To Arms
The 800 stones before you have three meetings:
They represent the approximate number of soldiers killed or wounded in Savannah on the foggy morning of October 9, 1799.
The stones are arranged as a column, with ten soldiers across. The French and American allies formed five such columns of men to attack the fortified British.
Inscribed on the stones are names and stories of people throughout the entire revolutionary struggle for all the states, countries and cultures involved.
To your left stands a granite marker identifying the location of Spring Hill redoubt, one of fourteen British earth fortifications surrounding Savannah in 1779. It was here that the thousands of French and other allied American columns tried to smash through the hundreds of British and loyalist defending the area.
The Allied columns were meant to attack simultaneously, in overwhelming force. Due to poor communication, they arrived separately, disoriented and tired from hours of marching in the dark woods. With volunteers leading each column up the foggy slope, the soldiers attacked with fixed bayonets.
As the columns advanced, artillery and small arms crossfire killed and maimed commanders and private soldiers alike. The redoubt became seen hand-to-hand combat with swords and bayonet clashing.
Families from Virginia to the Carolinas, from Poland to Scotland, France to Haiti, from Germany to England would mourn the loss and suffering of loved ones who spilled their blood on the ground surrounding the Spring Hill redoubt.
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Byron Hooks of Lat34North.com.