Marker Commemorating The Siege of Savannah This neglected and forgotten marker sits on Louisville Road, just a few yards from MLK Blvd. Across the street from the Savannah Visitors Center. Bonaventure Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution has been granted a "Beautification" lease by the Central of Georgia Railroad, present owners of the property, in order that we might make the marker more "Presentable". Beginning 22 May, 1999 and continuing as the need persist and authorization to the property remains we will work toward making the marker a more fitting memorial to the Siege of Savannah and the many men who died there. Photo by Faye Dyess Cleared, but not yet presentable... Photo by Faye Dyess The first step in reclaiming the marker is almost complete. The marker can now be seen. Thanks are due to several of our members, their HODARS, and Mr. William Hodges, HODAR of Frankie E. Hodges, and his group of Sea Cadets. Mr. John Archer, HODAR of Lynn M. Archer, spent the entire day chopping and sawing. Thanks to everyone who helped. Photo from Savannah Morning News   The Battle of the Siege of Savannah The Siege of Savannah occurred 9 October 1779. The site of this battle should be a honored site. This battle was the second bloodiest battle of the Revolution. More men died in battle only at Bunker Hill. The hundreds that died there were buried in a mass grave at the site. This battle marked the first time American and French forces fought side by side. Two of the fallen heroes of this battle are Sgt. William Jasper and Count Casimir Pulaski. Siege de Savannah "For fifty-five minutes in the early dawn of October 9, 1779, there was fought on the then western outskirts of Savannah what was unquestionably the most sanguinary battle of the entire eight years of the American War for independence...fought with a partly lifted fog obscuring and hindering the movements of French and American and helping to continue the confusion. In a single hour there fell within an area of a few hundred square yards more dead and wounded than are credited to any other battlefield in the struggle for American independence. (Thomas Gamble, Savannah Morning News, September 1, 1929)" "This October 9th battle was fought on the present site of the Savannah Visitor's Center at Martin L. King and Liberty Streets; in 1779 it was called Spring Hill. Vice-Admiral Charles-Henri d'Estaing had sailed from San Domingo in the West Indies in August; his French troops had been disembarked in September at Beaulieu Plantation on the Vernon River, fourteen miles south of Savannah, and at Bonaventure and Greenwich Plantations on St. Augustine Creek near Thunderbolt, three and one-half miles east of Savannah. When the invading French, who had been joined by American militia, formed a half-circle around the British Savannah on September 15, the French-American forces numbered about 5500. Within the city, the British forces were approximately 2630 of which 200 were armed Negros and 80 Creek and Cherokee Indians. When the battle ended at Spring Hill that October 9th morning, 333 British, French and American soldiers and 32 officers were dead; 377 lay wounded. The British had lost only three officers and fifteen soldiers. The dead were buried in a mass grave probably on the site of the present Savannah visitor's Center. Bonaventure Plantation had been a captive of the invading French since early September. Many of d'Estaing's troops had come ashore suffering from scurvy and a stormy crossing from San Domingo; rain and chilly weather had caused fever to become common among the troops after they landed. Two hundred soldiers and twelve officers were hospitalized at Bonaventure Plantation unable to complete the three and one-half mile trek to Savannah. Even before the sounds of the French-American cannons reached Bonaventure on September 20th, the women at the plantation saw their home victimized by war. Claudia Mullryne, her daughter Mary, and Mary's children-John Mullryne, Josiah, and Claudia-were alone at Bonaventure except for the plantation slaves. Colonel John Mullryne, who had publicly declared his British allegiance by oath in September, 1775, had left the plantation and gone to Savannah as soon as the French arrived off Tybee Island. Josiah Tattnall, Mary Mullryne's husband, had also vowed his allegiance in 1775; he was in command of British troops in Savannah. The Tattnalls had suffered an early loss from the invasion; Fair Lawn, their two-storied dwelling in Savannah, had been burned with all its outbuildings. In fortifying the city, it was feared Fair Lawn would prove advantageous to the advancing French-American forces. Claudia and Mary waited; surrounded by French who knew the Mullryne-Tattnall loyalty to King George III. The French also knew that being loyal British subjects, the women had inherited from the British Nation a prejudice against any person of French descent. Claudia, Mary, and the Tattnall children listened as the French cannons thundered at Savannah from October 3rd through October 8th. Despite their desecrated condition, they were more fortunate than the women and children within the city; Count d'Estaing had denied the British permission to evacuate anyone before or during the six days the one thousand shells fell into the besieged city. After the October 9th battle, Count d'Estaing, wounded in his arm and in the calf of his left leg, rode on horseback to Greenwich Plantation. On October 7th, Jane Bowen, widow of Samuel Bowen who built Greenwich, had written d'Estaing informing him of her cooperation and requesting that she and her fourteen year old daughter Elizabeth Ann be spared the ravages that were imposed upon Bonaventure. Until October 9th, Greenwich had been headquarters for the French officers, but 377 French and American wounded had to be accommodated. This made it necessary to use Greenwich despite Jane Bowen's protest. The movement of the wounded from Spring Hill to Bonaventure and Greenwich occurred without retaliation from the British. In fact, the British loaned two carriages to convey the wounded. many of these men probably never left the hospitals; they lie in unknown graves on the grounds that are Bonaventure and Greenwich Cemeteries. The withdrawal of French troops began October 13th under the direction of d'Estaing. The primary site of departure was Causton's Bluff, north of Greenwich. County d'Estaing commented that the troops returned aboard the vessels not only without leaving anything behind, but more than that, without being attacked, annoyed, or even followed. The British seemed content enough that the French were leaving. In a letter dated October 17th, Governor James Wright reported that the volunteer Chasseurs, a brigade of 545 Black and Mullato troops of San Domingo, had departed from Bonaventure. The French withdrawal was not completed until October 21st, and even then not all the French were aboard the departing ships. Contrary to d'Estaing's statement "without leaving anything behind", in addition to the men who had deserted during the 24 preceding days, there were also those who simply got lost in confusion of departure. The Mullrynes and Tattnalls survived this encounter with the American revolt to free Savannah from the British. Bonaventure, though damaged and pillaged, was repaired, the terraced gardens refurbished, but the graves of the unknown French soldiers were a constant reminder of the accelerating political turmoil. By the summer of 1782, the Mullrynes and Tattnalls were forced to leave Bonaventure as the tide of Americanism swept them out of the colony; the Mullrynes to New Providence, Nassau, in the Bahamas; the Tattnalls to London, England. Ironically, Count d'Estaing fell victim to the political revolution in his own France. Called as a character witness for Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution, he was condemned to death and beheaded on April 28, 1782. The sixty-four year old nobleman is supposed to have remarked when the sentence was pronounced, "When you cut off my head, send it to the English; they will pay you well for it!" This quotation was taken from "Friends of Bonaventure, Commemorative Issue-October 1779, October 13, 1996" by Mr. Terry Shaw, Chairman, and used with his permission. Chapter Regent Faye Dyess and Secretary Dory Hickson of Bonaventure Chapter, NSDAR, at the 2003 commemoration of the Siege of Savannah. (photo by Lynn Wright)   © 1998