Savannah, Where Presidents Sleep

        The next two weeks I will be looking at Presidents who have visited Savannah.  Many of our sitting presidents have visited Savannah. We can say Washington slept here and Monroe, Polk, Hoover, Nixon, etc., This is understandable when you consider that we have two important military bases and one of the most important ports in the United States. But presidents have come for various other reasons throughout Savannah’s history. This article will look at the many reasons presidents have visited Savannah.
         We begin with our first President George Washington. Washington became president during a time when the new constitution was asking citizens who under the Articles of Confederation saw their state as more important than the country to accept the new concept of the United States of America. Washington sought through his prestige to promote a more united nation. To accomplish this Washington went on a tour of the various states as the newly elected president of this country. He found it essential to visit Savannah and so he included it on his tour. He may have also been interested with visiting his one-time favorite dance partner Catherine Greene. Greene was the widow of Washington’s Revolutionary War second in command Gen. Nathaniel Greene. Nathaniel and Catherine had settled near Savannah on a plantation whose land had been given to Gen. Greene in honor of his command of the Southern Army of the Colonies during the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately in his first summer in Savannah the Rhode Island native died of heat stroke. Catherine had continued to live at and run their Plantation Mulberry Grove. During her time as owner and manager of the plantation Eli Whitney, a visitor, would invent the cotton gin. Washington had danced with Catherine as the officers under Washington’s command would have occasional parties during lulls in the war in which their spouses would come visit their husbands. It was during these times that Catherine and George would dance (as he would with most of the other officers’ wives) together. So when Washington came on his tour to Savannah he paid Catherine a visit at Mulberry Grove. He also spent four days in Savannah being feted by old officers under his command. It was reported that Washington had a grand time while in Savannah. So grand that after his visit he sent a present to Savannah of two cannons used at Yorktown. These became treasured items from Washington. So treasured that during the Civil War Savannahians hid and buried them to keep the Union Army from looting them. Eventually several years after the Civil War they felt safe to bring them out from hiding. Today they sit under a wooden structure on Bay Street on proud display. Locally the cannons are called Martha and George.
       The next president to visit Savannah was the fifth president James Monroe. Monroe came to see something new, the US Steamship Savannah. The steamship was preparing to make the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by a steamship. This was big news in 1819. It was considered a proud technological moment for the United States. This ship would tour Europe displaying their former colony’s advances and new place as a world leader in the technological advances. The steamship would be so unheard of it would be accosted on two different occasions by European ships on their tour who were trying to warn them they were on fire. Ships at that time did not produced smoke from steam engines thus the European ships concluded they must be on fire. Even here in the states sailors were reluctant to travel across the ocean in a wooden ship with a constant fire onboard. They gave the USS Savannah the nickname of wooden coffin. So it was an honor and a prestige for President Monroe to come to Savannah to see this proud innovation in ships. Monroe would travel to Savannah to Charleston on the USS Savannah. He even ate a meal while aboard the ship. It was a proud civic moment for the City of Savannah. Today National Maritime Day is held every year on the anniversary of US Steamship Savannah’s maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean May 22, 1819. Savannah celebrates this event with its Ships of Savannah Monument featuring a replica of the US Steamship of Savannah (see image below on left).
         Another president who came to Savannah was the 25th president William McKinley. McKinley who had reluctantly declared war with Spain after the US Maine exploded in Havana’s port. At the time it was felt it was sabotaged by the Spanish (this has since been debunked by several investigative committees).  The battle cry Remember the Maine and promotion of war by the Hearst newspapers who had been hankering for a battle with Spain left him little choice but to declare War making then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt very happy. Savannah became one of the training and shipping places for Georgians in the Spanish American War. Savannah’s newly christened Camp Onward trained over thirteen thousand Georgians for the war. The soldiers were encamped from the town of Thunderbolt down Victory Drive to Forsyth Park. Savannah was the point of embarkation for the Seventh Army Corps, commanded by General Fitzhugh Lee. Lee was the nephew of Robert E. Lee and a lieutenant in the Confederacy. Before shipping out for occupation duty in Cuba or Puerto Rico, the men of Camp Onward held a grand review in Forsyth Park on December 17, 1898. Notice it was for occupation duty not battle the war lasted less than ten weeks. At this review was President McKinley to show the troops his support. Afterwards a large banquet was held at the old Desoto Hotel for the corps officers and visiting dignitaries. Today at the south end of Forsyth Park sits a monument dedicated to the Savannah volunteers of the Spanish American War. This monument sculpted by Theo Kitson can be found in more than fifty other cities and became the representative monument of the Spanish American War (see image below on right).​
          These are only three of the presidents who visited Savannah in the 18th and 19th centuries. Millard Fillmore who visited Savannah during his term visited the Unitarian Church of Savannah. Others came to the unveiling of monuments. Savannah in modern times has been visited even more by presidents as transportation has made travel easier. Today it is more unusual if a President does not make a visit to Savannah. 
 

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