Savannah's squares with major monuments

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In 1733 British General James Edward Oglethorpe arrived with 113 colonists to establish and settle a new colony, to be named after King George. They landed at the site of the present historic area and, with the help of the friendly local First Nations chief, Tomochichi, planned and established Savannah. Oglethorpe set out to make it a model settlement and colony, with 4 public squares, and guided by a series of original laws. He was extremely enlightened for his time: the following were all forbidden -- slavery, lawyers , hard liquor and Catholics, the latter because of constant pressure from the Spanish Catholic colony of Florida. All four prohibitions were eventually dropped, of course, over the years that followed.

As the city grew more squares were added, so that by the mid 19^th century the two dozen that remain today were already there. With American independence and Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin, Savannah prospered, and began to adorn the squares with monuments to those who had guided and developed it over the years. Today there are monuments or commemorations, some more impressive than others, in every square. There are far too many for this article, so I have chosen a few of the larger ones for inclusion, and will give more information now about those that I personally believe to have been the most significant.

General Oglethorpe. His statue was unveiled in 1910, replacingtwo other smaller ones, which were moved to Forsyth Park in the south part of the Historic District. The same sculptor also did Lincoln’s statue in Lincoln’s Memorial in Washington. Complete information is at:

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/james-oglethorpe-1696-1785 .

General Pulaski. This Polish hero commanded all American and French cavalry during the British siege of Savannah, where he was mortally wounded in 1779. His legacy is still widely honoured and commemorated throughout both his native Poland and America. More information about his career is available here.

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/casimir-pulaski-georgia .

Chief Tomochichi. In 1739 the great Creek Indian leader and friend of the original colonists was buried in Wright Square with full military honours, and a memorial cairn was erected. In the words of the Georgia Historical Society: “America would be very different today if not for him”. Unfortunately, in 1883 an earlier local politician-entrepreneur built a huge monument to himself right over Tomochichi’s grave, a move that was not appreciated by many citizens. Without destroying it, in 1899 the Colonial Dames of Georgia had a rock from Stone Mountain GA placed within the Square, with a plaque honouring this great friend of General Oglethorpe and the people of the State. Here is one of many sites telling more about him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomochichi .

As usual, you can enlarge any photo simply by clicking on it.

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Comments

[Rainyb]

Great monument!

[Rainyb]

Great shot!

[Rainyb]

Great monument!