Colonial Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia

Rhetta Akamatsu
Rhetta Akamatsu, Yahoo! Contributor Network
May 14, 2008 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

Colonial Cemetery, the 2nd oldest cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, is a fascinating, park-like place that is full of history and a must for cemetery lovers.

Published by Rhetta Akamatsu

Rhetta is the author of The Irish Slaves, published October 2010, and Haunted Marietta, published by History Press in September, 2009. She also has several other books, Ghost to Coast,Ghost to Coast Tours a...  View profile

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  • Rhetta Akamatsu11/23/2009

    I did look at some of the carvings, Kim. They were amusing, if they had not shown such a horrendous lack of respect.

  • Kim Logsdon11/23/2009

    Was just there and found the cemetery facinating. The story I got was that there really WASN'T 9,000 tombstones - many of the people were in unmarked mass graves from the cholera outbreak. BUT some of the defacing the Union troops did was carving new entries into the tombstones. Did you read any of them? There are some interesting things like a person over 900 years old. Someone who was from New Jersey but still a nice person... It really was amazing to see as the carvings LOOKED original. I had wandered the cemetery BEFORE I took the tour - gave a bit of a different perspective.

  • Gary Neidhardt4/13/2009

    The Civil War Walking Tour of Savannah states that Sherman's troops caused great damage to this cemetery during the Union occupation in late 1864 and early 1865. Of the 9000 buried here, only 600 graves can be identified as to their real location. Most tombstones were removed or smashed. The east wall has tombstones that were displayed intact for which their original location could not be located. Where else has there been such desecration of a cemetery? One example would be the desecration of Jewish cemetries by Nazis during WW2. As a Civil War amateur historian myself, the desecration of this cemetery by the Union is among that hideous commentaries of the sheer arrogance and anger of the victorious Union army.

  • A. F. Stewart5/15/2008

    Cool photos, and a nice historic write-up.

  • Sandra Petersen5/14/2008

    Excellent comments about the photos. Good selection of slides for this show. You captured the unique features of this cemetery.

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