“Whereas it is necessary for the security and defense of this province from internal dangers and insurrections, persons attending public worship services shall…carry firearms (under penalty of fine).” 

—Walter J. Fraser, Jr. (Savannah in the Old South)

The American Revolution and William Jasper

Southern Revolutionary War hero, William Jasper, is celebrated with two significant monuments in two Southern states and cities: one in Charleston, South Carolina, and the other here in Savannah, Georgia. 

In the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, which took place near Charles Towne (Charleston), South Carolina, in June 1776, William Jasper recovered the South Carolina flag after a British Warship destroyed its flagstaff. He held the flag aloft on a temporary flagstaff until a new one was installed. In recognition of his bravery, John Rutledge, then the Governor of South Carolina, presented his sword to Jasper.

In June 1877, The Defenders of Fort Moultrie monument was dedicated in Charleston. It is a bronze sculpture of Jasper holding the South Carolina flag. The naming is confusing because Fort Sullivan was its name at the time of the battle, only to be later renamed Fort Moultrie after Colonel William Moultrie. The latter was the military commander in charge of defending the fort at the time.

In October 1779, William Jasper died in the Siege of Savannah. The failed battle involved French forces fighting on the American side and celebrated with a memorial shown in Postcards from Savannah #50.

In 1888, this monument honoring Jasper was dedicated in Madison Square in the Historic District of Savannah. This beautiful monument was designed by famous American sculptor Alexander Doyle.

Much of the Revolutionary spirit and energy in Savannah was born in peace. The British became the dominant European power after The Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years’ War in 1763. The part of that war fought here in its North American theatre was known as The French and Indian War.

The peace treaty transferred control to the British of French claims to lands west of Georgia and lands in Canada and Spanish controlled lands in Florida to the south. Suddenly, former existential threats from other foreign powers disappeared for the British Colonists in Georgia.

In response to the new Great Power arrangement controlling North America, the British initiated different colonial policies, including colonialist taxation. In 1764 and 1765, the British Parliament passed the Currency Act, the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the Quartering Act. 

A new peace had rather quickly generated the seeds of the American Revolution that followed.

At the same time, the peace led to unprecedented prosperity for the white settlers in Savannah. And prosperity brought unprecedented racial anxieties. A 1765 law passed by the Georgia legislature required all white males to carry weapons—even to church—out of fear of their slaves revolting. 

By the early 1770s, the population of Georgia was about 45% of African origin. In 1771, Savannah had a population of around 2000 people; over 800 of the inhabitants were Africans shipped by the thousands to the Savannah port in chains. 

While white Americans like Jasper would be rebelling against the British, African Americans would be rebelling against white slaveholders. American insurrection and resistance crossed the racial barrier.