An intersection of streets named “Presidents” and “Lincoln”… in Savannah!?

It’s one of a number of ironies and interesting things I’ve seen and heard this week. I had hoped to post photos, but will try to get some online tomorrow… it just ain’t happenin’ tonight.

What I have seen and what I have heard… lots of interesting stuff.

1) I’m still puzzled why two fine Napoleons (ca. 1862) are mounted on Colonial Dames monuments (in Jasper Square) that mention colonial roads and have not a word one about why they used cannons as the top pieces or the history of those tubes.

2) I still find it interesting that there is a Lincoln Street in historic Savannah… yes it was called that before the Civil “Wawar” (and for the same-named Rev War general), but it sure seems like they would have washed it away with the feelings of 1861-65.Oh, but I did like what one guide said about Lincoln St., that it lead one-way (that is North) and dead-ends on a street named “Liberty.”

3) Interesting how a tour guide and a museum display item still speak of slaves as “servants.”

4) The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace (you know… the founder of the Girl Scouts…) was originally owned by a man who was known for his very strong Unionist sentiment… and Juliette’s mother was a Northerner (actually, I already knew the second part). Oh! Billy Sherman and O.O. Howard were guests there in 1865 (Juliette’s mother was, after all, a Northerner). No doubt this irked Juliette’s father, who was a Confederate officer. Gee, haven’t I mentioned complexities before?

5) There is a wonderful section to Confederate war dead in Laurel Grove Cemetery, with a Third National flying over the graves. An appropriate display of the flag… still complex, but appropriate (as opposed to the “super-sized” flags in Fl. and TN.).

6) The First African-American Church in Savannah which was in operation before the war… and also served as a point on the underground railroad. Happy slaves? I think not…

7) Oh! This place has a First Bull Run/Manassas tour all of its own. Well, maybe I should say it is a Bartow/8th Georgia Infantry 1st Manassas tour. More forthcoming on this… and I’m tossing it toward Harry Smeltzer, hopefully as a package for a nice Savannah 1stBR post in his Bull Runnings blog.

8 ) Ft. Pulaski… been there before, but have a problem with some things the tour guide said… not exactly what I remember from some of the things I have read, especially when it comes to the Immortal 600.

9) Nice monument focused on slavery on the waterfront in Savannah…

10) The marker at Ft. Pulaski focused on David Hunter and his General Order No. 7, freeing the slaves of Ft. Pulaski and Tybee Island BEFORE the Emancipation. Seems the locals didn’t like the liberation of their slaves and these slaves started spreading out to local plantations to free their families. I’m going to have to do some additional reading on this…

11) Found a great book about Georgians who didn’t like the Confederacy all that much… so, more to support my ideas that looking at the war as Southerners (as some unified body) against the Union (North vs. South… South vs. Lincoln… etc., etc.) is just wrong and continues among some as a tool of Lost Cause ideology bent on smothering the truth about the pervasiveness of Southern Unionism. Looking forward to the book as a summer read and a subsequent review forthcoming… sometime later this summer… hopefully.

There’s more, but I’ll have to get around to it later. I’m bushed! Pictures forthcoming!