#158: Historic First Bryan Baptist Church on Yamacraw Square

"Poor Germans, poor Irish, poor Blacks, where did they come to first? Yamacraw."

—Georgia Benton

Historic First Bryan Baptist Church on Yamacraw Square

Yamacraw Square is Savannah's newest Square. The December 2022 ribbon-cutting ceremony officially changed the former Yamacraw Art Park to the new Yamacraw Square. It is the second Square in Savannah, together with Chippewa Square, carrying the name of a Native American people (see PFS-58).

The Yamasee Native Americans, who lived along the coastal waters from what is now South Carolina to Florida, successfully revolted against Spanish attempts to colonize the area with 'missions' and enslave its villagers in the mid-1500s. The tribe actively participated in Indian slave trading, selling its captives to English colonialists in the Carolinas, Spanish colonialists in Florida, and the French in Louisiana. The Yamasee War (1715-1717) against South Carolina was one of the bloodiest in Colonial American history, with over two-thirds of South Carolina's English settlers killed.

When James Oglethorpe arrived in 1733 to plant the English Colony of Georgia by creating the Savannah outpost, he made a deal with Tomochichi and the band of Yamacraw Indians he'd formed with Creek and Yamasee allies to control area trade with the British. The alliance between Oglethorpe and Tomochichi prospered until the Yamacraw leader died in 1739. Toonahowi, Tomochichi's nephew and successor, died in 1743, after which the Yamacraw largely rejoined their Lower Creek relatives.

Mary Musgrove (1700-1765) is a famous Creek Indian, a leading figure in early Georgian history, and an interpreter for Oglethorpe. Creek society was matrilineal, in which your mother determined status and identity. Her husband, John Musgrove, was the translator who traveled with Tomochichi when he sailed to England with Oglethorpe in 1734. Upon her death, Mary Griffin Musgrove Matthews Bosomworth, having survived four husbands, was the wealthiest woman in Georgia.

Yamacraw Square became the twenty-fifth Square formed in Savannah's history, although only 23 now remain. Liberty Square and Elbert Square — the so-called 'Lost Squares' of Savannah — were destroyed in the 1930s to make way for US Highway 17. Today, the Chatham County Courthouse sits atop the original site of Liberty Square, dedicated in 1799 to the Sons of Liberty to honor the patriotic group of Savannahians who fought against the British in the Revolutionary War. The Savannah Civic Center now marks the original location of Elbert Square, another 'Lost Square' named in 1801 for the Savannahian American Revolutionary War hero and former Governor of Georgia, Samuel Elbert.

The area surrounding Yamacraw Square is known as Yamacraw Village, a large public housing project managed by the Housing Authority of Savannah. The newest Square in Savannah is home to a historic African American church: First Bryan Baptist Church. According to historian Charles J. Elmore, First Bryan, founded in 1788, is the oldest continuous Black Baptist congregation in America.

I have painted and told part of the story of the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, located on Franklyn Square (see PFS-48). Like many churches throughout history, a schism among members occurred, making historical delineation challenging to follow. Both historic African American Baptist churches in Savannah — the First African Baptist Church and the First Bryan Baptist Church — give credit to formerly enslaved Reverends George Liele and Andrew Bryan as spiritual founders.

As I read Elmore's fascinating history of First Bryan Baptist Church, I noted one of its pastors leading its pulpit in 1835 went by the name Reverend Stephen McQueen, taking the name of the white family who enslaved him. I painted the wildlife center on the former Oatland Island Plantation, owned by a fascinating character named Don Juan McQueen (see PFS-152). His daughter, Eliza McQueen Mackay, is the main character in one of my favorite true-fiction novels by Eugenia Price, entitled Savannah.