The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-09
AFTER SAILOR AND SOLDIER
THE BATTERIES AT FORT sCREvEN
HAVE BEEN NAMED.


Named After Col. Joseph Haber-
sham, an officer of the Continent
tai Army During the War of the
RevOIutiOn-sOmet About the
History of Col. Habersham-It Was
He Who Volunteered 10 Arrest the
Royal Governor of Georgia.
Planted in Fort Screven for the protec-
ton Of the harbor of Savannah are two
batteries Of heavy rifles. Removed from
the gaze Of a possible enemy and with
but little about their surroundings to in
dictate the presence of a strong fortifica-
ton at the north end of the beach of
Tybee Island, the disappearing guns lie
peacefully at rest upon their carriages,
but they may yet be reused to action by
the inward sweep of hostile fleets, in which
event the prestige of the names of brave
and honored men may nerve those who
serve them to stand by till the last.These
names are Brumby and Habersham, and
Batteries Brumby and Habersham will
be the manner in which the two will be
styled.
Some time ago Capt. Cassius E. Gillette,
upon by the war department to suggest
names for the two batteries at the fort
on Tybee. Brumby and Habersham oc-
CURED to him as peculiarly appropriate,
one being name that has often been
upon the lips of Americans of the present
cay for heroism shown in this generation
and the other one that is dear to Geor-
gians especially for the prominent part
played in the great tragedy of the Amer
lean Revolution by its owner.
After some correspondence with the
war department, Capt. Gillette is able to
announce the names of the batteries. The
officials at Wash ngton thought the names
suggested deserved to be further honored
by bestowal upon the great defenders of
the country at Tybee. To the Savannah
admirers of the late Lieut. Brumby, Ad-
miral Dewey's flag lieutenant and his
right hand in the battle of Manila bay,
the departments action will be pleasing,
and, indeed. all Georgia will be glad that
in this other way the memory of Brumby
is to live.
For Col. Joseph Habersham. a gallant
Georgian, and more, Savannahan, the
other battery is named. Most of the brave
levolutonary's most intrepid deeds were
done at or near Savannah, and the pride
the city should feel in its son of long ago
to honor the bold.
Two savannahian and a Georgian,
Gen. Screven, Col. Habersham and
Lieut.. Brumby, thus have their
names preserved by being be-
slowed upon fortifications at Tybee. The
names are such would live with Amer
lean history without being borne by a fort
and batteries, yet the tribute paid by the
department and by Capt. Gillette is none
the less appreciated by admirers and rel
atives Of the younger of the two officers
! and he descendants and lovers of the bold
deeds of the elder.
Col. Joseph Habcrsham was born in
| Savannah, the son of Hon. James Haber-
sham and a brother of Maj. John Haber-
sham He was one of the earliest and
most devoted of the 'sons of Liberty"
and it was he who, with Edward Telfair
| Dr. Noble Wymberley Jones, William Glib
bons. Joseph Clay, John Milledge and a
| few others, broke open the Kings maya
zine at late hour on the night of Nay
! IL, 1775, and took 600 pounds of gun
powder. The late Mr. William Neyle
Habersham, the grandson of Col. Habel.-
sham when but boy, heard the latter
recount the story of that affair. The pow
der secured by the act was sent to the
revolutionary forces at Cambridge Mass.
and formed q part of the slender supply
with which Prescott, Putnam and the
other patriots fought the British on Bun
ker hill.
In July of the same year, Col Haber-
sham and Capt. Bowen got a detachment
of men aboard a schooner commissioned nv
congress and captured a ship direct from
England, commanded by Capt Maitland,
and loaded with gunpowder and supplies
The cargo Of the vessel proved a. godsend
to the American cause. Of the powder.
5000 pounds were sent TO Philadelphia and
used by the revolutionary army With the
oct haF rsV,@a
Carolina were supplied.
Col. Habersham was a leading member
of the Provincial Congress which conyen-
ed in Savannah in 1775 and placed the col
ony upon the same footing as those to the
North. In the early part of the following
year he was made major of a battalion
that was levied for the defense of Georgia
and subsequently,, was made colonel in the
Continental Army.
When Gov. Sir James Wright was re-
garded as dangerous with his liberty In
the colony, Col. Habersham volunteered
for the duty of arresting him. The task
was by no means lovable one, for did
the cause of the patriots but fall through
there would come day of reckoning with
those taking the leading part in it, and
Gov. Wright would have been rather sure
to remember the, man who had brought
about his humiliation in the colony he
had been sent to govern. The arrest was
occupied the site upon which Telfair Acad-
envy now stands.
When Maj. Grant and Capt Barclay
made an effort to seize the shipping living
in the port of Savannah during the mem
orable siege in 1T9, they were frustrated
by Col Habersham who also served the
continental cause nobly on many other
occasions. He ives known as a fighter
throughout the struggle, and more than
once it was due to his bravery that the
revolutionaries' arms were successful
In peace Col. Habersham was no less
honored than in war. Twice he was elect
ed to the Speakers chair in the general
assembly of the state. In 17S5 and 1856
he was delegate TO the Continental Con-
gress and a member of the Constitutional
Convention that, in 1885, ratified the fed
cral cons titution.
In 1875 President Washington appointed
Col Habersham Postmaster General in
his cabinet, a position he also filed during
the term of the elder Adams When
Thomas Jefferson became President he
rendered the Postmaster General the posi-
ton of treasurer of the United States
Col. Habersham needed no stronger hint,