Georgia Natural Wonder #33 - Coast of Liberty Co. (Part 2) - Revolutionary War. 633

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Georgia Natural Wonder #33 - Coast of Liberty County (Part 2) - Revolutionary War

We missed some tasty tangents yesterday as this LeConte family is probably one of the most celebrated UGA legacies in the world of academics. What a treat this coast has been to discover the great UGA graduates becoming world renown. We found Eugene Odum, the father of modern ecology, and his work on Sapelo Island. Milton Berford "Sam" Gray the director of University of Georgia Marine Institute at Sapelo Island for Whom Gray’s reef is named. Anyway, next time some Cal Berkley highbrow wants to question your UGA academics throw out the LeConte name. Aw man addendum link to original post.


John LeConte and family.

Now Louis LeConte inherited the family plantation, Woodmanston, near Midway in Georgia. We talked about the remains of that and the gardens yesterday. His son's are subject of our first tangent in today's post.

John LeConte (December 4, 1818 – April 29, 1891) was an American scientist and academic. He served as president of the University of California from 1869 to 1870 and again from 1875 to 1881. LeConte was born in Liberty County, Georgia, to Louis Le Conte, patriarch of the noted LeConte family. He attended Franklin College at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society and graduated in 1838. His younger brother Joseph LeConte also attended the University. Like many of his immediate relatives, John LeConte next studied medicine at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons and earned his M.D. in 1842. During this time, LeConte married Eleanor Josephine Graham. He practiced medicine until 1846 when he returned to UGA as a professor of physics and chemistry and taught there until his resignation in 1855. His next academic position was at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, as professor of physics and chemistry from 1856 until 1869.



John LeConte and LeConte Building at UC Berkley. (For now)



In March 1869, he moved to Oakland, California, to join the faculty of the newly established University of California as a professor of physics. In June 1869, he was appointed acting president of the University, serving until Henry Durant became the president in 1870. In September 1869, his brother Joseph LeConte arrived in California to join the faculty of the University as a professor of geology. Upon the resignation of President Gilman in March 1875, LeConte was appointed acting president a second time until June, 1876, when he was elected president. On June 7, 1881, LeConte tendered his resignation as president of the University, asking to be returned to his faculty position. LeConte died at his home in Berkeley, on April 29, 1891, while still active as a professor of physics.

Joseph Le Conte (February 26, 1823 – July 6, 1901) achieved the greatest fame of all the LeContes.



Early life

Of Huguenot descent, he was born in Liberty County, Georgia, to Louis LeConte, patriarch of the noted LeConte family, and Ann Quarterman. He was educated at Franklin College in Athens, Georgia (now the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia), where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society. After graduation in 1841, he studied medicine and received his degree at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1845. (In 1844 he traveled with his cousin John Lawrence LeConte for over one thousand miles along the Upper Mississippi River in a birchbark canoe.) After practicing for three or four years in Macon, Georgia, he entered Harvard University and studied natural history under Louis Agassiz. An excursion made with Professors J. Hall and Agassiz to the Helderberg mountains of New York developed a keen interest in geology.



Career

After graduating from Harvard, Le Conte in 1851 accompanied Agassiz on an expedition to study the Florida Reef. On his return he became professor of natural science at Oglethorpe University, which was located in Midway, Georgia, at the time, and from December 1852 until 1856 professor of natural history and geology at Franklin College (UGA). From 1857 to 1869 he was a professor of chemistry and geology at South Carolina College, which is now the University of South Carolina. On January 14, 1846, he married Caroline Nisbet, a niece of Eugenius A. Nisbet. The LeConte(s) had four children grow to adulthood: Emma Florence LeConte, Sarah Elizabeth LeConte, Caroline Eaton LeConte, and Joseph Nisbet Le Conte.


Joseph LeConte

During the Civil War LeConte continued to teach in South Carolina. He also produced medicine and supervised the niter works (to manufacture explosives) for the Confederacy. In his autobiography he wrote that he found Reconstruction intolerable. He referred to "a carpet-bag governor, scalawag officials, and a negro legislature controlled by rascals" and stated that the "sudden enfranchisement of the negro without qualification was the greatest political crime ever perpetrated by any people". Discouraged by unsettled postwar conditions at the University of South Carolina, in 1868 he accepted an offer of a professorship at the newly established University of California. In September 1869, he moved west to Berkeley, California. His older brother John had come to California in April 1869, also to join the faculty of the new University as a professor of physics. Joseph was appointed the first professor of geology and natural history and botany at the University, a post which he held until his death.



He published a series of papers on monocular and binocular vision, and also on psychology. His chief contributions, however, related to geology. He described the fissure-eruptions in western America, discoursed on earth-crust movements and their causes and on the great features of the Earth's surface. As separate works he published Elements of Geology (1878, 5th ed. 1889); Religion and Science (1874); and Evolution and its Relation to Religious Thought (1888). This last work anticipates in structure and argument Teilhard de Chardin's "Phenomenon of Man."(1955). LeConte endorsed theistic evolution.

Legacy

In 1874, he was nominated to the National Academy of Sciences. He was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1892, and of the Geological Society of America in 1896. LeConte is also noted for his exploration and preservation of the Sierra Nevada of California, United States. He first visited Yosemite Valley in 1870, where he became friends with John Muir and started exploring the Sierra. He became concerned that resource exploitation (such as sheep herding) would ruin the Sierra, so he co-founded the Sierra Club with Muir and others in 1892. He was a director of the Sierra Club from 1892 through 1898. His son, Joseph N. LeConte, was also a noted professor and Sierra Club member.



He died of a heart attack in the Yosemite Valley, California, on July 6, 1901, right before the Sierra Club's first High Trip. The Sierra Club built the LeConte Memorial Lodge in his honor in 1904. The LeConte Glacier, LeConte Canyon, LeConte Divide, LeConte Falls and Mount LeConte were named after him. LeConte Hall, which houses the Department of History at the University of Georgia, was named for him and his brother. LeConte College, which houses the Department of Mathematics and Statistics near the Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina, LeConte Middle School in Hollywood, LeConte Avenue in Berkeley, and LeConte Avenue bordering the south of UCLA also honor the two brothers, both of whom are buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.



Well there are the tangents on Louis LeConte’s sons, the California LeConte's. Here is a tangent on his brother.

John Eatton LeConte (February 22, 1784 – November 21, 1860) was an American naturalist. He was born near Shrewsbury, New Jersey, the son of John Eatton LeConte and Jane Sloane LeConte. He graduated from Columbia College, where he showed an interest in science and was taught natural history by David Hosack, founder of Elgin Botanical Garden. John LeConte's older brother Louis inherited the family plantation, Woodmanston, near Midway in Georgia. Although John LeConte usually lived in New York or New England, he spent his winters at Woodmanston. He suffered from rheumatism, and possibly other ailments, for most of his adult life.


John Eatton LeConte

In April 1818 LeConte was appointed captain in the United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. His early assignments included surveying the vicinity of Norfolk, Virginia, the harbor at Savannah, Georgia and Ossabaw Sound, Georgia. LeConte was promoted to brevet major in April 1828, and resigned his commission in August 1831. Early in 1821 John LeConte approached Secretary of War John C. Calhoun to propose an exploration expedition to the newly acquired territory of Florida. Later in the year he again contacted Secretary Calhoun, noting that he was assigned to survey the harbor at Savannah that winter, and proposing that he undertake an expedition to Florida while in Georgia for the winter.



He requested $970 for the expedition, including the cost of hiring a sloop and crew for one month. The War Department provided him with $600. In early 1822 he proceeded to Fernandina, Florida, carrying an order issued by Major General Winfield Scott that the commanding officer at Amelia Island provide eight men and a non-commissioned officer to accompany LeConte on his expedition. A Lieutenant Edwin R. Alberti also joined LeConte's expedition. The LeConte party explored up the St. Johns River. The St. Johns River had previously been explored by John and William Bartram in 1765-66 and again by William Bartram in 1773-77, but neither expedition had reached the source of the river. LeConte also failed to find the headwaters of the river. He wrongly concluded that Lake Okeechobee (which was shown as the source for the St. Johns River on many maps) did not exist, and his description of the river upstream from Lake George is inaccurate.


Portrait St. Johns River.

His earliest publication (1811) was a Latin text catalogue of plants found on Manhattan Island. An early ambition to publish an American flora was partially pre-empted when Stephen Elliott began A Sketch of the Botany of South-Carolina and Georgia. He then published a number of papers, each on a separate plant genus. In some, he was critical of Elliott's work although sharing his notes on Utricularia with Elliott. After Elliott's death, LeConte published only occasional papers on plants. LeConte's primary interests were zoological, and he co-authored with Jean Baptiste Boisduval a book on insects, General history and illustrations of the Lepidoptera and caterpillars of North America , which was published at Paris. Many of the illustrations for this work were done by John Abbot.



He also wrote on frogs, toads, small mammals, reptiles, and crustaceans. LeConte's color drawings of North American tortoises led to him being called The Audubon of Turtles. He described and named twenty-two species and sub-species of terrapins and tortoises in the southeastern United States.



John Eatton LeConte was a fellow of the Linnean Society of London and served as vice-president of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York. When he moved to Philadelphia after 1841, he was elected vice-president of the Academy of Natural Sciences. He married Mary Ann Hampton Lawrence on July 22, 1821 in New York. Their son John Lawrence LeConte, who became one of the USA’s most important early entomologists, was born on May 13, 1825, in New York. Mary LeConte died November 19, 1825 while traveling to Georgia from New York. John Eatton LeConte died on November 21, 1860.

I was going to do a tangent on his son but he did not go to Georgia and he was born in New York, oh screw it……..just a brief one.

John Lawrence LeConte (May 13, 1825 – November 15, 1883) was an American entomologist of the 19th century, responsible for naming and describing approximately half of the insect taxa known in the United States during his lifetime, including some 5,000 species of beetles. He was recognized as the foremost authority on North American beetles during his lifetime, and has been described as "the father of American beetle study."



John Lawrence LeConte and the Beetles!

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Enough about the LeConte's........

When we last posted, we were describing the pre revolutionary war era of Liberty County. The people of the Midway community, along with their neighbors in nearby Sunbury, were early supporters of the cause of American Independence. Church member Lyman Hall was sent to represent Georgia at the First Continental Congress in May 1775. One year later, joined by neighbor Button Gwinnett and Augusta resident George Walton, he signed the Declaration of Independence. It is an interesting fact of American history that three signers of the Declaration of Independence were associated with what became Liberty County. Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett lived there, while George Walton was held prisoner at nearby Sunbury after being wounded and captured at the fall of Savannah. Another Midway resident, Nathan Brownson, served in the Continental Congress from 1776 to 1778. Tangent on the old Bulldog - Lyman Hall…..



Lyman Hall (April 12, 1724 – October 19, 1790), physician, clergyman, and statesman, was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Georgia. Hall County is named after him.

Early life and family

Lyman Hall was born on April 12, 1724, in Wallingford, Connecticut. He was the son of John Hall, a minister, and Mary (née Street) Hall. Lyman Hall studied with his uncle Samuel Hall and graduated from Yale College in 1747, a tradition in his family. In 1749, he was called to the pulpit of Stratfield Parish (now Bridgeport, Connecticut). His pastorate was a stormy one: an outspoken group of parishioners opposed his ordination; in 1751, he was dismissed after charges against his moral character which, according to one biography, "Were supported by proof and also by his own confession." He continued to preach for two more years, filling vacant pulpits, while he studied medicine and taught school.



In 1752, he married Abigail Burr of Fairfield, Connecticut, however, she died the following year.



In 1757, he was married again to Mary Osborne. He migrated to South Carolina and established himself as a physician at Dorchester, South Carolina, near Charleston, a community settled by Congregationalist migrants from Dorchester, Massachusetts decades earlier. When these settlers moved to the Midway District – now Liberty County – in Georgia, Hall accompanied them. He was granted land in Georgia near the Midway Meeting House in St. John's Parish in 1760. Hall soon became one of the leading citizens of the newly founded town, Sunbury.

Revolutionary War

On the eve of the American Revolution, St. John's Parish, in which Sunbury was located, was a hotbed of radical sentiment in a predominantly loyalist colony. Though Georgia was not initially represented in the First Continental Congress, through Hall's influence, the parish was persuaded to send a delegate – Hall himself – to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Second Continental Congress. He was admitted to a seat in Congress in 1775. He participated in debates in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that year but did not vote, as he did not represent the entire colony. A year later, as an official representative of Georgia, Hall signed the Declaration (along with Button Gwinnett and George Walton of Georgia). He left Philadelphia in February 1777, though he continued to be elected to Congress until 1780.



In January 1779, Sunbury was burned by the British. Hall's family fled to the North, where they remained until the British evacuation in 1782. Hall then returned to Georgia, settling in Savannah. In January 1783, he was elected an early governor of the state – a position that he held for one year. During his administration he had to deal with a number of difficult issues, including confiscated estates, frontier problems with Loyalists and Indians, and a bankrupt and depleted treasury. One highlight, however, was the role he played in helping to establish the chartering of a state university, believing that education, particularly religious education, would result in a more virtuous citizenry. His efforts led to the chartering of the University of Georgia in 1785. At the expiration of his term as governor, he resumed his medical practice. That same year he sold his plantation, Hall's Knoll, and in 1790 he moved to Burke County, where he purchased Shell Bluff Plantation.

Death and legacy

Hall died at Shell Bluff on October 19 1790 at the age of 66. Hall's widow, Mary Osborne, survived later dying in November 1793. Lyman Hall is memorialized in Georgia where Hall County, Georgia bears his namesake; and in Connecticut, his native state, where the town of Wallingford honored him by naming a high school after its distinguished native son. Elementary schools in Liberty County, Georgia and in Hall County, Georgia are also named for him. Signers Monument, a granite obelisk in front of the courthouse in Augusta, Georgia, memorializes Hall and the other two Georgians who signed the Declaration of Independence. His remains were re-interred there in 1848 after being exhumed from his original grave on his plantation in Burke County.



In popular culture

Lyman Hall is portrayed in the 1969 Broadway musical 1776 and in the 1972 film of the same name by Jonathan Moore. As presented in the play and in the film, at a critical point in the struggle of John Adams to convince his fellow delegates to the Second Continental Congress to choose independence, Hall re-enters the chamber to change Georgia's vote. He says he has been thinking: "In trying to resolve my dilemma I remembered something I'd once read, 'that a representative owes the People not only his industry, but his judgment, and he betrays them if he sacrifices it to their opinion.' It was written by Edmund Burke, a member of the British Parliament." Hall then walks over to the tally board and changes Georgia's vote from "Nay" to "Yea."



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Back to Liberty County.

In 1775, casting their lots with the Patriots in the developing American Revolution, the people of Sunbury drove off a customs collector from the town. That same year the Continental Congress ordered the formation of a Georgia Battalion of Continental Troops under Colonel Lachlan McIntosh. The force was stationed at Sunbury, which became a base for several failed attacks on English East Florida just to the South. Now in our previous GNW posts on the Islands of McIntosh County, we talked about an earlier failed invasion of Florida in 1739 when 70 Georgia men were lost at the Battle of Fort Mose. Read all about the 2nd Florida failed invasion in 1778 when 9 Georgia men were lost at the Battle of Alligator Bridge. Oh man there are all sorts of side tangents here on Georgia Loyalist Thomas Brown vs. Georgia Patriot James Screven. By God General James Screven don't even warrant a Wikipedia Page, that sucks. But that tangent is some good reading by the Midway Museum, he was murdered by Brown's troops after being wounded on battlefield.



The original St. John's Parish was merged with St. Andrew's and St. James' Parishes in 1777 to form Liberty County. This was part of the reorganization of Georgia's government from the old Royal system in the wake of America's Declaration of Independence. The American Revolution, however, was far from over and Midway soon found itself on the front lines of that war. Georgia was invaded from British East Florida in the fall of 1778 and Liberty County became a major target.



East and West Florida were British colonies at the time of the American Revolution. Spain had lost control of the future state to England at the end of the French and Indian War in 1763. When the 13 other colonies rebelled against King George III in 1775, Florida did not join them. As a result, British troops posted there posed a constant threat to the new state of Georgia throughout the war. The Americans invaded Florida first and the British retaliated for these invasions in 1778 by launching a major two-pronged attack on Georgia.



Such a threat developed in the fall of 1778 when Lt. Col. L.V. Fuser moved north from St. Augustine and advanced on Sunbury by water with 500 British soldiers. A second British force, headed by Lt. Col. Mark Prevost, paralleled Fuser's advance by marching up the King's Highway from Florida. Unexpected delays slowed Fuser and Prevost attacked Midway. Prevost was to take Midway and then march east on the Sunbury Road to join Fuser for a planned capture of Sunbury and reduction of Fort Morris. As he advanced, Prevost and his men took prisoners, ransacked farms and plantations along their route and generally created chaos. Patriot militia skirmished with them, most notably at Bulltown Swamp, but could not muster sufficient men to hold back the British advance.



American reinforcements trickled in and temporary fortifications were thrown up around the Midway Congregational Church. Instead of waiting here for the coming attack, however, the Patriot forces advanced down the road to meet Prevost at a point about 1.5 miles south of the church. The resulting action became known as the Battle of Midway Church. With a force of only 100 Continentals and 20 Georgia militia, American colonels John White and James Screven formed a line of battle across the road on November 22, 1778. Prevost used his superior strength to break their lines and drive them back on the church itself. Colonel Screven himself was wounded and taken prisoner. He died a few days later. Wait the above tangent said he was murdered!



Retreating back to their prepared position at Midway Congregational Church, Colonel White and Major James Jackson realized they would not be able to hold off another attack by Prevost and decided to retreat for the Ogeechee River. Leaving a false letter behind in Midway Church to convince Prevost that heavy American reinforcements were coming down from Savannah, they retreated from Midway ahead of the British advance. The ruse employed in the false letter worked. Prevost occupied Midway, but believing that a strong American force was gathering ahead and finding that Fuser's column had not yet reached Sunbury, he ordered a withdrawal back south for Florida. While White and Jackson survived to fight another day, the Midway Meeting House did not. Colonel Prevost ordered it burned to the ground by his troops as they retreated. It would take 14 years, but another church eventually arose from the ashes of the original.



That structure, which still stands today, was completed in 1792. A beautiful frame building, it is one of the most scenic historic landmarks in Georgia.



When Fuser came ashore at Sunbury three days after the fight near Midway, he was surprised to find that Prevost was not there waiting for him. Even without the 750 men of Prevost's column, Fuser still had 500 British Regulars at his disposal, as well as perhaps 250 other Loyalist militiamen. They moved into position around Fort Morris on November 24, 1778.



Fort Morris State Historic Site preserves the scene of a landmark moment in American history. The park is located a few miles east of the historic town of Midway, Georgia. Authorized by the Continental Congress in 1776 and apparently completed one or two years later, Fort Morris was a rectangular work with bastions on each corner. that enclosed about one-acre of ground. Built of earth and wood, it was armed with an impressive array of more than 25 cannon and garrisoned by around 200 men. The purpose of the fort was to protect the seaport town of Sunbury, then a thriving coastal community that in some ways rivaled nearby Savannah. Located on the Medway River, Sunbury was vital to the defense of Savannah because its capture could provide the British with an avenue for taking that city as well. By the fall of 1778, Fort Morris was under the command of Colonel John McIntosh, a brave and determined officer. He was on duty at the fort when it faced major danger for the first time.



As the British set up camp on elevated ground facing the fort, they built fires behind their position. When these could be seen burning, Colonel McIntosh's artillerymen opened fire from Fort Morris. As Fuser had planned, however, the shots flew high and no real damage was done. The shelling continued through the night while the British reconnoitered and tried to get a better assessment of the strength of the fort and the situation in the vicinity. A company of East Florida Rangers (Loyalists) was sent to Midway Meeting House to look for Prevost, but he was nowhere to be found.The next morning, November 25, 1778, Colonel Fuser sent a surrender demand to the fort, calling on McIntosh to lay down his arms and "remain neuter' until the fate of America, is determined." The demand concluded with an ominous warning:

...Since this letter was closed some of your people have been scattering shot about the line. I am to inform you that if a stop is not put to such irregular proceedings, I shall burn a house for every shot so fired.

Fuser's demand for the surrender of Fort Morris provoked one of the most noteworthy responses of all time:

...We, sir, are fighting the battles of America, and therefore distain to remain neutral till its fate is determined. As to surrendering the fort, receive this laconic reply: COME AND TAKE IT.

In reply to Fuser's threat to burn the houses of Sunbury, McIntosh responded that if the British officer set fire to one side of the town, the Americans would do the same to the other side. The bold challenge to battle stunned Fuser and his officers. Although some of them wanted to make the attempt, the colonel himself knew that the American cannon could inflict heavy casualties on his men. He ordered a withdrawal.



By sundown the British were in full retreat back to their vessels, their steps hastened by the American cannonballs that fell in the dust of their columns. The British invasion of Georgia had been defeated. Colonel McIntosh became an American hero for his courage and defiance at Fort Morris. The Georgia Legislature voted to honor him with a sword, on the blade of which were inscribed his now famous words, "Come and take it!"





Fort Morris eventually fell to the British in 1779, but Colonel McIntosh had moved on to another assignment by that time. He served his country until the end of the American Revolution and again during the War of 1812 and is buried today at Mallow Cemetery in Liberty County, Georgia. His words, however, continue to live.


Same saying big in Texas.

Fort Morris fell into disrepair over the years and was in ruins by 1812 when a new war with Great Britain threatened the safety of Georgia. A new battery - Fort Defiance - was built at the site. Its earthen ramparts may have included a portion of the walls of the original much larger fort. The earthworks of Fort Defiance are the ones that can still be seen at Fort Morris State Historic Site, although archaeologists have found traces of the original Revolutionary War fort as well. The site offers stunning views of the Medway River and serves as a perfect base for exploring the historic ghost town of Sunbury. Fort Morris's natural charms are recognized by its selection as a site on the Colonial Coast Birding Trail established by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.



The walking tour of the fort is a great way to learn Georgia's role in the Revolutionary War while enjoying beautiful views of golden marsh and shimmering tidal river. From the bluff, one can look out on St. Catherines Sound and to barrier islands in the distance. Magnolia, live oak, southern red oak, water oak, sweetgum, cabbage palm, and slash pine grow on the 70 acres, providing sanctuary for many species of birds. Wax myrtle, yaupon holly, and assorted ferns thrive in the understory. The productive Spartina marshes absorb the tides, supporting many wading birds that can be seen year round, including snowy egrets, great blue and little green herons, wood storks, and anhingas. Yellow-crowned night herons nest here and are observed in spring and early summer. Bald eagles, Cooper's hawks, and red-tailed hawks are frequently seen in the fall and winter. Thriving in the woods are deer, raccoons, opossums, armadillos, and squirrels. Occasionally, snakes are spotted sunning themselves on the sandy banks. The trees around the fort are second growth. The land was completely cutover when the fort was built, and the timber was used in building the fort and also to clear a field of fire. The fort you tour is actually the third or fourth built near this location. The earthworks seen today date back to at least the War of 1812, reshaped from the Revolutionary War fort, Fort Morris.



Fort Morris State Historic Site is open Thursday - Saturday from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., but is closed Sunday - Wednesday. The park features a museum, walking trail, picnicking, interpretive signs and the sites and ruins of both Fort Morris and Fort Defiance. The entry fee is $5 for adults, $4 for Seniors (62+), $3 for Youth (6-17) and $1 for kids 6 and under. The fort is located at 2559 Fort Morris Road, Midway, Georgia.



There was now an interval of uneasy quiet in Liberty County. Christmas 1778 came and went and still the British did not return. There was desolation, ruin , and misery all over Liberty County. The gathered crops had been burned by the British. Many people were starving and went elsewhere to survive. Brigadier General Augustin Prevost and 2,000 British troops, in late December 1778, again advanced on Sunbury by land and sea. They made their way easily through two American galleys and an armed sloop, and captured Sunbury on January 6, 1779. Taking advantage of a low tide to pass behind a marsh island opposite Fort Morris, Brigadier General Prevost and his troops landed above Sunbury on the morning of January 8, 1779. Armed with cannons, howitzers, and mortars, he demanded the unconditional surrender of Fort Morris.



Fort Morris was commanded by Major Joseph Lane, Third Georgia Continental Battalion. He had been ordered by his superiors to evacuate Sunbury following the fall of Savannah. The residents of Sunbury begged him and his troops to stay. He disobeyed the order and was later court-marshaled for it. He now undertook to save Fort Morris. He refused the unconditional surrender demand, and the British replied with a short but intense bombardment of the fort. After several exchanges of fire, Major Lane realized that he could not match the overwhelming British firepower. He parlied for a conditional surrender. His offer was refused. Major Lane finally unconditionally surrendered Fort Morris to the British. Four Americans were killed and seven wounded during the bombardment. The British suffered one dead and three wounded.


British ships bombing a fort.

The fort and town were taken over by the British, who held them until September of that year when the forces at Sunbury were ordered to Savannah. During their time at Sunbury, the British appear to have held prisoners of war there. Patriot leader George Walton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, had been wounded and captured when the British took Savannah in 1778. Records indicate he was held as a prisoner of war at Sunbury for a time.


We will tangent on George Walton when we get to Augusta.

Fort Morris was renamed Fort George by its conquerers in honor of King George III of England. Major Lane was taken prisoner, but was later paroled at Sunbury with other American officers captured by the British. After the fall of Fort Morris, Brigadier General Prevost established a temporary headquarters in the home of Sarah Nichols Stewart at Tranquil Plantation near the North Newport River bridge. Her son Daniel Stewart is worth a Revolutionary War tangent. British troops branded "This was the home of a nest of rebels" on a board of the sitting room. The home survived the Revolutionary War.



Other defenses in Liberty County now collapsed. After Fort Howe (Fort Barrington) on the lower Altamaha River fell to British troops, the fort at Beards Bluff was abandoned by Continental Army troops in January 1779. The governor of Georgia authorized a reorganization of the state militia, and the creation of volunteer troops of horse and three volunteer companies of artillery. The three artillery companies, each to have not more than 50 members, were to be individually attached to the First, Second, and Third Battalions of Foot Militia. Events now occurred, however, which brought about an end to the reorganization. The 71st Regiment, called "Frasers Highlanders" because the unit was raised by Simon Fraser (1729-1777), was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell when it and other British forces captured Savannah, Georgia, on December 29, 1778. Major John Jones of Liberty County was fatally wounded during the final battle for the city. He was a native of Charleston, and had migrated shortly before the Revolutionary War to coastal Georgia. A few years later he was a Major and Aide-de-Camp under Generals Howe and McIntosh. At the siege of Savannah, he had met a patriot's death... seven weeks before the birth of his younger son.



After the evacuation of Sunbury in September 1779, the town became sort of a no man's land between the two sides. From time to time British troops went there and from time to time American troops raided the town. Neither side, however, tried to permanently control it. The American Revolution spelled the death of Sunbury. Although the town revived after the close of the war, it never regained its former glory and began a slow decline. With Liberty County, Fort Morris, Sunbury, and Savannah, Georgia, now in British hands, Lieutenant Colonel Campbell and his troops sailed up the Savannah River and took unprotected Augusta, Georgia, on January 31, 1779. Brigadier General Prevost joined the forces of Lieutenant Colonel Campbell in Savannah, Georgia, after the capture of that city. His superior rank placed him in command of all British forces in Georgia. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of major general.



Residents of Liberty County were ordered by British occupation forces to collect their firearms and surrender them to a storekeeper in Sunbury. They were warned that if they attempted to conceal weapons they would be subject to severe punishment as enemies of King George III of England. Strict price controls and regulations were place on anything bought or sold in Liberty County. No merchant could operate his place of business until he swore allegiance to the king. Eligible males in Liberty County were required to enroll in the Tory militia. Ultimately, all of the Liberty County militia was destroyed or surrendered to the British, except for groups of "refugees" who continued to fight the British inside of and outside Liberty County.



A general amnesty was offered to the Liberty County people if they would swear allegiance to King George III of England. Simon Munro (1750-1790) of Briar Bay Plantation was one of the very few affluent men in the county who took the oath. Munro emigrated from his native Scotland to Georgia not long before the Revolutionary War. He married Elizabeth West, daughter of Charles West of Westfield Plantation. West owned large tracts of land in Liberty County. He established Briar Bay Plantation for his daughter and Munro. Munro and his family remained in Liberty County throughout the occupation. He was even a Tory legislator in 1780.



There was resistance by the people of Liberty County to the British both inside of and outside the county until the war ended in 1783. Liberty County citizens like Nathan Brownson and Richard Howley worked constantly in other parts of Georgia to keep the state government operative. In 1774 Brownson moved from Connecticut to Riceboro, Georgia, just south of Midway, in Liberty County. He quickly became a leader of the resistance to British tyranny. Brownson was one of the representatives from St. John's Parish to the second full Provincial Congress, which met in Savannah in July 1775. On October 9, 1776, Georgians chose him as a delegate to the Continental Congress and reelected him to a second term on June 7, 1777. During his brief term of office the government of Georgia implemented measures to encourage the return of citizens who had fled the state because of the hardships of the war, and it passed legislation designed to obtain food and clothing for those whose farms and businesses were ruined by the war. He was a member of the Georgia convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788. In 1789 he served in the convention that rewrote Georgia's constitution. He became the first president of the new Georgia senate and served in that office from 1790 to 1791. He joined with Abraham Baldwin, another Yale graduate, in working for the creation of a state-supported institution of higher education, which would become known as the University of Georgia.



Hurricanes damaged the town in 1804 and 1824 and the British threatened again during the War of 1812. Fort Defiance, a more compact earthwork was built on the site of Fort Morris as a bulwark against the British, but the feared attack by them never came.



By the time of the Civil War, very little was left of the once prosperous port town of Sunbury. Confederate troops occupied the town early in the war and Union troops camped there near the end of Sherman's March to the Sea. No battles, however, were fought at Sunbury. Sunbury today is a vanished town. All that remains are the Sunbury Cemetery and several roads that still follow their original paths. Fort Morris and Fort Defiance are preserved at Fort Morris State Historic Site. To visit Sunbury, stop first at Fort Morris State Historic Site. It is open Thursday - Saturday and is at 4559 Fort Morris Road, Midway, Georgia. Upon leaving the fort, turn right on Fort Morris Road and drive the short distance to its intersection with Brigantine Dunmoor Road and Village Drive. There you will see historic markers and a kiosk that tell the story of the historic ghost town.During the Civil War, Union cavalry pillaged the county and burned a historic church in Sunbury as a signal to the Union Navy in St. Catherines Sound. After the Civil War, the few remaining buildings of any value were moved to Dorchester. The only building in the area still standing from the mid-1800s is Dorchester Presbyterian Church, built in 1854. The church's bell is originally from Sunbury.



(Directions to Dorchester Presbyterian Church: From I-95, drive 2.2 miles to Dorchester historical marker on right. Turn right on dirt road and drive 0.2 mile to church on left.) The property was abandoned and left to relic hunters and the forces of nature for 100 years until the Georgia Historical Commission purchased the site in 1968. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and in 1973, The Nature Conservancy helped the state acquire 3 more acres that contain the old earthworks.



After viewing this, continue onto Brigantine Dunmoor for a few hundred yards and then turn left on Sunbury Road. A marker there tells the story of this historic roadway that has been in use since before the American Revolution.



After driving a short distance up Sunbury Road, turn right onto Dutchman's Cove Road and follow it a few hundred yards to the historic Sunbury Cemetery. It will dead-end at the cemetery. The burial ground is open to the public during daylight hours and is free to visit. The last house is now long since gone, but the old cemetery survives. No one knows for sure how many people are buried there. Only 34 tombstones survive, but it is believed that many other graves remain in the vicinity.



Among those known to be buried at Sunbury Cemetery is the Rev. Dr. William McWhir, D.D. Born in Ireland and educated at Belfast Academy, he served as principal of the Sunbury Academy for thirty years. He died on June 30, 1851, and his stone is one of the markers still to be seen in the cemetery.The oldest of the 34 standing markers dates from 1788 and the most recent was placed in 1911. No interment records are known to survive, but the cemetery is shown on old plats of Sunbury as having been located on the southwest corner of Church Square since the earliest days of the town's existence.



Burials likely were taking place in the cemetery well before the Revolutionary War and it is one of the locations where soldiers who were killed or died in Sunbury during the war could be buried. The cemetery was cleaned up and fenced in 1980 and is entered via an ornamental gate on its south side where visitors will find interpretive markers and a stone monument.



We found these Liberty County Revolutionary Wars legends…….

Interrupted Party

Captain Samuel Spencer, commanding an American privateer off the Liberty County coast, in 1779 heard that the British at Sunbury were planning a party. He sailed up the Midway River early on the afternoon of the festivities and made an unannounced appearance. He was attacked by one of the enemy's vessels armed with six guns. After an engagement of fifteen minutes he succeeded in boarding and capturing her.



He and his men took as prisoners-of-war, Lieutenant Colonel Kruger, commanding a New York Loyalist Battalion at Sunbury, and some of his staff officers. He later freed the staff officers, but kept Lieutenant Colonel Kruger, who he later exchanged for Lieutenant Colonel John Mclntosh, captured by the British.

Party for the King

Captain John Howell, a Continental Navy officer, was in command of an American privateer operating off the coast of Georgia. It was on June 4, 1779, that he brought his ship into the Midway River intent on doing damage of some kind to the British garrison at Sunbury. Captain Howell learned from a slave in a boat catching fish that there was to be a party at Sunbury that night in honor of the birthday of King George III. He and a dozen of his men surprised guests at the party just before midnight and took 12 prisoners.



Among those captured was Colonel Roger Kelsall, who had treated Captain Howell badly when he was earlier a British prisoner. Captain Howell was going to drown Colonel Kelsall in the Midway River, but the lady of the house where the party was being held prayed so loud and long for his life that Captain Howell turned all of his prisoners loose, after making them swear that they would not again take up arms against the patriots. Captain Howell and his men then returned to their ship without the loss of a single life. After the Revolutionary War, Captain Howell became a notorious pirate.

Robert Sallette

One of the most intense patriots in Liberty County during the Revolutionary War was Robert Sallette, who resided in the western part of the county. He may have been one of those Acadians forcibly removed by the British from Nova Scotia to Georgia in 1755. His brother may have been killed by the British. For one, or perhaps both of these reasons, Sallette hated the British and the Tories with an unrelenting passion. Sallette, sometimes with Andrew Walthour of Liberty County, roamed the countryside aiding the patriot cause and killing British troops and Tories. During the occupation of the county, Sallette sometimes joined groups of "refugee" militia in raids on the British.



Sallette was particularly vicious during his attacks on the British and Tories. Some sources say he may have killed more than 100 British troops and Tories during the Revolutionary War and occupation of the county. His favorite weapon was the sabre. Sallette once heard of a wealthy Tory in Liberty County who had offered a substantial amount of money to anyone who would bring him the head of Robert Sallette. Sallette put a pumpkin in a sack, took it to the Tory, collected the reward, and then killed the Tory. Robert Sallette was a farmer after the Revolutionary War in that part of Liberty County which became Long County in 1920. His only son, Robert Sallette, Jr., in 1815 became a member of Captain Thomas K. Gould's company of Lieutenant Colonel John Pray's Second Regiment, Georgia Militia, during the War of 1812.

Fighting Irishman

Patrick Carr emigrated from Ireland to Saint George Parish (Burke County) before the Revolutionary War. He was commissioned captain of one of the four companies of Colonel James McKay's Volunteer Regiment (South Carolina and Georgia) on January 18, 1781.Captain Carr and his troops mounted a vicious and bloody raid on the British garrison at Sunbury on April 11, 1782. Virtually all of the members of the garrison were killed in savage hand-to-hand fighting.



Carr was promoted to major and given his own organization, Carr's Independent Corps. Carr is said to have killed at least 100 Tories with his own hands during the Revolutionary War. He claimed, however, that God had given him too merciful a heart to make him a good soldier. He was convicted of murder on August 21, 1791, but was pardoned on September 17, 1791.

The Boy Soldier

It was on a cold and rainy night in late April 1777 near the Saint Marys River in Florida that a I5-year-old soldier huddled on the ground trying to sleep. He was a member of the Georgia Continental Light Horse Regiment, commanded by Colonel John Baker of Liberty County, assigned to a task force to drive the British from East Florida. Colonel Baker walked about his camp making sure that the troops were as comfortable as possible. He saw the shivering boy on the ground, and pulled off his own coat and placed it over him.



The boy was Daniel Stewart (See tangent above). Colonel Baker knew his family well. Daniel Stewart was just 23 years of age when the Revolutionary War ended. But he had already been married and had a small son living with his dead wife's family in South Carolina. He distinguished himself in military actions outside of Liberty County during the Revolutionary War, and returned a colonel in the Georgia Militia and a hero to his home in Liberty County.

Another war comes to Liberty County……….

Midway Congregational Church became a military target again in 1864 during the closing days of Sherman's March to the Sea. As the Union army closed in on Savannah and Fort McAllister, Sherman sent a large force of cavalry to secure his right flank. Led by Murray's Brigade of Kilpatrick's Division, this force moved into Liberty County on November 13, 1864, causing immense destruction. After skirmishing with the 29th Georgia Cavalry Battaltion, Murray occupied Midway Church on the evening of the 13th. His men used the brick wall of the adjacent cemetery as a corral for their horses. General Judson Kilpatrick arrived in person the next morning, establishing his headquarters in the church and placing a battery of cannon on the grounds. Columns of Union troops spread out from the church to confiscate supplies, inflict damage and try to make contact with the Union blockade fleet.



Kilpatrick left Midway on the morning of November 14th, but more Union soldiers arrived three days later when Mower's Division of the XVII Corps arrived and camped around the church. The Federals moved out the next morning to destroy the railroad from nearby McIntosh to the Altamaha River. The Union soldiers desecrated graves by turning Midway Cemetery into a horse lot, but left the church standing when they finished their work of destruction and rejoined Sherman's main army outside Savannah. It would take years for the people of Liberty County to recover from the losses inflicted upon them.



From its founding, Midway Congregational Church was a place where white and black members worshipped. The 1792 structure includes upper galleries where black members sat during services.The church and its interior are beautifully preserved today and are part of the Midway Historic District, which also includes Midway Cemetery, Midway Museum and the Old Sunbury Road. The District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and surrounds the intersection of US 17 (Coastal Highway) and Martin Road (Old Sunbury Road) in Midway, Georgia.



The church interior and cemetery can be visited during the open hours of the adjacent Midway Museum, which are 8-4 p.m., Tuesday - Saturday (Last tour begins at 3 p.m.). The church grounds can be visited 7 days a week during daylight hours.





The area has produced many famous people who have left their stamp on America, including several Midway ministers: the Reverand Abiel Holmes, father of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the author, and grandfather of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes;


Abiel Holmes.

Reverand Jedidiah Morse, father of Samuel F.B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph;


Fathers portrait by son Samuel Morse, c.1810-11. Yale University Art Gallery

Dr. I.S.K. Axson, grandfather of the first Mrs. Woodrow Wilson.  he was a Presbyterian clergyman... graduated from the College of Charleston in 1831 and from Columbia Theological Seminary in 1834.. ... after a year as pastor of Dorchester Church, Summerville, South Carolina, he became co-pastor of Midway Church, Liberty County, Georgia, where he continued until forced by ill health to resign in 1853. Thereafter for four years he served as president of Greensboro female College, Greensboro, Georgia. In December 1857 he became pastor of the Independent Presbyterian Church, Savannah, where he remained for the rest of his life... it was in the manse of the Independent Presbyterian Church that Dr. Axson officiated at his granddaughter's marriage.



General Daniel Stewart, a member of the congregation, was the great grandfather of President Theodore Roosevelt.



Five Georgia counties were named for Midway citizens: Baker, Gwinnett, Hall, Screven, and Stewart.



Baker County? John Baker (1731–1787) was a militia leader during the American Revolutionary War. Most notably he led the American militia in the Battle of Thomas Creek on May 17, 1777 against the British army of 250 troops. Baker County, Georgia was named after him.



Oh man this re-post of Liberty County has taken hours, learned so much new stuff.



Midway Museum was built in 1957 in a raised-cottage style typical of those built on the coast in the eighteenth century. It houses many exhibits and materials about Midway's history, including exhibits and information on its Revolutionary War and Civil War periods. The museum's library can be used with permission for researching genealogy.



The beautiful, historic cemetery across the street contains huge Live Oaks that shade roughly 1,200 graves. Many burials are the final resting grounds of Midway's most distinguished persons, including General James Screven, General Daniel Stewart, and Louis LeConte of Woodmanston Plantation. The 6-foot-high, 18-inch-thick wall encircling the roughly 2-acre cemetery was built in 1813 of English brick, and was used as a corral by Union troops under Sherman. The monument in the center memorializes generals Stewart and Screven.



Seabrook Village

This living history village features the rich African-American culture that developed when slaves were freed from coastal plantations. The focus is on the authentic portrayal of the struggles and successes of African-Americans from 1865 to 1930, with interactive demonstrations and programs on history, folklore, folklife, architecture, crafts, and found art.



Here you can experience what it was like before modern conveniences by trying your hand at washing clothes on a scrub board or grinding corn into meal and grits. Exhibits display ingenious artifacts of the period, such as a peanut roaster made from sewing machine and bicycle parts, a photograph framed with matchsticks, twig furniture, and other items. Ongoing exhibits include the grave art of Cyrus Bowens, featured in Drums and Shadows. The 104-acre site has eight buildings built in the 1900s, including the one-room Seabrook School and various farm buildings. A biracial local community group created Seabrook in 1990.



One of the founders is Laura Devendorf, who also created the private nature preserve of Melon Bluff. The best way to visit is by prearranging a group tour. Seabrook arranges for costumed interpreters who come from community families whose roots go back over 150 years. The tour lasts three hours, and full meal service, picnics, and entertainment are available. Special events include Old Timey Days, Country Christmas, storytelling, cane grinding, syrup making, rice planting, and clay chimney building. The site is open to self-guided walking tours as well. Directions: I-95 south from Savannah to Exit 13/76. Go east on GA 38 for 4 miles to Trade Hill Road. Turn left and drive 0.6 mile. Seabrook Village office is on the left. Our GNW girl today says give me Liberty!



Alright – Liberty County checked off. Back to the mountains tomorrow as we continue our (mountains to sea – sea to mountains) exploration of this great state.