USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 9
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of the monument, and Robert D. Walker, the sculptor. Richard R. Cuyler officiated in the Masonic rites.
On February 2, 1888, in Madison square, near the handsome new DeSoto hotel, was unveiled the superb monument to Sergeant Jasper. It is the work of the famous sculptor, Alexander Doyle, who at the age of thirty was the designer of more public monuments and statues than any other man in America, and who was credited with at least one-fifth of the memorials of this kind to be found within the Union. 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 re- doubt, 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. The in- scription on the monument reads :
"To the memory of Sergeant William Jasper, who, though mortally wounded, rescued the colors of his regiment, in the assault on the British lines about the city, October 9, 1779. A century has not dimmed the glory of the Irish-American soldier whose last tribute to civil liberty was his life. 1779-1879. Erected by the Jasper Monument Association."
Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, en route to Jacksonville, Fla., honored the occasion, by a drive through the city, and General John B. Gordon was also among the distinguished visitors. In the mem- bership of the Jasper Association were many of the fore- most men of Savannah, including: John Flannery, Peter W. Meldrim, John R. Dillon. John T. Ronan, J. J. Mc- Gowan, John H. Estill, George A. Mercer, W. O. Tilton, Luke Carson, John Sereven. Jordan F. Brooks, Jeremiah Cronin and J. K. Clarke. Though not as large as either the Greene or the Pulaski monument it is quite as im- pressive, and from the artistic standpoint is unexcelled
JASPER MONUMENT
SAVANNAH GK-
THE JASPER MONUMENT, ON BULL STREET, IN SAVANNAH.
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by any memorial in the Forest City, whose monuments are world-renowned.
Near the site of the present Central Railroad depot was the famous Spring Hill redoubt where Count Pulaski and Sergeant Jasper fell mortally wounded on October 9, 1779, during the ill-fated seige of Savannah. Superb monuments to these immortal heroes have been erected on Bull street, the city's most beautiful thoroughfare. In addition, Savannah chapter of the D. A. R. has com- memorated the heroic sacrifice which they made to liberty by placing a tablet on the hill. Miss Margaret Charl- ton, daughter of Judge Walter G. Charlton, of Sa- vannah, and Miss Isabelle Harrison, daughter of Col- onel Isaac Huger, who planned the assault on Spring Hill redoubt, unveiled the tablet. On account of the dis- tinguished part taken in the siege of Savannah by Count D'Estaing, the French government deputed a special representative, Viscount Benoist d'Azy, an officer in the French navy, to attend the ceremonies. Monsieur Jusse- rand, the French ambassador at Washington, and Gov- ernor Joseph M. Brown, of Georgia, made short addresses.
On the old Augusta road, two miles above Savannah, is the scene of one of the boldest captures in the history of the Revolution: Jasper Spring. Here the brave Ser- geant Jasper with the help of his comrade-in-arms, Sergeant Newton, rescued six American soldiers from the British officers who were taking them as prisoners of war from Ebenezer to Savannah. It was the work of stratagem; but there is not to be found in the annals of the war for independence a feat more courageous. The spring has ever since been called by the name of the gallant Irishman who later perished at the siege of Savan- nah. In 1902 Lachlan McIntosh Chapter of the D. A. R. marked the site by placing here a beautiful memorial fountain to remind the wayfarer, while quenching his thirst, of the brave exploit with which this little spring is forever associated in Georgia's historic annals.
CHAPTER XXII
Mulberry Grove: The General Greene Estate Where the Cotton Gin Was Invented
F OURTEEN miles above Savannah, on the south side of the river, stood the dignified old mansion of General Nathanael Greene, surrounded by 2,170 acres of the best river bottom land in Georgia. Besides recalling the illustrious soldier, who ranks second only to Washington, the Mulberry Grove plantation was the scene of Eli Whitney's great invention: the Cotton Gin. This was formerly the home of the royal Lieutenant- Governor, John Graham; but having been forfeited to tlie State of Georgia, it was given to General Greene in appreciation of his services, in expelling the British invader from Georgia soil. The estate was one of the finest in the neighborhood of Savannah, a statement suffi- ciently attested by the fact that the Lieutenant-Governor sought to recover the sum of fifty thousand pounds ster- ling, by way of indemnification. President Washington, on his visit to Georgia, in 1791, stopped at Mulberry Grove to pay his respects to the widow Greene.
The dwelling remained in an excellent state of preser- vation until recent years, when it was partially wrecked by a storm, after which it was not rebuilt. The site formerly occupied by the old homestead is now the prop- erty of Mr. Van R. Winckler. At the time the Legislature of Georgia conferred the Graham plantation upon Gen-
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eral Greene, North Carolina voted him twenty-five thous- and acres of land on Duck River and South Carolina gave him an estate valued at ten thousand pounds sterling on Edisto River. He chose to establish his residence at Mulberry Grove, even in preference to the home of his birth in Rhode Island; and, on October 14, 1785, he left for Georgia, to become one of her honored and beloved citizens.
Regarding his life at Mulberry Grove, one of his biographers, William Johnson, says1: "His time was altogether devoted to the education of a charming family, the cultivation of his land, and the paternal care of his slaves. The intervals of his more serious employments were agreeably filled by a select library and by a spirited correspondence with his numerous friends, as well in Europe as in America; and he resigned himself, without reserve, to the enjoyments of his fireside and to the inter- change of civilities with his numerous and wealthy neigh- bors." In November, soon after his arrival, he writes :2 "We found the house, situation, and out-buildings, more convenient and pleasing than we expected. The prospect is delightful, and the house magnificent. We have a coach-house, with stables, a large out-kitchen, and a poul- try house nearly fifty feet long by twenty wide, parted for different kinds of poultry, with a pigeon-house on the top, which will contain not less than a thousand pigeons. Besides these, there is a fine smoke-house. The garden is in ruins, but there are still a variety of shrubs and flowers in it."
Again, in the month of April following, General Greene writes3: "This is the busy season with us. We are planting. We have upwards of sixty acres of corn and expect to have one hundred and thirty of rice. The garden is delightful. The fruit-trees and flowering shrubs
1Wm. Johnson's Life of Nathanael Greene, Vol. 2, p. 418, 1822.
2The Remains of Major-General Nathanael Greene, a Report of the Special Committee of the General Assembly of Rhode Island, etc., p. 79, Providence, R. I., 1903.
¿Ibid, p. 79.
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form a pleasing variety. We have green peas almost fit to eat, and as fine lettuce as ever you saw. The mock- ing birds surround us evening and morning. The weather is mild and the vegetable kingdom progressing to per- fection. We have in the same orchard apples, pears, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums of different kinds, pomegranates, and oranges. And we have strawberries which measure three inches round. All these are clever, but the want of our friends to enjoy them with us, makes them less interesting." General Greene was destined never to see the fruit then blossoming at Mulberry Grove.
On Monday, June 12, 1786, General Greene's presence was required at Savannah. He made the journey, accom- panied by his wife, and visited the home of Major Nathaniel Pendleton, one of his aides during the war; and here, under the roof of his old friend, they passed the night. On the next morning, they started early for home, intending to spend the day at the house of Mr. William Gibbons. They arrived at the latter's planta- tion early in the forenoon and, after breakfast, the gen- tlemen walked into the rice-field together, to view the progress of the crop, in which General Greene was much interested. The sun was intensely hot, but General Greene had been too long a soldier to fear any danger from the warm southern sun. On the way home, in the evening, he complained of a severe pain in the head. It grew worse, and by Thursday his forehead was very much inflamed and swollen. Major Pendleton fortunately arrived on a visit; and, his apprehensions aroused by an obvious depression of spirits on the part of his old commander, who seemed loath to join in the conver- sation, he urged him to consult a doctor. On the next morning the physician arrived, took a little blood and administered some ordinary prescription, but the inflam- mation increasing another physician was called into con- sultation. The disease, having now assumed an alarming
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aspect, it was decided to blister the temples and to let the blood freely ; but it was too late; the head had swollen greatly, and the patient lapsed into a total stupor, from which he never revived. Early on the morning of Mon- day, November 19, 1786, he died.
General Anthony Wayne, whose plantation was not far distant, hearing of the illness of his friend, hastened to his bedside, and was with him when the end came. In a letter addressed to James Jackson, the latter said : "He was great as a soldier, greater as a citizen, immaculate as a friend. His corpse will be at Major Pendleton's this night, the funeral from thence in the evening. The greatest honors of war are due his remains. You, as a soldier will take the proper order on this melancholy affair. Pardon this scrawl; my feelings are too much affected because I have seen a great and a good man die." When the news reached Savannah, it produced overwhelming sorrow. Preparations were hastily made to do full honor to the memory of the distinguished man and to surround the obsequies with the dignity befitting. his high rank and character. On Tuesday, the day after his death, the remains were taken by water to Savannah, thence to the home of Major Pendleton, which stood on Bay street, next to the corner of Barnard street, and close to the water's edge. In front of this house, the militia, representatives of the municipality, members of the Society of the Cincinnati, and many persons in private and official life, received the body. Flags in the harbor were lowered to half-mast, the shops and stores in town were closed, and labor of every kind was supended. At about five o'clock in the afternoon, the funeral procession started from the Pendleton house to the Colonial Ceme- tery, belonging to Christ Church; the artillery in Fort Wayne firing minute-guns as the long lines advancec ; the band playing the solemn "Dead March in Saul."
On reaching the burial ground, where a vault had been opened, the regiment filed to right and left, resting on arms until the funeral train had passed to the tomb.
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Then the Hon. William Stevens, Judge of the Superior Court of Chatham County and Grand Master of the Masons, took his place at the head of the coffin, since there were no clergymen in the town at this time, and, with tremulous voice, read the funeral service of the Church of England. Then the body was placed in the vault; the files closed, with three general discharges; the artillery fired thirteen rounds, and, with trailed arms, all slowly and silently withdrew. Although so large a num- ber of people attended the funeral obsequies and partici- pated in the deep grief which followed the death of this distinguished man, the place of his burial, due to a sın- gular combination of circumstances, became in a little more than thirty years unknown to the local authorities and remained for over a century an unsolved enigma. See Vol. II .*
*The following bibliography may be of interest to students: "The Life of Nathanael Greene," a work in three volumes, by G. W. Greene, New York, 1867-1871; Nathanael Greene, a biography in the "Great Commander" Series, by Francis V. Greene, New York, 1893; Life of Nathanael Greene, by Wm. Johnson; The Remains of Major-General Nathanael Greene; a Report of the Joint Special Committee of the General Assembly of Rhode Island, Provi- dence, R. I., 1903; Bancroft's History of the United States; etc.
CHAPTER XXIII
Fort Augusta: 1736
O VERLOOKING the Savannalı River, from the rear of St. Paul's Church, stands a cross of Celtic design which marks the birth-place of the present city of Augusta. It was on this spot, at the head of navigation, that the great founder of the Colony caused a fort to be erected in 1736, the object of which was to protect the trading post established at this point, in the fall of 1735, and to divert the extensive Cherokee and Creek Indian trade hitherto monopolized by South Carolina. In honor of the Princess of Wales, whose royal consort afterwards became George III, it was christened Fort Augusta, though it was sometimes called King's Fort. It was not a large affair. The dimensions were 120 feet each way and the walls were con- structed of wood. But it answered the purpose: Augusta was never attacked or pillaged by the savages. Some- times they came quite near; indeed, their faces often peered through the dense forest across the river and their foot-prints were often seen in the nearby trails, but they never ventured to hurl a torch or a tomahawk against the village.
At first the garrison consisted of less than twenty men. However, with the increase of trade, it was gradu- ally strengthened. According to an early document on the state of the Province, dated November 10, 1740, and made under oath it was estimated that two thousand pack-horse loads of peltry were brought to Augusta an-
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
nually and that six hundred white persons, including servants, were engaged in the traffic. Thus the impor- tance of Augusta as a trading point, even from the earli- est times, is clearly shown; and William Batrram, the celebrated English naturalist, who visited the place twice, expected it to become the metropolis of Georgia. There was no commercial intercourse allowed except through licensed traders; warehouses were constructed in which were stored goods suited for barter with the natives; and it was not long before the Indians began to come to Augusta in large numbers from the most distant stretches of the wilderness.
In 1739, Oglethorpe himself visited the settlement. It was on his return trip to Savannah, after the famous conference with the Indians at Coweta Town, and, ex- hausted with his long journey across the Province, he sought repose in Augusta, where he was the recipient of marked attention from the inhabitants. In 1763, an important gathering was held in Augusta called the Con- gress of the Five Indian Nations, to which seven hundred savages came for the purpose of meeting the Governors of Virginia, of North Carolina, of South Carolina, and of Georgia. We are told by an early chronicler that the congress adjourned under a salute from the guns of Fort Augusta, and there was doubtless some method in the compliment of Governor Wright when he ordered the salute to be fired. It gave the Indians something to remember. It sounded a note of warning, and the moral effect was fine. Says Dr. Williams, a former rector of St. Paul's, on the occasion when the site was marked by the Colonial Dames :* "Fort Augusta dischared the very highest functions for which military armaments are intended. It kept the peace throughout the whole Colo- nial time, up to the breaking out of the Revolution and, indeed, until 1781. It fulfilled its first purpose-a mis- sion of peace. The bloody time, the time of tragedy,
*Story of St. Paul's Parish, a pamphlet, by Rev. Chauncey C. Wil- liams, D. D.
LYONI ALT . Y THE WAY- -
141 12
(3 ON'A. **** ***= =
C2 .44
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THE BIRTH-PLACE OF THE PRESENT CITY OF AUGUSTA.
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FORT AUGUSTA
came later, when we took those guns and turned them against one another."
On the ruins of the old fort, in 1901, the Colonial Dames erected the handsome memorial tribute which today marks the historic spot. It is a cross of Celtic design, rough-hewn, perhaps twelve feet in height and mounted upon a base of granite to match the super- structure. At the base rests an old cannon, one of the ancient guns which formerly stood upon the parapets. It is difficult to conceive of anything more appropriate. The purpose for which the fort was built, in part at least, was to protect the house of worship over which it kept grim and silent watch and around which clustered the rude cabins of the settlers. Both the religious and the primitive character of the little frontier town are charmingly commemorated. Inscribed on the side near- est the church are the following words :
This stone marks the site of the Colonial Fort Augusta, built by order of General Oglethorpe and the trustees in 1736 and known during the Revolution as Fort Corn- wallis.
St. Paul's Church was built in 1750 under a curtain of this Fort.
On the opposite side, facing the river, the inscription reads :
"Erected by the Georgia Society of Colonial Dames of America, November 1901. Virtues majorum felice conservant. "'
Dr. Williams, in speaking of the old cannon at the base of the monument, said : "To my mind, it is the most interesting relic in Augusta. It is all that is left of the old fort-the one thing which was here in 1736 and is here today; the one thing which puts us in actual touch
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
with Oglethorpe, for it was here when he came on his visit, in 1739, and when he wrote a letter in his own hand, dated 'Fort Augusta, in Georgia.'" There were origin- ally eight guns mounted upon the walls of the fort, all of which were bought in England by Oglethorpe himself. Yet this one, dismounted, spiked, rusting from long dis- use and old age, is the sole survivor of the early frontier days when Fort Augusta first stood upon the bluff.
CHAPTER XXIV
Historic Old St. Paul's
O PPOSITE one of the curtains of the fort, in 1750, fourteen years after the establishment of the garrison, were laid the foundations of the most ancient edifice in Augusta : historic old St. Paul's. The present house of worship is not the original structure. Two others have preceded it; but around this ancient land-mark cluster the memories of a hundred eventful years. Moreover, it occupies the site of the earliest rude building in which religious services were first held, ac- cording to the impressive ritual of the Church of Eng- land; and, standing in the very heart of the bustling city, it carries the imagination back to the time when the old fort rose in the wilderness to protect the infant settle- ment. Says Dr. Williams, formerly rector of the parish :* "It was appropriately named for the great pioneer Apostle, since it stood on the frontier line of civilization in Georgia, and was not only the first church but for over fifty years the only church of any kind in Augusta. Its rectors were of course missionaries of the Church of England. The first of the number was the Rev. Jonathan Copp who came to take charge in 1751. He found the conditions very difficult, lived in constant fear of an Indian invasion, and wrote somewhat doleful letters, but he held services at regular intervals, and, encouraged by the better class of people, he carried the gospel into the
*Story of St. Paul's Parish, a pamphlet, by Rev. Chauncey C. Wil- liams, D. D.
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neighboring country, within a radius of thirty miles. He was succeeded in 1756 by the Rev. Samuel Frink, a deli- cate man, who, in spite of ill-health, went everywhere, re- enforcing his sermons by the wholesome power of exam- ple. Next in 1767 came the Rev. Edward Ellington, a missionary in the severest sense of the word. He was seldom at home, except on Sundays, and frequently jour- neyed into the wilderness for more than a hundred miles. He was followed in 1771 by the Rev. James Seymour, who was rector of St. Paul's throughout the vicissitudes of the Revolutionary War."
"During the struggle for independence the fort was three times taken and retaken and Mr. Seymour saw the church appropriated first by the Americans as a barracks and then by the British for other military purposes. The parsonage house he willingly allowed to be used as a hospital for sick soldiers. The old churchyard became a battlefield, drenched with the blood and sown with the bones of the slain, and the church itself was practically destroyed by the fire of an American cannon mounted upon a tower thirty feet high and raking the whole inte- rior of the fort. At this time, having been occupied and enlarged by the British, it was called Fort Cornwallis; and it was this stronger fortification which was beseiged in 1781 by the Americans, under "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, father of our own general, Robert E. Lee. Hunted down by a mob and driven into a swamp, because of his loyalty to England, he escaped after many privations to Savannah. When hostilities were over, he was invited to return, but he engaged in other work and never came back. Meantime, the church and the glebe had been con- fiscated by the State. The property of St. Paul's then comprised 300 acres. When the land was sold, the pro- ceeds were given to the Trustees of the Richmond Acad- emy, and in 1786 the church was virtually rebuilt by the town authorities. While Episcopal clergymen still offici-
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HISTORIC OLD ST. PAUL'S IN AUGUSTA.
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HISTORIC OLD ST. PAUL'S
ated in St. Paul's, the church was denied titles both to the building and to the ancient burying ground. In fact, in 1804, the church was rented for five years to the Pres- byterians and it was not until 1818 that the Legislature of Georgia tardily restored the property to the Episco- palians." Soon after the transfer was made, the present handsome old edifice was built, in 1819, at a cost of $30,000, under the rectorship of the Rev. Hugh Smith. He was succeeded in 1832 by the Rev. Edward E. Ford, who ably served the church for thirty years, dying on Christmas eve, 1862, and at his request he was buried under the altar of the church. Dr. Wm. H. Clarke was then rector for sixteen years, after which at his death he was given like honors of interment. Dr. Williams became rector in 1878 and served the church with great useful- ness for 28 years, at the expiration of which time he resigned his office to labor in another field. He was suc- ceeded by the present rector.
Dr. Williams preached his farewell sermon on Decem- ber 2, 1906. At the same time a tablet was erected in St. Paul's Church by the vestry, commemorating the events of which it became the historic center in Colonial times. Lettered thereon is the following inscription :
This Tablet commemorates the founding of St. Paul's Church A. D. 1750, nearby the King's Fort in the town of Augusta, in the Colony of Georgia, under the English Crown.
Also the faithful services of its Colonial Rectors: Rev. Jonathan Copp, 1751; Rev. Samuel Frink, 1765; Rev. Edward Ellington, 1767; Rev. James Seymour, 1771- 1781; Missionaries of the Church of England and of the Society for the Propagating of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
The mortal remains of Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk, one of the most distinguished commanding officers of the Civil War, repose underneath the sanctuary of
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St. Paul's. Beside him rests his wife. While engaged in reconnoitering on Pine Mountain he was killed by the explosion of a shell, in 1864. On his person at the time of his death was found a Book of Common Prayer, together with several copies of Bishop Quintard's little work entitled: "Balm for the Weary and the Wounded," the later inscribed with the names of various brother officers to whom he intended to present them. He was an eminent churchman as well as an eminent soldier, holding at the outbreak of the war of secession the high office of Bishop of Louisiana; and his is the only instance on record where two such exalted dignities were combined. He was the Confederacy's soldier-priest. The tablet to his memory on the walls of the church is altogether unique. It was made in Caen, France, and was the gift of the officers of his staff. The inscription reads :
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