Savannah, 1856 to 1865

Turn the pages to see each stop on a map from its own era. Pins mark where each marker stands, sometimes a few miles from the ground it describes.

Clear

1. 1. Evacuation of Savannah1864 · Chatham County · At the intersection of Bay and Williamson Streets in Savannah.
2. 2. First African Baptist Church1773–1859 · Chatham County · Located at 23 Montgomery Street in Savannah, Marker is in Franklin Square across the street from the church.
3. 3. The Montmollin Building and Bryan School1856–1867 · Chatham County · Marker is at 23 Barnard Street in City Market in Savannah
4. 4. History of Emancipation: Special Field Orders No. 151865 · Chatham County · Madison Square. Harris and Bull Streets, Savannah. Across the street from the Green-Meldrim house.
5. 5. Former Home Henry R. Jackson: Union Army Headquarters, 18651849–1898 · Chatham County · At the Oglethorpe Club, at the intersection of Bull and Gaston Streets in Savannah.
6. 6. Jepson House Education Center1856–1870 · Chatham County · Intersection of Gaston and Whitaker Streets in Savannah.

The dashed line connects the stops in visiting order. It isn't a road route or the path anyone marched. Google Maps handles the driving, starting from wherever you are.

Evacuation of Savannah

Chatham County · At the intersection of Bay and Williamson Streets in Savannah.

On Dec. 14, 1864, Fort McAllister [CS] having fallen the day before, opening the Great Ogeechee River to Union shipping and rendering Savannah untenable, Lt. Gen. W. J. Hardee, CSA, decided to evacuate the city to save it from a destructive bombardment and to extricate his besieged army. River craft being unequal to the task and no pontoon bridging being available, an engineering expedient was adopted. Directed by Lt. Col. B. W. Frobel, CSA, pontoon type bridges were laid by sailors of the CS Navy and details from the Georgia Militia. Using large "cotton flats" for boats, car wheels for anchors and planks from the city wharves for flooring, a bridge was laid from the foot of West Broad Street to Hutchinson Island, another across Back River to Pennyworth Island, and a third across Little Back River to the South Carolina shore. On the 19th, orders were issued giving priorities and times of withdrawal. The heavy guns were spiked and carriages and ammunition destroyed. At dark, the garrisons of Whitemarsh Island were withdrawn into the city and evacuated via the bridges. At dark on the 20th, the garrisons of Causton's Bluff, Thunderbolt and the Savannah River batteries gathered at Fort Jackson and were transferred by steamer to Screven's Ferry; but the main garrison -- infantry, cavalry, light artillery and wagons -- crossed on the bridges. Well before dawn, the rear-guard had cleared Hutchinson Island, the bridge from West Broad Street had been cut adrift, and the troops were marching via the Union Causeway to Hardeeville.

This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Commission. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

1865 map · Savannah, Georgia. Charleston, South Carolina. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries · Sheet chosen by TreeAlive

1874 map · Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud). · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1856 map · The City Of Savannah Georgia. (with) The City of Charleston South Carolina. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1863 map · Sketch of sea coast of South Carolina and Georgia from Bull's Bay to Ossabaw Sound · Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

1851 map · Savannah River. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Full marker page →

First African Baptist Church

Chatham County · Located at 23 Montgomery Street in Savannah, Marker is in Franklin Square across the street from the church.

First African Baptist Church (FABC) traces its roots to 1773 and the organization of a congregation at nearby Brampton Plantation by Rev. George Leile. Under the leadership of Rev. Andrew C. Marshall (3rd pastor), the congregation obtained this property. Constructed of Savannah Grey brick by congregants, both free and enslaved, the current building was completed in 1859. Rev. Emanuel K. Love (6th pastor), an advocate for African-American education and civil rights, was instrumental in establishing today's Savannah State University. Rev. Dr. Ralph Mark Gilbert (13th pastor) was a prominent leader of the NAACP and the revival of the Savannah chapter in the 1940s. U.S. Representative Adam Clayton Powell of Harlem and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are among the noteworthy speakers hosted here. FABC is one of the oldest continuously operating African-American churches in North America.

This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

1865 map · Savannah, Georgia. Charleston, South Carolina. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries · Sheet chosen by TreeAlive

1778 map · Parte Orientale della Florida, della Giorgia, e Carolina Meridionale. Fogl. XI · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1779 map · Savannah and its environs · Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

1764 map · Carte de la Nouvelle Georgie · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1776 map · A General Map of the Southern British Colonies, in America. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Full marker page →

The Montmollin Building and Bryan School

Chatham County · Marker is at 23 Barnard Street in City Market in Savannah

Banker and slave trader John S. Montmollin commissioned this building (c.1856) for his business. After Montmollin’s death, Alexander Bryan continued using the building to hold and sell enslaved people. When US General William T. Sherman captured Savannah in December 1864, the US government, implementing emancipation, confiscated the building and provided it to Savannah’s African-American community, which formed the Savannah Educational Association (SEA) to fund and establish schools. This building became the site of Bryan School. On January 10, 1865, at the school’s opening, hundreds of Black children marched here from First African Baptist Church. SEA schoolchildren publicly showcased their knowledge of grammar, history, geography, arithmetic, and other subjects in July 1865. The American Missionary Association, a northern benevolence organization, absorbed SEA and founded the Beach Institute in 1867, consolidating several schools, including Bryan School.

This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

1856 map · The City Of Savannah Georgia. (with) The City of Charleston South Carolina. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries · Sheet chosen by TreeAlive

1865 map · Savannah, Georgia. Charleston, South Carolina. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1851 map · Savannah River. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1874 map · Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud). · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1863 map · Sketch of sea coast of South Carolina and Georgia from Bull's Bay to Ossabaw Sound · Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Full marker page →

History of Emancipation: Special Field Orders No. 15

Chatham County · Madison Square. Harris and Bull Streets, Savannah. Across the street from the Green-Meldrim house.

On January 12, 1865, U.S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and General Wm. T. Sherman met here at the home of Charles Green with 20 leaders from Savannah's African-American churches, including Garrison Frazier, Ulysses L. Houston, and William Campbell. The meeting resulted in Sherman's issue of Special Field Orders No.15, which encouraged the enlistment of freedmen and also reserved coastal land from Charleston south to Florida's St. Johns River for settlement by freed families in 40-acre tracts. The Freedmen's Bureau Act of March 1865 formalized government aid to freed slaves but made no provision for land. After President Lincoln's death, President Andrew Johnson revoked Special Field Orders No.15, hampering efforts by African Americans to gain economic independence after Emancipation.

This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

1865 map · Savannah, Georgia. Charleston, South Carolina. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries · Sheet chosen by TreeAlive

1856 map · The City Of Savannah Georgia. (with) The City of Charleston South Carolina. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1874 map · Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud). · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1863 map · Sketch of sea coast of South Carolina and Georgia from Bull's Bay to Ossabaw Sound · Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

1852 map · Georgia, Florida. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Full marker page →

Former Home Henry R. Jackson: Union Army Headquarters, 1865

Chatham County · At the Oglethorpe Club, at the intersection of Bull and Gaston Streets in Savannah.

This building, now the quarters of a private Club, was erected in 1857 for Edmund Molyneux, British consul at Savannah, and served as his residence and as the Consulate until Molyneux's return to England in 1863. In 1865 the Molyneux house was appropriated by the Union army as headquarters for General O.O. Howard and his successor, Gen. Wm. F. Barry. Representatives of the family claimed that furnishings valued at more than $10,000.00, including part of the famous Molyneux wine cellar, were damaged or removed during the Federal occupation. The mansion was purchased from the Molyneux family in 1885 by Gen. Henry R. Jackson and was the home of that illustrious Georgian until his death in 1898. Jackson equally distinguished himself as lawyer, soldier, diplomat and poet. He was Judge of the Eastern Circuit of Georgia (1849--'53) and in 1859 was special prosecutor for the United States in the celebrated case of the slave ship "Wanderer". He fought in the Mexican War and won distinction in the Confederate army as a brigadier general. He was ambassador to Austria (1854--'58) and minister to Mexico (1885--'86). A gifted poet, the best known of Jackson's poems is "The Red Old Hills of Georgia".

This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Commission. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

1865 map · Savannah, Georgia. Charleston, South Carolina. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries · Sheet chosen by TreeAlive

1856 map · The City Of Savannah Georgia. (with) The City of Charleston South Carolina. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1874 map · Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud). · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1863 map · Sketch of sea coast of South Carolina and Georgia from Bull's Bay to Ossabaw Sound · Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

1852 map · Georgia, Florida. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Full marker page →

Jepson House Education Center

Chatham County · Intersection of Gaston and Whitaker Streets in Savannah.

This Italianate mansion was built in 1856 for Savannah grocer and Civil War mayor Thomas Holcombe and later owned by former Confederate officer and Superior Court Judge Robert Falligant and his descendants. The Oglethorpe Light Infantry, commanded by Francis Bartow, received its colors and departed from here for the First Battle of Manassas in 1861. During his last visit to Savannah in 1870, Robert E. Lee was hosted here. In 2011 the building was acquired by the Georgia Historical Society. It is named in honor of local philanthropist and businessman Robert S. Jepson, Jr., and his wife Alice, principal benefactors and leaders of the effort to obtain the building. Jepson House serves as the Georgia Historical Society's educational center, housing the office of the president and the program and administrative staff.

This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

1856 map · The City Of Savannah Georgia. (with) The City of Charleston South Carolina. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries · Sheet chosen by TreeAlive

1865 map · Savannah, Georgia. Charleston, South Carolina. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1874 map · Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud). · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

1863 map · Sketch of sea coast of South Carolina and Georgia from Bull's Bay to Ossabaw Sound · Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

1852 map · Georgia, Florida. · David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Full marker page →

Savannah, 1856 to 1865

6 stops across Georgia, in trail order.

Google Maps does the driving, starting from wherever you are. We don't estimate distance or time on the road.

1. 1Evacuation of SavannahChatham County · At the intersection of Bay and Williamson Streets in Savannah.
2. 2First African Baptist ChurchChatham County · Located at 23 Montgomery Street in Savannah, Marker is in Franklin Square across the street from the church.
3. 3The Montmollin Building and Bryan SchoolChatham County · Marker is at 23 Barnard Street in City Market in Savannah
4. 4History of Emancipation: Special Field Orders No. 15Chatham County · Madison Square. Harris and Bull Streets, Savannah. Across the street from the Green-Meldrim house.
5. 5Former Home Henry R. Jackson: Union Army Headquarters, 1865Chatham County · At the Oglethorpe Club, at the intersection of Bull and Gaston Streets in Savannah.
6. 6Jepson House Education CenterChatham County · Intersection of Gaston and Whitaker Streets in Savannah.