugene Morehead, which resulted in the death of the former.

The facts, as far as could be ascertained, are as follows:  Jackson Brand was President of the Colored Conservative Club No. 1 and Eugene Morehead Vice-President.  Brand was not long ago a violent Radical and a member of the Union League, but changed his politics and became an ardent supporter of the Conservative principles.  Among the members in the Conservative club of which he was president, were  a few who believed he was playing a double game, among them was Morehead, who kept a close watch upon him.  On Monday last Morehead observed Brand leaving the house of a noted Radical, and at once accused him of double dealing, and said, among other things, that he (Brand) had made a speech in the Loyal League, in which he had stated that it was his intention to wash his hands in the blood of every Southern man.  Brand denied the charge and a hot quarrel ensued, which, but for the interposition of friends, would have terminated in a fight on the spot.  They separated, and the next day (Tuesday) Brand sent a challenge to mortal combat to Morehead, Alex. Hardee, Secretary of the Conservative club, bearing the missive.  On handing the note to Morehead, Hardee was asked by him what it was all about.  Hardee replied that it was a challenge to fight, and that Brand had sent it, whereupon Morehead, who is unable to read or write, asked Hardee to read it, which was done.  Morehead then asked Hardee to write an acceptance of the challenge, and state that he would choose double barrelled [sic] shot guns, loaded with sixteen buckshot, the distance sixteen paces, and the duel at Screven's Ferry the next morning at 7 o'clock.  The challenge was written, carried, agreed to, and every preparation made for the meeting on the "field of honor" the next morning.

Early yesterday morning found the parties on their way to the ground.  Brand was accompanied by his second, Alex. Hardee, and Morehead by his, [Haine Spearlug?].  There were about a dozen friends along but no surgeon.  About a quarter past nine the preliminaries were arranged and the opponents placed opposite each other, fifteen paces distant, with double barrelled guns, one barrel of each being loaded with sixteen buckshot.  Brand seemed somewhat nervous, while Morehead was perfectly cool and collected.  At the command both simultaneously fired, and Brand fell, exclaiming "I'm not whipped yet," while at the same time was heard the exultant shout of Morehead, "By God, I've got him," and afterwards he remarked that Brand seemed so "scared like" that he thought he would not kill him but shoot him in the legs and give him time to repent of his treachery.  Brand's second went to him as soon as he fell, and found that the charge from Morehead's gun had entered both thighs.  Brand was quite weak from the loss of blood, and he could not stand up, but said if his second would hold him up he would exchange shots again.  His second very properly refused to allow any further hostilities.  Morehead then walked over to where Brand was lying, and shook hands with him.  With the assistance of Morehead and the others, Brand was carried to the boat, and brought to the city, and then placed in a vehicle and carried to his house near the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad Depot.  Drs. Bulloch and Morrison were sent for, but the sufferer had been so long without medical aid, that their skill was unavailing, excepting to alleviate the pain, and he died at a quarter to twelve, two hours and a half after receiving the wound, which severed one, and probably both of the femoral arteries.

Dr. Myers, coroner, held an inquest at half past three o'clock.  The seconds of the parties testified substantially as above stated, and Drs. Bulloch and Morrison that they had been called in, and found the wounded man very weak from loss of blood, and that so much blood had been lost, that it was impossible to save him.  The jury rendered a verdict as follows:  "We find that the deceased came to his death from a gun-shot wound inflicted from the hands of Eugene Morehead, in a duel on the South Carolina shore."

The deceased, who is about 35 years old, will be buried to-day.

From parties who were present at the duel, we learn that each of the duelists seemed determined to shoot the other, but the nervousness of Brand made him miss.  Both parties were advised not to go, but would not heed the advice.  Their neglect in not providing a surgeon was most criminal, and caused the death of Brand who otherwise would now, most probably, be alive and out of danger.  We understand that Morehead, upon being asked why surgeons had not been obtained, replied that he went to one, and he charged fifty dollars, and "I couldn't afford it; anyway, I didn't intend to be killed, and I thought the other fellow would have sense enough to bring one."

Jackson Brand was laid to rest at Laurel Grove Cemetery South in Savannah.  According to the inscription on his tombstone, broken and lying on the ground in 2012, Jackson was 39 years old at death.  His stone was Erected By his affectionate Wife, Sarah Brand.

Swallowing Hairpins Caused Death of Girl

Simply an obituary I felt compelled to share:

SWALLOWING HAIRPINS CAUSED DEATH OF GIRL
Savannah, Ga., April 24 -- (Special.) -- Katie Tuiseda, a Polish girl, who was found ill wandering about the union station several weeks ago, is dead, as the result of blood poisoning caused by a number of wire hairpins which the young woman swallowed. She had twisted the hairpins up, but after they were in her stomach, they had straightened out and began working their way out of her body through her sides. She suffered in silence, refusing to tell physicians of the pins until when they began to protrude they were discovered. An operation was performed, but the young woman's life could not be saved. Nothing is known of her people, and she was given a pauper's burial. [Atlanta Constitution (Georgia), 25 April 1908]

Confederate Monuments of Savannah's Forsyth Park

"The chief pleasure-ground of Savannah is Forsyth Park..."

So sayeth famed Georgia historian Lucian Lamar Knight in his 1914 publication,
Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends.

He also writes of the Confederate monuments located within the park: "On an artificial mound, in the center of the park, stands the Confederate monument, a handsome structure of brown stone, and one of the earliest memorials in Georgia dedicated to the heroes of the Lost Cause..."

"To the north of this handsome pile, is a column, perhaps five feet in height, on which rests a marble bust of Major-General Lafayette McLaws..."

"...while to the south is a similar tribute to Brigadier-General Francis S. Bartow."

Monument to a Georgia Railway Pioneer, William Washington Gordon

Standing in Savannah's Wright Square (also known as Court House Square) is an impressive monument to a Georgia railway pioneer, William Washington Gordon. Here's what Lucian Lamar Knight has to say about the man and the monument:

"One of the most beautiful monuments in the city of Savannah is the handsome structure of marble, in Court House square, commemorating the useful life of the great pioneer of railway development in Georgia: William Washington Gordon. He died at the early age of forty-six. But he gave the most lasting impetus to the material upbuilding of his native State and accomplished a work of constructive value which was destined to live after him. As the first president of Georgia's earliest railway enterprise, his genius was initiative. He was not only a pathfinder but a builder of splendid highways. Much of the subsequent history of railroads in Georgia has been only the ultimate outgrowth of his pioneer activities; and if Georgia owes much to railroads then her debt of obligation to the man who inaugurated the era of railway enterprise in this State is beyond computation...

The Gordon monument in Savannah is unique. Resting upon a solid pedestal of granite, it consists of four handsome columns of Scotch marble. These enclose at the base an urn of artistic workmanship and support at the top a globe of great weight..."¹

© 2010-14 S. Lincecum

William Washington Gordon, according to the monument inscription, was born 17 January 1796. He died 20 March 1842, and was buried in Savannah's Laurel Grove Cemetery.

Footnote:
1. Ancestry.com. Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends [images on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.
Original data: Knight, Lucian Lamar. Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends. Atlanta, Ga.: Printed for the author by the Byrd Print. Co., state printers, 1913-1914.

Centuries Have Not Dimmed the Glory

..."Surmounting a pedestal of granite, the figure of Sergeant Jasper, heroic in size and wrought of bronze, is portrayed in the act of seizing the colors of his regiment. It reproduces the heroic scene of his martyrdom, on the Spring Hill redoubt, during the siege of Savannah. With the flag in one hand, he raises his gallant sword with the other, to defend the emblem of his country's liberties." ¹

The monument to Sgt. William Jasper, unveiled in 1888, stands in Savannah, Georgia's Madison Square. It is inscribed:

To The Heroic Memory Of
Sergeant William Jasper
Who Though Mortally Wounded
Rescued The Colors Of His Regiment
In The Assault
On The British Lines About This City
October 9th, 1779
A Century Has Not Dimmed The Glory
Of The Irish American Soldier
Whose Last Tribute To Civil Liberty
Was His Noble Life
1779 - 1879

All photos © 2010-2013 S. Lincecum.

More about William Jasper from Wikipedia.

---

Footnote:

1. Ancestry.com. Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends [images on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.
Original data: Knight, Lucian Lamar. Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends. Atlanta, Ga.: Printed for the author by the Byrd Print. Co., state printers, 1913-1914.

About Andrew Bryan, Noted Negro Preacher (A Friend of Friends Friday)

From Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials, and Legends by Lucian Lamar Knight, page 95:

Caesar, one of the numerous slaves owned by Jonathan Bryan, lived to be a centenarian. But long before his death he was made a free man by the voluntary act of his master. Andrew, a son of the old ex-slave, became a noted negro preacher of Savannah during the early ante-bellum period. The following brief items, copied from the records, tell a story of some interest. First, the death notice of Jonathan Bryan's faithful servant Caesar. This reads as follows: "Nov. 27th, 1798. Savannah, Ga. Died at the plantation of Col. Wylly [son-in-law of the late Hon. Jonathan Bryan] aged 103 years, negro Caesar, father of the celebrated Parson Andrew. Caesar was a faithful servant of the late Jonathan Bryan, Esq., for forty-two years, when he gave him his freedom." -- In Book B. Chatham County Records, pp, 213, 214, dated May 4th, 1789, will be found an entry showing where William Bryan, planter, son of Jonathan Bryan, sets free Andrew, a former slave on the estate of Jonathan Bryan and by division of estate, William Bryan's slave. -- In Book N. Chatham County Records, p. 117, dated Sept. 4th, 1773, there is an entry showing where a plot of ground at Yamacraw in what was then called the village of St. Gall was deeded to William Bryan and James Whitefield, in trust for a black man, named Andrew Bryan, a preacher of the gospel. The consideration involved was thirty pounds sterling. On this plot of ground was built the negro church of which Andrew Bryan was the pastor until his death. As an item of interest for the future historian, this fragment illustrative of life under the old feudal regime at the South is worthy of preservation.

The Mother Church of Georgia & Washington's Southern Tour

Photo © 2010-2013 S. Lincecum

"On the original spot where the Colonists established a house of worship stands today the beautiful and classic proportions of Christ Church. Here Wesley preached and Whitefield exhorted -- the most gifted and erratic characters in the early settlement of Georgia." ¹

The edifice from 1838 stated the church building, founded in 1743, was destroyed by fire in 1796. After rebuilding, it was partially destroyed by a hurricane in 1804. It was later added that the church was again partially destroyed by fire, and the current structure was a rebuilding and improvement dating to 1897. The historical marker in Savannah's Johnson Square details this as the "current and third structure" designed by James Hamilton Couper.

Early and noteworthy members of the parish include William Scarborough, who built the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean; Dr. Theodosius Bartow, father of Col. Francis S. Bartow; Dr. George Jones, a U.S. senator; and R. R. Cuyler, a famous railroad pioneer.

George Washington attended services in the original Christ Church 15 May 1791.

---

Footnote:

1. Pleasant A. Stovall, as quoted by Lucian Lamar Knight in Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends (pub. 1914).

Oglethorpe Monument in Savannah's Chippewa Square

Pride and gratitude have always mingled in the emotions with which Georgia has contemplated the career and cherished the name of Oglethorpe; but almost two centuries elapsed before an adequate monument to the great humanitarian was reared in the city which he founded. At last, under bright skies, on November 23, 1910, in the city of Savannah, a superb bronze statue surmounting a pedestal of granite, was unveiled in Chippewa Square.¹

...the Great Soldier, Eminent Statesman, and Famous
Philanthropist, General James Edward Oglethorpe, who, in
this city, on the 12th day of February, A.D., 1733, founded
and established the Colony of Georgia. 

One of four lions holding shields at base of monument.
This shield bears the Georgia State Seal.

All photos © 2010-2013 S. Lincecum

Footnote:

1. Ancestry.com. Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends [images on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.
Original data: Knight, Lucian Lamar. Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends. Atlanta, Ga.: Printed for the author by the Byrd Print. Co., state printers, 1913-1914.

An Important Piece of the Story?

I saw this little news item and thought it might be an important piece to someone's family history, so here it is:

The Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia)
3 February 1910
(Digital image viewed online at Ancestry.)

CHILDREN WEEP BITTERLY WHEN AWARDED TO FATHER
Savannah, Ga., February 2. -- (Special.) -- Judge Davis Freeman today awarded four of five children to John M. Lubeck, but gave the fifth to Miss Lillie Dotson, their aunt, because the mother of the children before her death had expressed a desire that the eldest child should go to her sister.

Judge Freeman, however, required her to promise that no whisky or gin should be given the boy, as had been done in the past.

After this disposition was made of a case that has run for three days in the city court, two of the smaller children wept bitterly when they learned their father had won them from their aunt, and one little boy ran to a cab that was waiting for them, grasped the whip and announced he would fight before his father should have him. He was pacified.

Images of Fort Pulaski (Wordless Wednesday)

All photos © 2010-2013 S. Lincecum

The Cockspur Island Lighthouse

Cockspur Island is located in Chatham County, Georgia just inside the mouth of the Savannah River. It is home to Fort Pulaski and the Cockspur Island Lighthouse. The lighthouse is located on an oyster bed islet off the eastern end of the island. The current structure was built about 1855 to replace an earlier light that was destroyed by a hurricane in 1854.

The first keeper of the Cockspur Island Lighthouse was named John Lightburn. He lived on Cockspur Island, near Fort Pulaski, and would make daily trips to the tower to service the light. The lighthouse's second keeper, Cornelius Maher, drowned near the tower when his boat capsized while he was trying to help someone in distress. Maher's wife, Mary, replaced her husband as keeper and remained at the light for three more years.

The Cockspur Island light was darkened during the Civil War, but it was surrounded by drama. Across the bay, Union forces took control of Tybee Island in 1861. The Confederates moved into Fort Pulaski to defend their position. Using their new rifled Parrot guns, the Union opened fire on the fort on 11 April 1862. Over 5,000 shots were fired by the Union and many landed and penetrated Fort Pulaski. When one such shell hit close to one of the fort's powder magazine, the Confederates decided it would be best to surrender. Even though thousands of explosive shells were launched and literally flew directly over the Cockspur Lighthouse, it sustained no damage.

Cockspur Island Light with the Tybee Island Light in the distance, to
the far right.

View of Fort Pulaski from the Lighthouse Trail.  Damage caused by the
Union forces' new rifled gun can clearly be seen.

George Washington Martus was one of the Cockspur Island Light keepers who served many years after the Civil War, accepting an assignment to the station in 1881 at the age of eighteen. Martus served until 1886, when he transferred upstream to the Elba Island Lighthouse. Martus' sister Florence lived with him on Elba Island, and for over forty years, she greeted all the vessels entering and leaving the port of Savannah with the wave of a handkerchief by day or a lantern by night. She became somewhat of a legend and was known as the "Waving Girl." A statue of her stands on River Street in Savannah. The final resting place of brother and sister is Laurel Grove Cemetery (also in Savannah).

Cockspur Lighthouse was deactivated in 1909, and the National Park Service gained control of it in 1958. The light was a recipient of a restoration project from 1995 to 2000, and it was re-lit in 2007 for historical significance.

The best way to reach the lighthouse is by boat, but there is an overlook trail that may be taken through the marsh from Fort Pulaski.


Post © 2010 S. Lincecum.

Sources include:

- Cockspur Island Lighthouse, Georgia via Lighthousefriends.com
- Fort Pulaski National Monument via U.S. National Park Service
- Personal knowledge of Stephanie Lincecum