Competing Points of View: The Siege of Savannah

Challenge yourself to assess the two maps of the Siege of Savannah. How are these maps similar and how are they different? Consider the following details to understand how a maps made of the same event may turn out to be different.

Purpose, Audience, and Point of Sourcing and Context: View: Locate the source information for each What was the purpose for creating these map. Source information may include maps? Can you deduce the purpose from the following: title, time created, other details on the map? place created, and author. Who was intended to read these maps? How do the maps fit within the history What message was the mapmaker of the time period? What events are intending to share? being detailed in the map? Do you have Considering the factors you have assessed any background knowledge about the so far, is there any bias shown in the map source information? relative to its creator, purpose, or audience?

Significance: Comparison: Why do these maps matter? What can we What details do the maps share? learn from them? What details are different? What is the historical significance of Why do you think these similarities and these maps? differences exist? What can you learn from assessing both maps side by side?

Guiding Questions:

How are the scales of the maps different? Use the Savannah River as a reference.

The locations of many details are different in each map. Why do you think the maps differ in this way?

Which map provides more detail? Support your answer with specific evidence from each map.

Topics of Interest:

• King George III • Spring Hill Redoubt • General Benjamin Lincoln • Brigadier General Count Casimir Pulaski • American Rebels (Patriots) • American Volunteers (Loyalists) • March Line of the French • French Feint (maneuvers designed to distract or mislead) • Trenches • Hutchinson’s Island • Lines of Fire • Elevation Marks Source: James Wilson, Royal Engineer, engraved map Plan of the Siege of Savannah, 1779

Source: Map, Plan of the French and Americans in Siege of Savannah in Georgia in South America under Command of the French Gener. Count d’Estaing, The Britt. Commander in the town was General August Prevost, 1779

Count Pulaski & the Siege of Savannah

Count Casimir Pulaski (1745-1779) was born in Warka, Poland near Warsaw. After fighting for Polish independence from the Russian Empire, Pulaski became inspired by the ideals of the American patriots fighting for independence from Great Britain. He came to America and joined the revolutionary effort in 1777. Before long he was commissioned a Brigadier-General and placed in command of the American cavalry.

In the battle for Savannah in October 1779, also known as the Siege of Savannah, Pulaski was given charge of the armies of [Pulaski], Foltz Photography Studio both the American and French forces under General (Savannah, Ga.) photographs, MS Benjamin Lincoln and Count d’Estaing, respectively. The 1360, Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia. British had controlled Savannah for almost a year, and the combined French and American forces made a valiant attempt to gain control of the city. The battle took place on Spring [mounted grapeshot], James Lynah Hill Redoubt, southwest of the town. While leading a cavalry papers, MS 509, Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia. charge, Pulaski was wounded by a grapeshot, or bullet, that pierced the upper part of his thigh. He was taken at once to the USS Wasp where he later died on October 11, 1779 of gangrene without regaining consciousness. Whether he was buried at sea or buried somewhere in the Savannah area is still debated today. Pulaski was the only high-ranking officer of foreign birth to lose his life for the American cause during the American Revolutionary War. A monument was erected in his honor in Monterey Square in Savannah during the 19th century.

The Pulaski Grapeshot is mounted on an engraved silver candlestick and inscribed, “Grapeshot which mortally wounded Count Casimir Pulaski, Oct. 9, 1779, extracted from his body by Dr. James Lynah, ancestor of present owner, James Lynah, Esq.” The Lynah family kindly donated this artifact to the Georgia Historical Society, where it is on display to the public.