The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-14
DELyED IN TRADITIONAL LORE.
Col. Screven Was Successful Col
IectOr of stories of Savannah.


IectOr of Stories of Savannah.
The death of Col. John Screven recalls
his deep interest in matters appertaining
to the history of Savannah. He was an
enthusiastic and interchangeable gatherer Of
facts and traditions connected with its CO.
lonial and later annals.
The mystery surrounding the burial
place of the remains of Gen. Nathanaes
Greene, of the Revolutionary army, would
doubtless have been solved, or certain
conflicting traditions concerning it set at
rest, had Col. Screvens life been spared
through this winter.
Mai. Gen. Greene, the friend or
Washington and the victorious com
mander of the patriots in the South
ern colonies, was buried in the old
burying ground on Oglethorpe avenue,
now Colonial Park. At the close of the
war, the Legislature of Georgia having
presented him Mulberry Grove 'planta-
ton, on the river about ten miles above
the city, Gen. Greene settled there There
he lived the remaining years of his life,
and there he died June 49, 1856 He was
buried, with military honors, in the old
burying ground on the day following.
The planta ton was sequestrated proper
ty and had belonged to Lieut.. Gov Gra-
body of Gen. Greene was placed in
vault that belonged to the Graham es-
tate.
When the movement was inaugurated, in
1920, to erect monuments to Gen. Greene
and Count Pulaski, a search was made
for Gen. Greene's remains. They were not
TO be found, nor have they been discov-
cred to this day. There We're several the
cries concerning their disappearance. one
was that notorious negro, who had COM
mitted other similar dissertations, had rob
bed the coffin of its silver name-plate,
by which alone it could be identified, and
that 1t was therefore impossible to tell
his coffin from that of many other crum-
bling relics of the dead.
Another story was that the remains had
been taken from the vault by a daughter
of Lieutenant Governor Graham and buried
in an unknown spot. Students of history
will remember that the ques ton of re-
storing the sequestrated estates to their
former royalist owners was one that oc-
cupied the attention of the governments of
the United States and Great Britain for
many years, and that 1t was believed it
was Tor this reason that Great Britain
failed TO carry out, in it's full spirit, the
treaty of peace that secured the independ-
ence of this country.
Attempts to recover property of this
character We're made in the state courts,
without obtaining redress. The representa-
tives of the Graham family tried to re-
cover Mulberry Grove Plantation, ana
failed. but, it is said, the courts decided
that the vault in the old burying ground
in Savannah did moi come under the Sc
questra ton law, and upon this decision
the royalst family recovered that little
spot of their at one time prncely ho.d-
ings. Tt is said they removed Gen. Greene's
remains and buried them elsewhere. 1t
is possible that this could have been
done without attracting attention, as the
burying ground al that period was on the
extreme southeastern part of the city and
away from all ha citations.
Col Screven was of the opinion that the
story of the removal of the remains was
the correct theory, and that they would
be found nearby the vault in which they
had been placed He had spoken to Chair
man Daffin of the Park and Tree Com
mission about getting permission to ex-
cavate certain places in the hope that the
silver name plate would be found ami
what remained for the great American
soldier recovered and placed where they
would be safe from future desecra ton.
Now that Col. Screven has passed away,
it is to be feared that interest in the pa
triotic work he would have liked to ac-
complish will be at an end with his life