War memorial in Savannah, Georgia
The
Civil War Memorial
in
Savannah, Georgia
, is a
monument
honoring soldiers who died during the
American Civil War
. Located in
Forsyth Park
, it consists of a 48 foot (15 m) tall shaft topped with a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier. Two bronze busts commemorating notable Confederate army officers flank the monument, which is protected by a railing, one of the only two that still stand around a monument, the other being the
Casimir Pulaski Monument
in
Monterey Square
.
Originally known as the
Confederate Monument
, it was dedicated in 1875 to honor
Confederate
soldiers who died during the Civil War. Following the
Unite the Right rally
(in
Charlottesville, Virginia
in August 2017), the city of Savannah renamed and rededicated the structure in 2018. The monument is one of the oldest and largest
Confederate monuments in Georgia
.
History
[
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]
Background and dedication
[
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]
The monument as it originally appeared, with statues of
Silence
and
Judgment
The idea for a public Confederate memorial in
Savannah, Georgia
began to gain traction in 1869, shortly after the relocation of Georgian soldiers killed at the
Battle of Gettysburg
to
Laurel Grove Cemetery
. Following this, the
Ladies' Memorial Association
in Savannah began to hold fundraising events, such as
bake sales
, raising almost $25,000 for the construction of a Confederate monument.
While the association originally planned for the monument to be located in the Confederate section of Laurel Grove Cemetery, they ultimately decided to erect it in
Forsyth Park
. This decision proved controversial with many in the general public, who pointed out that Forsyth Park was, at the time, on the outskirts of the city, but the association contended that the statue would be overshadowed by trees and surrounding architecture if it was placed in any of the
squares of Savannah
.
A public meeting at
Independent Presbyterian Church
in May 1874 settled the issue of location in favor of Forsyth Park.
The association, not wanting to employ an
architect
from any
northern states
, instead commissioned
Welsh
-born
Canadian
architect Robert Reid to design the monument.
In April 1873, Reid visited Savannah at the invitation of the association and agreed with the location of Forsyth Park.
On June 16, 1874, the
cornerstone
for the monument was placed as part of a large festival that also helped to raise more funds for its completion.
In addition, a
time capsule
was placed under the cornerstone which included, among other items, a copy of the Georgia
Ordinance of Secession
, a piece of a
flagpole
from
Fort Sumter
, a
bronze
copy of the
Seal of the Confederate States
, and buttons from the uniforms of
Confederate States Navy
commodore
Josiah Tattnall III
and
Confederate States Army
general
Joseph E. Johnston
.
Reid was given a great deal of artistic liberty in designing the monument, with the association only requiring that it feature a "life-sized figure worthy of the honor and respect due the common Confederate soldier".
In August 1873, the association agreed to a design created by Reid.
Not wanting to use materials from northern states, the monument's sponsors chose
sandstone
from
Nova Scotia
and had it worked in Canada.
The monument was completed by the fall of 1874 and shipped from Canada to Savannah via a
British
schooner
to avoid transporting the monument through northern states.
The ship arrived in Savannah on December 25, 1874, but an issue with
customs
caused a delay in the transportation of the monument to the park.
By March 1875, much of the monument had been assembled, and on May 24, 1875, the
dedication
ceremony was held.
General Johnston was the
grand marshal
for the ceremony, assisted by General
Robert H. Anderson
, who served as assistant marshal.
Julian Hartridge
served as the ceremony's
orator
,
and in his speech, he compared the efforts of the Confederate soldiers to the patriots during the American Revolution,
saying "[t]hey had been sacrificed alike in the defense of constitutional liberty".
The monument consisted of a 48 foot (15 m) shaft on top of a 6 foot (1.8 m) earthen base.
On top of this pedestal was a life-sized statue of a woman in a robe named
Silence
, and at the base of the monument was another statue of a woman called
Judgment
.
Both statues had been shipped via
New York City
.
Despite the fanfare that had accompanied the monument's dedication, public opinion soon soured towards the monument. Many felt the statue was too ornate to represent the common soldier.
Writing about the monument several decades after its unveiling,
Savannah mayor
and historian
Thomas Gamble
called the monument "a distinct disappointment" that was "too symbolic" and "lacking in charm".
Confederate Soldier
statue
[
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]
Confederate Soldier
statue
In early 1878, prominent Savannah citizen George Wymberly Jones De Renne proposed replacing
Silence
, at his own expense, with a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier. The Ladies' Memorial Association approved this idea in March and again in April, and following this, De Renne hired New York-based architect David Richards to craft the statue.
For the statue, simply called
Confederate Soldier
, De Renne and Richards wanted to depict a battle-worn soldier, which was rare, as few Confederate monuments at this time depicted them.
Former Confederate Captain Hamilton Branch assisted Richards with the statue, sending him multiple articles of clothing he had worn in battle, as well as a rifle used during the war. According to Branch, the attire presented a soldier, "as he looked when he marched and fought, and not when he danced and fluted at home".
The statue depicted the soldier at
parade rest
, which, according to De Renne, "indicates submission to the inevitable, without excluding the idea of manly struggle to avoid it".
Richards used photos of Savannah veteran A. S. Bacon as a model.
On May 22, 1879,
Confederate Soldier
was hoisted atop the shaft, with
Silence
and
Judgment
removed from the monument.
Silence
was relocated to the Confederate section of Laurel Grove Cemetery, while
Judgment
was sent to
Thomasville, Georgia
to be used as part of that town's Civil War memorial.
Additional memorials
[
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]
Bust of
Francis S. Bartow
, with the Confederate monument in the background
In 1910, two bronze busts honoring Confederate generals were moved next to the monument. The
busts
, of
Lafayette McLaws
and
Francis S. Bartow
were moved from
Chippewa Square
in Savannah to make way for the
James Oglethorpe Monument
.
Renaming and other proposed alterations
[
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]
Following the
Unite the Right rally
in
Charlottesville, Virginia
, the City of Savannah announced the creation of the Confederate Memorial Task Force on October 30, 2017. The task force's operations consisted of historic research, observational fieldwork, and a public survey to decide what, if anything, to change about the monument.
The culmination of these efforts were eight recommendations published in a report on December 22, 2017.
On February 14, these recommendations were adopted by the
city council
.
This included the relocation of the two busts to Laurel Grove Cemetery and renaming the monument from "Confederate Monument" to "Civil War Memorial".
[20]
A bronze plaque was also to be added that would read, “This memorial was originally erected in 1875 to the Confederate dead, redesigned in 1879, and rededicated in 2018 to all the dead of the American Civil War.”
On April 26, 2019, Governor
Brian Kemp
signed into effect Georgia SB77, which explicitly stated, "A monument shall not be relocated to a museum, cemetery, or mausoleum unless it was originally placed at such location."
[21]
This effectively delayed the implementation of most of the task force's recommendations. On June 18, 2020, the Savannah?Chatham County Historic Site and Monument Commission held a
special meeting
on the subject of the Civil War Memorial and passed a motion to send a letter in support of the task force recommendations and necessary budget allocations to the city council.
[22]
Vandalism
[
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]
On June 10, 2020, during the nationwide
George Floyd protests
, the bust of McLaws was vandalized, with a white hood placed over the bust and a
raised fist
spray painted on the pedestal.
Following the incident, a descendant of McLaws offered to buy and remove the statue from the park.
Almost a month later, on July 9,
Silence
in Laurel Grove Cemetery was vandalized, with the words “Silence?No More” spray painted on the statue.
In late September, the main monument, as well as the busts and nearby
sidewalk
, were graffitied in response to the
shooting of Breonna Taylor
.
See also
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References
[
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]
Bibliography
[
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]
- Carlisle, Rodney; Carlisle, Loretta (2019).
Savannah in History: A Guide to More Than 75 Sites in Historical Context
.
Rowman & Littlefield
.
ISBN
978-1-68334-028-7
– via
Google Books
.
- Confederate Memorial Task Force (December 22, 2017).
"Confederate Memorial Task Force Final Report"
.
Savannah.gov
.
Archived
from the original on November 13, 2020
. Retrieved
July 31,
2020
.
- Congedo, Mariah (September 26, 2020).
"Confederate monument in Forsyth Park vandalized"
.
WTOC-TV
.
Archived
from the original on October 7, 2020
. Retrieved
November 15,
2020
.
- Curl, Eric (February 14, 2018).
"Savannah approves changes to Confederate Memorial"
.
Savannah Morning News
.
GateHouse Media
.
Archived
from the original on June 25, 2020
. Retrieved
June 23,
2020
.
- Daiss, Timothy (2002).
Rebels, Saints, and Sinners: Savannah's Rich History and Colorful Personalities
.
Pelican Publishing
.
ISBN
978-1-4556-1089-1
– via
Google Books
.
- Guss, John Walker (2002).
Fortresses of Savannah, Georgia
.
Arcadia Publishing
.
ISBN
978-0-7385-1468-0
– via
Google Books
.
- Jordan, Michael L. (2017).
Hidden History of Civil War Savannah
.
Arcadia Publishing
.
ISBN
978-1-62585-180-2
– via
Google Books
.
- Komanecky, DeAnn (June 18, 2020).
"Family of Confederate leader offers to purchase vandalized Savannah memorial"
.
Bluffton Today
.
Gannett
.
Archived
from the original on September 23, 2020
. Retrieved
June 23,
2020
.
- McDonough, Joan (February 15, 2018).
"Savannah's Confederate monument is no more ? kind of. And more changes are coming"
.
The Island Packet
.
McClatchy
.
Archived
from the original on June 24, 2018
. Retrieved
August 1,
2020
.
- Merrigan, JoAnn (June 11, 2020).
"Confederate monument vandalized in Forsyth Park"
.
WSAV-TV
.
Nexstar Media Group
.
Archived
from the original on September 19, 2020
. Retrieved
June 12,
2020
.
- Olinger, Michael (November 4, 2017).
"Savannah is seeking the public's advice on what to do with its Confederate Memorial"
.
The Island Packet
.
McClatchy
. Retrieved
July 31,
2020
.
- Robertson, Nick (September 26, 2020).
"Confederate monuments in Savannah's Forsyth Park defaced with appeals for justice in Breonna Taylor case"
.
Savannah Morning News
.
Gannett
.
Archived
from the original on October 1, 2020
. Retrieved
November 13,
2020
.
- Savannah City Council (February 14, 2018).
"Action Minutes"
.
Savannah.gov
. Retrieved
August 1,
2020
.
- Toone, Stephanie (June 11, 2020).
"Georgia Confederate monument vandalized with white hood, black fist"
.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
.
Cox Enterprises
. Retrieved
June 12,
2020
.
- Triplett, Whip Morrison (2006).
Savannah
. Postcard History Series.
Arcadia Publishing
.
ISBN
978-0-7385-4209-6
– via
Google Books
.
- Wallace, Jake (July 9, 2020).
"Confederate monument in Laurel Grove Cemetery vandalized"
.
WTOC-TV
.
Gray Television
. Retrieved
July 20,
2020
.
- Waring, Martha Gallaudet (March 1929). Waring, Martha Gallaudet (ed.). "Charles Seton Henry Hardee's Recollections of old Savannah".
The Georgia Historical Quarterly
.
13
(1): 13?49.
JSTOR
40576070
.
- Wheeler, Frank (Summer 1998). "
"Our Confederate Dead": The Story Behind Savannah's Confederate Monument".
Georgia Historical Quarterly
.
82
(2).
Georgia Historical Society
: 382?397.
ISSN
0016-8297
.
JSTOR
40584060
.
Further reading
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External links
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]