Hugh McCall (1767-1823): Early Georgia Historian

Hugh McCall who is buried here was the author of the first history of Georgia. Forced by ill health into retirement, McCall, who was a brevet major, U.S. Infantry, became interested in the history of his adopted state. In spite of severe handicaps, he wrote a much needed history of Georgia. The first volume was published at Savannah, in 1811. The second volume, which appeared five years later, carried his "History of Georgia" through the Revolutionary period. Time has not impaired the value and the usefulness of McCall's work. His father, Colonel James McCall, played a heroic role in the Revolutionary War in the Carolinas. Hugh McCall passed his boyhood during those trying times. The closing words of the first history of this State are an ever timely reminder to posterity that "The blood which flowed from the suffering patriots of that day, should never be forgotten; and the precious jewel which was purchased by it, should be preserved with courage and remembered with gratitude, by succeeding generations."