Based in Savannah, Georgia USA, History by GPS, is where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location. You can follow us on your favorite map app like Google Earth or other products.You can find transcripts of the show and the coordinates of where these events happened at our website HistoryByGPS.com. That way you can follow the story as it goes along.... Or, you can just listen and enjoy.The show&#39;s host, JD Byous, is a historian, writer, photographer, and author who has a BA degree in journalism/photojournalism and an MA degree in American History.

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The Confederate Air Corps

The Cursed Silk Dress Balloons  32.078098° -81.082878°

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Yankee in the Garden 32.078098° -81.082878°

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Hey, everyone.We’ve got a great story for this episode.Today we’re going to talk about two historical events that were separated by 100 yards but were a decade apart in history.They also tie in geographically with two other historical events that took place on the same GPS location that we are looking at today.Those are in different episodes.Well, back in 1765, things were getting hot here in Savannah, Georgia. And we’re not talking weather kind of hot. We’re talkin’… if things had gotten out of hand, the American Revolution could have started a decade earlier… kind of hot.So… why all the fuss?Stick around, I’ll give you my take on it…I’m JD Byous, and this is History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture GPS location by GPS location.You can find transcripts of the show at HistoryByGPS.com or on the show notes for Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and other podcast platforms for the coordinates of where these events happened.As for the main location…Here are the coordinates… 32.078098° -81.082878°Okay, back to a hot time in Savannah.The first incident in 1766 was over a little paper stamp.People got really riled up over this little stamp.So why get aflutter about a small piece of paper… it only cost a few pennies?Here’s why… It incident took place on the northeastern corner of Savannah’s Historic District in what locals call the Old Fort District.Today the Charles H. Morris Center at Trustees’ Garden is on top of the bluff where Colonial Era Fort Halifax once stood.Now, this spot is just a few feet away from Savannah’s world-famous Pirates’ House Restaurant, which is in a building that sits on the location of the old fort headquarters… and may, in fact… after pouring through old records and studying the construction of the facility… I suspect a section of the structure is the same building used by the British before and during the Revolution.See, right outside of that building is where things got heated… nine years before the start of the American Revolution. Georgia and the other colonies were political tender spots that were growing into tinderboxes and were ready to blow.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Pirates-House-1939-LOC.jpg?resize=620%2C494&ssl=1" height="494" width="620">The Pirates’ House in 1939.The area outside… it was open land stretching to the gates of the town one-quarter mile to the west. The Sons of Liberty – Liberty Boys – had gathered around the fort’s walls, screaming and demanding they be let in.Captain John Milledge and his British Royal Rangers were on the parapets and were determined keeping them out.The uproar was over the British Parliament’s passing of The Stamp Tax of 1765, which put a levy on several paper items. In addition to that law, the American Revenue Tax of 1764, a Sugar Tax, had already inflamed the residents the year before. Like other imposed taxes, the paper tax mandated payment in British Pounds, not in colonial currency.See, each colony had its own monetary system with different values based on the English pounds, shillings, and pence. However, ALL colonial currencies were worth LESS than the British equivalents.On top of that, Much of the commercial currency was in barter. Barter being the practice of trading product for product. People paid with rum, or tobacco, or some other commodity.Which is one reason the tax man wanted to be paid in British pound sterling. Barter is difficult to access and tax for many reasons. And it’s difficult for those paying taxes because they have to exchange their goods for currency… first to Colonial script… which was hindered by a chronic shortage of paper or coin specie… then it was exchanged for British currency.And the total per stamp cost was around 2 shillings, 6 pence, which equalled 54 pence… pennies.<a href="https://jdbyous.net/https:/jdbyous.net/merch/dont-tax-me-bro-black-mug-15oz/" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Dont-Tax-Me-Bro-TG-AD.jpg?resize=620%2C314&ssl=1" height="314" width="620"></a>During the days leading up to the American Revolution, the “obnoxious” stamps represented taxation by the Crown. The levy covered things like playing cards, magazines, newspapers, and legal documents.Now, the stamps that were to be distributed in Georgia were stored at Fort Halifax. That’s where the hubbub came up. Royal Governor James Wright placed them there for protection against the local Sons of Liberty, who vowed to burn them.After the Liberty Boys marched on the fort. Governor Wright wrote in a report, “And on the 1st appearance of Faction &amp; Sedition I ordered in Some of the Rangers from each Post &amp; made up the Number here at Savannah 56 Privates &amp; 8 officers and with which &amp; the assistance of Such Gents as were of a Right Way of thinking I have been able in a great Measure to Support His Majesties Authority.”This guy writes crazily. This guy didn’t know what a period or a comma was.…So in other words he brought in 64 soldiers who thought the way he did and had them armed and ready to defend the stamps and the king’s authority to issue them.James Wright held the Sons of Liberty in absolute disdain. In another report, he complained that “the Liberty Boys, as they call themselves, had assembled together to the Number of about 200 &amp; were gathering fast and Some of them had declared they were determined to go to the Fort &amp; break open the Store &amp; take out &amp; destroy the Stamp’t Papers…”The fort was the stronghold of the city and the safest location for the stamps.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/stamp-act-1765_one_penny_stamp-wiki.jpg?resize=265%2C362&ssl=1" height="362" width="265">The “obnoxious” stamp.Wright’s report somewhat reduced the actual number of protestors that day. Some accounts claim six hundred Liberty Boys, many of whom had gathered in front of Wright’s home on St. James Square (or Telfair Square) decreased in number after Wright implored them to have cooler heads. It is said that half left, but three hundred remained. I’ve read that over 800 were waiting in a city common… so we’re talking a lot of men in a town of about thirty-five hundred people. That’s about 22 percent of the population and a much larger percentage of the men in town even allowing for guys from out of town.<a href="https://jdbyous.net/?p=8154#_edn1" rel="nofollow">[i]</a>So Wright had the stamps loaded onto a boat and carried to Cockspur Island at the mouth of the Savannah River.By the way… Remember that the show notes and GPS locations for all of the spots mentioned in this episode can be found in the show notes or at History By GPS dot com. While you’re there check out our books and merchandise. I think you’ll like our line of products from Savannah and its history… including some that highlight this episode.And leave a comment. I’d love to hear your opinion or information that other listeners would like to hear.Now… in 1776 the cry, “No taxation without representation,” spread through the colonies like a chill up King George’s spine. See, Americans were already paying other taxes, but they paid in currency from their own colony. So, having to convert the script into British pounds, was an excessive burden.The whole uproar was initiated and fueled by the actions of British elites who wouldn’t give Parliamentary representation to the Colonies and did not care if the Americans were upset. After all.. they were the British and they were in charge. The Americans, they thought, were merely peasants working for the homeland.See, the whole taxation hubbub back then was over the financing of the French and Indian War in America a few years earlier. It was an extension of Britain’s Seven Years War with France.England said that it was by their grace that they saved the Colonies during the conflict. But Americans believed and knew they could take care of themselves. They had done so for generations and believed that there had been no need for British troops.For the time, foreign enemies were elsewhere, and Americans had always protected themselves from local threats.An irony was that American colonists considered themselves British citizens, but Parliament would not give them representation. America’s natural resources made the colonies a far more prosperous land than all of the British Isles, and everyone on both sides of the Atlantic knew it.So, Savannah… Trustees’ Garden… and Fort Halifax were swept up in the conflict.Now, where this uproar happened, the fort is gone today, but others replaced it… Fort Savannah, Fort Prevost, and Fort Wayne, Wayne being the last one.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1-1-1-Fort-Wayne-3d-view-SW-inset-copy.jpg?resize=620%2C384&ssl=1" height="384" width="620">Drawing of Fort Wayne looking southwest. The bombproof well, lower left, is still part of the gas works terrace that is not part of the Morris Center.And here’s a little side note for your trivia collection… Savannahians usually call the current brick wall the Fort Wayne Wall. Is it Fort Wayne? In actuality… it is… and it isn’t. And the confusion is justified. The building of the current brick wall in 1853 destroyed the older earthen fort named for General “Mad” Anthony Wayne. After the bricks were laid, the dirt ramparts of the real Fort Wayne were shoveled into the wall’s interior to create a terrace for gasholders.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1-Gas-Works-Wall-1939-LOC.jpg?resize=620%2C496&ssl=1" height="496" width="620">The gas works wall in 1939. Cannon muzzles can be seen along the right fence line.During that work, laborers unearthed three old cannons. Gas workers later placed the big guns along the wall, making it look like an old fort. Everyone in town knew the fort was located on that spot, so generations later concluded that the brick wall must be the fort. After all, the cannons were there to prove it. The legend continues.<a href="https://jdbyous.net/?p=8154#_edn2" rel="nofollow">[ii]</a>But… the wall’s purpose was to create a terrace to support gas holders and other manufactured coal-gas equipment at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and was built by the Savannah Gaslight Company.Now, to confuse the issue, even more, the area just inside the wall arch really was part of old Fort Wayne. … If you want to see other photos go to the History By GPS website and it out.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Fort-Wayne-Footprint.jpg?resize=620%2C422&ssl=1" height="422" width="620">The Fort Wayne footprint with the bombproof location. That part is the sunken well-section that served as a bombproof… a reinforced area where soldiers would go to escape enemy artillery. So that’s why this area is Fort Wayne and not Fort Wayne.When they filled in the interior of the terrace, they covered up remnants of the old powder magazine that is the location of our GPS coordinates for this episode.The powder stronghold at Fort Hallifax was the site where in May of 1775, American patriots formed a night raid to capture Governor Wright’s munitions after a clandestine meeting at Dr. Noble W. Jones’s home. Word of the hostilities at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, had reached Savannah.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Fort-HalifaxFootprint.jpg?resize=620%2C422&ssl=1" height="422" width="620">Fort Halifax footprint c. 1766.Wright had confidence in the brick structure’s security and thought it was safe from vandalism. After all… it was situated twelve feet under the ground, closed with iron doors and locks. He incorrectly deduced that it was impregnable. Georgia historian Hugh McCall wrote that the magazine held a considerable supply of ammunition.But so substantial was the structure of the magazine, Governor Wright decided it useless and unnecessary to post a guard for its protection.McCall wrote, “The excited Revolutionists all over the land cried aloud for powder. Impressed with the necessity of securing the contents of this magazine for future operations, [they] quietly assembling and hastily arranged a plan for operations.”Liberty Boys who were in on the raid included Dr. Noble Wimberly Jones, Joseph Habersham, Edward Telfair, William Gibbons, Joseph Clay, Peter Tondee, John Milledge, Jr, Andrew Elton Wells, along with “some other gentlemen, most of them members of the council of safety and all zealous in the cause of American Liberty.”<a href="https://jdbyous.net/?p=8154#_edn3" rel="nofollow">[iii]</a> <img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1-1-d2-Halifax-John-Milledge.jpg?resize=449%2C576&ssl=1" height="576" width="449">Georgia Governor John Milledge, Jr.According to Governor Wright, the total was about 300 pounds of powder, but others reported upwards of 600 pounds were stolen. A portion of the powder made its way to Beaufort, South Carolina. The remainder was reported as having been sent to Boston and used in the Battle of Bunker Hill.Now, did you notice the name of one of the Liberty Boys? It’s the same name as the Ranger Captain who guarded the stamps a decade earlier… John Milledge… Junior was the son of the Ranger Captain, John Milledge. He had been a boy when the stamp protest took place, but as the call for war increased, he sided with the American Rebels.His family is like many in Georgia. We always hear stories about the American Civil War in the 1860s as being a fought brother against brother.In Georgia, in the 1700s, the Revolution was fought… father against son.John Milledge, Junior, would go on to become the 26th Governor of the new State of Georgia, as well a US Congressman and a US Senator.Now… another rabbit trail.I find it interesting that Savannah and Boston have had some serious ties over the years. Savannahians sent food to Boston after a 1790s earthquake, and Boston sent food to Savannah at the end of the Civil War.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Boston-Earthquake-NewburyportWoodcut-768x514-2.png?resize=620%2C389&ssl=1" height="389" width="620">Woodcut of a Boston Earthquake.Over the years, the people of the two cities often rendered aid to each other. The reason was because of trade and shipping routes, the cities had close commercial ties, and the well-being of one would impact the commerce of the other.In fact the last Liberty Boy that I mentione in the list, Andrew Elton Wells, was brother-in-law to Patriot and Liberty Boy Samuel Adams of Boston-Tea-Party fame.I talk about that in the History By GPS episode Tea Party, Shmee Party which is about the Savannah Sugar Party of 1775. That event happened a few weeks earlier than the powder magazine raid.The Savannah Sons of Liberty and their adverse view of taxation by the Brits provided the spark and fire that propelled the American Revolution into existence.Parliament and the Royal Governor’s enforcement of import duty on sugar, molasses, and other commodities enflamed the unrepresented citizens. Until then, taxes and duties were the exceptions rather than the rule.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Samuel-Adams-drawing-1-LOC-service-pnp-cph-3c00000-3c02000-3c02200-3c02271v.jpg?resize=609%2C762&ssl=1" height="762" width="609">Listen to this… here’s what Samuel Adams wrote, “For if our Trade may be taxed, why not our Lands? Why not the Produce of our Lands &amp; everything we possess or make use of?” Also, he emphasized the colonists’ belief that they were British citizens when he wrote, “This we apprehend annihilates our Charter Right to govern &amp; tax ourselves – It strikes our British Privileges, which as we have never forfeited them. We hold in common with our fellow subjects who are natives of Britain… If Taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal Representation … are we not reduced from the Character of free Subjects to the miserable State of tributary Slaves?” Things have changed.But the tax itself wasn’t the main complaint. The main issue was the absence of representation in Parliament.England would pass laws on the colonies without Colonial input and did not care about their reactions.It was the proverbial slap in the face for the Americans who considered themselves Englishmen and freemen rather than people of another station. But sentiments were changing, and the American Revolution was on the horizon.Now, as far as that tax of two shillings and six pence… 54 pence… 54 cents… that was equivalent to a week’s wages for the average worker.And that’s a lot. It could make a person fight.Unless you live in 21st-century America… Today we pay more than that in federal, state, and sales tax.Makes you think… Doesn’t it.So, if you didn’t already know this story… now… you know.So… Don’t Tax Me Bro! We need a tee shirt that says that… Oh, yeah… we have one in our store at HistoryByGPS.com. Go get yourself one and join the cause of liberty.Remember to hit the like button and subscribe. Also, follow so you will be notified when new episodes come out.See you next time.Bye.————————————————GPS CoordinatesPowder Magazine 32.078567° -81.083578°Liberty Boys protest spot 32.078406° -81.084128°James Wright’s House 32.078810° -81.094893°Photo creditsLibrary of CongressWikipediaJD Byous CollectionBibliography<a href="https://jdbyous.net/?p=8154#_ednref1" rel="nofollow">[i]</a> Barratt Wilkins, A View of Savannah on the Eve of the Revolution, The Georgia Historical Quarterly, vol 54, No.4, p 587.<h5><a href="https://jdbyous.net/?p=8154#_ednref2" rel="nofollow">[ii]</a> Edward A. Vincent, Vincent’s Subdivision map of the City of Savannah, Chatham County, State of Georgia: shewing all the public and private buildings, lots, wards, etc., together with all the latest improvements, from surveys and authentic records, 1853.</h5><a href="https://jdbyous.net/?p=8154#_ednref3" rel="nofollow">[iii]</a> Hugh McCall, The History of Georgia containing Brief Sketches of the Most Remarkable Events Up and to the Present Day (1784), Caldwell Publishers, 1909, pp 286: Illustrated History of south Boston, by C. Bancroft Gillespie, 1901, pp132Posted by<a href="https://jdbyous.net/author/jamesbyous/" rel="nofollow">SoutheasternBound.net</a><a href="https://jdbyous.net/?p=8154" rel="nofollow">March 6, 2023</a>Posted in<a href="https://jdbyous.net/Products/uncategorized/" rel="nofollow">Uncategorized</a>

Liberty Boys in Georgia

Hey, everyone.

We’ve got a great story for this episode.

Today we’re going to talk about two historical events that were separated by 100 yards but were a decade apart in history.

They also tie in geographically with two other historical events that took place on the same GPS location that we are looking at today.

Those are in different episodes.

Well, back in 1765, things were getting hot here in Savannah, Georgia. And we’re not talking weather kind of hot. We’re talkin’… if things had gotten out of hand, the American Revolution could have started a decade earlier… kind of hot.

So… why all the fuss?

Stick around, I’ll give you my take on it…

I’m JD Byous, and this is History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture GPS location by GPS location.

You can find transcripts of the show at HistoryByGPS.com or on the show notes for Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and other podcast platforms for the coordinates of where these events happened.

As for the main location…

Here are the coordinates… 32.078098° -81.082878°

Okay, back to a hot time in Savannah.

The first incident in 1766 was over a little paper stamp.

People got really riled up over this little stamp.

So why get aflutter about a small piece of paper… it only cost a few pennies?

Here’s why… It incident took place on the northeastern corner of Savannah’s Historic District in what locals call the Old Fort District.

Today the Charles H. Morris Center at Trustees’ Garden is on top of the bluff where Colonial Era Fort Halifax once stood.

Now, this spot is just a few feet away from Savannah’s world-famous Pirates’ House Restaurant, which is in a building that sits on the location of the old fort headquarters… and may, in fact… after pouring through old records and studying the construction of the facility… I suspect a section of the structure is the same building used by the British before and during the Revolution.

See, right outside of that building is where things got heated… nine years before the start of the American Revolution. Georgia and the other colonies were political tender spots that were growing into tinderboxes and were ready to blow.


The Pirates’ House in 1939.
The area outside… it was open land stretching to the gates of the town one-quarter mile to the west. The Sons of Liberty – Liberty Boys – had gathered around the fort’s walls, screaming and demanding they be let in.

Captain John Milledge and his British Royal Rangers were on the parapets and were determined keeping them out.

The uproar was over the British Parliament’s passing of The Stamp Tax of 1765, which put a levy on several paper items. In addition to that law, the American Revenue Tax of 1764, a Sugar Tax, had already inflamed the residents the year before. Like other imposed taxes, the paper tax mandated payment in British Pounds, not in colonial currency.

See, each colony had its own monetary system with different values based on the English pounds, shillings, and pence. However, ALL colonial currencies were worth LESS than the British equivalents.

On top of that, Much of the commercial currency was in barter. Barter being the practice of trading product for product. People paid with rum, or tobacco, or some other commodity.

Which is one reason the tax man wanted to be paid in British pound sterling. Barter is difficult to access and tax for many reasons. And it’s difficult for those paying taxes because they have to exchange their goods for currency… first to Colonial script… which was hindered by a chronic shortage of paper or coin specie… then it was exchanged for British currency.

And the total per stamp cost was around 2 shillings, 6 pence, which equalled 54 pence… pennies.


During the days leading up to the American Revolution, the “obnoxious” stamps represented taxation by the Crown. The levy covered things like playing cards, magazines, newspapers, and legal documents.

Now, the stamps that were to be distributed in Georgia were stored at Fort Halifax. That’s where the hubbub came up.

 Royal Governor James Wright placed them there for protection against the local Sons of Liberty, who vowed to burn them.

After the Liberty Boys marched on the fort. Governor Wright wrote in a report, “And on the 1st appearance of Faction & Sedition I ordered in Some of the Rangers from each Post & made up the Number here at Savannah 56 Privates & 8 officers and with which & the assistance of Such Gents as were of a Right Way of thinking I have been able in a great Measure to Support His Majesties Authority.”

This guy writes crazily. This guy didn’t know what a period or a comma was.

…So in other words he brought in 64 soldiers who thought the way he did and had them armed and ready to defend the stamps and the king’s authority to issue them.

James Wright held the Sons of Liberty in absolute disdain. In another report, he complained that “the Liberty Boys, as they call themselves, had assembled together to the Number of about 200 & were gathering fast and Some of them had declared they were determined to go to the Fort & break open the Store & take out & destroy the Stamp’t Papers…”

The fort was the stronghold of the city and the safest location for the stamps.


The “obnoxious” stamp.
Wright’s report somewhat reduced the actual number of protestors that day. Some accounts claim six hundred Liberty Boys, many of whom had gathered in front of Wright’s home on St. James Square (or Telfair Square) decreased in number after Wright implored them to have cooler heads. It is said that half left, but three hundred remained. I’ve read that over 800 were waiting in a city common… so we’re talking a lot of men in a town of about thirty-five hundred people. That’s about 22 percent of the population and a much larger percentage of the men in town even allowing for guys from out of town.[i]

So Wright had the stamps loaded onto a boat and carried to Cockspur Island at the mouth of the Savannah River.

By the way… Remember that the show notes and GPS locations for all of the spots mentioned in this episode can be found in the show notes or at History By GPS dot com. While you’re there check out our books and merchandise. I think you’ll like our line of products from Savannah and its history… including some that highlight this episode.

And leave a comment. I’d love to hear your opinion or information that other listeners would like to hear.

Now… in 1776 the cry, “No taxation without representation,” spread through the colonies like a chill up King George’s spine. See, Americans were already paying other taxes, but they paid in currency from their own colony. So, having to convert the script into British pounds, was an excessive burden.

The whole uproar was initiated and fueled by the actions of British elites who wouldn’t give Parliamentary representation to the Colonies and did not care if the Americans were upset. After all.. they were the British and they were in charge. The Americans, they thought, were merely peasants working for the homeland.

See, the whole taxation hubbub back then was over the financing of the French and Indian War in America a few years earlier. It was an extension of Britain’s Seven Years War with France.

England said that it was by their grace that they saved the Colonies during the conflict. But Americans believed and knew they could take care of themselves. They had done so for generations and believed that there had been no need for British troops.

For the time, foreign enemies were elsewhere, and Americans had always protected themselves from local threats.

An irony was that American colonists considered themselves British citizens, but Parliament would not give them representation. America’s natural resources made the colonies a far more prosperous land than all of the British Isles, and everyone on both sides of the Atlantic knew it.

So, Savannah… Trustees’ Garden… and Fort Halifax were swept up in the conflict.

Now, where this uproar happened, the fort is gone today, but others replaced it… Fort Savannah, Fort Prevost, and Fort Wayne, Wayne being the last one.


Drawing of Fort Wayne looking southwest. The bombproof well, lower left, is still part of the gas works terrace that is not part of the Morris Center.
And here’s a little side note for your trivia collection… Savannahians usually call the current brick wall the Fort Wayne Wall. Is it Fort Wayne?

 In actuality… it is… and it isn’t. And the confusion is justified. The building of the current brick wall in 1853 destroyed the older earthen fort named for General “Mad” Anthony Wayne. After the bricks were laid, the dirt ramparts of the real Fort Wayne were shoveled into the wall’s interior to create a terrace for gasholders.


The gas works wall in 1939. Cannon muzzles can be seen along the right fence line.
During that work, laborers unearthed three old cannons. Gas workers later placed the big guns along the wall, making it look like an old fort. Everyone in town knew the fort was located on that spot, so generations later concluded that the brick wall must be the fort. After all, the cannons were there to prove it. The legend continues.[ii]

But… the wall’s purpose was to create a terrace to support gas holders and other manufactured coal-gas equipment at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and was built by the Savannah Gaslight Company.

Now, to confuse the issue, even more, the area just inside the wall arch really was part of old Fort Wayne. … If you want to see other photos go to the History By GPS website and it out.


The Fort Wayne footprint with the bombproof location.
 That part is the sunken well-section that served as a bombproof… a reinforced area where soldiers would go to escape enemy artillery. So that’s why this area is Fort Wayne and not Fort Wayne.

When they filled in the interior of the terrace, they covered up remnants of the old powder magazine that is the location of our GPS coordinates for this episode.

The powder stronghold at Fort Hallifax was the site where in May of 1775, American patriots formed a night raid to capture Governor Wright’s munitions after a clandestine meeting at Dr. Noble W. Jones’s home. Word of the hostilities at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, had reached Savannah.


Fort Halifax footprint c. 1766.
Wright had confidence in the brick structure’s security and thought it was safe from vandalism. After all… it was situated twelve feet under the ground, closed with iron doors and locks. He incorrectly deduced that it was impregnable. Georgia historian Hugh McCall wrote that the magazine held a considerable supply of ammunition.

But so substantial was the structure of the magazine, Governor Wright decided it useless and unnecessary to post a guard for its protection.

McCall wrote, “The excited Revolutionists all over the land cried aloud for powder. Impressed with the necessity of securing the contents of this magazine for future operations, [they] quietly assembling and hastily arranged a plan for operations.”

Liberty Boys who were in on the raid included Dr. Noble Wimberly Jones, Joseph Habersham, Edward Telfair, William Gibbons, Joseph Clay, Peter Tondee, John Milledge, Jr, Andrew Elton Wells, along with “some other gentlemen, most of them members of the council of safety and all zealous in the cause of American Liberty.”[iii] 


Georgia Governor John Milledge, Jr.
According to Governor Wright, the total was about 300 pounds of powder, but others reported upwards of 600 pounds were stolen. A portion of the powder made its way to Beaufort, South Carolina. The remainder was reported as having been sent to Boston and used in the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Now, did you notice the name of one of the Liberty Boys? It’s the same name as the Ranger Captain who guarded the stamps a decade earlier… John Milledge… Junior was the son of the Ranger Captain, John Milledge. He had been a boy when the stamp protest took place, but as the call for war increased, he sided with the American Rebels.

His family is like many in Georgia. We always hear stories about the American Civil War in the 1860s as being a fought brother against brother.

In Georgia, in the 1700s, the Revolution was fought… father against son.

John Milledge, Junior,  would go on to become the 26th Governor of the new State of Georgia, as well a US Congressman and a US Senator.

Now… another rabbit trail.

I find it interesting that Savannah and Boston have had some serious ties over the years. Savannahians sent food to Boston after a 1790s earthquake, and Boston sent food to Savannah at the end of the Civil War.


Woodcut of a Boston Earthquake.
Over the years, the people of the two cities often rendered aid to each other. The reason was because of trade and shipping routes, the cities had close commercial ties, and the well-being of one would impact the commerce of the other.

In fact the last Liberty Boy that I mentione in the list, Andrew Elton Wells, was brother-in-law to Patriot and Liberty Boy Samuel Adams of Boston-Tea-Party fame.

I talk about that in the History By GPS episode Tea Party, Shmee Party which is about the Savannah Sugar Party of 1775. That event happened a few weeks earlier than the powder magazine raid.

The Savannah Sons of Liberty and their adverse view of taxation by the Brits provided the spark and fire that propelled the American Revolution into existence.

Parliament and the Royal Governor’s enforcement of import duty on sugar, molasses, and other commodities enflamed the unrepresented citizens. Until then, taxes and duties were the exceptions rather than the rule.


Listen to this… here’s what Samuel Adams wrote, “For if our Trade may be taxed, why not our Lands? Why not the Produce of our Lands & everything we possess or make use of?” Also, he emphasized the colonists’ belief that they were British citizens when he wrote, “This we apprehend annihilates our Charter Right to govern & tax ourselves – It strikes our British Privileges, which as we have never forfeited them. We hold in common with our fellow subjects who are natives of Britain… If Taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal Representation … are we not reduced from the Character of free Subjects to the miserable State of tributary Slaves?” 

Things have changed.

But the tax itself wasn’t the main complaint. The main issue was the absence of representation in Parliament.

England would pass laws on the colonies without Colonial input and did not care about their reactions.

It was the proverbial slap in the face for the Americans who considered themselves Englishmen and freemen rather than people of another station. But sentiments were changing, and the American Revolution was on the horizon.

Now, as far as that tax of two shillings and six pence… 54 pence… 54 cents… that was equivalent to a week’s wages for the average worker.

And that’s a lot. It could make a person fight.

Unless you live in 21st-century America… Today we pay more than that in federal, state, and sales tax.

Makes you think… Doesn’t it.

So, if you didn’t already know this story… now… you know.

So… Don’t Tax Me Bro! We need a tee shirt that says that… Oh, yeah… we have one in our store at HistoryByGPS.com. Go get yourself one and join the cause of liberty.

Remember to hit the like button and subscribe. Also, follow so you will be notified when new episodes come out.

See you next time.

Bye.

————————————————

GPS Coordinates

Powder Magazine 32.078567° -81.083578°

Liberty Boys protest spot 32.078406° -81.084128°

James Wright’s House 32.078810° -81.094893°

Photo credits

Library of Congress

Wikipedia

JD Byous Collection

Bibliography

[i] Barratt Wilkins, A View of Savannah on the Eve of the Revolution, The Georgia Historical Quarterly, vol 54, No.4, p 587.

[ii] Edward A. Vincent, Vincent’s Subdivision map of the City of Savannah, Chatham County, State of Georgia: shewing all the public and private buildings, lots, wards, etc., together with all the latest improvements, from surveys and authentic records, 1853.
[iii] Hugh McCall, The History of Georgia containing Brief Sketches of the Most Remarkable Events Up and to the Present Day (1784), Caldwell Publishers, 1909, pp 286: Illustrated History of south Boston, by C. Bancroft Gillespie, 1901, pp132

Posted bySoutheasternBound.netMarch 6, 2023Posted inUncategorized

Don't Tax Me Bro! 32.078098° -81.082878°

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2023/2/7/2/07ebc793-8fa0-40a6-b1da-62fac841b7e5_7_the_hurricane_mp3.mp3

32.079849° -81.091614°<img src="https://jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/hurricane-pix-1024x731.jpg">Hey, everyone!Is this a great day for a podcast, or what?No storms… no bad weather… at least not for me where I am.Sorry if you are. You know the old saying… If you don’t like the weather stick around… It’ll change.So stick around I’m going to tell you a story about a bad day… weather wiseSee, in Savannah and South Georgia, back in 1881, they had a really bad day.A devil of a hurricane…The carnage started several miles south of the city where at the sportsman’s club on Wolf Island, the home of the club’s caretaker, Mr. Stokes, was ripped from the foundation and pushed into the river. Floodwaters crashed in the doors and windows and swept his wife and children into the river. His entire family drowned. Only Stokes survived and walked over sixty miles to Savannah to report the event.I’m JD Byous. Welcome to History by GPS, where we travel through history and culture GPS location by GPS location. So, click on your favorite map app and follow along. Today I’m going to give you a general GPS location which right in the main square of the city, Johnson Square, then, you can find the other places mentioned on our website, HistoryByGPS.com.Now… that location in Johnson Square is where the weather station kiosk used to sit… before the storm… and the coordinates are32.079861° -81.091488°<img src="https://jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Johnson-square-hurricane-1024x699.jpg"> From East Broad Street to West Broad Street few buildings escaped the fury and damage of the storm.” As you may know, West Broad is now MLK Blvd should you be visiting Savannah…This hurricane predated the naming of storms by almost seventy years. In 1881 it was called simply “Hurricane Five” and was only a class 2 hurricane, but Seven hundred people died in the area around the city, with 355 of that total within the city limits. It was one of the deadliest hurricanes in American history.<a href="#_edn1" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>The Mayor’s Report for the year reported that “A hurricane of unparalleled violence occurred on the 27th of August last, doing great damage to property in the city and vicinity. … and all of the buildings belonging to the city were more or less injured… The fire alarm telegraph wires were broken in many places and leveled to the ground, and a great number of shade trees blown down. The fences and railings enclosing the parks and squares and at Laurel Grove Cemetery were partially blown down and crushed by falling trees.”As one newspaper described, the Class 2 hurricane that hit Savannah in August 1881 was one of “unparalleled violence… all of the buildings belonging to the city were more or less injured.” And almost all of the buildings in the city had wind or rain damage. In the Atlantic, it started as a tropical storm and rolled to the northeast through the Lesser Antilles Island on August 22, and then it bounced up… off of Florida and headed to Savannah. By August 24, it reached hurricane strength. On August 27, it hit land directly at the mouth of the Ogeechee River at high tide, pushing a fifteen-foot storm surge.In Savannah, wind gusts blew the city wind gauge away after recording a wind speed of 80 miles per hour. The intense damage resulted because Hurricane Five, though it was only estimated to be class two in strength, well, it came to Savannah… and it stayed for two days.Hmmmm… that’s about the same length of time the tourists hang around here.<a href="https://jdbyous.net/https:/jdbyous.net/merch/black-mug-15oz-8/" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Hurricane-story-ad.jpg"></a>Anyway…Small but slow storms can do as much or more damage as larger storms.After wreaking havoc on the area, the hurricane beelined due west.At the old savannah Morning News building on the corner of Bay and Whitfield Streets, the squall peeled the roof like a key-rolled tin top on a sardine can. The damage was severe because the water came through the ceiling into the editorial and make-up departments, then into the press and paper storage rooms. As one Alabama newspaper described, “The compositors finished their work ankle-deep in water.”<a href="#_edn2" rel="nofollow">[2]</a> The news must get out you know…At City Market, the buildings sustained damage – many of those structures are still there – Also damaged was the old Exchange buildings that stood where the gold-domed City Hall stands today. The trees around the area fell and smashed fences, business signs, and lampposts, strewing trash debris across the streets and intersections. <img src="https://jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Johnson-square-hurricane-1-1024x699.jpg">Johnson Square in Savannah where the weather kiosk was located.The black communities along the waterways were hardest hit. David Bowens, his wife, and his children were washed into the river, -- all of them drowned. South of Savannah, on Shad Island, just downstream from Fort McAllister on the Ogeechee River, Henry Douglas’ wife and four children were lost when the surge rose and swept them into the marsh. Other huts on the waterways suffered the same fate. All of the residents of Douglas’ small fishing settlement died in the storm, with the exception of Douglas.The plantation of former Fort McAllister commander Major George W. Anderson on the Ogeechee Road was hit with winds strong enough to blow down his barn, killing two of his horses that were inside. Some of you history buffs may remember that that plantation was where Union General William Tecumseh Sherman made his headquarters when he surrounded Savannah in 1864. I’ll talk about that incident and the capture of Fort McAllister in another episode.Oh, I forgot. Remember to follow the podcast that way you’ll be notified when new episodes come out. If you’re watching on YouTube, subscribe. You know how to do it… click the button.Also go to HistoryByGPS.com where you’ll find other GPS locations mentioned on this episode. You’ll also find our merchandise and books. We have tee-shirts, cups… other things… as well as products mentioned on this episode and others that highlight Savannah, Georgia.Oh, if you have any information you want to give, or state your opinion on this topic, please go to the comments and write it… it’s on the website.I’d love to hear from you.<img src="https://jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Overall-1881-hurricane-damage-2-1024x699.jpg">Overview of damaged area around Savanah.Now back to newspaper articles.The Round House plantation that Joseph Clay owned was totally demolished.All of the buildings and many of the animals were blown into the river and washed away.<a href="#_ftn1" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> One article on the storm claimed that on August 26th, the Savannah Morning News had an article about the storm, but the U.S. Signal Corps issued no official warning.August 27 was a Saturday, and despite some squally weather in the morning, many people went to Tybee Island to the beach, and to escape the heat. The fresh northeasterly wind may have seemed welcome after a long summer of steamy heat in the city.The early morning ferries had brought hundreds to the Tybee wharf, where a mule-drawn streetcar drove people to the beach and the Ocean House, a 40-room hotel with a large, popular restaurant.”But by lunchtime, it was too late. The water was too rough for the ferries to run… and, at that time, there was no road from Tybee Island to the mainland.Another article said, In Savannah itself, the damage was horrific. Almost all buildings lost their roofs. Including major buildings like the Savannah Cotton Exchange, the office of the Savannah Morning News, and the U.S. Signal Corps. When the U.S. Signal Corps building was destroyed, along with the weather instruments, the barometer was 29.08”, and the wind was 85 mph, but the storm continued to worsen.All of the accounts of the 1881 hurricane stress the extreme “violence” of the wind in the city.Savannah proper was out of reach of the tides because it sits around forty feet about the river, so the tidal surge couldn’t reach it on the high bluff. But the winds were enough to cause terrible damage on their own. The death toll in Savannah itself was 335 from collapsing buildings, flying tin roofs, collapsing chimneys, flying glass, and falling trees.As accounts from outlying communities came in, and from the poor black housing, the low marshes and riverbanks, and from Tybee, the death toll on land surpassed 700.Experience has shown us that deaths from hurricanes, especially in poor, outlying black communities, were poorly documented. This has as has a similar study of the 1893 Sea Islands hurricane.<img src="https://jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Lazaretto-and-Tybee-locations-1024x699.jpg">Tybee Island beach and the Lazaretto Creek Station to the west.The Station at Lazaretto Creek on Tybee Island became a ruin of tangled lumber, sails, lines, and palm limbs.The wreckage included the wharf, the boats, the houses, the furniture, and all of the medical supplies.The crew of the Spanish bark, Marietta, abandoned ship earlier in the night and rode out the storm hanging from the rafters hospital. Later, the men found that their ship was still afloat, but the mast and all of the rigging had been blown away.Residents in Savannah weathered the storm in darkness because, as I mentioned earlier, the gas streetlight globes were smashed by the debris that found them in the path. The damage was the worst that any of the oldest city residents could remember. Even the devastating storm of 1854 brought less damage than the long-duration winds of that 1881 tempest.<a href="#_edn3" rel="nofollow">[3]</a>  Leaving Savannah, the devil storm moved westward, damaging forest and property only to fizzle out in Mississippi, two states to the west.And things changed at over at Trustees’ Garden, though it was unchronicled in newspapers. In the wake of the destruction, the renovation of the gasworks’ retort building changed it into the style we see today, holding the same five-bay footprint. A stone plaque on the northwest corner of the Morris Center across from the Pirates’ House Restaurant, commemorates the event, suggests a near-total rebuild. That old building dates from about 1853… at least in part… and was the retort building where they cooked coal to make streetlight gas for about one hundred years. After the hurricane, a more substantial structure wrapped around the columns to form a shell-like cover making the lighter-colored brick columns of the building seen today, should you visit there.Across Morris Park to the southeast, on the west end of the old Kehoe Iron Works main foundry, the pillars for the enclosure hid evidence of the same catastrophic damage...for over a century.A few years ago, I was a history consultant for the renovation project at Trustees’ Garden. I found that a lot of hurricane damage from 1881 was hidden under façades of bricks and mortar.The hurricane’s damage was finally revealed in the archaeological record 134 years later while… very talented… artisans repaired and renewed the structure. You could see the old, shattered wall and pillar sections under the newer brickwork that stands today.Mother Nature and old buildings are a lot like people… I suppose.Time tends to cover and plaster over old damage… and usually, that damage is still buried under layers of tears and patches and Band-aids. For buildings physical and structural. For people, it’s physical and psychological.As for the devil storm… it left Savannah, it moved westward, damaging forest and property to finally fizzle out over in Mississippi on August 29.Sooo… if you didn’t know already know this story….. now you know.Don’t forget to check out our books and merch at HistoryByGPS.com and leave a comment… I’d love to hear from you.See you next time.Bye.CoordinatesJohnson Square weather kiosk 32.079849° -81.091614°Wolf Island GA 31.348359° -81.304902°Shad Island 31.886639° -81.163969°Savannah Morning News Building GPS 32.081118° -81.092423°Round House Plantation 31.925800° -81.276473° Later the land was owned by automobile tycoon, Henry Ford.Station at Lazaretto Creek 32.014094° -80.882525°Trustees’ Garden 32.078480° -81.083407°<a href="#_ftnref1" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> http://neh.ghslearn.com/interactive-case-study/primary-sources/primary-source-4/<a href="#_ednref1" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> The National Hurricane Center began giving them names like Irma and Andrew in 1950. https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames_history.shtml<a href="#_ednref2" rel="nofollow">[2]</a> Swept to Death By the Gale, Great Destruction and Loss of Live in Savannah, Birmingham Iron Age, Birmingham, Alabama, Sept 8, 1881.<a href="#_ednref3" rel="nofollow">[3]</a> Mayors Report, City of Savannah, Edward C. Anderson, 1855: The Storm at Savannah, Further Particulars, Southern Weekly Banner, Athens, Georgia, Tue Sept 6, 1881, p 1: Wikipedia, 1881 Atlantic Hurricane Season, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1881_Atlantic_hurricane season: Donna R Causey, The 1881 hurricane of Savannah, Georgia nearly wiped out the town, Days Gone By, daysgonby.me, August 27, 2016.

32.079849° -81.091614°


Hey, everyone!

Is this a great day for a podcast, or what?

No storms… no bad weather… at least not for me where I am.

Sorry if you are. You know the old saying… If you don’t like the weather stick around… It’ll change.

So stick around I’m going to tell you a story about a bad day… weather wise

See, in Savannah and South Georgia, back in 1881, they had a really bad day.

A devil of a hurricane…

The carnage started several miles south of the city where at the sportsman’s club on Wolf Island, the home of the club’s caretaker, Mr. Stokes, was ripped from the foundation and pushed into the river. Floodwaters crashed in the doors and windows and swept his wife and children into the river. His entire family drowned. Only Stokes survived and walked over sixty miles to Savannah to report the event.

I’m JD Byous. Welcome to History by GPS, where we travel through history and culture GPS location by GPS location. So, click on your favorite map app and follow along. Today I’m going to give you a general GPS location which right in the main square of the city, Johnson Square, then, you can find the other places mentioned on our website, HistoryByGPS.com.

Now…  that location in Johnson Square is where the weather station kiosk used to sit… before the storm… and the coordinates are

32.079861° -81.091488°

 

From East Broad Street to West Broad Street few buildings escaped the fury and damage of the storm.” As you may know, West Broad is now MLK Blvd should you be visiting Savannah…

This hurricane predated the naming of storms by almost seventy years. In 1881 it was called simply “Hurricane Five” and was only a class 2 hurricane, but Seven hundred people died in the area around the city, with 355 of that total within the city limits. It was one of the deadliest hurricanes in American history.[1]

The Mayor’s Report for the year reported that “A hurricane of unparalleled violence occurred on the 27th of August last, doing great damage to property in the city and vicinity. … and all of the buildings belonging to the city were more or less injured… The fire alarm telegraph wires were broken in many places and leveled to the ground, and a great number of shade trees blown down. The fences and railings enclosing the parks and squares and at Laurel Grove Cemetery were partially blown down and crushed by falling trees.”

As one newspaper described, the Class 2 hurricane that hit Savannah in August 1881 was one of “unparalleled violence… all of the buildings belonging to the city were more or less injured.” And almost all of the buildings in the city had wind or rain damage. 

In the Atlantic, it started as a tropical storm and rolled to the northeast through the Lesser Antilles Island on August 22, and then it bounced up… off of Florida and headed to Savannah. By August 24, it reached hurricane strength. On August 27, it hit land directly at the mouth of the Ogeechee River at high tide, pushing a fifteen-foot storm surge.

In Savannah, wind gusts blew the city wind gauge away after recording a wind speed of 80 miles per hour. The intense damage resulted because Hurricane Five, though it was only estimated to be class two in strength, well, it came to Savannah… and it stayed for two days.

Hmmmm… that’s about the same length of time the tourists hang around here.

Anyway…

Small but slow storms can do as much or more damage as larger storms.

After wreaking havoc on the area, the hurricane beelined due west.

At the old savannah Morning News building on the corner of Bay and Whitfield Streets, the squall peeled the roof like a key-rolled tin top on a sardine can. The damage was severe because the water came through the ceiling into the editorial and make-up departments, then into the press and paper storage rooms. As one Alabama newspaper described, “The compositors finished their work ankle-deep in water.”[2] 

The news must get out you know…

At City Market, the buildings sustained damage – many of those structures are still there – Also damaged was the old Exchange buildings that stood where the gold-domed City Hall stands today. The trees around the area fell and smashed fences, business signs, and lampposts, strewing trash debris across the streets and intersections.  

Johnson Square in Savannah where the weather kiosk was located.

The black communities along the waterways were hardest hit. David Bowens, his wife, and his children were washed into the river, -- all of them drowned. South of Savannah, on Shad Island, just downstream from Fort McAllister on the Ogeechee River, Henry Douglas’ wife and four children were lost when the surge rose and swept them into the marsh. Other huts on the waterways suffered the same fate. All of the residents of Douglas’ small fishing settlement died in the storm, with the exception of Douglas.

The plantation of former Fort McAllister commander Major George W. Anderson on the Ogeechee Road was hit with winds strong enough to blow down his barn, killing two of his horses that were inside. Some of you history buffs may remember that that plantation was where Union General William Tecumseh Sherman made his headquarters when he surrounded Savannah in 1864. I’ll talk about that incident and the capture of Fort McAllister in another episode.

Oh, I forgot. Remember to follow the podcast that way you’ll be notified when new episodes come out. If you’re watching on YouTube, subscribe. You know how to do it… click the button.

Also go to HistoryByGPS.com where you’ll find other GPS locations mentioned on this episode. You’ll also find our merchandise and books. We have tee-shirts, cups… other things… as well as products mentioned on this episode and others that highlight Savannah, Georgia.

Oh, if you have any information you want to give, or state your opinion on this topic, please go to the comments and write it… it’s on the website.

I’d love to hear from you.

Overview of damaged area around Savanah.

Now back to newspaper articles.

The Round House plantation that Joseph Clay owned was totally demolished.

All of the buildings and many of the animals were blown into the river and washed away.[1]  

One article on the storm claimed that on August 26th, the Savannah Morning News had an article about the storm, but the U.S. Signal Corps issued no official warning.

August 27 was a Saturday, and despite some squally weather in the morning, many people went to Tybee Island to the beach, and to escape the heat. The fresh northeasterly wind may have seemed welcome after a long summer of steamy heat in the city.

The early morning ferries had brought hundreds to the Tybee wharf, where a mule-drawn streetcar drove people to the beach and the Ocean House, a 40-room hotel with a large, popular restaurant.”

But by lunchtime, it was too late. The water was too rough for the ferries to run… and, at that time, there was no road from Tybee Island to the mainland.

Another article said, In Savannah itself, the damage was horrific. Almost all buildings lost their roofs. Including major buildings like the Savannah Cotton Exchange, the office of the Savannah Morning News, and the U.S. Signal Corps. When the U.S. Signal Corps building was destroyed, along with the weather instruments, the barometer was 29.08”, and the wind was 85 mph, but the storm continued to worsen.

All of the accounts of the 1881 hurricane stress the extreme “violence” of the wind in the city.

Savannah proper was out of reach of the tides because it sits around forty feet about the river, so the tidal surge couldn’t reach it on the high bluff. But the winds were enough to cause terrible damage on their own. The death toll in Savannah itself was 335 from collapsing buildings, flying tin roofs, collapsing chimneys, flying glass, and falling trees.

As accounts from outlying communities came in, and from the poor black housing, the low marshes and riverbanks, and from Tybee, the death toll on land surpassed 700.

Experience has shown us that deaths from hurricanes, especially in poor, outlying black communities, were poorly documented. This has as has a similar study of the 1893 Sea Islands hurricane.

Tybee Island beach and the Lazaretto Creek Station to the west.

The Station at Lazaretto Creek on Tybee Island became a ruin of tangled lumber, sails, lines, and palm limbs.

The wreckage included the wharf, the boats, the houses, the furniture, and all of the medical supplies.

The crew of the Spanish bark, Marietta, abandoned ship earlier in the night and rode out the storm hanging from the rafters hospital. Later, the men found that their ship was still afloat, but the mast and all of the rigging had been blown away.

Residents in Savannah weathered the storm in darkness because, as I mentioned earlier, the gas streetlight globes were smashed by the debris that found them in the path. The damage was the worst that any of the oldest city residents could remember. Even the devastating storm of 1854 brought less damage than the long-duration winds of that 1881 tempest.[3]  

Leaving Savannah, the devil storm moved westward, damaging forest and property only to fizzle out in Mississippi, two states to the west.

And things changed at over at Trustees’ Garden, though it was unchronicled in newspapers.  In the wake of the destruction, the renovation of the gasworks’ retort building changed it into the style we see today, holding the same five-bay footprint. A stone plaque on the northwest corner of the Morris Center across from the Pirates’ House Restaurant, commemorates the event, suggests a near-total rebuild. That old building dates from about 1853… at least in part… and was the retort building where they cooked coal to make streetlight gas for about one hundred years. After the hurricane, a more substantial structure wrapped around the columns to form a shell-like cover making the lighter-colored brick columns of the building seen today, should you visit there.

Across Morris Park to the southeast, on the west end of the old Kehoe Iron Works main foundry, the pillars for the enclosure hid evidence of the same catastrophic damage...for over a century.

A few years ago, I was a history consultant for the renovation project at Trustees’ Garden. I found that a lot of hurricane damage from 1881 was hidden under façades of bricks and mortar.

The hurricane’s damage was finally revealed in the archaeological record 134 years later while… very talented… artisans repaired and renewed the structure. You could see the old, shattered wall and pillar sections under the newer brickwork that stands today.

Mother Nature and old buildings are a lot like people… I suppose.

Time tends to cover and plaster over old damage… and usually, that damage is still buried under layers of tears and patches and Band-aids. For buildings physical and structural. For people, it’s physical and psychological.

As for the devil storm… it left Savannah, it moved westward, damaging forest and property to finally fizzle out over in Mississippi on August 29.

Sooo… if you didn’t know already know this story….. now you know.

Don’t forget to check out our books and merch at HistoryByGPS.com and leave a comment… I’d love to hear from you.

See you next time.

Bye.

Coordinates

Johnson Square weather kiosk 32.079849° -81.091614°

Wolf Island GA 31.348359° -81.304902°

Shad Island 31.886639° -81.163969°

Savannah Morning News Building GPS 32.081118°  -81.092423°

Round House Plantation 31.925800° -81.276473° Later the land was owned by automobile tycoon, Henry Ford.

Station at Lazaretto Creek 32.014094° -80.882525°

Trustees’ Garden 32.078480° -81.083407°

[1] http://neh.ghslearn.com/interactive-case-study/primary-sources/primary-source-4/

[1] The National Hurricane Center began giving them names like Irma and Andrew in 1950.  https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames_history.shtml

[2] Swept to Death By the Gale, Great Destruction and Loss of Live in Savannah, Birmingham Iron Age, Birmingham, Alabama, Sept 8, 1881.

[3] Mayors Report, City of Savannah, Edward C. Anderson, 1855: The Storm at Savannah, Further Particulars, Southern Weekly Banner, Athens, Georgia, Tue Sept 6, 1881, p 1: Wikipedia, 1881 Atlantic Hurricane Season, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1881_Atlantic_hurricane season: Donna R Causey, The 1881 hurricane of Savannah, Georgia nearly wiped out the town, Days Gone By, daysgonby.me, August 27, 2016.

The Hurricane that Broke Savannah 32.079861° -81.091488°

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2023/2/6/18/e22a03e3-7ea7-48f8-9646-9689cca570a7_6_one_duel_one_died_one_didn_t_mp3.mp3

32.077938° -81.082580°

One Duel. One Died. One Didn’t.
32.077938° -81.082580°


Hey, everyone!

What a great day for a podcast!

Do we have a great country or what?

Yes… our country has problems… all countries have problems.

But at the time of the forming of our nation during the American Revolution, things got pretty bad, not just in the way the war was going, but in the political landscape of the founding fathers. Tensions were high between the early patriots.

Some said that in 1777, at the early phases of the fighting, Georgia’s war-time President was murdered by poisoning.

Yes or no, his death definitely had suspicious circumstances surrounding it… but no one could prove foul play. When Archibald Bulloch died… some people suspected that a man named Button Gwinnett had something to do with it.

 The wake of that incident washed over emotions, heated tempers, and created mistrust among Georgia’s founding fathers.

As a result, two American patriots fought a duel in Savannah, and one of them died. But today, we’ll look into WHERE the duel took place.

By the way, you’ve heard of six degrees of separation? President Theodore Roosevelt, who was born 81 years later, has a link to these events and this duel.

 I’m JD Byous. Welcome to History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location. So, click on your favorite map app and follow along.

Ready?… Here are the coordinates for today’s spot.

It is 32.077938° -81.082580°

Now, you’re going to find that this location is in the middle of a grassy park on the east side of town. But it is an important spot, and here’s the story behind it.

The President was a guy named Archibald Bulloch, a member of the Continental Congress and a veteran of the fight for freedom.

As an interesting note… Bulloch had to leave the meetings of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and make a hasty trip to Georgia to help defend Savannah from an imminent British attack. If he had stayed in Pennsylvania, he would have been Georgia’s fourth signer of the Declaration of Independence.

You remember the others… Lyman Hall, George Walton, and Button Gwinnett.


Archibald Bulloch
Also… if Bulloch had not died when he did, one signer of the Declaration of Independence might have lived a little longer.

So, to clarify… Bulloch was the first President and Commander in Chief of Georgia… in the temporary government… in the soon to be new State while the war with England was still going on. After his death, he was replaced by the ambitious and recent English immigrant… a guy named, Button Gwinnett.

The President’s death and the suspicions surrounding it… illuminate the power struggle that was taking place among the American Rebel leadership.

Factional game-playing was debilitating the security of the Revolution, the state, and especially the city of Savannah.

Gwinnett is often remembered as a mystery man with a cloudy past. A decade earlier, when he immigrated from England, he purchased St. Catherines Island off of the South Georgia coast.

His investment failed, leaving him up to his eyeballs in debt. So, he was forced to sell his property in 1773. He turned to politics three years later, and the political winds pushed him into public office and a position in the newly formed Georgia Assembly.

Okay, where the GPS coordinates will take you are to a recently elevated section of lawn that is within a few feet of the spot where in 1777, Button Gwinnett fought a duel with a guy named Lachlan McIntosh.


Trustees’ Garden in Savannah, Georgia and the location of the duel.
The rift between the patriots was due to differing political opinions and the resultant insults that went with them. Gwinnett, a member of the Continental Congress, was a candidate for a position as brigadier general in the 1st Regiment of the Continental Army… But Georgia’s one-house General Assembly gave the position to McIntosh. That decision made Gwinnett furious.

See, Gwinnett rose to the office of Speaker of the Georgia Assembly… the \top /dog position So after Bulloch’s death, HE, Gwinnett, became the President.

In taking office, he carried with him the belief that he was a wronged man… so Gwinnett started getting even with the people who opposed him.

In his power quest, Gwinnett began purging his opponents’ from their positions in the assembly and in the military. He ordered McIntosh to march on an ill-conceived and ill-planned campaign to seal off the border from British Florida. I said, “ill-conceived.” The expedition was a disaster.

The debacle created shouts of accusation from both sides, both pointing blame at each other.

And Gwinnett was set on using the failure to take over command of the military and oust McIntosh. But the stubborn Scotsman McIntosh refused to be blamed and refused to give up his position.

In the political chess game, Gwinnett attacked Lachlan’s brother, George McIntosh, and called him a traitor. Gwinnett charged that George had sold provisions to British ships then promptly relieved Lachlan of his command. Gwinnett did not know, nor did he look into, the fact that the traitor was a business partner who had detoured a cargo of rice and other provisions to the British… all without George McIntosh’s knowledge. Gwinnett had George hauled off to jail.

Lachlan was furious, he knew his brother’s loyalty to the American cause and called Gwinnett “a scoundrel and a lying rascal.”

Back then, those terms were a bit more incendiary than they are today. However, today we do still have a few scoundrels and lying rascals in Washington, DC… so I’m told.

By the way, as I always say, I’ve researched this stuff for thirty years. This is my understanding and interpretation on what happened.. and I hear there are several other interpretations.

If you have an opinion, or if you just want to comment, please leave a note in the comment section below the transcription. Or, if you’re listening on a platform that doesn’t have them… check out the show notes and other information on our website… HistoryByGPS.com. There are also photos and illustrations that go along with the story.


So…….. Gwinnett, in his hot-headed way, challenged Lachlan McIntosh to a duel. That action scored points for Gwinnett in the Georgia Congress, but though others tried to talk him out of it, he was determined to go on with the duel.

Which, when you look at the facts… was a very dumb thing to do… Lachlan McIntosh was a Scottish Highlander who was a child when the founder of Georgia, James Oglethorpe, recruited his clan to settle Georgia’s southeastern coast to protect against the Spanish.

In fact, the Spanish captured his father, and Oglethorpe arranged for Lachlan and George to be put under the care of Reverend George Whitfield at his Bethesda orphanage.

But the independent Scottish boys didn’t do well at the orphanage. I mean, they were Scottish. Now, I can say that because my name Byous is a VERY Scottish name. Other Scots will understand.

As I was saying, the brothers didn’t get along with things at the orphanage.

So, they decided they would return to Scotland to fight with the Jacobites in what is called the 1715 uprising that tried to overthrow the English protestant monarchs, William and Mary. I’ll talk about Jacobites in another episode.

Fortunately for them, Oglethorpe convinced them to stay in Georgia because the whole war was a fiasco for the Jacobite cause.

To emphasize why a duel with McIntosh was a bad idea for Gwinnett…The McIntosh boys had warrior training from their youth and were excellent marksmen. That fighting ability, along with Lachlan’s quick wit, helped him advance through the ranks of local military units.

His Scottish Highland honor would not allow him to be insulted by the English-born newcomer-to-the-cause, Button Gwinnett, nor any other man. As a result, the men would duel to settle the argument and restore their honor.

Hmmmm. What kind of guy has the name Button anyway… sounds like something you’d find in the lint trap of a clothes dryer.

Okay, so now you’re asking me, where does Teddy Roosevelt come into the story?

That’s coming up. You’ll see how he is “very” connected to this occasion.

I promise.

Okay… continuing… Several locations have been suggested as to where the fight took place. However, combining all the accounts by participants, historians, and recorded evidence, one place comes out as the spot where the clash happened… Trustees’ Garden here on the edge of Savannah’s eastern bluff, where the GPS coordinates will take you.

Here’s the evidence…

That site, as described by historian and Savannah Mayor Thomas Gamble, has been long known as a favorite dueling ground for Savannahians as well as for those across the river who wanted to avoid South Carolina, law officials. It was located “ below the fort” at Trustees’ Garden.

Now, the location of the Gwinnett/McIntosh duel has been in dispute for over a century.

But records indicate that the duel happened in a field owned by Royal Governor James Wright east of the city. According to a map in the Georgia Historical Society Library, Wright owned many of the lots at Trustees’ Garden that were along what is now named Randolph Street and… ironically… MacIntosh Boulevard.  

And we have the testimony of Gwinnett’s second, you know… the guy who hands them the guns and then backs out of the line of fire… On that day, the guy was Charles Wells, the brother of the Sugar Party Liberty Boy, Andrew Elton Wells, that we talk about in another History by GPS episode.

Charles stated that a crowd was gathering, so Gwinnett and McIntosh moved “a little lower down the hill.” That means it was close enough to town for a crowd of onlookers to gather and that it took place in a field with a slope. There are few slopes in or near Savannah that were owned by James Wright.

As I said… according to the old map in the Georgia Historical Society, at the time of the duel, Royal Governor James Wright owned the residential parcel that has the coordinates that I gave you. Other accounts of the event say it was below the old fort…


If you look on the map, the eastern wall of the fort that was \there in 1777 was about where the current wall stands today. And, in combining the records and reports from historians Thomas Gamble, Hugh McCall, and Charles C. Jones, along with Wells’ testimony, the location notes point to Trustees’ Garden.

McCall wrote that it was on Governor Wright’s land east of the city — that checks out. Jones said it was within the city limit, which ran across the marsh next to this location – another check. Wells said it was on a hillside…

By the way, Hugh McCall was about ten years old at the time of the duel, and his father fought in Savannah. So, he may have had first-hand information.

There is only one place where all of those things match up… the grassy knoll in Morris Park at Trustees’ Garden.

Now, that’s interesting… gunfire around grassy knolls in the South always seems to be shrouded in mystery… and they tend to change history.

But anyway…

Here’s an interesting tidbit of history about THIS duel.

The distance between participants in most duels of that time would typically be ten paces or more, which separates the combatants by about thirty feet.

McIntosh insisted that eight or ten feet would be sufficient. The seconds, Joseph Habersham and George Wells stepped and marked the distance. Habersham then told the men to stand back-to-back as was traditional. But McIntosh refused, saying, “By no means… let us see what we are about.” And Gwinnett agreed.

So the men stood about ten… feet… apart……

Ten feet apart! That… is… insane!

At ten feet… with the pistols of that day… the muzzles of their guns were only about three and one-half feet apart. Like I said… That’s insane.

The two men fired at almost the same time.

Gwinnett fell to the ground with a wound above the knee and a broken thigh bone.

McIntosh, though shot through his thigh muscle, stood still. He was thinking that Gwinnett’s wound was no worse off than his, so he asked Gwinnett if had had enough or if he wanted to try another round. Gwinnett said… now, this is not a quote, but today it would be something like… Yeah, dude… let’s get it on!


Well… the seconds demanded that one round was enough. Then after the seconds helped Gwinnett to his feet, the two combatants shook hands.

Wells later testified that both men behaved like gentlemen and men of honor.

Now here’s a question… If they were only ten feet apart, why weren’t they both killed?

They must have been very bad shots on that day… Right?

Well… one answer is that it was a common practice in those days… to attempt to wound your opponent rather than kill them. It was an act of bravery and honor… a macho show of manhood,some would say.

The fact that both men were struck in the thigh at ten feet indicates that they attempted to regain honor without killing each other.

Heck. If these guys wanted to kill each other, they’d both be dead.

The protocol in dueling was to stand with the pistol pointing upward. It would be hard for both men to lower their weapons and miss the intended target if it was the upper chest or upper body… so it was gentlemanly to wound your opponent.

Now, here’s my theory of how it may have happened. The seconds said the two men fired almost simultaneously. I suspect that Gwinnett fired first, hitting McIntosh in the thigh, which made him flinch and miss his mark… the flesh on the side of Gwinnett’s leg… and instead… in flinching… the ball was fired directly into the center of his leg, breaking his thigh.

McIntosh healed in a few weeks. But Gwinnett didn’t fare so well. His… death was unintentional. See, the weather was hot and muggy, and things were not very sanitary back then…, especially musket balls. It was gangrene that did him in.

As a political result, McIntosh was ostracized by many in Georgia’s Revolutionary leadership, and he was sent up north to let things cool off. They did… He was ordered to serve under General George Washington just in time for the deadly winter camp at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.


I’ll bet that cooled him down a bit.

Ironically, today the two men are buried just a few yards apart in Colonial Park Cemetery in the Historic District.

So… did people still duel after that?

Yes… similarly for the next century.

Now, an other irony, George Wells, you remember… Gwinnett’s second at the duel… he died a few days after Gwinnett… killed in a duel with McIntosh’s good friend, Major James Jackson… who was known to be one of the greatest duelists and marksmen of the time… and didn’t aim for the thigh. Fort Jackson, just outside of Savannah… it’s named for him.

Another tragedy of the infighting of the patriots was that the defenses around Savannah were incomplete and inadequate because of that factional friction. But we’ll look at that timeframe in another episode.

I almost forgot.

Okay, so what about Teddy Roosevelt?

 Teddy… had a son that he named Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt.

You remember Archibald Bulloch, the former commander in chief of Georgia who died under suspicious circumstances…

 …he was Theodore Roosevelt’s great-great-grandfather.


President Theodore Roosevelt with family. Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt is boy on right.
Cool trivia, huh?

Cool indeed.

So… if you didn’t already know this story… now… you know/.

Please remember to click the like button and then to go to our website HistoryByGPS.com to find more… and our store where you can buy something… help support the program.

See you next time.

Bye!  

Coordinates

Gwinnett grave, 32.075561° -81.089862° 


Monument to Button Gwinnett, Colonial Park Cemetery.
 

McIntosh grave, 32.075323° -81.090607°


Home of Lachlan McIntosh, 32.076679° -81.091240°

Valley Forge, PA site, 40.099543° -75.424750°

Bibliography

Historic Duel Recalled; Affidavit Recounts the McIntosh-Gwinnett Encounter in 1777, The New York Times. 1914-04-10, via Wikipedia; The History of Georgia, C.C. Jones, Vol. II, pp 270: Other sources indicate “east” of town which was outside the city limit at that time. The area below the “Old Fort” was a known dueling ground as recorded by Thomas Gamble in his book, Savannah’s Duels and Duelists, 1923: The statement of “within the city” corresponds with Savannah, Ga. Sewerage Map. From Report on the Social Statistics of Cities, compiled by George E. Waring, Jr., United States, Census Office, Part II, 1886 as well as and the 1868 Map of the City of Savanah by John B. Hogg, showing the city limit ran one-quarter mile to the east of Trustees’ Garden. Wells mentions that a crowd was gathering, so Gwinnett and McIntosh moved “a little lower down the hill,” indicating a field with a slope. At the time of the duel, Governor James Wright owned the land below the fort site. Combining the records and reports from

Gamble, Jones, and Wells, the location notes point to Trustees’ Garden.  

George Wells Affidavit, copy, Georgia Historical Society, Lachlan McIntosh papers, June 1777, Some accounts state that upon McIntosh’s question to fire again, Gwinnett agreed but was overruled by the Seconds.

Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution, Vol. 11, No. 11 March 2016 noting, Lyman Hall to Roger Sherman, 1 June 1777, reprinted in; Button Gwinnett, Charles Francis Jenkins, 1926, pp 229.

Wade Elliott, The Death of Dueling, 1997, pp 66, http://www.eiu.edu/historia/Ellett.pdf.

One Duel. One Died. One Didn't 32.077938° -81.082580°

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2023/2/3/20/639dcfd5-efd0-499b-9387-f24299b775ed_muir_bonav_jb_012123_1.46_mp3.mp3

He Slept on a Grave 32.042645° -81.046146°.

He Slept on a Grave  32.042645° -81.046146°.

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2023/2/3/20/f614b14d-33bf-48c2-b0ea-43445882277e_3_sav_first_partier_mp3.mp3

Georgia’s First Partier -- George Symes

Savannah's First Partier 32.081360° -81.092032°

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2023/2/4/22/b6d13b3f-0419-4076-9177-02598cca6365_tea_shmee_mp3.mp3

32.079459° -81.083386°Hey, Everyone     What a fantastic day for a podcast.Sometimes I have favorite stories about history.In this one….. I start out by saying…Boston Tea party, Boston shmee party.<img src="https://jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Destruction-of-tea-at-Boston-Harbor-3-LOC-JPG-1024x790.jpg">Because here in Savannah, Georgia, in 1775, Andrew Elton Wells led a group of Liberty Boys, and they had a sweeter party…The Savannah Sugar Party.This guy, Wells, followed the lead of his brother-in-law, who had thrown his own party two years earlier – That was, of course, Samuel Adams, who… hosted, … the famous Boston Tea Party.What… a… great legacy. A family that likes to party, especially at the expense of the British King!But first!I’m JD Byous.Welcome to History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location.You can find today’s position, along with the other sites mentioned in this episode at HistoryByGPS.com. That way, you can follow along on your favorite map app.Today we travel to the edge of Savannah’s Trustees’ Garden, near the end of East River Street, where the GPS coordinates are32.079459° -81.083386°.As I said, Liberty Boy, Andrew Elton Wells, was the brother-in-law of a Boston Liberty Boy and malthouse owner, Samuel Adams.<img src="https://jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Samuel-Adams-etching-5-LOC-jpg-840x1024.jpg" height="648" width="532">Samuel AdamsWells was also good friends with a guy named John Hancock, who, as you’ll remember, was the notable signer of the Declaration of Independence. If you’ve seen a copy of the paper, his name is the largest, right up there at the top, and in the center of the document’s list of those who supported the American cause… and his rather large signature was a cursive thumb on the nose at King George the Third.Wells, Adams, and Handcock were all members of the Revolutionary organization, The Sons of Liberty, which was a clandestine political society before the American Revolution. It dedicated itself to upholding the rights of American Colonists… who, by the way… at that time, were British citizens.Wells’ family was in the thick of things.His father, Francis, gave shelter to Adams and Hancock when the politically heated climate in Boston forced the two men to hot-foot it out of town at the same time, other patriots fired the first shots of the Revolution on the green at Lexington and on the old North Bridge at Concord, Massachusetts.Now, Andrew Wells was a former sea captain who had settled in Savannah and had become a prosperous merchant who owned the only rum distillery in town. It was the base of the river bluff next to the East Broad Street Ramp. Those are the coordinates I just gave you.See, sugar was a necessity and an absolute for making spirited beverages. Well’s problem was that he refused to pay what he called… an “illegal” customs tax, and in doing so, he directly defied the orders of Georgia’s Royal Governor James Wright.<img src="https://jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/James-Wright.jpg" height="755" width="494">Royal Governor Sir James WrightThe result… the Governor seized the “contraband” sugar and molasses. Part of the sweet stash had been loaded onto a British ship at the Dock, while more was impounded inside Wells’ warehouse that was connected to it.Over the years, the area where the dock stood was filled in with dirt, so today’s water’s edge is about forty yards to the north.When you go to the spot, you’ll be standing on dry land.. and you’ll have to watch out for traffic because River Street runs directly over the spot.Now, as I said… the saccharine cargo in question was destined for Well’s distiller pot. But British lieutenant William Grant, the commanding officer of the schooner HMS St. John ordered two sailors to confiscate and guard the supplies.With that, Wells’ booze business was doomed to - drip - to a halt.His protest wasn’t just for the cause of liberty; it was also for the freedom to do business without harassment by the government. Something that today we find… not that unusual.What the Governor’s order did, was inspired angry, thirsty Liberty Boys to liberate the barrels of euphoria-inducing granules and haul them away.And what Liberty Boy didn’t like to drink? Remember, these guys used to hang out in taverns as they plotted a new nation.Well… after dark, the Liberty Boys darkened their faces with soot, marched to the wharf, and on to the schooner St. John, which had eight cannons and only two men…Who probably didn’t know how to fire cannons anyway.<img src="https://jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/De-Taxification-of-America-1775-no-text-1-874x1024.jpg">A London paper later reported that on the night of February 15, 1775, a disguised and armed party attacked the wharf, threw the guards into the river, then tarred and feathered the customs official who was in charge of the barrels…Giving him a painful and tickly suit to wear home……and then the group carried off the hogsheads of sugar.”Okay, a hogshead is a liquid measurement equal to 63 gallons. That would be… let’s see…carry the 1…238 liters to those who don’t speak imperial measurement lingo.However, I always love to mention a much larger measurement… which is the buttload… as in, “I drank a buttload of beer last night.”See, a buttload is a barrel that contains 126 to 130 gallons of beer or wine, depending on whom you’re talking to.Whichever you use… it’s twice the amount of liquid that makes up a hogshead.It comes from the Italian word, botte, that means barrel. I guess… like, bottle. And I can tell you. Not even Liberty Boys, who were always tired and thirsty from throwing things and people in the water, could drink a whole buttload of beer.If you find that interesting, you’ll love to hear that two buttloads make a tun, T-U-N, and that’s even more beer.Root beer, of course… this is a family show.One report said eight hogsheads of molasses and six filled with French sugar disappeared in the night.So, in reality, they took a buttload… and a lot more?One report claims that one of the guards who was thrown off the boat… drowned. I’m not sure if that was true.Governor Wright was enraged and offered a fifty-pound reward for the names of the culprits as well as a pardon to anyone who would turn state’s evidence. There were… no… takers, and the contraband’s location was never revealed. Most citizens probably didn’t know when it was happening.Only one hundred yards away, the soldiers in the fort at the top of the bluff did not hear the attack, so they could not deter the stealthy rebels.To explain… the political beliefs of the Sons of Liberty were not held by the majority of citizens in Georgia. But, the dogged, unrelenting determination of the group would bind those of like mind into a major force against British rule.Hey…I forgot to tell everyone about our books and merchandise!The products that help support this channel.You can find them at HistoryByGPS.comAnd on Amazon by typing in J-D-BYOUS in the book category.Buy one for yourself and one for a friend. Don’t worry… we’ll make more.<a href="https://jdbyous.net/https:/jdbyous.net/merch/de-taxification-of-america-1775-unisex-heavy-cotton-tee/" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Sugar-Party-story-ad.jpg"></a>So, back to our story,the Savannah Sugar Party wasn’t unique. Several cities had “Tea Parties” including Charleston, Philadelphia, and New York.People from all of the American Colonies were ticked off over taxation because they had no representative voice to oppose the laws… there was no one in British Parliament to speak for them.As a result… in combination with other British practices…. and British military leaders…….. the American Revolution started. And we all know the final result.Through the actions taken by Wells and other Liberty Boys along the Eastern Seaboard, we now live in a nation where people from around the world risk their lives just for a chance to join us. This might not be a perfect place to be, but it’s a heck of a lot better than anyplace else on the globe… just ask the people clambering to get in.As for Well’s sugar party… that was many years ago.Today, the closest thing we have to Andrew Well’s sugar party are sweet drinks at the bar at the hotel that now occupies the site of the old Artillery Wharf…I think it’s time to have a party. So, raise your glass and toast the guys who changed the world and gave the little guy a chance to succeed. I think they had a good idea.So… if you didn’t already know this story… now… you know.Remember to follow the podcast so you will be notified when new episodes come out.And go to the website for more information!See you next time.ByeCoordinatesArtillery Wharf, 32.079459° -81.083386°Boston Tea Party, 42.3536 -71.0524Lexington Battle Green, 42.449444, -71.231389North Bridge at Concord, Massachusetts, 42.469028° -71.350671°--------------------------------------------<h5>Bibliography</h5><h5>William V. Wells, The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams, Being a Narrative of his acts and opinions, and of his agency in Producing and Forwarding the American Revolution Vol II, 1865.</h5><h5>Paul M. Pressly, On the Rim of the Caribbean: Colonial Georgia and the British Atlantic World,</h5><h5>Walter J. Fraser, Savannah and the Old South, University of Georgia Press, 2003.</h5><h5>F.D. Lee and J.L. Agnew, Historical Record of Savannah</h5>

Savannah's Tea Party

32.079459° -81.083386°

Hey, Everyone     

What a fantastic day for a podcast.

Sometimes I have favorite stories about history.

In this one….. I start out by saying…

Boston Tea party, Boston shmee party.

Because here in Savannah, Georgia, in 1775, Andrew Elton Wells led a group of Liberty Boys, and they had a sweeter party…

The Savannah Sugar Party.

This guy, Wells, followed the lead of his brother-in-law, who had thrown his own party two years earlier – That was, of course, Samuel Adams, who… hosted, … the famous Boston Tea Party.

What… a… great legacy. A family that likes to party, especially at the expense of the British King!

But first!

I’m JD Byous.

Welcome to History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location.

You can find today’s position, along with the other sites mentioned in this episode at HistoryByGPS.com. That way, you can follow along on your favorite map app.

Today we travel to the edge of Savannah’s Trustees’ Garden, near the end of East River Street, where the GPS coordinates are

32.079459° -81.083386°.

As I said, Liberty Boy, Andrew Elton Wells, was the brother-in-law of a Boston Liberty Boy and malthouse owner, Samuel Adams.

Samuel Adams

Wells was also good friends with a guy named John Hancock, who, as you’ll remember, was the notable signer of the Declaration of Independence. If you’ve seen a copy of the paper, his name is the largest, right up there at the top, and in the center of the document’s list of those who supported the American cause… and his rather large signature was a cursive thumb on the nose at King George the Third.

Wells, Adams, and Handcock were all members of the Revolutionary organization, The Sons of Liberty, which was a clandestine political society before the American Revolution. It dedicated itself to upholding the rights of American Colonists… who, by the way… at that time, were British citizens.

Wells’ family was in the thick of things.

His father, Francis, gave shelter to Adams and Hancock when the politically heated climate in Boston forced the two men to hot-foot it out of town at the same time, other patriots fired the first shots of the Revolution on the green at Lexington and on the old North Bridge at Concord, Massachusetts.

Now, Andrew Wells was a former sea captain who had settled in Savannah and had become a prosperous merchant who owned the only rum distillery in town. It was the base of the river bluff next to the East Broad Street Ramp. Those are the coordinates I just gave you.

See, sugar was a necessity and an absolute for making spirited beverages. Well’s problem was that he refused to pay what he called… an “illegal” customs tax, and in doing so, he directly defied the orders of Georgia’s Royal Governor James Wright.

Royal Governor Sir James Wright

The result… the Governor seized the “contraband” sugar and molasses. Part of the sweet stash had been loaded onto a British ship at the Dock, while more was impounded inside Wells’ warehouse that was connected to it.

Over the years, the area where the dock stood was filled in with dirt, so today’s water’s edge is about forty yards to the north.

When you go to the spot, you’ll be standing on dry land.. and you’ll have to watch out for traffic because River Street runs directly over the spot.

Now, as I said… the saccharine cargo in question was destined for Well’s distiller pot. But British lieutenant William Grant, the commanding officer of the schooner HMS St. John ordered two sailors to confiscate and guard the supplies.

With that, Wells’ booze business was doomed to - drip - to a halt.

His protest wasn’t just for the cause of liberty; it was also for the freedom to do business without harassment by the government. Something that today we find… not that unusual.

What the Governor’s order did, was inspired angry, thirsty Liberty Boys to liberate the barrels of euphoria-inducing granules and haul them away.

And what Liberty Boy didn’t like to drink? Remember, these guys used to hang out in taverns as they plotted a new nation.

Well… after dark, the Liberty Boys darkened their faces with soot, marched to the wharf, and on to the schooner St. John, which had eight cannons and only two men…

Who probably didn’t know how to fire cannons anyway.

A London paper later reported that on the night of February 15, 1775, a disguised and armed party attacked the wharf, threw the guards into the river, then tarred and feathered the customs official who was in charge of the barrels…

Giving him a painful and tickly suit to wear home…

…and then the group carried off the hogsheads of sugar.”

Okay, a hogshead is a liquid measurement equal to 63 gallons. That would be… let’s see…carry the 1…

238 liters to those who don’t speak imperial measurement lingo.

However, I always love to mention a much larger measurement… which is the buttload… as in, “I drank a buttload of beer last night.”

See, a buttload is a barrel that contains 126 to 130 gallons of beer or wine, depending on whom you’re talking to.

Whichever you use… it’s twice the amount of liquid that makes up a hogshead.

It comes from the Italian word, botte, that means barrel. I guess… like, bottle.  And I can tell you. Not even Liberty Boys, who were always tired and thirsty from throwing things and people in the water, could drink a whole buttload of beer.

If you find that interesting, you’ll love to hear that two buttloads make a tun, T-U-N, and that’s even more beer.

Root beer, of course… this is a family show.

One report said eight hogsheads of molasses and six filled with French sugar disappeared in the night.

So, in reality, they took a buttload… and a lot more?

One report claims that one of the guards who was thrown off the boat… drowned. I’m not sure if that was true.

Governor Wright was enraged and offered a fifty-pound reward for the names of the culprits as well as a pardon to anyone who would turn state’s evidence.

 There were… no… takers, and the contraband’s location was never revealed. Most citizens probably didn’t know when it was happening.

Only one hundred yards away, the soldiers in the fort at the top of the bluff did not hear the attack, so they could not deter the stealthy rebels.

To explain… the political beliefs of the Sons of Liberty were not held by the majority of citizens in Georgia. But, the dogged, unrelenting determination of the group would bind those of like mind into a major force against British rule.

Hey…

I forgot to tell everyone about our books and merchandise!

The products that help support this channel.

You can find them at HistoryByGPS.com

And on Amazon by typing in J-D-BYOUS in the book category.

Buy one for yourself and one for a friend. Don’t worry… we’ll make more.

So, back to our story,

the Savannah Sugar Party wasn’t unique. Several cities had “Tea Parties” including Charleston, Philadelphia, and New York.

People from all of the American Colonies were ticked off over taxation because they had no representative voice to oppose the laws… there was no one in British Parliament to speak for them.

As a result… in combination with other British practices…. and British military leaders…….. the American Revolution started. And we all know the final result.

Through the actions taken by Wells and other Liberty Boys along the Eastern Seaboard, we now live in a nation where people from around the world risk their lives just for a chance to join us. This might not be a perfect place to be, but it’s a heck of a lot better than anyplace else on the globe… just ask the people clambering to get in.

As for Well’s sugar party… that was many years ago.

Today, the closest thing we have to Andrew Well’s sugar party are sweet drinks at the bar at the hotel that now occupies the site of the old Artillery Wharf…

I think it’s time to have a party. So, raise your glass and toast the guys who changed the world and gave the little guy a chance to succeed. I think they had a good idea.

So… if you didn’t already know this story… now… you know.

Remember to follow the podcast so you will be notified when new episodes come out.

And go to the website for more information!

See you next time.

Bye

Coordinates

Artillery Wharf, 32.079459° -81.083386°

Boston Tea Party, 42.3536 -71.0524

Lexington Battle Green, 42.449444, -71.231389

North Bridge at Concord, Massachusetts, 42.469028° -71.350671°

--------------------------------------------

Bibliography

William V. Wells, The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams, Being a Narrative of his acts and opinions, and of his agency in Producing and Forwarding the American Revolution Vol II, 1865.

Paul M. Pressly, On the Rim of the Caribbean: Colonial Georgia and the British Atlantic World,

Walter J. Fraser, Savannah and the Old South, University of Georgia Press, 2003. 

F.D. Lee and J.L. Agnew, Historical Record of Savannah

Tea Party Shmee Party 32.079459° -81.083386°

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2023/2/4/20/a0f5c082-fd36-4e7c-9190-30cbce386014_4_pirate_booty_mp3.mp3

<h1>Pirate bootie sacked</h1>32.081384° -81.089784°<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/savannah-New-York-Public-Library-sm.jpg?resize=620%2C249&ssl=1" height="249" width="620">Hey, everyone!Another fine day for a podcast.And it is a fine day… because today we’re going to talk about pirates.And I’m not talkin’ the AAAARRRGGG, me hearty kind of pirates.Okay, you ask, where did it happen?So, you wanna know where they hung out? Listen up!Well, it happened in Savannah, Georgia, when Savannahians had had enough of the things that pirates do… and they ended up in a donnybrook.Ah… and your next question is….. Did the Americans lose the fight, or did French pirates get their booties swashed and buckled by some ticked-off Southern boys?Stick around, and I’ll give you my take on it.I’m JD Byous. Welcome to History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location.So follow us on your favorite map app.You can find transcripts of the show and the coordinates of where these events happened at our website HistoryByGPS.com. That way, you can follow the story as it goes along.If you have ever visited Savannah, Georgia, and walked along the tee-shirt and trinket-laden thoroughfare called River Street… the way many, if not most, folks who visit the city do… then you have stepped across some very historic ground that few people know about.In this episode, we travel to an incident where during a week in mid-November 1811, the entire city of Savannah, Georgia, was… enraged and in chaos.That was when American sailors and the citizens of the town grabbed any weapon they could find and marched down to the waterfront to kick some French pirate bootie… and I don’t mean the gold doubloon kind of bootie.The location is where Savannah’s Drayton Street ramp runs under the old Cotton Exchange Building and intersects with the city’s famous River Street.Grab your pencil and paper… or… if you’re driving in your car… never mind. Just listen.Okay… the decimal coordinates are…32.081384° by -81.089784°<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Stoddards-Lower-Range-from-Factory-Walk-River-Street-Savannah-Chatham-County-Georgia-Frances-Benj-Johnstion-1939-LOC.jpg?resize=620%2C493&ssl=1" height="494" width="620">Remember, if you can’t write this down, don’t worry. You can find the information on the website,As I mentioned, the events we are looking at today happened in November 1811. It’s when French pirates decided to hide and wait for the group of locals who were coming to haul them off to jail.But, to explain, these were not the first pirates that sailed in and around southeast Georgia; this incident was almost two centuries after the Golden Age of Piracy,… back in the 1600s… back when Black Beard and Captain Kid haunted the waters of the Atlantic, a dozen miles down river.The generation who did navigate these waters on the Eastern Seaboard and of the Caribbean had always threatened the young colony after it was established in 1733. Piracy was always always a problem.So much so that in the colony’s early days, the Lord Governor of Georgia pleaded with the king for protection from pirates and privateers who stalked the cargo ships coming to and going from Savannah…What he asked was for a 40-foot square fort to be built on Cockspur Island. And the money was supplied. The stronghold was named for King George the second. It stood near the little lighthouse that divides the north and south channels of the river at Fort Pulaski National Monument at the mouth of the Savannah.Now, back to 1811 and the Drayton Street Ramp… at that time wooden two-story buildings stood on each side of the roadway. Those old buildings burned in the mid-1800s and were replaced with those that are standing now. If you happen to visit Wet Willies Bar you’ll be on the spot where pirates once hid in wait.Today the site is almost cavernous because the street has been covered by the old Cotton Exchange building and the walkway that connects it to the top of the bluff. But back then, it was a simple narrow thoroughfare.After arming themselves they slithered into the rooms that overlooked the street and waited. As the armed mob entered the passageway, they sprang from their hiding spots and started firing, catching the Americans off guard.The fighting spread from between the buildings down onto the flat, wood-planked area that made up Anciaux’s Wharf at the water’s edge.That’s when things really got rough. The battle took place on the ground that today is River Street and across the flat of the plaza over to the waterline.But before I go on, I have to explain… as I said, these were pirates. But they were, technically, French privateers… but pirates nonetheless.See, they were in cahoots with the French government with an agreement to go to sea and attack France’s enemies. They would bring the king whatever they captured and….. split their booty.(I might add that splitting your booty… sounds a bit painful to me.)…..Oh…… remember to follow the podcast. That way, you’ll be notified when a new episode comes out. And if you’re watching on YouTube, subscribe… you know how to do it.Also… go to HistoryByGPS.com where you’ll find the other GPS locations mentioned in this episode. You’ll also find our merchandise and books. We have cups, tee shirts, and other items that feature this episode as well as products that highlight Historic Savannah.ADVERT HEREOkay, back to the booty boys… What was a privateer?As I said, a privateer was a pirate ship that was contracted with A government to harass enemy merchant vessels… and warships if they were brave enough.We, the Americans, and the British had them too… in fact, just about all the powerful nations.Now, what complicated the situation in Savannah was diplomacy. See, the French had helped us… we the United States, in our Revolution against Great Britain a few years before.Then, to further complicate the issue, the French and the new United States had recently fought the “Quasi-War,” in whichthe very powerful French Navy, who felt that we owed them… had a habit of boarding American vessels and forcing the crew member to serve on French ships.US President John Adams felt that we did owe them… but we didn’t owe them our sailors.As a result, fighting between the US and the French navies escalated into an undeclared war… a quasi war.You have to understand that the Brits were still our enemies at that time. In fact, the following year, the British attacked the United States and started the conflict that we appropriately called the War of 1812.You remember.. the British Army marched into Washington, DC, and burned the White House just after Dolly Madison grabbed a painting of George Washington, threw it in a carriage, and got out of Dodge…or so we have been told.Oh, by the way, If you have any information or want to give your opinion on this topic, please put it in the comments on the website. I’d love to hear from you.And, YES, I know that Dolly probably didn’t personally grab the painting and throw it in her buggy… but it’s a good story, and that’s why it’s still around.So, back in Savannah… at that same time as the aforementioned fight, the French were at war and fighting with the British…as they were for most of history…Therefore, French ships were allowed into American Ports for repairs and supplies.There at Anceaux’s Wharf… which was later called Wood’s Wharf… two French boats, the La Franchise, and the La Vengeance…Now… I missed school the day we studied French, so I don’t know if I pronounced those correctly.But, close enough, I guess.…Anyway, the French ships were in port to load supplies, get repairs, and let the French crewmen blow off a little steam… But these guys blew off a little too much steam.They did not have the most honest of officers leading them either. The ship captain of the La Franchise was rumored to have connections to the famous pirate brothers, Jean and Pierre Lafitte, who, by the way, helped Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans a few years later.Now, again some explanation is needed. I called them “the French crewmen.” See, some of the officers were French, but the crew members were a blend of Italian, Venetian, Sicilian, and Portuguese sailors. There may have been a couple of French citizens in the mix.Whatever they were, they went way too far.The beginning blows of the fight started near the western edge of town.Several armed pirates attacked three or four unarmed Americansailors who were… shall we say… visiting ladies who lived in a rougher part of town along Indian Street.…People from Savannah generally know what that area of town was.Later, the same night, the pirate crewmen returned to… visit… the ladies and another scuffle ensued, whereupon they killed a young American sailor… Jacob Taylor.They viciously beat him with clubs and slashed him to death with their sabers.Other American sailors were attacked in similar manners… According to one report, the pirates took Taylor’s body and dumped it in a nearby square… that was probably Franklin Square which is on the edge of City Market.Today, you can visit Jacob Taylor’s headstone on the back wall of the Colonial Park Cemetery a few blocks away.Now, his father laid out the details of his death when he had the following chiseled into the monument… I quote…“In Memory of JACOB R. TAYLOR, Son of John P. Taylor of Philadelphia. A youth of exemplary department conciliating manners and promise,”Yeah, right…The kid was killed in a brawl in a wh…….… in a house of ill repute…    Anyway…continuing on…“conciliating manners and promise, who in the 19th year of his age, when unarmed and peaceably walking the streets of Savannah,…Okay… oookay… I’m a father and understand.Where was I?…was on the evening of the 11th of November, 1811, attacked and inhumanly decimated by an armed band belonging to the crews of the French Privateers La Vengeance and La Franchise.Rest… infinite youth far from thy friends… injured by strangers… honored and by strangers mourned.Though thy lone turf no kindred drops can, Yet virtue hallows with her tears thy grave.”So……… As a result of the assault and murder, city police officers walked down to the wharf, boarded the two French ships, arrested the crew members, and hauled them off to jail to sort out the details.The next day most of the crew members were allowed to return to their ships. However, seven privateers were held for further questioning.Later there was even more bloodshed. On the morning of November 15th, one observer wrote that the incident threw the entire city into “ferment.”Which is not good unless you’re making wine, beer, or sauerkraut.But I digress…<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Ships-fighting.jpg?resize=489%2C536&ssl=1" height="536" width="489">The entire city was enraged. A large group of American sailors and city residents picked up any weapons they could find–clubs, hatchets, axes, meat cleavers, muskets, and pistols, along with a few swords. Then they unfurled their American flag and marched en masse to the wharf carrying two hogsheads of whoop-ass. When they arrived… that’s when the pirates were waiting in ambush.As the group advanced down the steep, sandy slope, the pirates fired their muskets from the windows and lofts, catching the Americans off guard.During the fighting, several men on both sides died. An American ship’s captain named Miller was blinded after being shot from the side when a musket ball took out his eyes and the bridge of his nose.Interestingly, he survived, though… a bit the worse for wear. After the initial ruckus, the Savannah group, in unison, screamed what we in the South now call a “rebel yell” and stormed the Franchise and Vengeance, then tore down the French banner and replaced it with the American flag.While that was happening, the stabbing and slashing blades of the Americans forced many of the privateers overboard into the Savannah River. Then the Americans cut the anchor lines holding the boats and began destroying the rigging of the ships as the two boats drifted with the tide.Now…By this time, the alarm in the city was ringing. Other men from town scurried, as drums pounded the alert. City Mayor, William Bullock, arrived shortly after that with Savannah’s militia units in tow, the Volunteer Guard and the Republican Blues.Complicating it more, other pirates who happened to be in other parts of town ran back to the wharf to see what was going on… and found themselves in another wasp-nest of angry citizens.Eventually, the mayor and his troopers gained enough control to protected the French crewmen on board… as well as the other wet, cold, and shaking pirates who had crawled stumbled out of the Savannah River.He marched the entire group to the city jail.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/jdbyous.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Pirate-story-ad-2.jpg?resize=620%2C305&ssl=1" height="305" width="620">The Savannah Volunteer Guard boarded the ships to protect them from the Americans… often with the points of their bayonets.But, about eight hours later a group of Americans went upstream, set fire to a flat boat, and released it to drift down the tide and into the French two ships.By this time the soldiers were worn out from repelling previous attempts at boarding. So they decided enough was enough and abandoned the ship.But I suspect that they didn’t really give a rip if the boats were destroyed or not. After all, the crew had killed Americans. With that… the Vengeance and the Franchise were torched and burned down to the water line.In doing so, the fire and subsequent sinking ruined and scattered the French vessels’ rich cargos that included gold coins, expensive dye, dry goods, and a few other things.Makes me want to buy some scuba gear…As for the pirates, a couple of days later, it was summed up by one Americannewspaper editor when he published an editorial, and I quote… “We have never witnessed more un-animity of feeling than on this occasion…They talked funny back then, didn’t they?But I digress.To continue… “We sincerely hope that the peace of the city will not again be disturbed and that such wretches as composed the crews of the pirates will not be allowed an opportunity of again shedding the blood of our citizens and drawing down American vengeance on their heads.”So the Americans brought vengeance on the La Vengeance,and the La Franchise was no longer a franchise.And both boats went to the bottom of the river.In other words … that editor was saying, “We are delighted that we kicked French pirate bootie.” And he wasn’t talking “buried treasure.”Sooo… if you didn’t know already know this story, now you know.Don’t forget to check out our books and merch at HistoryByGPS.com.And we will see you next time.Bye————————————————–Anciaux/Wood’s 32.081384° -81.089784°, Wharf, 81 East River Street, 1811 Battle with Fench pirates. <a href="http://hsgng.org/legacy/pages/anciaux.htm" rel="nofollow">http://hsgng.org/legacy/pages/anciaux.htm</a>Indian Street Red Light District, 32.084744° -81.099733°Jacob Taylor headstone, 32.074984° -81.089204°Franklin Square, 32.081177° -81.095837°, where Jacob Taylor’s body was dumped.Fort King George Site, 32.022934° -80.883060°, the area has washed away over the years.————————————————BibliographyThe Savannah Riots: A Burning Issue in Franco-American Hostility, 1811-1812, Peter P. Hill, The Georgia Historical Quarterly, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40025141" rel="nofollow">Vol. 88, No. 4 (WINTER 2004)</a>, pp. 499-510.Destruction of Two French Privateers in America,The Naval Chronicle, for 1812: containing General and Biographical History of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, Vol. XXVII (January to June) Pp 10-11.Image creditsRiver Street at Drayton Street Ramp (2) Frances Benjamin JohnstonShips at battle, Encyclopedia BritannicaSavannah Harbor, New York Public Library

Pirate Bootie Sacked - E4 32.081384° -81.089784°

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2023/1/24/1/aa607aac-0b14-48f1-85fd-048be59bf5ff_1_history_by_gps_trailer_mp3.mp3

Here&#39;s a bit of what we have in store for you at History By GPS.Season one has a debut date of February 14th, 2023… ...don’t you just love it?... In that season, we’ll focus on the history in and around Savannah, Georgia, USA… There is a lot of history here.Then, occasionally we’ll venture out to other areas across America, and sometimes we’ll tell the connections of those events to the Hostess City of the South to illustrate how our nation is interconnected and interdependent.I’ll read the GPS coordinates for the main locations we talk about. For other spots mentioned on the show, I’ll include those in our show notes and at HistoryByGPS.com. That way, you can look up the locations on your favorite map app… or if you’re really hardcore… on a map… then follow the story, and we&#39;ll talk about the spots where history happened so you can visit them later... in person on on a map.See you there! - JD Byous

Description of

History By GPS Trailer

Based in Savannah, Georgia USA, History by GPS, is where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location. You can follow us on your favorite map app like Google Earth or other products.You can find transcripts of the show and the coordinates of where these events happened at our website HistoryByGPS.com. That way you can follow the story as it goes along.... Or, you can just listen and enjoy.The show's host, JD Byous, is a historian, writer, photographer, and author who has a BA degree in journalism/photojournalism and an MA degree in American History.