Lens On History

JD Byous
  • 5.0 (2)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Lens On History replaced History By GPS. Welcome to Lens On History with JD Byous, where you'll experience the world of historical exploration through your camera lens. I'll be your guide to uncovering the rich tapestry of history woven into the fabric of Savannah, Georgia, and the history-rich Lowcountry of the American Southeast. Join me on this journey as we take a photo tour of fascinating stories, landmarks, and hidden gems that make this region a treasure trove of historical significance. Each week, we'll visit and photograph historical sites and find the best ways to record them and the people who live there. No matter what camera equipment you have or your experience level, we'll have fun finding the best angles for your lens while we talk about the history behind the subjects we find. We'll compare today's landscape to famous photographs from history. We'll also look at things to do in Savannah and the surrounding area, including nature photography in historical areas.

Episodes

  1. 04/17/2023

    The Cursed Silk Dress Balloons 32.078098° -81.082878°

    Hey, Everyone! Today I’m going to tell you about a rather fashionable weapon of war… I have a story about the Confederate Air Corps… and their airships made from silk dresses… Or so the legend goes. It is a tragic and twisted story from the beginning all the way to the very sad end. These balloons seemed to be tinged by a curse.      It was back in 1862 in a pre-dawn light when Savannah gas plant supervisor James Smedberg braced himself against the wall of a brick well to shut off… as he called it… an “intolerable gas flow” and found his hand resting on the still lifeless face of a man suspended on the side of the pit where the valve was located. Smedberg said the man was hanging by the jaws, between a flange on one side and the brickwork on the other. Two men were dead, another lay at the bottom of a twenty-four-foot dry well used for running gas and oil pipes for the facility. Around the spot, other plant workers staggered and fell across the work yard like drunken chickens around a barnyard moonshine tank. Nearby a short rope held the partially inflated Gazelle, an experimental Confederate observation balloon tied to a winch that was staked to the ground of the gasworks terrace. The day was supposed to be a festive occasion with bleachers for military and city bigwigs, but then all hell broke loose. I’m JD Byous. Welcome to History By GPS, where you travel through history and culture GPS location by GPS location. Remember, the other GPS locations mentioned in this story can be found on HistoryByGPS.COM or on the show notes of your podcast provider… Apple, Google Podcast… and others. This is part of three interesting historical events that happened years apart at this exact location… which is… 32.078098° -81.082878°. The other two episodes were the Don’t Tax Me Bro story and the Yankee in the Garden episode. So, check them out if you haven’t. You’ll hear about this guy, Smedberg mentioned in one of them. Okay, back to the balloon that had a gas problem… And at my age… boy, I know the feeling. Now, I will tell you that I had come across this story… about the Confederate balloon… in my studies about the American Civil War. And I will tell you that I am not a scholar of that war by any means. I am a scholar of the places I lived and how things like the Revolutionary and Civil War affected them. But this incident came to my attention almost by accident. When I was going through old newspaper accounts of things that happened at the area in Savannah called Trustees’ Garden I came across a one or two sentence notice in a Richmond, Virginia newspaper that said that on May 29 1862 two men died in an accident at the Savannah gas works. So I set it aside and pretty much forgot about it. Later, I was researching the Savannah gas works and found an article written by James Smedberg about how it was necessary to use pine wood to make gas because of the scarcity of coal during the war. In it he talked about the deaths and that it happened when they were inflating a balloon for the military. It became evident that the only balloon possible was the first gas balloon built by the Confederate Army to use to spy on Union forces. Okay, back to business… I imagine that a gas leak was evident when Superintendent Smedberg arrived at the Savannah gasworks just before sunrise at 4 o’clock on that May 29 morning. He must have smelled smell the fumes before he stepped onto the property. See, coal and wood gas give off a putrid odor like the oil used in the cracks of sidewalks or creosote piers and telephone poles. It’s unlike today’s odorless natural gas, which needs the added chemical mercaptan to give a scent to escaping fumes. Gas retort ovens for cooking coal or wood to manufacture gas. President Abraham Lincoln’s Union blockade created a shortage of coal for the Confederacy. Residential and industrial products like coal supplies could not get into the city… or out of, for that matter. So the buoyancy for lifting the Confederate Army balloon, Gazelle, required gas that was cooked from Southern yellow pine wood. Some reported that wood gas was thicker and burned better than standard coal, but both forms have a similar smell. For the gasworks crew, it was time for the morning shift change when Smedberg circled the building to get onto the holding tank terrace where the fumes emanated. The pungent, nauseating stench would have socked Smedberg in the nose like a punch during a Saturday night boozer.[1] He later wrote that Several plant workers “were badly asphyxiated.” Two Irish immigrants, Martin Brannan, and William Harper were dead. One had broken his neck in a fall down the maintenance well and could not be removed because of the heavy flow of gas from the pipe that was supposed to be filling the balloon.  The stokers of the redoubt ovens, ordinarily tough and hard-as-nails men… were in a panic. Their eyes were blood red and burning from the fumes. Some lay on the coal-tar-stained ground with trance-like gazes staring into the sky; others stumbled dazed in the morning light. They all feared that the gas would drift into the retort house and ignite at the fired ovens and blow them across the city’s eastern slope. Another “big-hearted Irishman,” as Smedberg defined him, had been fired… by Smedberg… a couple of days before. Without hesitation, the man reached in, helped close the valve and dislodge the man who was hanging from the pipe and wall. Making a rope sling, the Irishman slipped it under his arms and climbed down the pipes while his former boss fed the line. Then they hauled the other dead man to the surface. Then the superintendent’s attention turned to the others. The members of the dazed and intoxicated crew were medicated… The medication… Whiskey, at that time in history, was the standard remedy for just about every ailment… Ahhh, nineteenth-century medical science. While the inflation of the balloon resumed, Smedberg’s anger fumed until he became furious. The shift foreman who had worked through the night had disobeyed him. The gas works terrace where the Gazelle was tested in 1862. Ronnie Overstreet collection. His orders were that the pressure of the gas was to stay constant and not be changed. But the foreman had made an uneducated adjustment, and the control valve had failed under the pressure. When the deadly billowing gas started flooded the work yard, the foreman did not have the courage to shut it off, and the emergency erupted. Smedberg claimed that the incident started in disobedience and ended, as he wrote, in “murder and almost suicide.” That was because there was another shutoff valve within two feet of the muzzle of the pipe. So, the result… in concise twenty-first-century lingo - the foreman screwed up, and Smedberg fired him.  Charles Cevor, the balloon’s pilot and builder, was devastated by the news. As in many Victorian narratives, Smedberg concluded his recount with moral and reason. “The tragedy teaches the common mind that discipline is good but…” [the pilot, Mr. Cevor was], the last [I would have] suspected of superstition, “told me, that it happened at all because it happened on [a] Friday.” Soon afterward, the heroic, Big-Hearted Irishman… the who climbed into the fume-filled pit… He was rehired by Smedberg’s boss, Francis Willis, the President of the Savannah Gaslight Company. Smedberg speculated that Willis’ action came out of fear of a lawsuit from the wives of the deceased, who might. To quote him, “enforce exemplary pensions from the company.” He figured, like today… somebody was going to sue someone over the incident, and good publicity could only help. One can deduce that the two dead men were among the many Irish who had arrived in Savannah over the past two decades. At the end of the gassing incident, the area was cleaned and cleared, the bodies were whisked away, and the unknowing public arrived, watched, and was awestruck by the show of the Confederate military aircraft. Enthralled by the spectacle, few knew of the deaths.  Bleachers on the grounds nearby were full, dignitaries came, and anticipations of all onlookers were high. The balloon was a hit.[2] The South, and especially Savannah, had built their first Confederate States, gas observation balloon that would help in the fight against the Northern aggressors. To the aeronauts Charles Cevor, and Confederate Captain Edward Lawton, their experience and view would have been remarkable. Aeronaut, Captain Edward Lawton. When the wench holding the balloon to the ground was released, the two men rose above the crowd. To the north was Willink’s Wharf on the water’s edge of Trustees’ Garden, where the CSS Georgia stood in the initial construction stages. The Ladies’ Gunboat Association had raised $115 thousand to aid in the war, an equivalent of almost $385 million in the year 2021.[3] The history-making aircraft rose a few yards away from that spot in a tethered flight, and it floated above Alvin Miller’s iron foundry. That’s where the iron for the CSS Georgia was forged and cast. With the feed of more line, they were over the rice fields near the city’s eastern boundary. Willink’s Wharf site 32.079431° -81.082650° Alvin Miller's Foundry 32.077637° -81.078925°  Theirs was a view taken in by few men, and it was usually Cevor tending the gas valve when they did. Toward the ocean, they could see the Savannah River as it twisted leftward, marking the bend at Four Fathom Hole and Fort Jackson and Fort Lee. Four Fathom Hole 32.083290° -81.039669° Fort Jackson 32.081901° -81.036431° Fort Lee Site 32.082792° -81.033878° Directly to the east, billow-like waves of trees outlined Whitemarsh and Wilmington Islands. The islands were just below Fort Pulaski’s outline, which overlapped the view of Tybee Island and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. Fort Pulaski 32.027023° -80.890257° Wilmington Island 32.008

    45 min
  2. Yankee in the Garden 32.078098° -81.082878°

    03/13/2023

    Yankee in the Garden 32.078098° -81.082878°

    Hey, everyone! Did you hear that? Somebody said, “The Yankees are coming!” Actually, we hear that all the time here in Savannah, Georgia. Today it would mean they were coming down for a few days of vacation… But back in 1864, it didn’t mean they were stopping in town to catch dinner at Sweet Potatoes Kitchen and buy a couple of tee shirts down on River Street. It would have been a little more distressing when those words were spoken around South Georgia. And so… to go with that… here’s a great story about a Union Prisoner of war in Savannah at the end of the American Civil War who heard those words and was very relieved… His story… gives you a perspective that you don’t often hear. Because in 1864, Union soldier Frederick Emil Schmitt and others endured the stench of filth and death in the infamous Confederate Civil War Prison camp near Andersonville, Georgia. Andersonville_Prison by John L Ransom former prisoner. But out of a stroke of genius and luck, he ended up in Savannah, hiding from the Rebels and waiting for the arrival of the army of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. Union Major General, William T. Sherman. He has a great story that almost fell into obscurity. Sick around and I’ll give you my take on it. I'm JD Byous. Welcome to History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location. So click on your favorite map app and follow along. The coordinates for the location talked about in the podcast 32.078098° -81.082878° Now… on to our story… which, by the way… is one of three interesting historical events that happened years apart at this same location… we’re talking physically on the same spot of ground within a ten-yard circle. You’ll find those stories noted at the website too. For this episode the spot plays an important role in the life of Frederick Schmitt because he ended up hiding within this small tiny circle on the globe. If you recall the story of Andersonville, almost 13,000 of 43,000 Union prisoners died from hunger and disease during the years the prison was operating… 1861 to 1865... Now… I might add that similar conditions were experienced in Northern prisoner-of-war camps. There were no picnic either… but you don’t hear as much about them. The South lost the war in case you haven't heard And… as is always espoused… The victor writes the history. What made things worse in the South was that the population was low on food and provisions, which made prison life a living hell. By the way, JD Huitt over at The History Underground on YouTube has a great episode about the conditions at Andersonville. I’ll put the link in the show notes. It’s well worth a look. Okay… There at Andersonville… One day Frederick Schmitt’s luck changed in October 1864 when he noticed a group of prisoners by the main gate being placed in rank and file as if they were getting ready to march outside. It was drizzling rain when he saw his chance for a difference in scenery. But who was Frederick Schmitt? Great question! I’m glad you asked. It fits right in with the next part of the story. Schmitt came to America from Bavaria in 1859, settled in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and enlisted in the Union Army on February 10, 1864. He held the rank of private in Company D, of the 3rd New Jersey Cavalry regiment under Colonel Andrew J. Morrison. By June 1864, he was in the Union Calvary under Major-General James H. Wilson and found himself captured after the rebels raided his position outside of Richmond, Virginia. His friends and officers couldn’t find him and thought he was dead and they listed him as being killed in action. So, most of his military life… military experience… was in Prison. In 1919 he wrote his memoir of being a POW when he was 77 years old, fifty-five years after his experience in the South. But… ironically… his story wasn’t published until 1958, when his daughter gave it to the Wisconsin Historical Society. So, I guess there’s hope for some of the articles I wrote back in my newspaper days… Not much is known about Schmitt. I do know that he was an engineer, and I did find a master’s thesis written at the University of Wisconsin in 1904 by a Frederick Schmitt. It was on mass transit, you know, street trolleys, and things like that, and as far as I can tell, he was in that field… being an engineer, so he could have written it, I suppose. However, I suspect it may have been a son or someone else since he… Frederick… would have been 62 years old by that time. Then again… I got my history degree at the ripe old age of 53, so who knows. His recollection of the prison is an intriguing story in that it… bends, the typical narrative about Andersonville with an interesting perspective. It tells of his kindness toward his captors in a way that other prisoners did not record nor recollect afterward. At least as far as I’ve seen. Schmitt said… and I quote…, “Personally, I witnessed no cruelties to individuals, except such as resulted from general conditions.”  He goes on, “The Southern States in 1864, being themselves short of foodstuffs, could give prisoners only such food as they themselves had… and the Rebel soldiers about the camp had no better food than the prisoners.”  Quite magnanimous, I would say. Interesting, indeed. So, on one cold morning, Schmitt’s odyssey to freedom began after a night of discomfort made him get up and start moving around… work the kinks out after sleeping on the ground. He wrote, “Being stiff and cold I got up, slung my haversack over my shoulders, and began to walk down toward the driveway where I hoped to get a chance to warm myself near one of the bake ovens.”  If you’ve ever seen a map or drawing of the prison, there were a couple of ovens in the bakery that were fairly large… a good place to get warm. Well, the sound of drums beating caught his attention. Over near the gate, a detachment was ordered to fall in to be taken to the train. He said the column was already marching, and the first row was already outside of the large stockade gates. Schmitt slipped into the lines but was seen by one man in the line who recognized him as not one of the chosen group. He immediately pounced upon him and tried to push him out of the marching column but only succeeded in pushing him back to the next row. Then Schmitt was jostled further back in the line, where he finally ended up in a group of men who didn’t care… or… thought he was one of those selected. As they marched out of the compound, two Rebel officers stood on each side, counting the men who passed. Schmitt’s line was in the last row to be allowed out of the gate. Just as his line was counted, the men behind him were stopped. Schmitt did not know where he was going, but anywhere was better than Andersonville. Andersonville Prison 32.194906° -84.130172° Andersonville Station 32.194878° -84.139204° A Google Earth view of Andersonville, Georgia, the prison site and the National Cemetery. Union prisoner and artist, Robert Knox Sneden's map of Andersonville, the train station and the prison site. Library of Congress. By the way… Remember that the show notes and GPS locations for all of the spots mentioned in this episode can be found in the show notes or at History By GPS dot com. While you’re there check out our books and merchandise. I think you’ll like our line of products from Savannah and its history… including some that highlight this episode. And leave a comment. I’d love to hear your opinion or information that other listeners would like to hear. Meanwwhile… Back at Andersonville Station… Schmitt and the other men were loaded into railroad boxcars and told their destination was the Savannah POW camp that covered the 700 block along Whitaker between West Hall and West Gwinnett Streets across from Forsyth Park. I’ve looked in my notes but can’t find the name of that prison. I think it may have been Camp Mercer or Camp McLaws, but my notes… and my memory… have slipped away somewhere. However, if you know the name of the Savannah camp, please let me know in the comments or on the website, HistoryByGPS.com. Now, by chance, POW artist Robert Knox Sneden was in the Andersonville and Savannah prisons with Schmitt and was in that same group of men who were transferred to Savannah. Sneden captured the compound on paper and ink, and many other war-time details that were… and still are… available in books. I’ll have a couple of his drawings I found in the Library of Congress archives in the show notes. Savannah POW Prison 32.068114° -81.097359° Savannah's Historic District with POW camp and Trustees' Garden.            Now, Schmitt… after a few weeks in the new prison yard that he describes as “utter misery,” …another stroke of luck came his way. One morning a commission led by a Union officer, a Captain named Gottheil came to the gate to recruit men to work in a local machine shop. The Prison camp at Savannah, Georgia by Robert Knox Sneden, 1864. Hearing that Gottheil was looking for workers who were machinists, again, Schmitt’s grit placed him in an advantageous position, so he made a rapid jump toward the gate. But as soon as he made a step or two, one of the self-appointed guards saw him and ran at him, ready to strike. See, a set of POW rowdies had taken over the internal government of the camp. Each of them carried a huge hickory stick, Buford Pusser style if you are old enough to remember that story… The ruffians only let men who had paid them approach the gate. But when Schmitt ran for the gate, Captain Gottheil warned the henchman off and let Schmitt approach and talk to him. So, he was able to tell him about his engineering experience. He was chosen… so he and a small group of POWs were marched across town to Alvin Miller’s Iron Foundry on the on the bank of the Savannah River, about 300 yards east of Trustees

    25 min
  3. Don't Tax Me Bro! 32.078098° -81.082878°

    03/05/2023

    Don't Tax Me Bro! 32.078098° -81.082878°

    Hey, everyone. We’ve got a great story for this episode. Today we’re going to talk about two historical events that were separated by 100 yards but were a decade apart in history. They also tie in geographically with two other historical events that took place on the same GPS location that we are looking at today. Those are in different episodes. Well, back in 1765, things were getting hot here in Savannah, Georgia. And we’re not talking weather kind of hot. We’re talkin’… if things had gotten out of hand, the American Revolution could have started a decade earlier… kind of hot. So… why all the fuss? Stick around, I’ll give you my take on it… I’m JD Byous, and this is History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture GPS location by GPS location. You can find transcripts of the show at HistoryByGPS.com or on the show notes for Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and other podcast platforms for the coordinates of where these events happened. As for the main location… Here are the coordinates… 32.078098° -81.082878° Okay, back to a hot time in Savannah. The first incident in 1766 was over a little paper stamp. People got really riled up over this little stamp. So why get aflutter about a small piece of paper… it only cost a few pennies? Here’s why… It incident took place on the northeastern corner of Savannah’s Historic District in what locals call the Old Fort District. Today the Charles H. Morris Center at Trustees’ Garden is on top of the bluff where Colonial Era Fort Halifax once stood. Now, this spot is just a few feet away from Savannah’s world-famous Pirates’ House Restaurant, which is in a building that sits on the location of the old fort headquarters… and may, in fact… after pouring through old records and studying the construction of the facility… I suspect a section of the structure is the same building used by the British before and during the Revolution. See, right outside of that building is where things got heated… nine years before the start of the American Revolution. Georgia and the other colonies were political tender spots that were growing into tinderboxes and were ready to blow. The Pirates’ House in 1939. The area outside… it was open land stretching to the gates of the town one-quarter mile to the west. The Sons of Liberty – Liberty Boys – had gathered around the fort’s walls, screaming and demanding they be let in. Captain John Milledge and his British Royal Rangers were on the parapets and were determined keeping them out. The uproar was over the British Parliament’s passing of The Stamp Tax of 1765, which put a levy on several paper items. In addition to that law, the American Revenue Tax of 1764, a Sugar Tax, had already inflamed the residents the year before. Like other imposed taxes, the paper tax mandated payment in British Pounds, not in colonial currency. See, each colony had its own monetary system with different values based on the English pounds, shillings, and pence. However, ALL colonial currencies were worth LESS than the British equivalents. On top of that, Much of the commercial currency was in barter. Barter being the practice of trading product for product. People paid with rum, or tobacco, or some other commodity. Which is one reason the tax man wanted to be paid in British pound sterling. Barter is difficult to access and tax for many reasons. And it’s difficult for those paying taxes because they have to exchange their goods for currency… first to Colonial script… which was hindered by a chronic shortage of paper or coin specie… then it was exchanged for British currency. And the total per stamp cost was around 2 shillings, 6 pence, which equalled 54 pence… pennies. During the days leading up to the American Revolution, the “obnoxious” stamps represented taxation by the Crown. The levy covered things like playing cards, magazines, newspapers, and legal documents. Now, the stamps that were to be distributed in Georgia were stored at Fort Halifax. That’s where the hubbub came up.  Royal Governor James Wright placed them there for protection against the local Sons of Liberty, who vowed to burn them. After the Liberty Boys marched on the fort. Governor Wright wrote in a report, “And on the 1st appearance of Faction & Sedition I ordered in Some of the Rangers from each Post & made up the Number here at Savannah 56 Privates & 8 officers and with which & the assistance of Such Gents as were of a Right Way of thinking I have been able in a great Measure to Support His Majesties Authority.” This guy writes crazily. This guy didn’t know what a period or a comma was. …So in other words he brought in 64 soldiers who thought the way he did and had them armed and ready to defend the stamps and the king’s authority to issue them. James Wright held the Sons of Liberty in absolute disdain. In another report, he complained that “the Liberty Boys, as they call themselves, had assembled together to the Number of about 200 & were gathering fast and Some of them had declared they were determined to go to the Fort & break open the Store & take out & destroy the Stamp’t Papers…” The fort was the stronghold of the city and the safest location for the stamps. The “obnoxious” stamp. Wright’s report somewhat reduced the actual number of protestors that day. Some accounts claim six hundred Liberty Boys, many of whom had gathered in front of Wright’s home on St. James Square (or Telfair Square) decreased in number after Wright implored them to have cooler heads. It is said that half left, but three hundred remained. I’ve read that over 800 were waiting in a city common… so we’re talking a lot of men in a town of about thirty-five hundred people. That’s about 22 percent of the population and a much larger percentage of the men in town even allowing for guys from out of town.[i] So Wright had the stamps loaded onto a boat and carried to Cockspur Island at the mouth of the Savannah River. By the way… Remember that the show notes and GPS locations for all of the spots mentioned in this episode can be found in the show notes or at History By GPS dot com. While you’re there check out our books and merchandise. I think you’ll like our line of products from Savannah and its history… including some that highlight this episode. And leave a comment. I’d love to hear your opinion or information that other listeners would like to hear. Now… in 1776 the cry, “No taxation without representation,” spread through the colonies like a chill up King George’s spine. See, Americans were already paying other taxes, but they paid in currency from their own colony. So, having to convert the script into British pounds, was an excessive burden. The whole uproar was initiated and fueled by the actions of British elites who wouldn’t give Parliamentary representation to the Colonies and did not care if the Americans were upset. After all.. they were the British and they were in charge. The Americans, they thought, were merely peasants working for the homeland. See, the whole taxation hubbub back then was over the financing of the French and Indian War in America a few years earlier. It was an extension of Britain’s Seven Years War with France. England said that it was by their grace that they saved the Colonies during the conflict. But Americans believed and knew they could take care of themselves. They had done so for generations and believed that there had been no need for British troops. For the time, foreign enemies were elsewhere, and Americans had always protected themselves from local threats. An irony was that American colonists considered themselves British citizens, but Parliament would not give them representation. America’s natural resources made the colonies a far more prosperous land than all of the British Isles, and everyone on both sides of the Atlantic knew it. So, Savannah… Trustees’ Garden… and Fort Halifax were swept up in the conflict. Now, where this uproar happened, the fort is gone today, but others replaced it… Fort Savannah, Fort Prevost, and Fort Wayne, Wayne being the last one. Drawing of Fort Wayne looking southwest. The bombproof well, lower left, is still part of the gas works terrace that is not part of the Morris Center. And here’s a little side note for your trivia collection… Savannahians usually call the current brick wall the Fort Wayne Wall. Is it Fort Wayne?  In actuality… it is… and it isn’t. And the confusion is justified. The building of the current brick wall in 1853 destroyed the older earthen fort named for General “Mad” Anthony Wayne. After the bricks were laid, the dirt ramparts of the real Fort Wayne were shoveled into the wall’s interior to create a terrace for gasholders. The gas works wall in 1939. Cannon muzzles can be seen along the right fence line. During that work, laborers unearthed three old cannons. Gas workers later placed the big guns along the wall, making it look like an old fort. Everyone in town knew the fort was located on that spot, so generations later concluded that the brick wall must be the fort. After all, the cannons were there to prove it. The legend continues.[ii] But… the wall’s purpose was to create a terrace to support gas holders and other manufactured coal-gas equipment at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and was built by the Savannah Gaslight Company. Now, to confuse the issue, even more, the area just inside the wall arch really was part of old Fort Wayne. … If you want to see other photos go to the History By GPS website and it out. The Fort Wayne footprint with the bombproof location.  That part is the sunken well-section that served as a bombproof… a reinforced area where soldiers would go to escape enemy artillery. So that’s why this area is Fort Wayne and not Fort Wayne. When they filled in the interior of the terrace, they covered up remnants of the old

    20 min
  4. The Hurricane that Broke Savannah 32.079861° -81.091488°

    02/27/2023

    The Hurricane that Broke Savannah 32.079861° -81.091488°

    32.079849° -81.091614° Hey, everyone! Is this a great day for a podcast, or what? No storms… no bad weather… at least not for me where I am. Sorry if you are. You know the old saying… If you don’t like the weather stick around… It’ll change. So stick around I’m going to tell you a story about a bad day… weather wise See, in Savannah and South Georgia, back in 1881, they had a really bad day. A devil of a hurricane… The carnage started several miles south of the city where at the sportsman’s club on Wolf Island, the home of the club’s caretaker, Mr. Stokes, was ripped from the foundation and pushed into the river. Floodwaters crashed in the doors and windows and swept his wife and children into the river. His entire family drowned. Only Stokes survived and walked over sixty miles to Savannah to report the event. I’m JD Byous. Welcome to History by GPS, where we travel through history and culture GPS location by GPS location. So, click on your favorite map app and follow along. Today I’m going to give you a general GPS location which right in the main square of the city, Johnson Square, then, you can find the other places mentioned on our website, HistoryByGPS.com. Now… that location in Johnson Square is where the weather station kiosk used to sit… before the storm… and the coordinates are 32.079861° -81.091488°   From East Broad Street to West Broad Street few buildings escaped the fury and damage of the storm.” As you may know, West Broad is now MLK Blvd should you be visiting Savannah… This hurricane predated the naming of storms by almost seventy years. In 1881 it was called simply “Hurricane Five” and was only a class 2 hurricane, but Seven hundred people died in the area around the city, with 355 of that total within the city limits. It was one of the deadliest hurricanes in American history.[1] The Mayor’s Report for the year reported that “A hurricane of unparalleled violence occurred on the 27th of August last, doing great damage to property in the city and vicinity. … and all of the buildings belonging to the city were more or less injured… The fire alarm telegraph wires were broken in many places and leveled to the ground, and a great number of shade trees blown down. The fences and railings enclosing the parks and squares and at Laurel Grove Cemetery were partially blown down and crushed by falling trees.” As one newspaper described, the Class 2 hurricane that hit Savannah in August 1881 was one of “unparalleled violence… all of the buildings belonging to the city were more or less injured.” And almost all of the buildings in the city had wind or rain damage.  In the Atlantic, it started as a tropical storm and rolled to the northeast through the Lesser Antilles Island on August 22, and then it bounced up… off of Florida and headed to Savannah. By August 24, it reached hurricane strength. On August 27, it hit land directly at the mouth of the Ogeechee River at high tide, pushing a fifteen-foot storm surge. In Savannah, wind gusts blew the city wind gauge away after recording a wind speed of 80 miles per hour. The intense damage resulted because Hurricane Five, though it was only estimated to be class two in strength, well, it came to Savannah… and it stayed for two days. Hmmmm… that’s about the same length of time the tourists hang around here. Anyway… Small but slow storms can do as much or more damage as larger storms. After wreaking havoc on the area, the hurricane beelined due west. At the old savannah Morning News building on the corner of Bay and Whitfield Streets, the squall peeled the roof like a key-rolled tin top on a sardine can. The damage was severe because the water came through the ceiling into the editorial and make-up departments, then into the press and paper storage rooms. As one Alabama newspaper described, “The compositors finished their work ankle-deep in water.”[2]  The news must get out you know… At City Market, the buildings sustained damage – many of those structures are still there – Also damaged was the old Exchange buildings that stood where the gold-domed City Hall stands today. The trees around the area fell and smashed fences, business signs, and lampposts, strewing trash debris across the streets and intersections.  Johnson Square in Savannah where the weather kiosk was located. The black communities along the waterways were hardest hit. David Bowens, his wife, and his children were washed into the river, -- all of them drowned. South of Savannah, on Shad Island, just downstream from Fort McAllister on the Ogeechee River, Henry Douglas’ wife and four children were lost when the surge rose and swept them into the marsh. Other huts on the waterways suffered the same fate. All of the residents of Douglas’ small fishing settlement died in the storm, with the exception of Douglas. The plantation of former Fort McAllister commander Major George W. Anderson on the Ogeechee Road was hit with winds strong enough to blow down his barn, killing two of his horses that were inside. Some of you history buffs may remember that that plantation was where Union General William Tecumseh Sherman made his headquarters when he surrounded Savannah in 1864. I’ll talk about that incident and the capture of Fort McAllister in another episode. Oh, I forgot. Remember to follow the podcast that way you’ll be notified when new episodes come out. If you’re watching on YouTube, subscribe. You know how to do it… click the button. Also go to HistoryByGPS.com where you’ll find other GPS locations mentioned on this episode. You’ll also find our merchandise and books. We have tee-shirts, cups… other things… as well as products mentioned on this episode and others that highlight Savannah, Georgia. Oh, if you have any information you want to give, or state your opinion on this topic, please go to the comments and write it… it’s on the website. I’d love to hear from you. Overview of damaged area around Savanah. Now back to newspaper articles. The Round House plantation that Joseph Clay owned was totally demolished. All of the buildings and many of the animals were blown into the river and washed away.[1]  One article on the storm claimed that on August 26th, the Savannah Morning News had an article about the storm, but the U.S. Signal Corps issued no official warning. August 27 was a Saturday, and despite some squally weather in the morning, many people went to Tybee Island to the beach, and to escape the heat. The fresh northeasterly wind may have seemed welcome after a long summer of steamy heat in the city. The early morning ferries had brought hundreds to the Tybee wharf, where a mule-drawn streetcar drove people to the beach and the Ocean House, a 40-room hotel with a large, popular restaurant.” But by lunchtime, it was too late. The water was too rough for the ferries to run… and, at that time, there was no road from Tybee Island to the mainland. Another article said, In Savannah itself, the damage was horrific. Almost all buildings lost their roofs. Including major buildings like the Savannah Cotton Exchange, the office of the Savannah Morning News, and the U.S. Signal Corps. When the U.S. Signal Corps building was destroyed, along with the weather instruments, the barometer was 29.08”, and the wind was 85 mph, but the storm continued to worsen. All of the accounts of the 1881 hurricane stress the extreme “violence” of the wind in the city. Savannah proper was out of reach of the tides because it sits around forty feet about the river, so the tidal surge couldn’t reach it on the high bluff. But the winds were enough to cause terrible damage on their own. The death toll in Savannah itself was 335 from collapsing buildings, flying tin roofs, collapsing chimneys, flying glass, and falling trees. As accounts from outlying communities came in, and from the poor black housing, the low marshes and riverbanks, and from Tybee, the death toll on land surpassed 700. Experience has shown us that deaths from hurricanes, especially in poor, outlying black communities, were poorly documented. This has as has a similar study of the 1893 Sea Islands hurricane. Tybee Island beach and the Lazaretto Creek Station to the west. The Station at Lazaretto Creek on Tybee Island became a ruin of tangled lumber, sails, lines, and palm limbs. The wreckage included the wharf, the boats, the houses, the furniture, and all of the medical supplies. The crew of the Spanish bark, Marietta, abandoned ship earlier in the night and rode out the storm hanging from the rafters hospital. Later, the men found that their ship was still afloat, but the mast and all of the rigging had been blown away. Residents in Savannah weathered the storm in darkness because, as I mentioned earlier, the gas streetlight globes were smashed by the debris that found them in the path. The damage was the worst that any of the oldest city residents could remember. Even the devastating storm of 1854 brought less damage than the long-duration winds of that 1881 tempest.[3]   Leaving Savannah, the devil storm moved westward, damaging forest and property only to fizzle out in Mississippi, two states to the west. And things changed at over at Trustees’ Garden, though it was unchronicled in newspapers. In the wake of the destruction, the renovation of the gasworks’ retort building changed it into the style we see today, holding the same five-bay footprint. A stone plaque on the northwest corner of the Morris Center across from the Pirates’ House Restaurant, commemorates the event, suggests a near-total rebuild. That old building dates from about 1853… at least in part… and was the retort building where they cooked coal to make streetlight gas for about one hundred years. After the hurricane, a more substantial structure wrapped around the columns to form a shell-like cover making the lighter-colored brick columns of the buildi

    15 min
  5. One Duel. One Died. One Didn't 32.077938° -81.082580°

    02/21/2023

    One Duel. One Died. One Didn't 32.077938° -81.082580°

    One Duel. One Died. One Didn’t.32.077938° -81.082580° Hey, everyone! What a great day for a podcast! Do we have a great country or what? Yes… our country has problems… all countries have problems. But at the time of the forming of our nation during the American Revolution, things got pretty bad, not just in the way the war was going, but in the political landscape of the founding fathers. Tensions were high between the early patriots. Some said that in 1777, at the early phases of the fighting, Georgia’s war-time President was murdered by poisoning. Yes or no, his death definitely had suspicious circumstances surrounding it… but no one could prove foul play. When Archibald Bulloch died… some people suspected that a man named Button Gwinnett had something to do with it.  The wake of that incident washed over emotions, heated tempers, and created mistrust among Georgia’s founding fathers. As a result, two American patriots fought a duel in Savannah, and one of them died. But today, we’ll look into WHERE the duel took place. By the way, you’ve heard of six degrees of separation? President Theodore Roosevelt, who was born 81 years later, has a link to these events and this duel.  I’m JD Byous. Welcome to History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location. So, click on your favorite map app and follow along. Ready?… Here are the coordinates for today’s spot. It is 32.077938° -81.082580° Now, you’re going to find that this location is in the middle of a grassy park on the east side of town. But it is an important spot, and here’s the story behind it. The President was a guy named Archibald Bulloch, a member of the Continental Congress and a veteran of the fight for freedom. As an interesting note… Bulloch had to leave the meetings of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and make a hasty trip to Georgia to help defend Savannah from an imminent British attack. If he had stayed in Pennsylvania, he would have been Georgia’s fourth signer of the Declaration of Independence. You remember the others… Lyman Hall, George Walton, and Button Gwinnett. Archibald Bulloch Also… if Bulloch had not died when he did, one signer of the Declaration of Independence might have lived a little longer. So, to clarify… Bulloch was the first President and Commander in Chief of Georgia… in the temporary government… in the soon to be new State while the war with England was still going on. After his death, he was replaced by the ambitious and recent English immigrant… a guy named, Button Gwinnett. The President’s death and the suspicions surrounding it… illuminate the power struggle that was taking place among the American Rebel leadership. Factional game-playing was debilitating the security of the Revolution, the state, and especially the city of Savannah. Gwinnett is often remembered as a mystery man with a cloudy past. A decade earlier, when he immigrated from England, he purchased St. Catherines Island off of the South Georgia coast. His investment failed, leaving him up to his eyeballs in debt. So, he was forced to sell his property in 1773. He turned to politics three years later, and the political winds pushed him into public office and a position in the newly formed Georgia Assembly. Okay, where the GPS coordinates will take you are to a recently elevated section of lawn that is within a few feet of the spot where in 1777, Button Gwinnett fought a duel with a guy named Lachlan McIntosh. Trustees’ Garden in Savannah, Georgia and the location of the duel. The rift between the patriots was due to differing political opinions and the resultant insults that went with them. Gwinnett, a member of the Continental Congress, was a candidate for a position as brigadier general in the 1st Regiment of the Continental Army… But Georgia’s one-house General Assembly gave the position to McIntosh. That decision made Gwinnett furious. See, Gwinnett rose to the office of Speaker of the Georgia Assembly… the \top /dog position So after Bulloch’s death, HE, Gwinnett, became the President. In taking office, he carried with him the belief that he was a wronged man… so Gwinnett started getting even with the people who opposed him. In his power quest, Gwinnett began purging his opponents’ from their positions in the assembly and in the military. He ordered McIntosh to march on an ill-conceived and ill-planned campaign to seal off the border from British Florida. I said, “ill-conceived.” The expedition was a disaster. The debacle created shouts of accusation from both sides, both pointing blame at each other. And Gwinnett was set on using the failure to take over command of the military and oust McIntosh. But the stubborn Scotsman McIntosh refused to be blamed and refused to give up his position. In the political chess game, Gwinnett attacked Lachlan’s brother, George McIntosh, and called him a traitor. Gwinnett charged that George had sold provisions to British ships then promptly relieved Lachlan of his command. Gwinnett did not know, nor did he look into, the fact that the traitor was a business partner who had detoured a cargo of rice and other provisions to the British… all without George McIntosh’s knowledge. Gwinnett had George hauled off to jail. Lachlan was furious, he knew his brother’s loyalty to the American cause and called Gwinnett “a scoundrel and a lying rascal.” Back then, those terms were a bit more incendiary than they are today. However, today we do still have a few scoundrels and lying rascals in Washington, DC… so I’m told. By the way, as I always say, I’ve researched this stuff for thirty years. This is my understanding and interpretation on what happened.. and I hear there are several other interpretations. If you have an opinion, or if you just want to comment, please leave a note in the comment section below the transcription. Or, if you’re listening on a platform that doesn’t have them… check out the show notes and other information on our website… HistoryByGPS.com. There are also photos and illustrations that go along with the story. So…….. Gwinnett, in his hot-headed way, challenged Lachlan McIntosh to a duel. That action scored points for Gwinnett in the Georgia Congress, but though others tried to talk him out of it, he was determined to go on with the duel. Which, when you look at the facts… was a very dumb thing to do… Lachlan McIntosh was a Scottish Highlander who was a child when the founder of Georgia, James Oglethorpe, recruited his clan to settle Georgia’s southeastern coast to protect against the Spanish. In fact, the Spanish captured his father, and Oglethorpe arranged for Lachlan and George to be put under the care of Reverend George Whitfield at his Bethesda orphanage. But the independent Scottish boys didn’t do well at the orphanage. I mean, they were Scottish. Now, I can say that because my name Byous is a VERY Scottish name. Other Scots will understand. As I was saying, the brothers didn’t get along with things at the orphanage. So, they decided they would return to Scotland to fight with the Jacobites in what is called the 1715 uprising that tried to overthrow the English protestant monarchs, William and Mary. I’ll talk about Jacobites in another episode. Fortunately for them, Oglethorpe convinced them to stay in Georgia because the whole war was a fiasco for the Jacobite cause. To emphasize why a duel with McIntosh was a bad idea for Gwinnett…The McIntosh boys had warrior training from their youth and were excellent marksmen. That fighting ability, along with Lachlan’s quick wit, helped him advance through the ranks of local military units. His Scottish Highland honor would not allow him to be insulted by the English-born newcomer-to-the-cause, Button Gwinnett, nor any other man. As a result, the men would duel to settle the argument and restore their honor. Hmmmm. What kind of guy has the name Button anyway… sounds like something you’d find in the lint trap of a clothes dryer. Okay, so now you’re asking me, where does Teddy Roosevelt come into the story? That’s coming up. You’ll see how he is “very” connected to this occasion. I promise. Okay… continuing… Several locations have been suggested as to where the fight took place. However, combining all the accounts by participants, historians, and recorded evidence, one place comes out as the spot where the clash happened… Trustees’ Garden here on the edge of Savannah’s eastern bluff, where the GPS coordinates will take you. Here’s the evidence… That site, as described by historian and Savannah Mayor Thomas Gamble, has been long known as a favorite dueling ground for Savannahians as well as for those across the river who wanted to avoid South Carolina, law officials. It was located “ below the fort” at Trustees’ Garden. Now, the location of the Gwinnett/McIntosh duel has been in dispute for over a century. But records indicate that the duel happened in a field owned by Royal Governor James Wright east of the city. According to a map in the Georgia Historical Society Library, Wright owned many of the lots at Trustees’ Garden that were along what is now named Randolph Street and… ironically… MacIntosh Boulevard.  And we have the testimony of Gwinnett’s second, you know… the guy who hands them the guns and then backs out of the line of fire… On that day, the guy was Charles Wells, the brother of the Sugar Party Liberty Boy, Andrew Elton Wells, that we talk about in another History by GPS episode. Charles stated that a crowd was gathering, so Gwinnett and McIntosh moved “a little lower down the hill.” That means it was close enough to town for a crowd of onlookers to gather and that it took place in a field with a slope. There are few slopes in or near Savannah that were owned by James Wright. As I said… ac

    20 min
  6. He Slept on a Grave 32.042645° -81.046146°.

    02/14/2023

    He Slept on a Grave 32.042645° -81.046146°.

    32.042645° -81.046146° Other coordinates are at the end of the notes. Hey, everyone! Okay… okay… A while back, I heard a story of a famous person doing something that I would never do. I doubt that any of you would either, but, hey, what do I know. Anyway… I ask myself this question… Why would a young man… an Why would a young man… an intelligent and educated young man… hike 700 miles, walk into a strange cemetery where he had never been and knew no one buried there… then unknowingly lie down on an important grave and go to sleep? educated and young man… hike 700 miles, walk into a strange cemetery where he had never been and knew no one buried there… then unknowingly lie down on an important grave and go to sleep? You may know the guy.   It was John Muir, who was a naturalist and a conservationist and is remembered as one of the fathers of the US National Park system. Today there are mountains, forests, parks, and two John Muir Trails, one in California in the Sierra Nevada and one in Tennessee in the Cumberland Mountains. So, why did he come to the cemetery/ and which grave did he sleep on? Stick around, we’ll look at the clues, and I’ll tell you my take on it. I’m JD Byous… Welcome to History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location. You can find transcripts of the show and all of the coordinates of where these events happened at our website, HistoryByGPS.com. Okay, get your pencil and paper and I’ll give you the first location and you can follow us on your favorite map app. Okay, this one is in the back end of Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia It’s at the coordinates … 32.042645° -81.046146°.  Now, this location marks the grave where I suspect Muir slept. And it is an important grave. But first, a little background on the grave-sleeping guy. John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland, in 1838 and his family emigrated to the United States where he grew up in Wisconsin. He was hard-working and inventive. Loved botany and geology and traveled and studied his scientific passions around Wisconsin, and the states around it, and up into Meaford, Ontario, Canada. When he was in his twenties, he left the farm and attended college, and became an excellent woodworker, ending up in a carriage factory in Indiana. A freak accident left him blind for a short time, and when he regained his sight decided that working in a factory wasn’t for him… he wanted to see the world. When he through to Savannah, Georgia, he was on his famous 1000-mile walk to the gulf, which started in Louisville, Kentucky, and ended in Cedar Key, Florida. From there, he ended up in Yosemite Valley, where he changed history. As for his stay in Bonaventure… he was there for about five nights. That was in October, 1867. So, what are the differences in Bonaventure today you ask? Well… I’m glad you did. The birds still chirp and gather seeds. The squirrels still scamper through the oaks, and today, Spanish moss waves in the wind just as it did when Muir visited. I guess you could say that life among the dead at Bonaventure Cemetery is just… life… a lot like Muir described it back then. He wrote quite a bit about the plants and animals he found. But, today, there are more graves… there are a lot more graves.  So, why Bonaventure? It was several miles outside of the main city back then. Muir wrote that on October 8, 1867, he was waiting for a package… a parcel of cash that was supposed to be mailed by his brother. But IT had not reached Savannah. So… low on money… he searched for a place to spend the night. The first night he said he went to the meanest looking lodging house that he could find, as he said, “on account of its cheapness.” It was probably on Bay Street at that time because it was a rough waterfront range filled with cheap bars and lodging houses. [Bay Street and the Customs House, After a night’s sleep in a cot, he only had enough money to buy a few days’ worth of food. Again, he went to the post office – which by the way, for you who have visited Savannah – was in the basement of the old Customs House on Bay Street. Well, the package still had not arrived. So he wandered around the streets, sightseeing, and studying plants in the gardens of the large homes, of which Savannah had many. There still are. Then after a while, he found the road to Bonaventure, which was at that time called the old Thunderbolt Road. Today, the route is divided into three sections – Wheaton Street, Skidaway Road, and Bonaventure Road. He said… that on the route to the cemetery, he wandered along Savannah’s sandy eastern bluff, looking for a safe place to rest under the stars. I’ve looked for the dunes as he described and it is hard to tell that they ever existed… They’re buried under warehouses, parking lots and apartment buildings. He wrote that he was very thirsty after walking so long in the muggy heat… a dull, sluggish, coffee-colored stream flows under the road just outside the graveyard… from which he managed to get a drink after breaking a way down to the water through a dense fringe of bushes. He emphasized that he was wary of the snakes and alligators in the dark. Later, when he was in Florida, he mentions his fear of reptiles. After getting a drink, he said that he “…enter the weird and beautiful abode of the dead.” Today that creek is the Placentia Canal that drains storm waters from the town of Thunderbolt and the campus of Savannah State University. So I suppose his exhaustion, hunger, and fatigue led him to his star and oak-limbed canopy bed. You have to take into account that this guy was a brilliant botanist… BUT… on his route through Georgia, this guy was clipping off 40 miles a day on some of the sections of his trip. Now, how did he know about Bonaventure? Well, It’s famous now, but it was famous back then, too. Today most writers and visitors make the assumption that the cemetery’s popularity is due to The Midnight Book, John Berendt’s 1994 story, Midnight in the Garden of Good or Evil.   In reality, Bonaventure was popular more than a century before the Midnight book came on the scene. So… Muir had probably heard about the famous cemetery long before he walked into town. He’d likely read about it in travel books or possibly saw pictures on postcards of that time. At one time in history, the graveyard was a weekend destination spot for Victorian family picnics. However, it reverted to a weedy, brushy patch of woods during the American Civil War. So, it may have been a little rough and brushy when Muir visited. The cemetery’s popularity in Victorian times can be observed out front, near the entrance, where a short section of trolley tracks can still be found. They are memorials to times when their steel rails experienced heavy traffic from city families carrying picnic baskets and checked-tablecloth ground covers. When YOU visit Bonaventure, you’ll like the monuments and sculptures in stone and bronze. Two of my favorite bronze examples are the bust of General Robert H. Anderson and the flowers on the Garland Rayls monument. I talk about the Anderson family in my book, History’s Way: Along Savannah’s Riverfront should you want to learn more.          You can find that and our other books on Amazon. Just type in JD Byous and they should magically appear. I’ll put a link in the transcript. Also, please click the “FOLLOW” button so you will be notified about other episodes of History By GPS… that or just go to the website. Now, before we investigate Muir’s visit, we need to look into the cemetery’s background…. That ties into which grave he likely slept on.    The cemetery is located on the site of the Bonaventure Plantation, which was originally founded in 1762 by British import, Colonel John Mullryne. Later, in 1846, Commodore Josiah Tattnall III, Mullryne’s grandson, sold the 600-acre plantation to become a cemetery. The sale did not include the Tattnall family burial area, but the buyer, Peter Wiltberger, agreed to maintain it. The first burials took place in 1850 though it was not officially opened. Wiltberger himself was entombed in a family vault three years later. Fortunately for him.. he was already dead… having died in 1853. Developing the grounds were put on hold until after the American Civil war. So, his son, Major William H. Wiltberger, formed the Evergreen Cemetery Company in 1868 and Savannah’s finest families started laying their family members to rest there… assumably they had all too were already dead. I mean… why would you bury them if they weren’t? Then… on July 7, 1907, the City of Savannah purchased the Evergreen Cemetery Company, making the cemetery public and changing the name back to Bonaventure Cemetery. So… as for John Muir’s first night there… after he entered the gate he walked through Bonaventure’s oak grove for about one-quarter of a mile until he reached the ruins of the Tattnall plantation house. The area would have looked a bit different than today. Now there are fewer oaks. From what I’ve seen in pictures, I would estimate that at least 50% have died with some having been blown down during storms and hurricanes since that time. Many, however, are still here. One old oak is near the entrance. I’ll put the coordinates in the show notes on the website. It was a seedling in 1754 when Mullryne started the plantation and is now around 260 years old. Muir would have walked past and under its branches on his way along the oak-arched lane, as he walked to his sleeping spot each night. From along the lane, he would have seen an occasional glint of moonlight bouncing from the headstones in the small burial ground. He said the sparkleberry thickets shined like “heaps of crystals.” But today you can’t see what he saw because the cemetery closes a 5 in the afternoon. The

    19 min
  7. Savannah's First Partier 32.081360° -81.092032°

    02/14/2023

    Savannah's First Partier 32.081360° -81.092032°

    Georgia’s First Partier — George Symes Hey, everyone! What a great day for a podcast! I don’t know if you know, but Savannah, Georgia, where this podcast… is based… is known for being a bit of a party town. If you’ve never been here, this is a place where you can walk around downtown with a plastic cup of your favorite beverage… of any kind… in your hand… legally. Also, our city has… as claimed by some people… the second-largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the country. That, of course, is in the springtime. But it also has a large and popular Octoberfest in the fall. And… during the rest of the year, there are parties going on just about every weekend. Now, as for St. Patrick’s Day… as for the claim as being the second largest… I don’t know… but on some years when St. Patrick’s is on a weekend… I can tell you that they have been crowds numbering in the millions. It’s a big deal here… lots… of… parties. So, if Savannah… or even the State of Georgia, ever elects a patron saint of /partiers, I nominate a guy named George Symes because he was and should be remembered as Savannah… and Georgia’s first recorded party \boy. That was back in 1733 when he, his wife Sarah, and all of Georgia’s first settlers followed Colonel James Oglethorpe to the New World. By the time they arrived… they had been through a lot on their grueling sea voyage of two long months. Now, they were stressed and tired when… at last… they were within view of the coast of the Carolinas. There near Edisto Island is when pirates challenged, and they had to fight them off. Finally, they landed Charles Town, South Carolina. But after a a short stay in that town it was back on the boat and down the coast to the fairly new settlement of Beaufort. Symes was ready to let off some steam. But he had to hold on and wait for the right time. His group still had one last canoe trip before their journey was finally over. I’m JD Byous and welcome to History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture GPS location by GPS location. You can find transcripts of this episode along with the coordinates of where all these events happened at HistoryByGPS.com. Now, the main coordinates for this episode show the location of James Oglethorpe’s tent. That’s where the party started. And those coordinates are…  32.081360° -81.092032° So, follow along on your favorite map app… or later… when you’re not… at… work. We always want keep the boss happy. Okay, back to the story. George Symes had some pent-up tension as he and others waited to be transported to their new homes in the brand-spanking-new Colony of Georgia. That soon-to-be colony would be destined to become the thirteenth English colony along America’s eastern coast that would join to become the United States of America. Now, George Symes was a pharmacist. I say, “pharmacist.” His actual title was apothecary, which is an older term that means he does the same type of thing pharmacists do today… prepare and distribute medications… Of course, Symes and the other colonist didn’t have the opportunity to oxcart down to the local Walmart and stock up on Tylenol and Preparation-H… Symes had to make all of his medications up from scratch. So… we can safely assume that he was an educated guy. But education does not trump logistics. They had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and finally made it to within thirty-five crow-flight miles of where their new homes would be. But things had to be prepared for him and the others before they could continue. So, they hung around the little town of Beaufort, South Carolina, learning how to drill like the military and honing up on the new skills they would need to survive. While he and the other settlers waited, their leader, Colonel James Oglethorpe, and South Carolina Colonel William Bull paddled ahead of them to find the spot that had been chosen for their new city. So, Symes had to wait for a while. Things had to be done before other things could happen. Syme’s new home was different… very different from what he had always known. Forty-five canoe miles away, Oglethorpe and Bull scrambled up a steep sandy slope to take a look at the place that would be called Savannah. Others had wanted to settle on the site, but it had specifically been set aside for Oglethorpe and his colonists by Governor Robert Johnson of the South Carolina Colony. As they dug and grappled their way upward, loose granules seeped and rolled into their boots and sleeves and down their sweat-stained shirts.  Below on the river, beached on a narrow strip of sand, their shallow-draught periagua canoes rested at the bottom of the forty-foot-high, three-quarter mile-long mass of silicon-dioxide grit. Along the base, freshwater seeped from springs every few yards. Here, the two men reasoned, was a very good site for the new town, the capital of the Colony of Georgia. At the right time, workers would begin clearing trees… but not yet. Atop the hill, a mild breeze encircled the two men. The weather was mild, as winters in the region can be. It was cool but refreshing after their long trip along the inland waterways and upriver. In their view to the south, down through the forest, the men found an open canopy of tall, straight green pines that were accented with the bluish hue of ancient gnarled live oaks in an open, nearly brush-free landscape. The area had been cleared by the native people in the area, who regularly burned the undergrowth to improve hunting and wild food supplies. Behind and below to the north, the Savannah River sparkled around a large, flat, green island… perfect for pasturage. The water surrounding it was superb for fish and seafood, both fresh and salt water. There, hidden beneath the river’s surface, the waters of the Savannah divide horizontally into three tiers. The upper, tinged with tannin from inland trees and swamps, contains fish that prefer fresh water. The mid-level… brackish water is created where the lighter fresh Lowcountry runoff slides up and over the heavy sea-salt-laden tidewater that flows inland at high tide as it hugs the lower tier along the river bottom. In South Carolina, on the north bank of the river, growers were using the aqueous phenomenon to flood and water their rice fields. It was taught to the plantation owners by the enslaved folks from Africa’s west coast. A technique that their people had used for centuries by making flood gates from toppled, fire-hollowed tree stumps and burying them horizontally in the levies. This allowed fresh water to run into the fields when the tide was high, then they blocked the trunks to hold the waters in the flooded checks when the tide dropped. Today, they still call the water gates trunks even though they are made of concrete and steel. Commercial crabbers in the area still exploit the river tiers by dropping their pots into the deepest channels to catch the crustaceans miles inland along the waterways. The early settlers were able to do the same, supplementing their food supplies with seafood. As Oglethorpe and Bull walked around the flat of the bluff, they knew it was not only a good spot for settlement and a good spot for commerce. The river had been a long-used trading route for upland Indian groups who bartered with the English at a place called Savannah Town 120 miles upriver on the South Carolina side of the waterway. That site lay near the end of navigable waters… and had served as home for the Westo people, a band of northern invaders who traded with the English in deerskins and native slaves from rival tribes. They, the Westo, were pushed out of that site during the Yemassee War in 1715. Now the Savannah people, a subgroup of the Shawnee, held that trade spot and continued less-offensive enterprises. It was for their group that the river was named. Colonel Bull knew the area well. A politician, surveyor, and Indian Commissioner for South Carolina, he had followed the meandering waterway many times in the past when he served as a Captain during fighting against the Yamasee and the Tuscarora. He had dealt with the long-established white traders, though generally, he did not like them, and he had negotiated with the Cherokee, the Yuchi, the Westo, the Savannahs, and other tribes over the years. The landscape of the proposed site was intimately recorded in Bull’s mind and in the minds of those who carried trade goods to Charles Town over the past decades. To Oglethorpe… a military man… Yamacraw Bluff seemed perfect. It was good defensive ground that was surrounded by marshes and water. It also had miles of land extending to the south that would be useful for farming and development. Defense-wise, a settlement on that spot made it perfect should Spanish or hostile Indians attack. See, the main purpose of the colony was to claim the land and keep the Spanish at bay. Within the span of 150 years, British Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell and, later, Union General William T. Sherman would be forced to develop strategies to overcome Savannah’s natural topographic protection that was sculpted eons in the past. However, there was still one obstacle for Oglethorpe. Creating a townsite for George Symes and the others would depend on an agreement with the Yamacraw mico-chief, Tomochichi. In the 1800s, historian Charles C. Jones, Jr wrote, “There were no Indians near the Georgians, except Tomochichi, and a small tribe consisting of about thirty or forty men who accompanied him.” So… we’re looking at about 200 or so native people in the area. See, the Yamacraw had settled there after a tribal family squabble and broke away from Creek and Yamasee groups around 1728 and they moved down the river to the bluff. Other than them, the low country around the lower Savannah River was no a man’s land to indigenous people. The reason was because of the years-long Indian slave trading that was centered at Charle

    27 min
  8. Tea Party Shmee Party 32.079459° -81.083386°

    02/04/2023

    Tea Party Shmee Party 32.079459° -81.083386°

    32.079459° -81.083386° Hey, Everyone      What a fantastic day for a podcast. Sometimes I have favorite stories about history. In this one….. I start out by saying… Boston Tea party, Boston shmee party. Because here in Savannah, Georgia, in 1775, Andrew Elton Wells led a group of Liberty Boys, and they had a sweeter party… The Savannah Sugar Party. This guy, Wells, followed the lead of his brother-in-law, who had thrown his own party two years earlier – That was, of course, Samuel Adams, who… hosted, … the famous Boston Tea Party. What… a… great legacy. A family that likes to party, especially at the expense of the British King! But first! I’m JD Byous. Welcome to History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location. You can find today’s position, along with the other sites mentioned in this episode at HistoryByGPS.com. That way, you can follow along on your favorite map app. Today we travel to the edge of Savannah’s Trustees’ Garden, near the end of East River Street, where the GPS coordinates are 32.079459° -81.083386°. As I said, Liberty Boy, Andrew Elton Wells, was the brother-in-law of a Boston Liberty Boy and malthouse owner, Samuel Adams. Samuel Adams Wells was also good friends with a guy named John Hancock, who, as you’ll remember, was the notable signer of the Declaration of Independence. If you’ve seen a copy of the paper, his name is the largest, right up there at the top, and in the center of the document’s list of those who supported the American cause… and his rather large signature was a cursive thumb on the nose at King George the Third. Wells, Adams, and Handcock were all members of the Revolutionary organization, The Sons of Liberty, which was a clandestine political society before the American Revolution. It dedicated itself to upholding the rights of American Colonists… who, by the way… at that time, were British citizens. Wells’ family was in the thick of things. His father, Francis, gave shelter to Adams and Hancock when the politically heated climate in Boston forced the two men to hot-foot it out of town at the same time, other patriots fired the first shots of the Revolution on the green at Lexington and on the old North Bridge at Concord, Massachusetts. Now, Andrew Wells was a former sea captain who had settled in Savannah and had become a prosperous merchant who owned the only rum distillery in town. It was the base of the river bluff next to the East Broad Street Ramp. Those are the coordinates I just gave you. See, sugar was a necessity and an absolute for making spirited beverages. Well’s problem was that he refused to pay what he called… an “illegal” customs tax, and in doing so, he directly defied the orders of Georgia’s Royal Governor James Wright. Royal Governor Sir James Wright The result… the Governor seized the “contraband” sugar and molasses. Part of the sweet stash had been loaded onto a British ship at the Dock, while more was impounded inside Wells’ warehouse that was connected to it. Over the years, the area where the dock stood was filled in with dirt, so today’s water’s edge is about forty yards to the north. When you go to the spot, you’ll be standing on dry land.. and you’ll have to watch out for traffic because River Street runs directly over the spot. Now, as I said… the saccharine cargo in question was destined for Well’s distiller pot. But British lieutenant William Grant, the commanding officer of the schooner HMS St. John ordered two sailors to confiscate and guard the supplies. With that, Wells’ booze business was doomed to - drip - to a halt. His protest wasn’t just for the cause of liberty; it was also for the freedom to do business without harassment by the government. Something that today we find… not that unusual. What the Governor’s order did, was inspired angry, thirsty Liberty Boys to liberate the barrels of euphoria-inducing granules and haul them away. And what Liberty Boy didn’t like to drink? Remember, these guys used to hang out in taverns as they plotted a new nation. Well… after dark, the Liberty Boys darkened their faces with soot, marched to the wharf, and on to the schooner St. John, which had eight cannons and only two men… Who probably didn’t know how to fire cannons anyway. A London paper later reported that on the night of February 15, 1775, a disguised and armed party attacked the wharf, threw the guards into the river, then tarred and feathered the customs official who was in charge of the barrels… Giving him a painful and tickly suit to wear home… …and then the group carried off the hogsheads of sugar.” Okay, a hogshead is a liquid measurement equal to 63 gallons. That would be… let’s see…carry the 1… 238 liters to those who don’t speak imperial measurement lingo. However, I always love to mention a much larger measurement… which is the buttload… as in, “I drank a buttload of beer last night.” See, a buttload is a barrel that contains 126 to 130 gallons of beer or wine, depending on whom you’re talking to. Whichever you use… it’s twice the amount of liquid that makes up a hogshead. It comes from the Italian word, botte, that means barrel. I guess… like, bottle. And I can tell you. Not even Liberty Boys, who were always tired and thirsty from throwing things and people in the water, could drink a whole buttload of beer. If you find that interesting, you’ll love to hear that two buttloads make a tun, T-U-N, and that’s even more beer. Root beer, of course… this is a family show. One report said eight hogsheads of molasses and six filled with French sugar disappeared in the night. So, in reality, they took a buttload… and a lot more? One report claims that one of the guards who was thrown off the boat… drowned. I’m not sure if that was true. Governor Wright was enraged and offered a fifty-pound reward for the names of the culprits as well as a pardon to anyone who would turn state’s evidence.  There were… no… takers, and the contraband’s location was never revealed. Most citizens probably didn’t know when it was happening. Only one hundred yards away, the soldiers in the fort at the top of the bluff did not hear the attack, so they could not deter the stealthy rebels. To explain… the political beliefs of the Sons of Liberty were not held by the majority of citizens in Georgia. But, the dogged, unrelenting determination of the group would bind those of like mind into a major force against British rule. Hey… I forgot to tell everyone about our books and merchandise! The products that help support this channel. You can find them at HistoryByGPS.com And on Amazon by typing in J-D-BYOUS in the book category. Buy one for yourself and one for a friend. Don’t worry… we’ll make more. So, back to our story, the Savannah Sugar Party wasn’t unique. Several cities had “Tea Parties” including Charleston, Philadelphia, and New York. People from all of the American Colonies were ticked off over taxation because they had no representative voice to oppose the laws… there was no one in British Parliament to speak for them. As a result… in combination with other British practices…. and British military leaders…….. the American Revolution started. And we all know the final result. Through the actions taken by Wells and other Liberty Boys along the Eastern Seaboard, we now live in a nation where people from around the world risk their lives just for a chance to join us. This might not be a perfect place to be, but it’s a heck of a lot better than anyplace else on the globe… just ask the people clambering to get in. As for Well’s sugar party… that was many years ago. Today, the closest thing we have to Andrew Well’s sugar party are sweet drinks at the bar at the hotel that now occupies the site of the old Artillery Wharf… I think it’s time to have a party. So, raise your glass and toast the guys who changed the world and gave the little guy a chance to succeed. I think they had a good idea. So… if you didn’t already know this story… now… you know. Remember to follow the podcast so you will be notified when new episodes come out. And go to the website for more information! See you next time. Bye Coordinates Artillery Wharf, 32.079459° -81.083386° Boston Tea Party, 42.3536 -71.0524 Lexington Battle Green, 42.449444, -71.231389 North Bridge at Concord, Massachusetts, 42.469028° -71.350671° -------------------------------------------- BibliographyWilliam V. Wells, The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams, Being a Narrative of his acts and opinions, and of his agency in Producing and Forwarding the American Revolution Vol II, 1865.Paul M. Pressly, On the Rim of the Caribbean: Colonial Georgia and the British Atlantic World,Walter J. Fraser, Savannah and the Old South, University of Georgia Press, 2003.F.D. Lee and J.L. Agnew, Historical Record of Savannah We''ve changed out name to Lens On History. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/lens-on-history/donations

    11 min
  9. Pirate Bootie Sacked - E4 32.081384° -81.089784°

    02/04/2023

    Pirate Bootie Sacked - E4 32.081384° -81.089784°

    Pirate bootie sacked32.081384° -81.089784° Hey, everyone! Another fine day for a podcast. And it is a fine day… because today we’re going to talk about pirates. And I’m not talkin’ the AAAARRRGGG, me hearty kind of pirates. Okay, you ask, where did it happen? So, you wanna know where they hung out? Listen up! Well, it happened in Savannah, Georgia, when Savannahians had had enough of the things that pirates do… and they ended up in a donnybrook. Ah… and your next question is….. Did the Americans lose the fight, or did French pirates get their booties swashed and buckled by some ticked-off Southern boys? Stick around, and I’ll give you my take on it. I’m JD Byous. Welcome to History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location. So follow us on your favorite map app. You can find transcripts of the show and the coordinates of where these events happened at our website HistoryByGPS.com. That way, you can follow the story as it goes along. If you have ever visited Savannah, Georgia, and walked along the tee-shirt and trinket-laden thoroughfare called River Street… the way many, if not most, folks who visit the city do… then you have stepped across some very historic ground that few people know about. In this episode, we travel to an incident where during a week in mid-November 1811, the entire city of Savannah, Georgia, was… enraged and in chaos. That was when American sailors and the citizens of the town grabbed any weapon they could find and marched down to the waterfront to kick some French pirate bootie… and I don’t mean the gold doubloon kind of bootie. The location is where Savannah’s Drayton Street ramp runs under the old Cotton Exchange Building and intersects with the city’s famous River Street. Grab your pencil and paper… or… if you’re driving in your car… never mind. Just listen. Okay… the decimal coordinates are… 32.081384° by -81.089784° Remember, if you can’t write this down, don’t worry. You can find the information on the website, As I mentioned, the events we are looking at today happened in November 1811. It’s when French pirates decided to hide and wait for the group of locals who were coming to haul them off to jail. But, to explain, these were not the first pirates that sailed in and around southeast Georgia; this incident was almost two centuries after the Golden Age of Piracy,… back in the 1600s… back when Black Beard and Captain Kid haunted the waters of the Atlantic, a dozen miles down river. The generation who did navigate these waters on the Eastern Seaboard and of the Caribbean had always threatened the young colony after it was established in 1733. Piracy was always always a problem. So much so that in the colony’s early days, the Lord Governor of Georgia pleaded with the king for protection from pirates and privateers who stalked the cargo ships coming to and going from Savannah… What he asked was for a 40-foot square fort to be built on Cockspur Island. And the money was supplied. The stronghold was named for King George the second. It stood near the little lighthouse that divides the north and south channels of the river at Fort Pulaski National Monument at the mouth of the Savannah. Now, back to 1811 and the Drayton Street Ramp… at that time wooden two-story buildings stood on each side of the roadway. Those old buildings burned in the mid-1800s and were replaced with those that are standing now. If you happen to visit Wet Willies Bar you’ll be on the spot where pirates once hid in wait. Today the site is almost cavernous because the street has been covered by the old Cotton Exchange building and the walkway that connects it to the top of the bluff. But back then, it was a simple narrow thoroughfare. After arming themselves they slithered into the rooms that overlooked the street and waited. As the armed mob entered the passageway, they sprang from their hiding spots and started firing, catching the Americans off guard. The fighting spread from between the buildings down onto the flat, wood-planked area that made up Anciaux’s Wharf at the water’s edge. That’s when things really got rough. The battle took place on the ground that today is River Street and across the flat of the plaza over to the waterline. But before I go on, I have to explain… as I said, these were pirates. But they were, technically, French privateers… but pirates nonetheless. See, they were in cahoots with the French government with an agreement to go to sea and attack France’s enemies. They would bring the king whatever they captured and….. split their booty. (I might add that splitting your booty… sounds a bit painful to me.) …..Oh…… remember to follow the podcast. That way, you’ll be notified when a new episode comes out. And if you’re watching on YouTube, subscribe… you know how to do it. Also… go to HistoryByGPS.com where you’ll find the other GPS locations mentioned in this episode. You’ll also find our merchandise and books. We have cups, tee shirts, and other items that feature this episode as well as products that highlight Historic Savannah. ADVERT HERE Okay, back to the booty boys… What was a privateer? As I said, a privateer was a pirate ship that was contracted with A government to harass enemy merchant vessels… and warships if they were brave enough. We, the Americans, and the British had them too… in fact, just about all the powerful nations. Now, what complicated the situation in Savannah was diplomacy. See, the French had helped us… we the United States, in our Revolution against Great Britain a few years before. Then, to further complicate the issue, the French and the new United States had recently fought the “Quasi-War,” in which the very powerful French Navy, who felt that we owed them… had a habit of boarding American vessels and forcing the crew member to serve on French ships. US President John Adams felt that we did owe them… but we didn’t owe them our sailors. As a result, fighting between the US and the French navies escalated into an undeclared war… a quasi war. You have to understand that the Brits were still our enemies at that time. In fact, the following year, the British attacked the United States and started the conflict that we appropriately called the War of 1812. You remember.. the British Army marched into Washington, DC, and burned the White House just after Dolly Madison grabbed a painting of George Washington, threw it in a carriage, and got out of Dodge… or so we have been told. Oh, by the way, If you have any information or want to give your opinion on this topic, please put it in the comments on the website. I’d love to hear from you. And, YES, I know that Dolly probably didn’t personally grab the painting and throw it in her buggy… but it’s a good story, and that’s why it’s still around. So, back in Savannah… at that same time as the aforementioned fight, the French were at war and fighting with the British… as they were for most of history… Therefore, French ships were allowed into American Ports for repairs and supplies. There at Anceaux’s Wharf… which was later called Wood’s Wharf… two French boats, the La Franchise, and the La Vengeance… Now… I missed school the day we studied French, so I don’t know if I pronounced those correctly. But, close enough, I guess. …Anyway, the French ships were in port to load supplies, get repairs, and let the French crewmen blow off a little steam… But these guys blew off a little too much steam. They did not have the most honest of officers leading them either. The ship captain of the La Franchise was rumored to have connections to the famous pirate brothers, Jean and Pierre Lafitte, who, by the way, helped Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans a few years later. Now, again some explanation is needed. I called them “the French crewmen.” See, some of the officers were French, but the crew members were a blend of Italian, Venetian, Sicilian, and Portuguese sailors. There may have been a couple of French citizens in the mix. Whatever they were, they went way too far. The beginning blows of the fight started near the western edge of town. Several armed pirates attacked three or four unarmed American sailors who were… shall we say… visiting ladies who lived in a rougher part of town along Indian Street. …People from Savannah generally know what that area of town was. Later, the same night, the pirate crewmen returned to… visit… the ladies and another scuffle ensued, whereupon they killed a young American sailor… Jacob Taylor. They viciously beat him with clubs and slashed him to death with their sabers. Other American sailors were attacked in similar manners… According to one report, the pirates took Taylor’s body and dumped it in a nearby square… that was probably Franklin Square which is on the edge of City Market. Today, you can visit Jacob Taylor’s headstone on the back wall of the Colonial Park Cemetery a few blocks away. Now, his father laid out the details of his death when he had the following chiseled into the monument… I quote… “In Memory of JACOB R. TAYLOR, Son of John P. Taylor of Philadelphia. A youth of exemplary department conciliating manners and promise,” Yeah, right… The kid was killed in a brawl in a wh…….… in a house of ill repute…     Anyway…continuing on… “conciliating manners and promise, who in the 19th year of his age, when unarmed and peaceably walking the streets of Savannah,… Okay… oookay… I’m a father and understand. Where was I? …was on the evening of the 11th of November, 1811, attacked and inhumanly decimated by an armed band belonging to the crews of the French Privateers La Vengeance and La Franchise. Rest… infinite youth far from thy friends… injured by strangers… hon

    18 min
  10. History By GPS Trailer

    01/24/2023

    History By GPS Trailer

    Here's a bit of what we have in store for you at History By GPS. Season one has a debut date of February 14th, 2023… ...don’t you just love it?... In that season, we’ll focus on the history in and around Savannah, Georgia, USA… There is a lot of history here. Then, occasionally we’ll venture out to other areas across America, and sometimes we’ll tell the connections of those events to the Hostess City of the South to illustrate how our nation is interconnected and interdependent. I’ll read the GPS coordinates for the main locations we talk about. For other spots mentioned on the show, I’ll include those in our show notes and at HistoryByGPS.com. That way, you can look up the locations on your favorite map app… or if you’re really hardcore… on a map… then follow the story, and we'll talk about the spots where history happened so you can visit them later... in person on on a map. See you there! - JD Byous We''ve changed out name to Lens On History. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/lens-on-history/donations

    2 min
  • 10 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Lens On History replaced History By GPS. Welcome to Lens On History with JD Byous, where you'll experience the world of historical exploration through your camera lens. I'll be your guide to uncovering the rich tapestry of history woven into the fabric of Savannah, Georgia, and the history-rich Lowcountry of the American Southeast. Join me on this journey as we take a photo tour of fascinating stories, landmarks, and hidden gems that make this region a treasure trove of historical significance. Each week, we'll visit and photograph historical sites and find the best ways to record them and the people who live there. No matter what camera equipment you have or your experience level, we'll have fun finding the best angles for your lens while we talk about the history behind the subjects we find. We'll compare today's landscape to famous photographs from history. We'll also look at things to do in Savannah and the surrounding area, including nature photography in historical areas.

Information

  • Creator
    JD Byous
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved, JD Byous
  • Show Website
    Lens On History