Savannah, Georgia - History (part 13 of 16)

Another instance of the lack of action in the adoption of necessary improvements was the long delay in having the streets properly lighted. Oil lamps were used even as late as the year 1850. Late in 1849 steps were taken to form a gas company in Savannah, and council agreed to enter the city as a subscriber for the stock to the extent of $25,000, and on the completion of the works during the following year the streets were lighted with gas for the first time. On the introduction of the electric lighting system that method was employed with little delay, the city being lighted by electric lamps in May 1883, when most of the lights were placed at the top of very tall towers which were, after a few years, replaced with swinging lamps as at present used, with some on ornamental iron columns in a few of the principal streets.

Iu enumerating the names of the mayors and aldermen composing the city council of Savannah our last record brought us to the close of the year 1834. The year 1835 opened with the reelection of William AY. Gordon as mayor and his associates as councdmen in the previous years, R. M. Charlton, Thomas Clark, Jacob Shaffer, AYm. II. Cuvier, Thomas Purse, Henry AIcAlpin, Amos Scudder, P. M. Ivollock, A. J. C. Shaw, and Matthew Hopkins. The only two new members were AYm. H. Stiles and Isaac D'Lyon.

The Hon. John C. Nieoll was elected mayor in 1836, succeeding Mr. Gordon who still remained on the board as an alderman associated with AV. H. Stiles. A. J. C. Shaw, Amos Scudder, M. Hopkins, J. Shaffer, Thos. Purse and AY. II. Cuvier of the preceding council, with Peter G. Shirk, Aaron Champion, James H. AVade, John Aliller and Michael Dillon new members.

As chief magistrate the city was served in 1837 by Matthew Hall AIc- Allister with an aldermanic board composed of R. M. Charlton, A. Scudder, P. G. Slack, Jno. AVagner, F. Densler, Jno. AV. Anderson, Jno. C. Nieoll, AYm. Scarborough, AY. II. Stiles, Alexander Drysdale, Michael Dillon, Robt. AJ. Goodwin and James II. AVade.

Air. M. II. McAllister secured a second term in 1838, and the aidermanic associates were R. M. Charlton, Dr. AYm. R. AVaring, Richard R. Cuyler, Joseph Camming, F. Densler, Jno. AY. Anderson, James Smith,

Judge Robert AI i Hedge Charlton was chosen as mayor in 1839, and had a board of aldermen to support him among whom we find the names of several who had gained experience in rendering the same service in former years, the list being Messrs. AY. R. AATaring, Gilbert Butler, AI. II. McAllister, AI. Dillon, Jno. AVagner, J. F. Posey. R. AI. Goodwin, F. Densler, Jno. \V. Anderson, A. Drysdale, R. R. Cuyler, AYm. H. Davis,

There was no change in the mayoralty in 1840, Judge Charlton remaining in office, with aldermen John AV. Anderson, AI. H. AIcAllister, Gilbert Butler, AVm. R. AVaring, John Dillon, John AVagner, Jacob Shaffer, John Boston, John Lewis, AI. Hopkins, AI. Dillon, James AI. Folsom, and AYm. II. Cuyler.

In 1841 Col. AVilliam Thorne AAdlliams, who had been the mayor in 1828, 1829 and 1833, besides serving as alderman a number of times, was again placed at the head of council, with a board of aldermen, some of whom served (like others in the preceding lists) for a while and retired, composed of Alessrs. AVm. II. Davis. AVilliam Law, Elias Reed, Alexander A. Smelts. AVm. A. Caruthers, Henry K. Burroughs, Solomon Goodall, Thomas Holcombe, Chas. F. Alii Is, John AAA Anderson, Thomas Clarke, John Lewis, David Bell, Richard D Arnold, Francis AI. Stone and John Alillen.

Dr. Richard I). Arnold succeeded AVm. T. AAAlliams as mayor on the 12th of September, 1842. with aldermen J. AAA Anderson, John Boston, Solomon Cohen, Bernard Constantine, AAA II. Cuyler, IL AI. Good-

In 1843 the board stood as follows: Mayor Wm. T. Williams, aidermen Benjamin Snider, Robt. A. Lewis, Francis S. Bartow, John M. Clark, Elias Reed, Asa Holt, Wm. A. Caruthers, Wm. B. Fleming, Noble

The council of 1844-45 comprised Richard Wayne, mayor, and aidermen J. W. Anderson, Aaron Champion, Wm. H. Cuvier. Frederick Densler, Michael Dillon, Matthew Hopkins, Noah B. Knapp, Gazaway

From 1845 to 1846 Dr. Henry Kollock Burroughs was mayor and the aldermen were Alex. A. Smets, Robt. A. Lewis, Hiram Roberts, Asa Holt, Augustus Lafitte, John 51. Clark, Seaborn Goodall, Timothy G. Barnard, Thomas Hutson Harden, William H. C. Miles, Henry Harper and Joseph AV. Jackson.

Again in the year 1846 to 1847, Dr. Burroughs presided over council, and his associates on the aldermanic board were Messrs. Smets, Lewis, H. Roberts, Lafitte, Clark, Goodall, Harper, Barnard, Harden. H. D. Weed, Thos. M. Turner and Benjamin Snider.

For the third consecutive term Dr. Burroughs was mayor in the year 1847-48, during which period the aldermen were Joseph Story Fay, Robert A. Lewis, Thos. H. Harden, Robt. A. Allen. A. A. Smets. B. Snider, F. S. Bartow, S. Goodall, T. G. Barnard, Jno. AI. Clark, Henry Harper and Hiram Roberts.

Dr. Richard Wayne was the mayor from December, 1848, to December, 1849, having served in the same capacity from 1844 to 1845. He had with him at this second period aldermen AVm. II. Bulloch, Solomon Cohen, Robt. II. Griffin, Wm. II. Alorgan, John F. Posey, Thomas Purse, Thos. AI. Turner, Robert D. AValker. Francis S. Bartow, Robt. A. Lewis, Joseph Story Fay. and Richard IL Cuvier.

Again from 1849 to 1850 it fell to the lot of Dr. AVayne to secure the mayoralty, and the responsibilities of controlling the affairs of Savannah were shared by the following aldermen: Thomas Purse. Solomon

- Air. Robert D. AValker whose name occurs several times in the foregoing list served as an alderman continuously from 1848 to 1854, and again from 1855 to 1857. He afterwards served for a long time as commissioner of Chatham county, a part of the period as the chairman of the board of county commissioners. It is interesting to know that he was a survivor of the Steamer "Pulaski" disaster in 1838.

The name of Col. Joseph W. Jackson also appears as alderman for six terms; he was a member of congress from the first district of Georgia from 1850 to 1853. He was the >on of Gen. James Jackson who was so prominently connected with the circumstance of the evacuation of Savannah by the British in 1782. was governor of the state of Georgia, United States senator, and held other responsible positions. Gen.

James Jackson was highly honored hv the people of Georgia and the document which follows, though not in chronological order, is so interesting that the writer offers it without apology.

An early specimen of a newspaper extra appeared in Savannah in the year 1798, and it is the tirst that has come under the present writer's notice. The occasion was the return of Gov. James Jackson from Washington, after having resigned his seat in the senate to become governor of the state, and the mayor and aldermen called upon him and presented him with a congratulatory address. So important was this considered that the proceedings, in accordance with the suggestion of council, were printed as a supplement to the Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser , of Friday, April 20th. but the newspaper chose to issue the whole account as an extra. We give it in full :

"We request the Printers immediately to publish, by way of Supplement, the Address of the Mayor and Aldermen, to his Excellency, the Governor, together with his Answer * * * Agreeable to a Resolution of Council.

"On Wednesday last, the corporation of this City waited on His Excellency the Governor, with the following Address, which was presented by the Mayor.

"Sir: The Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah, embrace the earliest opportunity of addressing your Excellency on your arrival in this City from the Seat of Government; and to assure your Excellency that they feel with their fellow citizens the highest satisfaction in your appointment as Chief Magistrate of this State; assured that under your administration every exertion will be made for the public good.

appointment, and your congratulation on my arrival from the Seat of Government, are not only grateful to my feelings, but have tilled me with respectful attachment for the Corporation of Savannah.

"The generous conduct and patriotism you have exhibited by the step must be deservedly admired. It evinces to the world that you know how to respect duty in an officer, even under his official rebuke; and must prove a worthy example for all other inferior jurisdictions. May Providence enable me to answer the high expectations you have formed of my administration, and direct my exertions for the public good.

"The flattering conclusion of your address is beyond my expression ; I can only return you my humble thanks, with this observation, that I shall bear in grateful remembrance, to my latest moment, the attentions and political countenance the Citizens of Savannah have ever shown me; and if 1 deserve the compliment they now, through you, pay me, the merit of it proceeded from their support, and to them am I indebted for it.

"That you and your Constituents may long enjoy happiness and prosperity, and that your City, the parent spot of Georgia, may increase and flourish in proportion to its manifold advantages, will always be the sincere prayer of "Sirs, and Gentlemen,

Honors To Living And Dead

Honors to Distinguished Dead - Reception to Henry Clay - Public Mourning for Andrew Jackson - Sheftall Sheftall, Old Revolutionary Soldier - Armory of Chatham Artillery - Visit of Ex- President Polk - Daniel Webster, City's Guest - Honors to John C. Calhoun and Zachary Taylor.

Savannah has always taken a prominent part in doing honor to illustrious persons during their lifetime and in paying respect to their memory at death. In addition to the instances already mentioned we will here record other instances without regard to chronological sequence. The records of council contain resolutions passed, and, in many cases, the newspapers show what the citizens did in public meetings on learning of the deeds of honor and of patriotism performed by noble men and on the occasion of the death of such characters.

When news of the death of Commodore Decatur was received in March, 1820, council went into mourning for thirty days, the members wearing crape on their sleeves for that period of time.

The Hon. Charles Harris, an alderman, died in 1827, on the 17th of March. He had been mayor of Savannah three terms, and, in addition to the fact that he had at the time of his death served as alderman consecutively for seven years and, with intermissions, for several other periods, rendered, as was stated in the official action of council, a long service in the cause of Savannah of twenty years. The resolutions adopted contained this remarkable statement : " During that long period none can accuse him of wilful wrong doing, and all of us can hear testimony to his excellency, to his ability, and to the purity of his motives." The period of wearing crape on the arm, usually thirty days, was in his case, extended to two months.

The death at the same time of two ex-presidents of the United States. Jefferson and Adams, on the 4th of July. 182(5, was an occasion which caused unusual action on the part of the city council. Dr. Win. C. Daniell was then the mayor, and he was directed to call a meeting of the citizens to take suitable action, and an appropriation of .+250 was made 'Mo defray the expenses of a committee of citizens paying funeral respects to the ex-presidents."

La Fayette's death in 1834 was the occasion of a large demonstration when council asked the people to unite in a civic and military procession including their attendance on religious services when the Rev. Dr. Capers, son of a revolutionary soldier, delivered the eulogy. The arrangements for the proper observances of the day were entrusted to aldermen \V. II. Cuyler, John II. Ash, and Jacob Shaffer who were- certainly capable of doing all that was- appropriate and proper. It was proposed that the citizens wear crape on the left arm for thirty days ''as a badge of mourning for the loss which the cause of liberty throughout the civilized world has sustained."

Again, in 1841, a meeting of the citizens, including the council, passed resolutions on the death of President Harrison and listened to a eulogy delivered by Judge John Macpherson Berrien.

The Hon. Henry Clay was invited to visit Savannah in 1844, and, on his arrival, the long x-oom of the Exchange was tendered to the committee of arrangements for a public reception, at which time the mayor and aldermen paid their respects to him. The original letter of acceptance of Mr. Clay, addressed to the committee, hangs in the library of the Georgia Historical Society, and is as follows : visit Savannah, which you have done me the honor to transmit. Some business which I have there coinciding with my desire to see that city, had determined me to comprehend it in my route to North Carolina. Your polite invitation strengthens the motives which I previously had to see it. I tender my respectful acknowledgments for it, and for the friendly sentiments which accompany it.

"I regret my inability to fix the day of my arrival at Savannah. It will be not earlier than the 15th of March, and perhaps about the 20th of that month.

"Being anxious that there should be as little ceremony as possible on my arrival, I hope that there will be acquiescence on your part, in my respecttully declining any public entertainment.

We have already referred to the most unusual action of council on the death of Andrew Jackson, but it is in order just here to give the proceedings of the citizens on the death of that illustrious man which resulted in the arrangement of the ceremonies on the 4th of July. 1843. the day observed as one of mourning. The following is the account given in the Georgian. "The committee appointed by the Citizens of

Savannah to make arrangements for the commemoration of the life, services and character of Andrew Jackson, announce that a eulogy on the illustrious dead will be pronounced on Friday, the fourth of July next, at the Independent Presbyterian church by Matthew McAllister, Esq.

"That Friday next, the fourth of July, be solemnized as a day of public mourning on which the banks, stores, shops, offices, etc., shall be closed, and the citizens shall abstain from their usual employments. That vessels in port and public houses display their flags at halfmast throughout the day, bells of the different churches, the Exchange and Academy, be slowly tolled from five to seven o'clock i-n the morning, during the forming and moving of the procession and from six to seven o'clock in the afternoon. That seventy-eight minute guns, corresponding with the age of the deceased patriot, be fired in the morning, begining at sunrise, and the same number in the afternoon, beginning seventyeight minutes before sunset. That minute guns be fired from the Revenue Cutter 'Crawford,' Captain Fatio, from the time the procession shall move until the services in the churches shall have begun. That a national salute lie fired at Oglethorpe Barracks by the United States Artillery under the command of Major AVade, immediately after the procession shall have been dismissed. That the Reverend Clergy; the Magistracy and other officers of the United States, the State and the City, and Consuls, and other foreign officers, the Free and Accepted Masons, and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Union Society, and all other organized societies; teachers and their respective pupils, the United States troops, the Second AMlunteer Corps of this City, the officers of the army and navy, and Revenue Marine and militia, soldiers of the Revolution, pilots, masters of vessels, their officers and crews, and the citizens generally, join, and they are earnestly invited to join, in the procession. A procession will be formed at ten o'clock on that day at the Exchange, under the direction of Francis M. Stone, Esq., chief Marshal, with the aid of six Assistant Alarshals. The United States troops and volunteer companies of the City of Savannah will constitute the escort, commanded by Colonel AVhite. The order will be as follows: The escort. Chief Marshal, Standard of the United States, the orator and Committee of Arrangements, the Reverend Clergy, Judges and officers of the Superior Court, Justices and officers of the Inferior Court and Court of Ordinary, Judge and officers of the Court of Common Pleas and Oyer and Terminer, the A lay or and Aldermen, and all officers deriving their appointments from the city. Justices of the Peace, foreign consuls and officers, the Collector and other officers of the Customs, Officers and Soldiers of the Revolution, Officers of the Revenue Marine, Officers of the militia, the Union Society, the Aledical Society, the Library Society, the Hibernian Society, the St. Andrew's Society, the German Friendly Society, the Georgia Historical Society, the Catholic Temperance Society, the Alechanics Temperance Society, the Agricultural Society, Georgia Chapter No. 3 and Masonic Lodges of Savannah, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the United Ancient Order of Druids, teachers of public schools and their pupils, the pi lots of tin1 port of Savannah, Captains and officers of vessels and marines (the last in blue jackets and white trousers) in a dress corresponding as readily therewith as circumstances will admit, headed hy the Harbor Master. Citizens, teachers and their pupils will assemble in Johnson Square and join t he procession when moving at the intersection of St. Julian and Drayton streets. The procession will march down the Bay to Drayton street, up Drayton street to South Broad [now Oglethorpe avenue], and up South Broad. It is respectfully recommended that the Mayor. Aldermen, civil officers and citizens appear in black or dark-colored suits: that the staves of the Marshals. Sheriff and attending officers be surmounted with hlack ribbons, the banners of the military and societies be mourned, that all who unite in the procession be distinguished by some appropriate badge of mourning, and that the ladies and female children who may attend the delivery of the eulogium wear white dresses with black ribbons, or black dresses.

Another instance of the proper treatment of a hero who had regarded the time spent in the service of his country as the best period of his life occurred in the case of a survivor of the Continental Army in the War of the Revolution. Sheftall Sheftall the son of Mordeeai Sheftall, of the family coming to Georgia with the first Jewish settlers, was a soldier of the Revolution, and died at an advanced age in the year 1855. He was so proud of his having lived during the struggle of the colonies for independence and of his having taken a part in the successful conflict that until his death he wore no other outer clothing than the Continental uniform. In the year 1841 the city council, in regard for his services to the cause and respecting him as a most worthy citizen took the following laudable action: "It appearing to Council that

Sheftall Sheftall, Esq., one of the oldest citizens of Savannah and a relic of the Revolution, a pensioner of the United States government for services rendered in the War of the Revolution, is in arrears for taxes due the city.

" Resolved further, That Sheftall Sheftall be and hereby is entitled to all the privileges of a citizen in every respect the same as if his taxes had been returned and paid into the City Treasury."

That old soldier died on the 15th of August, 1847. and was buried the next day. In announcing his death the Georgian gave a sketch of his life which is well worth preserving. It is from the paper of the 16th:

"The lapse of years has left among the living but few of the venerable men whose fortune it was to witness the stirring times of our Revolutionary War, and to take part in giving birth to our young Republic. Wherever they have survived, however, they have always been objects of public notice, esteem, and affection. For many years past in our own community, lingering among us like a sacred leaf from a departed sum- mer, distinguished by his 'Knee-Breeches' and his 'Cocked-Hat,' in the person of Sheftall Sheftall, Esq., was recognized one of the soldiers of the Revolution. Born in Savannah eighty-five years ago. his fate has ever been identified with her's. Here he partook of all the intense excitement which attended its approach ; and here he joined the Continental Army and linked his individual destiny with that of his suffering, struggling country. He shared the dangers and withstood the horrors attendant upon the bloody siege of Savannah, and fought side by side with men whose names are now historic. It was in the surrender of this city that he was taken prisoner by the British, and was confined for six months upon the prisonship at this port and at Charleston, during which time he suffered much from hardship and mal-treatment. From Charleston he was taken to the AYest Indies where he was permitted to return to Philadelphia on his parole of honor. He was subsequently sent to Charleston, with a flag of truce, to take- money for the relief of the American prisoners there. He held the appointment of Assistant Commissary in the Army.

"After the close of the Revolutionary AVar he continued to live in this city which, in fact, he never left except during the period of his imprisonment and while it remained in the hands of the English. He was admitted to the Bar in Camden County shortly after the war, and was the oldest lawyer in the State. For a number of years he held the responsible office of Justice of the Peace, under appointment from the Governor; an office in which so much can be done for the good or injury of society. Out of near twenty thousand cases which he tried there was not one in which his decision was reversed. His unceasing effort was to prevent unnecessary litigation, and to do justice between parties fully and fearlessly.

- "For seven years past his health has been growing exceedingly feeble. For the last one or two his venerable form has been missed from its accustomed place in his piazza, and the time has at last come for him to depart. So long identified with Savannah, having been acquainted with all whose names are connected with her history, possessed, even in advanced age and sickness, of a most extraordinary memory, he will be greatly missed by our citizens. He will go to his tomb respected by all. May he rest in peace."

The respect mentioned in the above was feelingly shown as will be seen from the annexed account of the funeral in the same paper of Tuesday, August 17th. 1847: "The funeral of out late venerable fellow citizen, Sheftall Sheftall, Esq., was yesterday attended by numbers of our citizens; escorted to the grave by the Georgia Hussars and the Affilunteer Corps composing the First Regiment, under the command of Major Lewis. The last volley was fired over the grave of the soldier of a previous century by the Chatham Light Artillery, of which corps he was an honorary member. "

It was only a few days after, that the historic military organization named in the last sentence of the record just given laid the corner-stone of a new armory on the spot where the old quarters of the same company stood. It was then that the building known as Armory Hall was started, and the corner-stone was laid by William Thorne Williams on the 7th of September, 1847. The company formed on the bay at five o'clock in- the afternoon, and marched to Wright square and were addressed by James Preston, Esq., before the stone was deposited in its place. Beneath the stone was placed a miniature portrait in oil of Gen. George Washington, said to be a copy of the Stuart picture. Mr. J. M. Jones contributed a breast-plate or clasp of 1786, on which were inscribed the words

On the same lot the Chatham Artillery had, up to that time, occupied the upper floor of a building built by the city of which the lower floor was used as a fire engine house. The lot was. in 1807, leased to the company for ten years, at a nominal rent of $1.00, for a gun house, laboratory and workshop, and the term of occupancy began in the course of that year, and in 1810 the city built the brick addition in which the engine was placed and the military company found quarters above the engine room. In 1816 the lease which was about to expire was renewed for a term of twenty-one years, and, at the expiration of that time it was again renewed, the last renewal expiring on the 20th of February, 1845, when the city granted the tract ( three-quartet's of lot letter E, Percival ward) to the company in fee simple. Finally, on the 20th of June, 1857, council ordained that "the eastern part of lot letter E, Percival Ward, and the improvements thereon, known as the Armory Building, and belonging to the Chatham Artillery, be and the same are hereby exempt from city taxation while the same is used by the aforesaid company for military purposes." *

The people of Savannah were again, in 1849, eager to show respect to a notable character who honored the city with his presence, and, as usual, the military display was easily the dominating feature of the imposing ceremonies of the occasion which was the visit of ex-President J. K. Polk. Ilis arrival in the evening of March 10th had been anticipated, and everything was done to make him feel that he was among friends. Council appointed a committee composed of aldermen Robert II. Griffin. Solomon Cohen and Joseph Story Fay to meet the honored guest at Charleston and escort him to this city, giving him at meeting the official invitation to partake of its hospitality. The party came in the steamer "General Clinch." and was met by Mayor Richard Wayne and his board of aldermen and a committee of twenty-one citizens. The Chatham Artillery, waiting on the bluff near the gas house welcomed him with a salute from their guns. With the ex-president were his wife, nieces, and Robt. J. Walker, ex-secretary of the treasury. On landing the party received a salute from the battalion comprising the Georgia Hussars. Lieutenant Blois; the Republican Blues, Capt. John W. Anderson; the Savannah Volunteer Guards, Capt. Cosmo P. Richardsone : the Irish Jasper Greens, Captain Wyllv; the German Volunteers, Capt. J. II. Stegin; and the Phoenix Riflemen, Capt. AY. H. C. Mills, after which they proceeded to the Pulaski House where Air. Polk was to be quartered during his stay. It was nine o'clock when he arrived, but a reception was held at Armory Hall which did not last long, owing to the lateness of the hour. The next day being Sunday, Mr. Polk and party attended services at the Independent Presbyterian church in the morning, and at Christ church in the afternoon. The Republican Blues acted as escort on the departure of the guests, accompanying them to the Central Railroad depot where they took the ears for Macon. Air. Polk died .just three months after his visit to Savannah, and the city council chamber was draped in mourning for sixty days, and the people were asked to wear crape for the same length of time.

Two years before the visit of Air. Polk the great statesman. Daniel AVe'bster, was a guest of the city, arriving on the twenty-fifth of Alay, 1847. accompanied by his wife and Aliss Seaton. Air. Webster was publicly received at the foot of the monument to Gen. Nathanael Greene in Johnson square, and during his short stay two public dinners were given him - one by the citizens and the other by the bar. He departed on Friday, the 28th, for Charleston.

On the 11th of April, 1850, the death of John C. Calhoun was announced, and the minutes of council record the fact that the members of that body had "received with the deepest regret the intelligence of the death of Hon. John C. Calhoun, and mourn over him as over one whose lofty genius and impassioned patriotism are unsurpassed in the history of our country, and whose long and illustrious career from its auspicious beginning to its glorious close is the property of the whole Amer iean people, but the peculiar treasure of the South in whose services he sacrificed his life" and it was resolved that the council chamber be draped in mourning for thirty days, and the citizens were invited to put on the badge of grief.

On the 8th of August in the same year, shortly after receipt of the news of the death of President Zachary Taylor, council as well as the citizens generally showed their feelings in a manner which forbids the suggestion of any lack of appreciation of his services to the country.

"The joint committee of citizens and the Mayor and Aldermen, appointed to adopt suitable measures for the solemn commemoration of the death of General Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, and for paying tributes of respect to his memory, announce the following as the ceremony and arrangements for the occasion. Francis S. Bartow, Esq., will deliver a eulogy on the public life and character of the deceased, on Thursday, the eighth of August, at the new Methodist church in St. James square [now Telfair Place]. A procession will be formed at ten o'clock on the morning of that day. .on Bay street, in front of the Exchange, under the direction of Win. W. Oates, Esq., as Marshal, with four assistants.

"The volunteer Companies of the City will constitute the escort, under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel William F. Law, and will be formed in line, the right resting on Barnard street, displaying west. The Chatham Artillery, Lieutenant [John R.] Wilder, will fire minute guns during the march of the procession to the number of sixty-six, the age of the deceased. At sunset they will fire a national salute. The colors of the shipping in port, and at all public places will be hoisted at half-mast during the day. The bells of all the churches will be tolled during the march of the procession, and again for half an hour at sunset. All standards and banners carried in the procession to be in mourning. The committee request's that all the banks and public offices be shut during the day, and that the citizens close their places of business from ten o'clock until the termination of the ceremonies. The order of the procession will be as follows:

The Standard of the United States The Orator and Committee of Arrangements The Reverend Clergy - Teachers of Public Schools The Mayor and Aldermen and their Officers Judges and Officers of the Superior Court Justice of the Inferior Court and their Officers Judges of Court of Common Pleas and Oyer and Terminer and Officers Magistrates and Officers of the City and County - Foreign Consuls Officers of the United States Collector and Officers of the Customs Military and Naval Officers of the United States Brigadier-General of the First Brigade and Staff Major of Cavalry and Staff.

"All the Societies not specified - The Worshipful Deputy, Grand Master and Masonic Lodges of Savannah. The several Lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Captains and Officers of Vessels in Port. Marines in uniform dress. Citizens. The Oglethorpe and Washington Fire Companies will form the rear of the Procession. The various Societies, Associations. Public Bodies, Officers and all others named, and the Citizens generally are requested to consider this as the invitation of the Committee to unite in the procession without further notice. Route of the Procession - Down Bay Street to Whitaker, up Whitaker to South Broad street [now Oglethorpe Avenue], up South Broad street to Barnard Street to St. James Square, fronting the church. Returning, down Barnard street to Broughton street, down Broughton street to Bull street, down Bull street to Bay street.

Public Institutions And Noted Events

Makeshift Custom Houses - Present Building Completed in 1850 - Forsyth Park - Atlantic Coast Line Railroad System - Welcome to Millard Fillmore - Another Yellow Fever Epidemic (1854) - Storm Adds Terrors to Epidemic - Resultant Sanitary Measures - Savannah Benevolent Association - Savannah's Public School System - The Massie Poor School Fund - The Massie Common School - Board of Public Education Organized (I860).

Notwithstanding the great amount of business transacted in Savannah, the city had no custom house worthy of being so-called until 1850. We have seen it recorded that the first building of the sort was little more than a hufubut the records fail to give its location.

What has been known to an older generation as "Commercial Row," owned by Mr. Robert Bolton, and situated just a little to the west of the City Hall, served the purposes of the government in that line from the time it was built in 1789 until the government erected a small brick building on Bryan street about the centre of the block on the north side between Bull and Drayton, and that was the Custom House until its destruction by fire in 1820 when the government transacted the business of entering and clearing vessels in a rented portion of the old City Exchange, now the location of our new and up-to-date City Hall.

In 1848 the old lot was sold with the ruins of the custom house heaped upon it to the. Georgia Historical Society, and the United States shortly thereafter began the erection of the present custom house on the southeast corner of Bay and Bull streets. It was planned by Mr. John S. Norris, and was finished in 1850. The Custom House finished that year was two years in building. The cornerstone was laid July 18. 1848, with appropriate ceremonies, and an interesting address was made to an attentive audience by the Hon. Henry R. Jackson. In this building the United States district and circuit courts were held until the new post-

Savannah's first park was laid out in 1851 through the suggestion of Mr. William Brown Hodgson, who even went so far as to have, at his own expense a temporary fence placed around the land as a beginning of the efforts he made to induce the city authorities to set apart a place of recreation for the people. Slowly did council act upon the suggestion which was made some time before the year 1851. When the necessary action was taken to enclose it properly the name of John Forsyth of Georgia, then minister to Spain, was given to. the park. It was for a long time enclosed with an ornamental iron fence which was afterwards removed and it is now entirely open on all sides.

In 1853 the railroad which now forms a part of the Atlantic Coast Line system had its origin in the formation of a company called the Savannah & Albany Railroad Company. Dr. James P. Screven was largely interested in it, and it is conceded that he was the first to suggest its founding. He was its first president, and, at his death, his worthy son and a most admirable citizen John Screven became his successor. Its name was changed in 1854 to the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad, and later still to the Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad. A still later change took it into the Plant System by which it lost entirely its separate name, and now it is only known as a portion of the Atlantic Coast Line Railway.

In 1854 another ex-president of the United States visited the city, and the people turned out in large numbers to welcome the Hon. Millard Fillmore.

The Georgian of Friday, April 21, thus- announced the event: "It is announced in another column that Ex-President Fillmore will arrive here this evening at half past five o'clock and remain over Sunday. The Ex-President is accompanied by the Honorable John P. Kennedy. A deputation from the Committee of Arrangements will depart on this morning's train to meet the Ex-President and suite at Griffin's Dinner House, on the Central Railroad. On his arrival at the Railroad Depot here he will be formally welcomed by the Mayor and Aldermen, and the Committee of Reception, followed by a salute of thirty-one guns from the Chatham Artillery. The reception ceremonies will take place in the extensive warehouse of the Central Railroad, after which the distinguished guest and suite will be honored by a civic and military escort to quarters provided at the Pulaski House. During the sojourn of the guests, a complimentary ball, at St. Andrew's Hall, and an excursion to Fort Pulaski are contemplated." party of our fellow citizens, are going down the river, to view Fort Pulaski, and other places of interest, on hoard the beautiful Steamer '861100010.' On Saturday, in company with Savannah gentlemen, he visited Bonaventure.* On Sunday morning he attended Christ church Reverend Bishop Elliott officiating. In the afternoon he attended the Independent Presbyterian Church, and listened to a sermon from Reverend Clias. Rogers, in the absence of the Pastor. Reverend Doctor Preston. In the evening he attended the Unitarian Church, Reverend John Pierpont, Jr., to which denomination we believe lie is attached as a member. Yesterday from ten to eleven o'clock a public levee was held at the Pulaski House. The citizens without distinction paid their respects to the Ex-President. At eleven o'clock, by invitation of Captain Hardie, Mr. Fillmore and suite visited the steamship 'Keystone State.' He was welcomed by a salute of twenty-one guns. Afterwards the Steamer 'Seminole' was placed at his disposal - the Ex-President and his friends viewing the scenery down the river. Dinner followed, and many toasts were enjoyed on board the 'Seminole.' The boat returned to the city at an early hour of the evening, in time to attend the ball, where there was a large gathering. O11 Tuesday morning the party departed for Charleston accompanied by several citizens."

Another epidemic of that fearful scourge, yellow fever, set in not quite four months after the rejoicing occasioned by the visit of Mr. Fillmore. It was the most disastrous Savannah has ever had, and for a long time its effect was apparent in the check given to the natural growth and prosperity of the city. After the fever had done its work of destruction, the mayor, Hon. John E. Ward, in summing up the events of his term of service, said in his report for that year, "After an exemption from epidemics unknown in any other city, and the enjoyment of unexampled health for almost half a century, in the month of August our citizens were startled with the announcement that the yellow fever had made its appearance as an epidemic. The first case occurred on August 5th, in a house situated at the southwest corner of Lincoln and Broughton streets. Regarded merely as a sporadic case, it was not reported as yellow fever. Between that date and the middle of the month a few more cases occurred, but nothing to excite any alarm or create any apprehension of an epidemic among us. About that date it manifested itself in an epidemic form, and swept with a fearful desolation over our city." It was rive days after the fact that a case had occurred that council had the matter brought to the attention of the board. On the 10th, Capt. William B. Bowen, chairman of the board of health, considered it his duty officially to make a statement to the city authorities, and he appeared in council and told of the conditions of inhabitants of "Washington ward and Gilmersville, when an appropriation of $500 for the relief of those people was promptly made. Complaint was made that patients were removed from the places where they were first attacked by the disease to parts of the city where no cases had previously been reported, and the complainants argued that bv stopping tin; transfers the fever could be confined to one locality, or, at most, that the spread would not be extensive. Council therefore ordered that such removals should cease, or that fever patients should be sent to the Marine Hospital. The fever, however, rapidly spread to all sections of the city and did its full work. Two-thirds of the people left the city, and, the material on which to work being so greatly diminished, the disease was limited in the number of its victims. The death-rate was frightful, and on the 1 2th of September there were fifty-one interments. Among those who fell were the Rt. Rev. F. X. Gartland, bishop of the Roman Catholic church, ten physicians, and three medical students. It was estimated that the population amounted to about six thousand persons, a majority of whom were attacked, and the number of deaths were as follows :

As in all the other cases of epidemics of yellow fever various causes were suggested for its appearance in Savannah at the time. One was that it was brought from Havana by the Danish brig "Charlotte Hague," bound to Copenhagen and stopping at Cockspur on the 29th of June. It was shown that only two cases of sickness had cecurred on the vessel, and that neither was caused by yellow fever. It was then attributed to the removal of mud from the river in dredging; but, as the mud had, by actual proof, never been exposed to the air, that theory was abandoned. It was supposed that the condition of the rice lands adjacent to the city was the cause of the trouble ; but it was shown that those lands were in the very best condition during the whole of the season; and * that theory fell to the ground. No one at that time dreamed that the pestiferous little mosquito had anything to do with it.

In the very midst of the excitement caused by the fever, on the 8th of September, a storm of great intensity, accomplishing vast destruction of life and property, added to the terrors of the situation. Aid was extended from all sides to the suffering people. After the trouble was all over, council adopted the following resolution of thanks, proposed by Alderman James 1*. Screven:

" Whereas, by the dispensation of Providence this City has been afflicted with an epidemic of the most fatal character, and its inhabitants during its prevalence have been the recipients of the munificence and

"Resolved, that the thanks of this body are due, and are hereby tendered to the corporate authorities of our sister cities for the symthe epidemic; to transient physicians for their professional gallantry pathy they have manifested in the afflictions of this city, and for their generous contributions in aid of its suffering and destitute inhabitants.

"Resolved, that the thanks of this body are due, and are hereby tendered, to all benevolent and other associations, and to individuals, who have, in any manner, contributed to the relief of the afflicted in this city. Thanks to the resident physicians for their noble' conduct during the epidemic; to transient physicians for their professional gallantry when our physicians were falling in our midst, victims to the faithful discharge of duty. Thanks to the devoted clergy who. without exception, pursued their holy calling. Thanks to the Young Men's Benevolent Association."

"'To his Excellency Herschel V. Johnston, Governor of the State 'of Georgia. - My dear Sir: - I have been directed to transmit to you the enclosed resolutions. They but feebly express the gratitude and affection which the people of Savannah feel for you. The generosity of our people, which saved us from the necessity of calling upon you for the aid which you had tendered to us, affords the highest evidence that you understood the character of the people of Georgia when you were willing to assume the responsibility of relieving distress, relying upon them for support. Your noble conduct has commanded the approval of all classes in every section of the State.

As evidence of the manner in which the sympathy of the people everywhere was aroused in behalf of Savannah, let it here be recorded that the Young Men's Benevolent Association alone raised in cash the sum of $24,396.63, besides accepting for the use of the afflicted inhabitants a large amount of clothing, food, and other useful and valuable supplies. It has been said of that noble organization "So important a factor was this Association in the operation of the public benevolence that it received more than forty per cent of the whole money fund contributed by the public at home and abroad for the relief of the community."

At the end of the year 1864. the committee of council on health reported that "whatever conflicting opinion there may In* relative to the cause of the late epidemic, there appears to be no doubt in the mind of many that its virulence was greatly increased by local causes. The unaccountable amount of filth about the domiciles in the eastern part of the city is believed to have been a fruitful source of disease. At all events it is well known that the intense rays of the sun never do produce putrefaction and infectious malaria when acting upon a purely clear surface." In its report the committee therefore urged the ward committees of the board of health to be particular in the matter of having the different wards of the city kept in the best condition. Further than that council instructed the city surveyor to make an estimate of the cost of a proper sewerage system.

Charleston took the matter up. and having adopted a stringent quarantine ordinance, communicated with the mayor of Savannah, urging him to see to it that this city "take a similar step" adding that "we have ceased all dispute and discussion in the matter. We have neglected the exclusion of disease for fifty years and have had the disease oftener than was beneficial to us. We have now decided, no matter what the result may be. to keep it in the lazaretto, to try the experiment of preventing its entrance from abroad, and, if it arises then among us. we will be satisfied that quarantine is useless."

' For Savannah Mayor Edward C. Anderson made a suitable reply, assuring the Charlestonians that there would probably be no changes made in our quarantine law, believing that it was proper to permit vessels from any part of the world to come up to the city without detention at quarantine, in case there was no sickness aboard.

The organization named above as the Young Men's Benevolent Association had its origin during the prevalence of the yellow fever in 1854 when, on the 12th of September, a number of gentlemen met for the purpose of giving "aid and comfort amid scenes of pestilence, destitution, sorrow, and death." Standing ready to carry' out in every' particular the objects for which they had associated themselves, the men composing the body readily consented to the very first request made of them by the acting mayor who expressed his desire in the following note:

"Savannah, September 28, 1854. - Wm. Hone, Esq., President Young Men's Benevolent Association-^-Dear Sir: - The community is already so much indebted to your Association for acts of benevolence that place it under obligations which can never be repaid, except by the more heartfelt acknowledgment of the benefit it has conferred, that it may, perhaps, be tasking the kindness of its members too much to ask a favor which is rather foreign to the objects of their organization. But inasmuch as the ascertainment of the population of the city will be of advantage for future reference, and will probably correct erroneous statements now so prevalent abroad on this important subject, and it being the duty of the committee of the Association to call at each house in the city daily, thus rendering the information we seek of more easy acquisition than by the ordinary process, may I ask the favor of

" I would respectfully suggest Saturday next as an appropriate time for the performance of this duty. Should any aid he required, a number of volunteers who have had experience will render assistance.

Without delay, the work was taken up, and the population, as already stated, was found to be six thousand. That number did not include negroes "because the black and colored population was cared for in the main by their owners. Being immune also, very few * * * perished from the fever." In this connection it is interesting to learn that of the whole number of deaths among the colored people during the prevalence of the yellow fever only fifteen of them were caused by that disease.

On the 20th of October a committee was appointed to "draw up a constitution and by-laws for the permanent organization of the Association" and a report was made one week later, when it was proposed to change the name to The Savannah Benevolent Association and that name it has ever since borne. The organization is kept up, and whenever a vacancy occurs by death or resignation the vacancy is immediately" filled. There is no way of estimating the amount of good it has accomplished, and its influence was great during the epidemics of 1858 and 1876. It was duly incorporated on the 13th of July, 1893.

The gift to the city of a sum of money to be used for educational purposes was the first step in the establishment of Savannah's public school system. On the 8th of April, 1841, the last will and testament of Peter Massie, of Glynn county was read to council by Hon. R. M. Charlton, mayor. One item of it reads: "l give and bequeath for the education of the poor children of the city of Savannah the sum of $5,000, to be applied for that purpose in such a manner as the corporate authorities of said city shall direct;" but when demand was made on the executors for payment it met with a refusal, and a resolution, offered by Alderman Jacob Waldburg. was adopted on the 9th of January", 1845, that formal demand be made in the name of the city for payment of the bequest. That action was followed on the 17th of April by the appointment of Messrs. John E. Ward and Geo. W. Owens as counsel for the city to prosecute the claim which resulted in a decree at that term of the superior court of Glynn county against the executors in favor of the city of Savannah for the full sum of $5,000 with interest from the 4th of March, 1841. In accordance with that decree the executors paid to the city of Savannah, as reported by Mayor Richard Wayne, on the 29th of March. 1S49. $2,115.33 in cash and an accepted draft for $5,400, payable twelve months after date.

Of the money thus received $2,000 was invested, in May, in the guaranteed eight per cent stock of the Central Railroad and Banking Company of Georgia, and at the maturity of the draft the sum of $5,500 was invested in the stock of the Savannah Gas Light Company. The interest on the investment was kept in the city treasury until 1852 when the fund was found to amount to the sum of $8,750.46. In the following year the gas company declared a dividend of thirty-four shares of stock on the investment of the city and ninety-nine additional shares were subscribed for.

In the meantime, in 1849, council appointed a committee to "prepare a plan to invest the legacy as a foundation for an asylum or work house for indigent children," but it reported that the fund could not he diverted from the purpose stated in the will which was for the education of poor children. In December, 1852, a committee of council recommended that $3,750.46 be spent for a school house and that the original $5,000 be kept as an investment, with the interest available for the salaries of teachers, and an ordinance was passed providing that the mayor and two aldermen be annually appointed to constitute the Massie Poor School Fund Committee "to control and manage the fund so far as the present and future interest was concerned." They were empowered to associate with them such poor school commissioners as the justices of the inferior court might appoint as well as any committee that might be appointed by the Savannah Poor School, and power was given the committee to select a site and erect the Massie Free School House from the Massie fund and other school houses for which funds might be provided from any source. Evidently as a plan of co-operation, a meeting of citizens was held and on the 27th of January, 1853, Messrs. Anthony Porter, Francis S. Bartow, Solomon Cohen and J. P. Tustin who had previously been appointed a committee to establish a public school system, reported a plan to the meeting as well as to the justices of the inuperior court, suggesting that two schools be established to meet the requirements of the then population and the increase. Thev further recommended that a lot at South Broad and Habersh am streets, 70 by 120 feet, be granted for the building of the Massie School, to be paid for by the Massie fund, and that another lot be procured near Liberty and AYest Broad streets for a school to be known as the Chatham County Free School, the latter to be paid for by one year's interest on the education fund held by the inferior court as well as Chatham county's proportion for one year of the State School fund to which should be added such subscriptions as might be made to insure the completion of the second building. Further details were given in the report, but the committee of council to whom it was referred reported on the 19th of March that it was inadvisable to join the Massie fund with any other, and. in advising against the putting up of a building by the expenditure of a fund deemed too small for that purpose and the payment of salaries of teachers, added: "By careful investment, in a few years it can be so increased as to found and main- tain a school which will be an honor and advantage to the city " It was proposed that the fund he reserved until it reached the sum of $20,000, and that the lot at South Broad and Habersham streets be granted for the building when it should be needed. The inferior court appointed Messrs. A. Porter, John Stoddard and Josiah P. Tustin. school commissioners, and. on the 21st of April, reported to coimcil that they controlled an amount sufficient to build one large school, and asked that council appropriate $2,000 with which to purchase a lot. On the 4th of May council appropriated the sum asked for on condition that the inferior court give the same amount. Then lot 14. Chatham ward, theretofore a ground rent lot, was exempted from that class for school purposes.

Council repealed the ordinance setting apart the site for the Massie School in 1854. and the lot was selected for the building of police quarters, and. on the 2d of June, by ordinance "Lots numbered thirty-four (34) and thirty-five (35) Calhoun Ward were set aside for educational purposes, and for the purpose of having erected thereon, at some future period, a school house to be designated the Massie Common School."

The school commissioners Porter, Stoddard and Cohen on the 22d of March, 1885, recommended that the Massie school be built, and that for the purpose $4,000 be expended in 1855 and $5,000 in 1856, when the erection was commenced on the lot at the corner of Gordon and Abercorn streets. In the last mentioned year the Massie school fund accounts were closed when 188 shares of the stock of the Savannah Gas Company and a bond for $1,000 of the South Western Railroad Company were transferred to the commissioners. The next year, 1857. on the 26th of November, the commissioners reported that the fund was exhausted, and it was shown that it took $4,500 annually to support the school. Of that sum the tuition of pay scholars would provide $1,000, and the city was asked to appropriate $3,500; but council refused to do so. and offered the school to the justices of the inferior court with the request that they maintain it with the county's share of the state school fund.

An ordinance was passed by council December 24, 1857, to the effect that "The Mayor, four Aldermen and four citizens at large, to be appointed by the Mayor, shall constitute a Board of Commissioners for the care, support and management of the Massie Common School. The four citizens shall hold their office for three years from the passing of this ordinance. The four Aldermen shall be appointed by the Mayor of each succeeding Board of Aldermen, and the Mayor of each succeeding Board shall always be one of said Commissioners.

"The persons so appointed shall meet and organize themselves into a Board by the choice of a Chairman, from their own number, and may make such rules and regulations for their own government, and such rules and regulations tor the government of said school as they may deem expedient; such rules and regulations to be reported to the City Council at its first ensuing regular meeting for the approval of Council, and when approved by Council shall be of full force.

"In the event of vacancies in said Board by death, resignations, removal, expiration of term, or otherwise, the Mayor shall have power to fill said vacancies.

"The chairman of said Board of Commissioners shall, on or before the firsf day of January next, and quarterly thereafter, make a report in writing to the City Council of the condition of said Massie Common School, and of the property connected therewith, also an account of all receipts and expenditures, together with any information or suggestions which the said Board of Commissioners may deem important, and shall at the same time submit in writing a report from the principal teacher as to the number, ages and sex of the scholars, and their proficiency, and whether paying scholars or not. '

"For the support of said school there shall be appropriated annually out of the City Treasury a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars, payable quarterly by the City Treasurer to the Chairman of said Board of Commissioners, upon the same being countersigned by the Mayor."

" Resolved , That when the Board of Commissioners to be appointed in pursuance of said ordinance, shall have been organized, it shall be the duty of the Chairman thereof to render to the Mayor a full statement of all bills outstanding against the Massie Common School, and upon the same being countersigned by the Mayor, the City Treasurer shall pay same.

"His Honor the Mayor reported that, by virtue of the ordinance passed this night, he had appointed the following named gentlemen 'to constitute a Board of Commissioners for the care, support and management of the Massie Common School,' to hold their offices for the term prescribed by ordinance, viz :

The city had leased to the trustees of Chatham Academy the lots in Brown ward known as numbers 17, 18 and 19. for the building of the academy, and on the expiration of the lease in December, 1859, it was renewed for a term lasting as long as the lots should be used for educational purposes, on condition "that the trustees of the Academy educate free at least five scholars to be known as City Scholars and to be taken from the Massie School."

On the organization of the board of public education for the city of Savannah and the county of Chatham in 1866 the Massie School became a part of the public school system of Savannah by the passing of an ordinance in which it was declared that "At the first regular meeting in January of each succeeding year the Mayor shall appoint three Commissioners of tin1 Massie School, one of whom shall be the Mayor, when he is not a regular member of the 'Board of Public Education for the

City of Savannah,' and the said Commissioners may be selected from th<> Aldermen, or Citizens, or both as the Mayor may elect;" and ''That said Commissioners shall hold their offices until their successors are appointed, and shall unite with and become part and parcel of the 'Board of Public Education for the City of Savannah,' as created by an act of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, approved March 21st, 1866, and be governed by said act and such by-laws, rules and regulations as said Board of Public Education for the City of Savannah may from time to time ordain for its government."

Chapter Xxxiy Savannah River And Harbor

Improvement of Savannah River and Harbor - Removal of Obstructions Therein - Proposal That City Issue Bonds - Aid of U. S. Government - Appropriation by Congress - Light House Erected on Bay Street, and Land Granted by City for It - Visit of Ex- President Fillmore - President Pierce Invited, But Savannah Not Included in Itinerary - Thackeray's Visit and His Account of the City - Respect Paid by the Public to Memory of Henry Clay and Governor Troup - Action of Council in Honoring Prominent Citizens.

The matter of deepening the channel of the Savannah river had to some extent been considered before the year 1851, but it was during that year that definite steps were taken when, on the 3d of June, a committee of council with Mayor Richard Wayne as chairman was appointed "to examine into and report on the propriety of appropriating the sum of $100,000 from the city treasury for the improvement of the river and harbor to be expended under the direction of such officers of the United States as might be charged with such duty and 'in the just and reasonable expectation that congress will pass a law to return the same with interest from the national treasury' and that a memorial be sent to congress asking for such an appropriation." It was doubtless the opinion of the members of council that, in order to the accomplishing of anything along that line, the city must show a willingness to incur some expense. A committee to inquire into the cost of doing such work and to recommend a method of procedure was appointed in October, 1825, which recommended the sending of a memorial to congress for the removal of the wrecks sunk by the city, and it was shown that absolutely nothing in the way of accomplishing any good could be accomplished without an outlay of at least $50,000. Furthermore the committee recommended that congress be asked to establish a naval depot at Savannah for the building of vessels "which would keep the government's eyes on the river. This preference of the government would serve to disclose new sources of wealth, open a demand for many of our productions, and with spirited exertions in internal improvements by the state show what the emphatic language of General Barnard has declared, 'that Savannah is destined to become the New York of the South.' " The memorial of the mayor and aldermen to congress was read on the

20th of February, 1826, recommending "the removal by the general government of obstructions placed in the channel of Savannah river during the war," and a bill covering the purpose was reported. The obstructions were wrecks sunk in the channel during the AVar of the Revolution. The memorial showed how it was proposed to improve the bar and the river, and continued the report on surveys made by the officers of the government showing the advantage of Savannah over Charleston and St. Mary's. A report was afterward tiled by Secretary S. L. Southard, dated December 27, 1827. on a survey of harbors at Charleston, Beaufort. Savannah and St. Alary's. Attention was paid to the memorial, and congress authorized an expenditure of $50,000, which proved wholly insufficient for the accomplishment of the good intended. A letter on the subject of payments for the work was transmitted to congress May 19, 1830, by Secretary S. D. Ingham, and it was shown that by the 24th of March $45,916.59 had been expended, for which little results could be seen. Again, on the 16th of February, 1831, the same officer made a statement of disbursements on account of the work of "removing obstructions from the Savannah River, Georgia." In .June of the last mentioned year council appointed a committee to consult one Henry Schultze on the subject of a plan proposed by him for improving the channel which secured from that person a pledge to deepen the channel at a cost of $150,000 so that vessels drawing eighteen feet of water could come up to the city, and guaranteeing to do tin* work which was to be a permanent job by the end of two years. A favorable report on this plan was made to council that a recommendation be made to the legislature for the necessary appropriation, as the work was considered of benefit to the entire state. The report was at lirst

Further discussion of the subject was made in council without definite result, and in the mouth of January, 1840, Captain J. Mackay of the corps of topographical engineers submitted a plan, accompanied with a map, showing that obstructions placed in back river at certain places would cause the deepening of the main channel, and recommending that the city appeal to congress for the necessary means to carry it out, and it was adopted.

The next step to which our attention is directed is that on the 27th of March, 1844. Representative Joseph II. Peyton submitted to congress a report recommending the improvement of the Savannah river. Through the efforts of our congressman. Hon. William IT. Stiles, an appropriation was secured from congress in that year, and council thanked him for his work in that behalf. The next congress passed a bill making appropriations available for river and harbor work, but the President vetoed it, and a convention of the people of the United States was called to meet at Chicago, July 5, 1847, to protest against his veto. In 1845 the Savannah Chamber of Commerce sent a memorial to congress urging the removal of obstructions in the Savannah river, dated the 16th of December: and that was followed by another memorial from the citizens of Savannah, on the 8th of January, 1846, "praying for the removal of certain obstructions to navigation." Once again, on the 21st of December, 1846. the Chamber of Commerce memorialized congress to make an appropriation "for the removal of wrecks in the Savannah River. " In 1850, as early as the 28th of January, Secretary Geo. W. Crawford sent a report to congress "with a copy of Lieutenant Smith's survey and examination of the Savannah River," and it was accompanied with a map. and the minutes of city council show that the I'eeommendations of that officer met with the approval of the mayor and aldermen who urged the Georgia senator and representatives in congress to secure an appropriation to carry on the work so recommended.

Having briefly shown the steps taken in the matter of improving the harbor from time to time, we now return to the period with which this chapter begins. The committee appointed by council in 1851 was composed of Mayor Wayne and Aldermen James P. Screven and Francis S. Bartow. No record of any success on their part can be found.

A mass meeting of citizens was held on the 4th of May, 185:1. when resolutions were adopted in relation to the matter of deepening the river channel, and recommending the issue of bonds to the amount of $160,000 to pay for flu* work, and council went so far in sanctioning the expressed views of the people as to pass an ordinance authorizing the bonding of the city in the amount stated. That action was taken, however, following the exhaustion of an appropriation made in August,

1852, by the United States under direction of Lieutenant Jeremy F. Gilmer, U. S. A., in "'the removal of obstructions in the Savannah River at a place called 'The "Wrecks. ' and the improvement of said river," done at the request of the Savannah Chamber of Commerce. A commission, of which Prof. A. D. Bache, Capt. A. II. Bowman and Lieut. Gilmer were the members, had been appointed to decide upon the nature of the work to be done, and the last named gentleman was detailed to supervise it They reported back a plan which was " ' to deepen the front river over 'the wrecks,' along Garden Bank, and over two shoals above the city by dredging, and at the same time to throw sufficient water along the branch of the river to preserve the depth attained. To accomplish the latter object, timber jetties and closing works were to be constructed at the upper end of Hutchinson's Island, across Fig Island channel, and at the upper. end of the last named island." It was calculated that the whole of the work so laid out would cost $201,- 427 ; but the appropriation of the United States was only $40,000, and as it was deemed absolutely necessary that all the work recommended should be done, the money given by the government was spent in the preliminary surveys and in working the dredge machine along the Garden Bank and over ''the wrecks," and the city council agreed to advance the funds for the balance of the designed improvements, expecting that they would be refunded by the United States. On the request by council Captain Gilmer, then promoted, was permitted to continue to direct the work contemplated under the expenditure authorized by the city. A convention held in Memphis, Tennessee, at this time, adopted measures asking congress to see to the deepening of southern rivers. In 1855, as shown in the reports, 102.500 cubic yards of earth had been removed from Savannah river, giving a depth of ten feet at mean low water, or sixteen feet six inches at mean high water.

Congress came to the relief of the city by making an appropriation of $160,000 in March, 1855, for the removal of obstructions in the Savannah river below the city, placed there during the Revolutionary War for the common defense, and Captain Gilmer was ordered on the 7th to take up the subject and present as soon as possible a plan by which the improvements should be made. Mayor Edward C. Anderson, in referring to the services of, that officer said "The people of Savannah are under lasting obligations to that able and judicious officer for his untiring efforts in their behalf." The report was submitted on the 24th of- March, showing that the .recommendations of the commission already referred to were the best that could he suggested, and advising that they be adopted with slight modifications. It showed that in what had up to that time been done the city had expended the sum of $4!),00<> for materials, machinery arid wages of skilled workmen and laborers, as well as for timber, a large part of which was unused and still available for piling, etc., and could be purchased from the present owners. The report also embraced an inquiry whether out of the appropriation the city should be reimbursed for the outlay already made. The reply to that question was that as the appropriation was specifically for the purpose of removing the obstructions sunk during the Revolution, it could he applied only to that purpose. The city contended that the dredging was a necessary part of that work in uncovering the wrecks in order to their removal, and the point was conceded by the Secretary of War. "A draft of a change in the act making the appropriation was prepared and forwarded to Washington to permit a more liberal interpretation of the uses to which the money could he put, making it applicable for the removal of bars, hanks and other impediments in the river caused by the original obstructions. The existing condition of the front river was held to be the inevitable result of the sinking of six vessels across its outlet. They were scuttled across its lower entrance in the year 1779 for the purpose of closing the channel against the approach of naval vessels to the city, and so completely blocked the outlet that the currents above were deadened by the ramming back of much earthy matter and other substances which the natural flow had previously swept onward to the ocean. Such was the origin of the Garden Banks." Congress assented to an amendatory act making available for removal of all obstructions the unexpended balance, and Captain Gilmer's experience resulted in securing a depth at low water of eleven feet or seventeen feet at high tide, by the first of October, 1856. At that time the Secretary of War became impressed with the idea that the engineer department was going beyond the scope of the act of congress and directed that work be suspended, and an appeal was made to the President of the United States, Franklin Pierce, who, however, never rendered a decision, but President Buchanan promptly investigated the subject after his inauguration, and decided that the work be resumed, which was done by Captain Gilmer until he was transferred to San Francisco in 1858, when Lieutenant W. H. C. Whiting superintended the operations until the appropriation became exhausted.

In conjunction with the improvements undertaken by the United States government the city took up the work, in 1856, of removing the obstruction known as the Knoll, about two miles and a half above Tybee light, extending across the entrance from Cockspur island. That obstacle was a huge mass of sand, mud and shells, and was very much in the way of vessels drawing more than the ordinary number of feet. The state was asked to appropriate $25,000 for the purpose, but the bill calling for it was lost in the house of representatives. The appropriation of congress was not available for tbe purpose, and Mayor Edward C. Anderson recommended that the city bear the expense, showing in his communication that the removal of that impediment would give a depth of water sufficient for the passage of vessels drawing twenty-one or twenty-two feet from the mouth of Savannah river to Venus' Point, which is about six miles and a half from the city. Captain Gilmer directed the work when council authorized it to be done on an estimated cost of $25,000, and the use of a large dredge used by tbe United States was secured by which tbe work was greatly facilitated. When completed in 1857 Captain Gilmer pronounced "the outlet of the Savannah river better than that of any harbor south of Norfolk," and then there was a depth at the bar of nineteen feet six inches at mean low water, or twentyseven feet at high water.

In 1856 the United States government proposed to erect an iron light house within the limits of the city, near the river, and the first step taken to do so was to obtain the consent of the legislature of Georgia in order that the city could properly make a deed of the land necessary for the purpose to the United States. The general assembly of Georgia, on the 1st of March did "surrender anti cede jurisdiction to the said the United States over a certain area of twenty feet square within the limits of the city of Savannah, which area of twenty feet square, on the center of the same, is sixty-seven feet and one inch on a perpendicular line drawn from the western line of East Broad street, extended, at a point on said extended line one hundred and nineteen feet and seven inches from the southern line of Bay street, or such other area of twenty feet square as might be agreed upon by the mayor and aldermen of the city of Savannah and the United States government, for the erection by said government of a lighthouse in said city for the protection of commerce." The act of the legislature was coupled with the promise that the grant should be adjudged and perfected only with "the assent and concurrence of the mayor and aldermen of the city of Savannah and the hamlets thereof." Council readily assented to the grant in these words: "The said mayor and aldermen of the city of Savannah do hereby assent and concur in the said grant of said above definite area of twenty feet, and the said cession of jurisdiction over the same, on the terms and conditions mentioned and expressed in said first above recited act; and that his Honor the Mayor cause to be prepared and executed any instrument or instruments in writing necessary to effect the purposes of this ordinance." The terms and conditions referred to were "that should said area of land so granted as aforesaid be diverted from the purposes for which it is granted, then and in that event said area of land shall revert to its present ownership, and the grant hereby made shall become utterly void." The lighthouse, known as a beacon light, was erected in 1858, at an elevation of seventy-seven feet above the mean level of the Savannah river, and was then intended to serve as a guide to vessels passing Fig Island and over the wrecks. It still stands in the position where it was originally built, though it is many years since it has been used. It was lighted with gas, and after its erection it was found that it was cheaper to keep it lighted all the time than to pay a person to care for it by lighting it at the proper time in the evening and turning off the gas after daylight in the morning. According to the description given of it when first put up, it was of "a dark bronze green, and fitted with a sixth order catadrioptric apparatus in the system of Fresnel, giving a red light." It was described also as "altogether a beautiful and graceful structure and served as an ornament for that part of the Bay."

The work of raising the obstructions in the channel of the river and deepening the same, which cost both the city and the United States so much money, was of little practical use, and the funds used for tiie purpose were virtually thrown away, as, during the war between the states which followed so soon after, the river was much more completely

At this point it seems proper that some incidents of a public nature which took place within a short space of time immediately preceding the exacting times ushering in the war between the states should be briefly narrated.

In the spring of 1853 Ex-President Millard Fillmore, during a tour of the country, visited Savannah, and, for the purpose of paying proper respect to him, a meeting of citizens was held on the 4th of March and council gave him a special invitation to come to the city, appointing the mayor. Dr. Richard Wayne, and Messrs. R. R. Cuvier, R. I). Arnold, John X. Lewis, Robt. II. Griffin, John Macpherson Berrien and Thomas Holcombe a committee to take charge of the reception of the honored guest and to provide for his entertainment, his stay lasting from the 21st to the 25th of April.

The account of that event is now given in the words of the Georgian, of Friday, the 21st: ''It is announced by a despatch in another column that Ex-President. Fillmore will arrive here this evening at half past five o'clock and remain over Sunday. The Ex-President is accompanied by the Honorable John P. Kennedy. A deputation from the Committee of Arrangements will depart on this morning's train to meet the Ex-President and suite at Griffin's Dinner House, on the Central Railroad. On his arrival at the Railroad Depot here he will be formally welcomed by the Mayor and Aldermen, and the Committee of Reception, followed by a salute of thirty-one guns from the Chatham Artillery. The reception ceremonies will take place in the extensive warehouse of the Central Railroad, after which the distinguished guest and suite will be honored by a civic and military escort to quarters provided at the Pulaski House. During the sojourn of the guests, a complimentary ball, at St. Andrews Hall, and an excursion to Fort Pulaski are contemplated." On Tuesday, the 25th. the same paper gave a full account of the entertainment of the presidential party during their stay in an article with the head-lines ''Ex-President Fillmore in Savannah."

In cpntemplation of a belief that he might be induced to include the city in a proposed tour at the end of his administration, the city council adopted a resolution on the 22d of January, 1857, inviting President Franklin Pierce to be the guest of Savannah, in which this expression was used: "His administration has been such as to endear him to the heart of every lover of the Union, every friend of the constitution, and every true-hearted Southerner," and the statement was made that council, "in extending the invitation, reflect the wishes of every citizen, irrespective of party affiliations." The invitation was declined, but in doing so Mr. Pierce said: "It would afford Mrs. Pierce and myself great pleasure to visit a city so distinguished for its attractions and especially for the hospitality of its people as Savannah, but our pleasant anticipations must .be abandoned."

Savannah And South Oeorgia

Previous to the incident just recorded, that is to say, in the year 1S55, the city was visited by the great English fiction writer, William Makepiece Thackeray, at which time he was entertained by Mr. Andrew Low in his home on LaFayette Square. The author took occasion later to give an account of the city as it appeared to him, describing it as ''a tranquil old city, wide-streeted, tree-planted, with a few cows and carriages toiling through the sandy road, a few happy negroes sauntering here and there, a red river with a tranquil little lieet of merchantmen taking in cargo, and tranquil warehouses barricaded with packs of cotton, no row, no tearing Northern hustle, no ceaseless hotel racket, no crowds."

The Honorable Edward Everett delivered his great lecture on Washington in Savannah, in April, 1858, and dined with Hr. I. Iv. Tefft. Learning of his intention to be in the city the mayor and aldermen offered him its hospitality and a committee of council delivered to him in person the resolutions adopted in his honor.

Great respect was shown on the death of Henry Clay in June, 1852, and of Governor George M. Troup in June, 1856. Of the former, council placed its estimate on record in-a resolution declaring that "such men and such actions swell the pages of national glory" and "should be admired by all and transmitted as examples to those who must thereafter sustain the priceless blessings of republican institutions." Of the latter his biographer (Hon. Edward J. Harden) states: "At Savannah a meeting of citizens, irrespective of party, and presided over by the Mayor, was held on the 5th of May, at which feeling and suitable resolutions were adopted. One of these resolutions contained a request that the Honorable John C. Nicoll 'deliver a eulogy on the life and character of the deceased.' Another resolution was to the effect that 'the Chatham Artillery, of which Governor Troup was an honorary member, be requested to fire minute guns corresponding with the number of years of the deceased." The writer, in a foot-note, made this statement: "It is greatly to be regretted that Judge Nicoll 's engagements did not permit him to pronounce a eulogy. On the 12th of May minute-guns were fired by the Chatham Artillery. The following is an extract from the minutes of the corps: "Marching to Forsyth Place, seventy -six minute guns were fired, agreeably to the resolution of the corps, passed at the meeting on the 5th inst. * * The city court of Savannah adjourned over for

Council never failed to pay proper respect to the deeds and to the memory of the members while living and who died either while serving the' city or after their days of service had ended. The instances are so

After the end of the service of the first mayor, the Honorable John Houstoun, he was not only thanked, but a donation from the city treasury was awarded him. At that time the chief magistrate of the city received no salary. The precedent set in his case was long afterwards repeated in the cases of Honorable Thomas Holcombe, in 1S63, and Edward C. Anderson, in 1866.

Mayor John Y. Noel, who served four terms, was the recipient of a special vote of thanks, and the Honorable Thomas U. P.. Charlton was similarly honored on more than one occasion, and, after the yellow fever epidemic of 1820, in addition to the adoption of laudatory resolutions a committee of council Avas appointed to present him with a sum of $1,500 "and request him to accept the same with the assurance of the sincere regard of council and their full and entire approbation of his conduct. "

Dr. William C. Daniell. on his retirement, in 1826, receded the assurance of council that "his presidency over the interests of this city has been attended with honor at his hands and eminent advantages to the public, and the thanks of the board for the services of Dr. Daniell are respectfully tendered to him.''

After serving six terms, Dr. Richard Wayne died in office June 27, 1858, and council attended his funeral in a body, and asked the civic societies and the military to attend also, and directed the fire department to parade. The citizens closed their places of business and followed the corpse to the grave. The bells of all the churches were tolled during the time of the funeral, and all the flags of the city, including those on the shipping in port, Avere lowered to half-mast. It is said that it "was confessedly the greatest funeral pageant ever witnessed in our city, and was participated in by all classes of citizens." The services were conducted by Bishop Stephen Elliott, of the Protestant Episcopal diocese of Georgia and rector of Christ church, and the procession was a mile long. The funeral hymn, at the cemetery, was sung by the congregation of the First African Baptist church, of which religious body the mayor had been a trustee.

Dr. James P. Screven served as mayor from December, 1856, to October, 1857, and was three times an alderman. He died in Virginia in 1860, and his funeral, on the 6th of April, was attended by council, which body adopted resolutions of respect.

Incidents Preceding Civil Avar

Case of the Slave Yacht Wanderer - Action in Congress - Prosecution Conducted by Dist. Atty. Joseph Ganaiil, Assisted by Hon. PI. R. Jackson - Quotation From Account Written by the Latter - Excitement Preceding Secession of Georgia - Prompt Action of Gov. J. E. Brown - Olmstead's Account - Secession of Georgia - Governor Brown's Firm Stand on Seizure of Guns by New York Police - Bartow's Warm and Manly Reply to the Governor - His Death AVhile "Illustrating Georgia" - Honoring Bartow's Remains - Gen. R. E. Lee in Command at Savannah - Non- Combatant Citizens Armed for Defense of City.

Before we take up that most important and exciting period in the city's history, as well as in the national history, the four years of the South's struggle to break the bond of union by which the states had been held under one government formed through the successful efforts of the thirteen colonies to rid themselves of British oppression, we will devote a little space to the story of the case of the yacht- Wanderer, among the last vessels engaged in the African slave trade - a case which held the attention of the whole country during the time of its continuance and caused the greatest excitement among the people of Savannah.

From the statement of General Henry R. Jackson, who was employed by the United States government to assist Mr. Joseph Ganahl, the U. S. district attorney for Georgia, at Savannah, "the Wanderer had been fitted out for her illicit voyage at Eastport," and he added that there could be "no doubt whatever of the fact that many, in all probability most, of the vessels engaged in the trade are constructed and equipped on the coast of Maine."

The Wanderer brought negroes from the coast of Africa, and it was no unusual thing at that time, during the years, 1 SaS, 1 SAD and 1SG0 to hear the remark made concerning certain persons of that race, pass-

On the 16th of December, 1858, a resolution was passed in the United States senate requesting the President (James Buchanan) "to communicate, if, in his opinion, not incompatible with the public interest, any information in his possession in relation to the landing of the barque Wanderer on the coast of Georgia, with a cargo of slaves." In reply to that resolution the President on the 12th of January, 1859, said: "I herewith communicate the report made to me by the Attorney General, to whom the resolution was referred. From that report it will appear that the offense referred to in the resolution has been committed, and that effective measures have been taken to see the laws faithfully executed. I concur with the attorney general in the opinion that it would be incompatible with the public interest at this time to communicate the correspondence with the officers of the government at Savannah, or the instructions which they have received. In the meantime every practicable effort has been made and will be continued to discover all the guilty parties and to bring them to justice." The report of the Honorable Jeremiah S. Black to the president was dated January 10, 1859, and is in these words: "The resolution of the senate, passed on the 16th ultimo, requesting you to communicate any information in your possession relative to the landing of the barque Wanderer on the coast of Georgia with a cargo of Africans, if, in your opinion, not incompatible with the public interest has been received at this office, and the subject has been examined. I have to state that at this stage of the proceedings it would, in my opinion, be wholly incompatible with the public interest to communicate the steps which have been taken therein. The fact that a vessel of that name did land a cargo of upwards of three hundred negroes from the coast of Africa, in Georgia, is well known, and there is official information to that effect. It is also true that the most effective measures have been adopted by this government, and by the local authorities of the United States in Georgia, to execute the laws which forbid such importations, and to punish the offenders. The correspondence of this office and of the Treasury Department with the collector, district attorney, special counsel, marshal, and other officers at Savannah, is in my possession. It proves the general fact above stated, but I am sure that neither you nor the senate would be willing at this moment to have it published to the world."

Closely following the action just recited, the house of representatives on the 22u of January, adopted a resolution asking the president to "report what information has been received by him, if any, in regard to the recent importation of Africans into the state of Georgia, or any other state of this Union: and what steps have been taken to bring to trial and punishment the persons engaged in this inhuman violation of the laws of the United States, and to prevent similar violations hereafter." The president submitted the resolution' to the attorney general who replied on the 15th of February in these words: "Agreeably to the resolution of the House of Representatives passed on the 22d ultimo, inquiring what measures have been taken with reference to the Africans imported contrary to law into the state of Georgia, which resolution was referred by you to this office, l have the honor to report that the local officers of the government at Savannah have been strictly and specially enjoined to perform the duties imposed upon them by the several acts of Congress relating to this subject, that special counsel has been employed to aid the district attorney in prosecuting the offenders, and that the advices received at this office satisfactorily show the diligence and activity of all persons engaged in the public service. To find the negroes who were clandestinely landed, to identify the parties engaged in the crime, and to ascertain other important facts connected with the prosecution all this has been attended with many difficulties, but there is good reason to hope that they will be overcome, and justice, according to the law of the land, executed upon the offenders. But the present condition of the affair is such as to make it absolutely impossible that the proceeding already instituted, or those in contemplation, should be given in detail without very great prejudice to the public interests."

The attention of the United States marshal for the southern district of New York, Mr. Isaiah Rynders, had been called to the reports as to the business in which the Wanderer was engaged, and the New York Courier and Enquirer declared that he ''ought to be deprived of his office of marshal of this district for not having performed his duty in the case of the yacht Wanderer , charged with being fitted out as a slaver from this port." (New York.) In reply to that paper Air. Rynders wrote a letter to President Buchanan, dated New York, February 17, -1859, in which he made this statement of facts: "The Wanderer was arrested on a warrant as for being fitted out for a slave voyage, and was retained in custody for a few days. During that time she was thoroughly searched from stem to stern - every corner and cupboard was examined, but nothing was found which could by any possibility .convict her. The assistant United States attorney and reporter of the press were present during the whole of the investigation. We subsequently examined her stores, which were on board the tender or lighter, with a similar result. I was then instructed by the United States attorney to discharge her from custody. After her discharge some of the newspapers charged me with having overstepped the bounds of my authority as a public officer, and of having invaded the rights of private individuals, and others accused me of being humbugged, etc."