The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-18
HONOR A PATRIOTS MEMORY
Continued from Eighth Page)


their progress: that he shall also request
all persons holding papers of subscription
in tReir hands throughout the state to
make reports of their success respect
"The committee then adjourned.
John Stevens, Chairman.
Joseph V Bevan, Secretary"
OF the result OF this announcement of
the committee there is no record. No
chronicle apparently exists recording the
amount of funds so raised or the number
or character of the designs for the mon
uments, rendered in reply to the advertise
ment of the secretary.
1t may reasonably be assumed that the
effort to raise funds by subscription was
not attended with much success, from
! the fact that on Nov. 81, 1926. the general
assent ly Of Georgia passed an act em-
pOWering certain commissioners to raise
by lottery the sum of $4,000 for the pur-
pose of aiding the erection of the moru-
mentS TO the memory of Gen. Greene.
| Greene and Count Pulaski in the city of
savannah, the place already consecrated
by the blood of one and the ashes of the
other" Again, there is a hiatus i'm the
| history of the result of the pi2n embodied
IN this act of the general assembly. Moth
| ing appears to be known except that suf-
| hcient funds were not forthcoming to
erect both monuments. The effort, how
ever, finally eliminated in the erection
of joint monument to Gen Greene ana
Count Pulaski in johnson square.
At an extra meeting Of the city council
| held on March 81, 1929, the clerk laid be-
fore the board memorial of the monu-
ment committee in which council is in
| formed that they are now ready to COM
mence the foundation of the monument
to be erected I'm johnson square," and
that the monument is to be Eau obeisk
of white marble, fifty feet high" also that
1t has been strongly urged upon the COM
mittee that the site selected in the east
| ern part OF the square is not the mos
| favorable"
THAT the monument will be highly or
namental to the city, and should be placed
q tor of fka -1t.r.. a.
be more conspicuous" The objection
urged to the eastern section Of the square
was that the lofty buildings on the south
ana east VIII, in a great measure, obscure
! the monument, and that il will only be
seen with good effect from a western
section Sc to of, Of the square and through part
OF st. Julian street"
The memorial was signed by John
stevens, w. Il. Bulloch, j. V Bevan John
Shellman, r. W. Habersham, A. Porter.
J. 2. ScreXen, Williams Gsas4en. iAlexan-
| der Telfair, AsCB.F F'annin ana o. Bond
Reed. The request was granted and the
| pump occupying the center of the square
was ordered to be removed. On the 18th
of the following April 0s20 the monu-
ment committee again appealed to the
Johnson square. Fhe " con9eil eon iaTifs
Professionally that the expense to be in
Cured be covered by private subscrip-
Nov. &c, 1929 the Georgian locally men
tons its representative having observed
on the Bay, truck or wagon, drawn by
blocks received from New York, intended
for the Greene and Pulaski monument,
and on the following day gives the dimen-
slons of the monument, as follows: Its
hight is fifty feet, resting on a base
| twenty feet by eleven feet. The pedestal
IS eight feet five inches by four feet
eight inches, rising thirteen feet and sur
mounted by a cornice of one foot. From
the pedestal a needle rises thirty-six feet,
which is five feet four inches, by three
feet at the base and four feet by two
feet three inches at the apex The ma
terlal is marble, the architecture Doric
IN style, and the needle is composed of
only seven pieces, each OF which weighs
more than 5000 pounds. Feb. 8, 1880. the
Georgian" published the following re-
port of the actlon Of the Greene and
Pulaski monument committees:
"At meeting of the monument COM
mittee yesterday the following resolution
Whereas, the Greene and Pulaski monu-
ment has been examined by the whole
committee and reported as ready for de-
Whereas, the work has been performed
agreeable to the contract, except the
steps of the said monument, which some
of the committee deem not sufficiently
soid be it therefore,
Resolved, That the monument be re-
ceiVed from Mr. Scudder, the contractor,
the work having been performed faith
fully, he undertaking and promising to
reconstruct the steps of the monument
if, within four years from the present
time, the same should sink, yield or in
any way give way, caused from the man
ner IN Wnlcn they are DQ1lt."
On the following day, Feb. 6, the Geor-
gian published lengthy editorial, defend
ing the monument against the adverse
criticisms of those who did not appreciate
its style or workmanship; admitting, how
ever, that it had one fault, viz: the extent
of ground covered by the base, by which
the hight of the whole is diminished to
the eye.
OF any public ceremonies attending the
delivery of the monument to the munich
pal authorities Of Savannah, there is no
aUidanRa of fra ref to
the city, or ownership exercised by the
city is found in the introduction I'm coun-
Gil on May 6, 1880, of bill to be entitled
an ordinance for the protection of the
monument erected in johnson square to
the memory OF Green and Pulaski" read
first time, and on May 20 is recorded its
second reading and passage under the title
thereof.
On Dec. 10, 1892, also is a minute Of coun-
Gil ordering committee to be instructed
to cause the surface of Greene and Pu-
laski monument to be properly cleaned
In the Georgian of March 10, 1880, may
be found a computation denouneing the
condition of johnson square. The writer
states that "since the erection of the cost
ly pile within it, saving the extension of
the posts and rails across Bull street and
the deposit of sundry brickbats around
the monument to highten its archtec-
tural beauties, by contrast, as he SUD-
poses. or 10 afford the boys the means to
pelt one another, he can see no improve
ment.
When this monument was completed the
cornerstone laid in Chippewa square was
removed and Joined to the Greene corner
stone in johnson square. where it re-
NAMED until 1853 the obelisk being re-
garded as perpetuating the memories of
the two heroes Jointly until that date,
when it was detached and placed in asso-
citation with another cornerstone in Mon
terey square, where the Pulaski monument
was finally erected. Henceforward the
monument in Johnson square has been
recognized as the Greene obelisk, and tes-
tines to the. respect of Savannah for Gen.
Nathaniel Greene.
Such is the history Of the Greene mon
ument, as far as is known. What It cost
or who the designers were cannot be de-
cided with certainty. 1t may have been
the work of Haveiand and Strickland, as
the following extract from a letter from
DIR. Z. d. Arnold. one Of the Commission
ers of the Greene and Pulaski monument
lottery, published in the Morning News
Jan. IL, 1871, goes to show:
THE design for the Greene monument
was furnished by the late distinguished
architect Mr. Strickland. who built the