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City of Savannah Attempts to Impose on Privately-Owned Land & Destroy Private Property:
Mayor & City Council Aim for Desecration of War Memorial.
In 2017 the Mayor and City Council of Savannah voted to remove the busts of Generals Francis S. Bartow and Lafayette McLaws from their place next to the Confederate Memorial in Forsyth Park. At the same time, they voted to modify the wording of the Confederate Memorial to memorialize all of those who died, Union and Confederate, in the War Between the States. Conversely, the specific intent of the families and people who planned and funded the Memorial was to honor ONLY the Confederate soldiers from Savannah who died in the War.
This decision by the mayor and city council was made after they had conducted a county-wide survey with the purpose of discovering what, if anything, the residents wanted to do about the Confederate Memorial. The survey results showed 65% of Savannah city residents voted to “Do nothing” while more than 70% of all respondents voted the same way. So, the city obviously chose to ignore their own survey, or to put it in the words of a Vox Populi writer from the 3-14-18 edition of the Savannah Morning News, “Concerning the monuments in Savannah: Apparently the purpose of having a survey is to do the opposite of what the majority want.”
Since that time, a group of heritage organizations comprised of Savannah Chapter No. 2 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy®, Lafayette McLaws Chapter No. 97 of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars, the Francis S. Bartow Camp No. 93 and the Savannah Militia Camp No. 1657 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have organized to ensure that the Memorials in Forsyth Park remain in place and remain intact.
In 2020, the new Mayor and Council voted again to remove the busts of Bartow and McLaws and to modify the plaque on the Confederate Memorial, which dedicates it to the Confederate war dead from Savannah.
Consequently, these heritage organizations have worked to ensure that the Confederate Memorials would remain unchanged; they hired attorneys to enforce a Georgia statute[1] and federal law[2] regarding Memorials to make certain they remain in place and as they were designed. Sadly, there is a move afoot across this country to erase all vestiges of history regarding the War Between the States.
There are brief biographical sketches of the soldiers on the pedestals, whose busts are displayed:
Francis Bartow was a Savannah attorney and commander of the Oglethorpe Light Infantry, a militia company that existed in Savannah since 1856. He was commissioned a colonel in the Confederate Army and was killed at the First Battle of Manassas in 1861. A member of Independent Presbyterian Church, his body was returned to Savannah for burial. His grave is located in Laurel Grove Cemetery.
Lafayette McLaws was a native of Augusta Georgia and a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He fought in the war with Mexico and subsequently resigned his commission from the United States Army when the South seceded. He was commissioned into the Confederate Army and served as a major general under Lieutenant General James Longstreet in the Army of Northern Virginia. After the war he became postmaster of Savannah and subsequently died in Savannah in 1897. He is buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery.
We have determined that the southern half of Forsyth Park, starting at about Gwinnett Street and running to Park Avenue is privately owned by a group known as The Retired Captains Association.
Contained in the Savannah City Code is a section which provides as follows:
It is hereby ordained by the mayor and alderman of the City of Savannah in Council assembled, that the title and right of the Volunteer Military Companies of Savannah, through their Commanding Officers, in the ground known as the Parade Ground, or Forsyth Park Extension, the same being bounded on the North by Forsyth Park, proper, on the East by Drayton Street, on the South by Park Avenue, and on the West by Whitaker Street, as a Military Parade Ground, are fully recognized and confirmed, as fully and as completely as if a deed of exchange had been made. [3]
This ownership is reflected on Chatham County tax maps and confirmed by annual bills generated by the Chatham County Tax Commissioner’s Office to the Retired Captain's Association.
In 1957 the City was contacted by one of the local hospitals interested in using Forsyth Park for overflow parking. The city responded that it could not grant such permission as it did not own the park.
The City of Savannah also does not own the Memorials. The busts of Bartow and McLaws are owned by the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Confederate Memorial is owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy®. This particular Memorial was paid for with funds raised in the 1800s by widows and orphans of Confederate soldiers from Savannah who died in the War Between the States. The money was raised over a period of 30 years through fundraising and bake sales, and the Memorial was subsequently dedicated in 1897. The City Council is attempting to revise history at best and erase history at worst. The attorneys hired by the heritage community are experts in their fields. They are:
Patricia Bangert is a Denver attorney who is a First Amendment expert and who was formerly an attorney with the U.S. Department of the Interior and subsequently Assistant Attorney General for the State of Colorado. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado School of Law.
Doug Jones is a partner in the Nashville firm of Schulman, LeRoy and Bennett and is an expert in defense of Memorials, having participated in numerous cases throughout the Southeast. He has served as President of the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society and Vice President of the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Society.
Dennis O’Brien is an experienced Savannah trial attorney who practices in both State and federal courts in Georgia. He has an expertise in criminal law, having earned his law degree while serving as a police officer in Memphis, TN.
In addition to the fact that the City neither owns the Memorials, nor the land on which they are situated, they are further prevented from moving, destroying or modifying these Memorials by the provisions of Georgia State Law, which not only make it a crime, but classify such action as a felony.[4]
We initially raised $30,000 when we became aware of the City’s plans and intentions back in 2017. Having completed our legal and historical research and prepared a lawsuit for filing, we now need to replenish our legal defense fund.
At present, we still have $4,000.00 in that fund, but we need to raise an additional forty-six thousand ($46,000.00) so that we reach our ultimate goal of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) which will ensure there is adequate funding to carry this fight forward. We need your financial help and support. Any contribution is tax deductible since all the groups participating in the lawsuit are 501©3 organizations. As you might suspect, time is of the essence, and the sooner we reach our goal the sooner we shall file our lawsuit.
Please help us protect Savannah’s history from the “historical sanitation brigade” currently sweeping this country. The use of “presentism”, where historical facts are reinterpreted through the lens of current social standards, is a common fallacy of poorly trained historians. Moreover, if people are remembered only for their flaws and failures rather than their accomplishments and abilities, then no one will ever be remembered for anything. As George Orwell wrote in his famous novel, 1984, “Who Controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Tourists and many others come to Savannah for its unique history–all of it! Not just the part that the “sanitation brigade” feels is acceptable to their sensitivities.
PLEASE HELP US PRESERVE AND PROTECT ALL OF SAVANNAH’S WONDERFUL HISTORY!
[1] O.C.G.A., §50-3-1.
[2] 16 U.S. Code §426i
[3] City Code of the City of Savannah, Chapter LXXI, Park Squares and Grass Plats, Page 921 (July 11, 1923).
[4] O.C.G.A., §50-3-1.
Mayor & City Council Aim for Desecration of War Memorial.
In 2017 the Mayor and City Council of Savannah voted to remove the busts of Generals Francis S. Bartow and Lafayette McLaws from their place next to the Confederate Memorial in Forsyth Park. At the same time, they voted to modify the wording of the Confederate Memorial to memorialize all of those who died, Union and Confederate, in the War Between the States. Conversely, the specific intent of the families and people who planned and funded the Memorial was to honor ONLY the Confederate soldiers from Savannah who died in the War.
This decision by the mayor and city council was made after they had conducted a county-wide survey with the purpose of discovering what, if anything, the residents wanted to do about the Confederate Memorial. The survey results showed 65% of Savannah city residents voted to “Do nothing” while more than 70% of all respondents voted the same way. So, the city obviously chose to ignore their own survey, or to put it in the words of a Vox Populi writer from the 3-14-18 edition of the Savannah Morning News, “Concerning the monuments in Savannah: Apparently the purpose of having a survey is to do the opposite of what the majority want.”
Since that time, a group of heritage organizations comprised of Savannah Chapter No. 2 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy®, Lafayette McLaws Chapter No. 97 of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars, the Francis S. Bartow Camp No. 93 and the Savannah Militia Camp No. 1657 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have organized to ensure that the Memorials in Forsyth Park remain in place and remain intact.
In 2020, the new Mayor and Council voted again to remove the busts of Bartow and McLaws and to modify the plaque on the Confederate Memorial, which dedicates it to the Confederate war dead from Savannah.
Consequently, these heritage organizations have worked to ensure that the Confederate Memorials would remain unchanged; they hired attorneys to enforce a Georgia statute[1] and federal law[2] regarding Memorials to make certain they remain in place and as they were designed. Sadly, there is a move afoot across this country to erase all vestiges of history regarding the War Between the States.
There are brief biographical sketches of the soldiers on the pedestals, whose busts are displayed:
Francis Bartow was a Savannah attorney and commander of the Oglethorpe Light Infantry, a militia company that existed in Savannah since 1856. He was commissioned a colonel in the Confederate Army and was killed at the First Battle of Manassas in 1861. A member of Independent Presbyterian Church, his body was returned to Savannah for burial. His grave is located in Laurel Grove Cemetery.
Lafayette McLaws was a native of Augusta Georgia and a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He fought in the war with Mexico and subsequently resigned his commission from the United States Army when the South seceded. He was commissioned into the Confederate Army and served as a major general under Lieutenant General James Longstreet in the Army of Northern Virginia. After the war he became postmaster of Savannah and subsequently died in Savannah in 1897. He is buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery.
We have determined that the southern half of Forsyth Park, starting at about Gwinnett Street and running to Park Avenue is privately owned by a group known as The Retired Captains Association.
Contained in the Savannah City Code is a section which provides as follows:
It is hereby ordained by the mayor and alderman of the City of Savannah in Council assembled, that the title and right of the Volunteer Military Companies of Savannah, through their Commanding Officers, in the ground known as the Parade Ground, or Forsyth Park Extension, the same being bounded on the North by Forsyth Park, proper, on the East by Drayton Street, on the South by Park Avenue, and on the West by Whitaker Street, as a Military Parade Ground, are fully recognized and confirmed, as fully and as completely as if a deed of exchange had been made. [3]
This ownership is reflected on Chatham County tax maps and confirmed by annual bills generated by the Chatham County Tax Commissioner’s Office to the Retired Captain's Association.
In 1957 the City was contacted by one of the local hospitals interested in using Forsyth Park for overflow parking. The city responded that it could not grant such permission as it did not own the park.
The City of Savannah also does not own the Memorials. The busts of Bartow and McLaws are owned by the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Confederate Memorial is owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy®. This particular Memorial was paid for with funds raised in the 1800s by widows and orphans of Confederate soldiers from Savannah who died in the War Between the States. The money was raised over a period of 30 years through fundraising and bake sales, and the Memorial was subsequently dedicated in 1897. The City Council is attempting to revise history at best and erase history at worst. The attorneys hired by the heritage community are experts in their fields. They are:
Patricia Bangert is a Denver attorney who is a First Amendment expert and who was formerly an attorney with the U.S. Department of the Interior and subsequently Assistant Attorney General for the State of Colorado. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado School of Law.
Doug Jones is a partner in the Nashville firm of Schulman, LeRoy and Bennett and is an expert in defense of Memorials, having participated in numerous cases throughout the Southeast. He has served as President of the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society and Vice President of the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Society.
Dennis O’Brien is an experienced Savannah trial attorney who practices in both State and federal courts in Georgia. He has an expertise in criminal law, having earned his law degree while serving as a police officer in Memphis, TN.
In addition to the fact that the City neither owns the Memorials, nor the land on which they are situated, they are further prevented from moving, destroying or modifying these Memorials by the provisions of Georgia State Law, which not only make it a crime, but classify such action as a felony.[4]
We initially raised $30,000 when we became aware of the City’s plans and intentions back in 2017. Having completed our legal and historical research and prepared a lawsuit for filing, we now need to replenish our legal defense fund.
At present, we still have $4,000.00 in that fund, but we need to raise an additional forty-six thousand ($46,000.00) so that we reach our ultimate goal of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) which will ensure there is adequate funding to carry this fight forward. We need your financial help and support. Any contribution is tax deductible since all the groups participating in the lawsuit are 501©3 organizations. As you might suspect, time is of the essence, and the sooner we reach our goal the sooner we shall file our lawsuit.
Please help us protect Savannah’s history from the “historical sanitation brigade” currently sweeping this country. The use of “presentism”, where historical facts are reinterpreted through the lens of current social standards, is a common fallacy of poorly trained historians. Moreover, if people are remembered only for their flaws and failures rather than their accomplishments and abilities, then no one will ever be remembered for anything. As George Orwell wrote in his famous novel, 1984, “Who Controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Tourists and many others come to Savannah for its unique history–all of it! Not just the part that the “sanitation brigade” feels is acceptable to their sensitivities.
PLEASE HELP US PRESERVE AND PROTECT ALL OF SAVANNAH’S WONDERFUL HISTORY!
[1] O.C.G.A., §50-3-1.
[2] 16 U.S. Code §426i
[3] City Code of the City of Savannah, Chapter LXXI, Park Squares and Grass Plats, Page 921 (July 11, 1923).
[4] O.C.G.A., §50-3-1.
Organizer
Francis Bartow
Organizer
Richmond Hill, GA
Sons of Confederate Veterans Inc
Beneficiary