Miscellaneous Around Savannah

While in Savannah, Daddy took us to several historical sites.  Here are a few of my favorites: 

The Visitor’s Center had a museum with all kinds of neat models.  I especially liked the models of these ships:

The SS Savannah, the first steam ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean

The USS Savannah

The USS Savannah was a powerful warship that was helpful in many battles during WWII, winning 3 battle stars.  I found this information about the Invasion of Salerno particularly interesting: The Savannah was the first American ship to open fire agains the German shore defenses in Salerno Bay.  She silenced a railroad artillery battery with 57 rounds, forced the retirement of enemy tanks, and completed eight more fire support missions that day.  She continued her valuable support until the morning of September 11, 1943, when she was put out of action.  The part I find so interesting is that we were there looking at the model and reading about her on September 11, 2012!

We stopped at Jasper Spring, where Sergeant William Jasper and Sergeant John Newton ambushed a detachment of ten British soldiers and liberated several Patriot prisoners who were being taken to Savannah.  We stopped here during nap time, though and I didn’t get out to look at it, but the other children had a great time!

Daddy took us to a Readout (earth fortification) where a battle in the Civil War was fought. It is a small park now dedicated to the 800 Confederate men that died before the readout surrendered to the Union. They had a model of the readout that you could walk into on one side of the park. The other side had a monument where the Readout actually stood along with 800 grave markers representing the men that died.

These posts in the ground kept the enemy’s horses from getting through. The trench was very deep which made it hard for the enemy to climb up as well.

Next, we drove to Fort Jackson. Fort Jackson is named after James Jackson, who accepted the surrender of the British in Savannah at the close of the Revolutionary War. He later became the governor of Georgia. Fort Jackson is Georgia’s oldest standing brick fortification and one of the oldest brick fortifications along the East Coast. 

Next, we were off to Fort Pulaski.  We spent a good deal of our time there, as it is such an amazing place! I’ll post more on it tomorrow...

posted by the blessed sister of 12 and aunt to 2 - Sarah