In a Garden of Good & Evil

 “A Walk in Savannah”

Savannah, Georgia might be the most beautiful city in the U.S. Its very large downtown historic district is unique in its geometric arrangement of streets and squares along the Savannah River – 22 in all, with one cemetery (not Bonaventure) and one large park, Forsyth. All designed by a leading Methodist, James Oglethorpe. The squares are surrounded by enormous houses in various archaic styles – Greek and Gothic Revival, Federal, Italianate, Georgian and Regency. Massive live oaks hung with Spanish moss dominate nearly every square. All this is based on the port of Savannah, and in the 'old' days that meant slave cotton, slave rice and slaves themselves. This was the seed money for the grand houses, their size, their wide porches, their accouterments, their lifestyle. This is almost invisible now though. When Sherman took the city in 1864 he seized 25,000 bales of cotton as part of his 12/22 'gift' to Lincoln for Christmas. This cotton might have mostly been from a wealthy local, Charles Green. More on him later.

We drank at a choice 'dive' bar, ate at a number of good restaurants which are not hard to find and stayed in an idiotic 'art' inn. We walked 14 squares, zig-zagging our way south from the semi-corporatized riverfront through the parks to Forsyth. The Savannah College of Art and Design – SCAD – dominates the town's culture, which is young and hipster. But other cultures lurk. Yes they do and I'll bet you can guess which one. On my first trip to Savannah maybe 10 years ago I took a Civil War history tour, only to discover the 'tour guide' was a member of the Sons of the Confederacy, supported slavery and thought the Civil War was about 'states rights.' I left that tour but not before asking if we were going to Sherman's headquarters in the city, where Sherman stayed for 6 weeks or so. The answer was no.

This time I wasn't missing Sherman's HQ. It is located just west of Madison Square, facing a church, not the square. It's an incredibly unique house, and that was because it was designed by a New York architect who put in a heated and illuminated roof dome that opened, sliding doors in several clever locations, 3 wall-to-high-ceiling 'bay' windows, two 'romance' bay windows, unique ironwork on the porch and very detailed molding downstairs. It is significant that the house bested nearly every other local structure and was designed by a Yankee. It was owned by a worldly British citizen who favored the South, Charles Green, yet who offered it to Sherman. Green was a wealthy cotton merchant and had his hand in many other slave enterprises – shipping, bricks, railroads, lumber, etc. Why this Confederate would offer the house to Sherman as a guest is questionable, but I'd say he could see which way the wind was blowing. Unlike the Lost Causers, which later included his 'literary' Parisian grandson.

The Green House and its Corner Front-room

Special Field Orders #15

I stood in Sherman's bedroom where a distant relative of his actually prepared for her wedding much later. I stood in the large front room where 20 African American preachers and lay people, along with Sherman and Secretary of War Stanton, hashed out Special Field Orders #15 on January 16, 1865. This is one of the most famous orders in the war against slavery, for it is the source of the goal of '40 acres and a mule.' Sherman, not really a friend of African Americans, wanted the freed people to stop following his armies as they hindered his mobility and he could not supply or protect them. This Order, based on Emancipation, gave 18-40,000 African American freedmen 40 acres to farm in the land between modern Jacksonville, Florida and Hilton Head, South Carolina. Since the Union Army was loaded down with requisitioned horses and mules, some mules also went to these ex-slaves. The area has many islands, and the depth of the strip was between 30 and 50 miles inland, about 400,000 acres, so a huge piece of land. He assigned abolitionist general Saxton to organize the program. One of the first things Copperhead President Andrew Johnson did after Lincoln was assassinated by a Confederate sympathizer was to return most of this land to the white owners, though Saxton and the Freedman's Bureau protected some.

This story was partly told to us in the historic front room by an elderly female 'docent' connected to St. John's Episcopal Church, which owns and uses the house. In that room were no pictures of Sherman, Stanton or the 20 African-Americans, just pictures of Jeff Davis, Jeb Stewart, Lee and Stonewall – the moldy, motley crew. There was a newspaper story on the table detailing the event, that was it. The docent said she was 'just beginning' to read about the Civil War. Good for you! This is like giving a tour of the surrender room in the McLean home in Appomattox, and barely knowing what the fuck happened there. In the room with us were two older Georgians who thought Sherman was going to burn Savannah, because, you know, that's all he did. The male was carrying a beginner book on the Civil War. Upstairs the tour was taken over by a former northerner and present civil war buff. He said that Green's slaves used to pump water up to the second story for baths among all their other tasks, like hauling Green's portmanteau across Europe. He made clear that Green was a Confederate ally and in private pointed out that some tour guides do not mention Sherman, as the Church controls who guides tours. This is actually similar to the museum book store in Monroeville, Alabama that hid copies of Harper Lee's second book, “Go Set a Watchman,” under the counter. That book was very clear on Atticus Finch's actual racism. Monroeville was her hometown and the setting for “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Green-Meldrin House now, with Macon St. blocked off

Now if you've noticed the presence of Yankees in this southern city, read on. At the high-end cocktail bar masquerading as a dive bar, an excellent and creative bar-tender – formerly from New York - presided. On our first visit the talkative lead tile mason was from New York too, while on the other side sat an artist originally from Michigan. The next time there we met a design director for Michael Kors in New York, as he was moving to Savannah. The bar was owned by a former Minnesotan. The design director said one of the benefits of moving was to turn Georgia 'blue.' This is similar to the young dark-skinned folks who are moving back to the South, and proletarian Latinos, Asians and others coming to the South. Visits to Atlanta and Athens, Georgia also testify to the increasing presence of non-Southern-born folks in Southern cities. The massive growth of factory and warehouse facilities across the South is having the effect of proletarianizing southern workers too. At some point this will wise them up to the elite, sometimes southern bosses who've pretended to be their 'friends' for years. African-Americans already know this, but now it's other southern workers' turn.

The bar became one of the headquarters on March 8^th for “Slitherin” - a neighborhood street celebration and parade 'of and for snakes' that took place at night with luminous costuming. In effect artists and locals are sick of the drunken orgy of green beer called St. Patrick's Day downtown, full of dumb-ass leprechauns, four leaf clovers and Forsyth Park green fountain water. They decided to do something about it. St. Patrick hated snakes? Well, then they would celebrate them. Savannah has too many churches, perhaps one on every square. This includes the massive Catholic Cathedral of St. John across Layfayette Square from crazy Catholic Southern Gothic writer Flannery O'Connor's childhood home. Some of the locals seem to be full-sick of the Catholic nonsense that sometimes swallows their town, including St. Patrick. Soooo … Slitherin'!

The ruin of Atlanta's military usefulness, the punishing March to the Sea, the occupation of Savannah's valuable port and the march north to corner Lee were final acts in the defeat of the slavocracy. Thankfully the memorials in the beautiful squares of Savannah relate to the U.S. Revolution or the somewhat less brutal settling of the city by Europeans, not to the Southern Confederacy. In Franklin Square is a memorial to black Haitian soldiers who came to fight the English during the Revolution. Others memorialize Casimir Pulaski, Polish general who died fighting the British at Savannah, and another to Revolutionary War General Nathaniel Green. Another contains the body of Chief Tomo Chi Chi of the Yamacraw, who negotiated with Oglethorpe over Savannah's land and is actually buried under the monument at his request.

While Savannah is famous for Forrest Gump, The Garden of Good & Evil and made-up ghosts, I'd say the real ghost is a dead political idea still hiding under the covers in select parts of the city, trying to 'manifest' at any moment.

Prior blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: “Civil War,” “slavery,” “Cranky Yankee,” “Sherman.”

You can find a number of books on southern politics at May Day Books.

The Cranky Yankee

March 11, 2024