Photo of the Day: Lafayette McLaws Bust, Forsyth Park, Savannah, GA

If you want to experience the urban South at its most beautiful, you will want to take at least a stroll—and probably more—in Forsyth Park in Savannah. If you want to understand not merely the fierce persistence of the Civil War in the South, but its centrality in the region’s memories and myths, you’ll want to stop at Forsyth Park, too.

Along the park’s north-south axis towers the Confederate Monument to the city’s war dead. On one side of the monument is a bust dedicated to the memory of Col. Francis Bartow, who lost his life at the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861. On the other is a similar bust paying tribute to Major Gen. Lafayette McLaws, a divisional commander of mixed achievement during the war—and one who, after Appomattox, found as much esteem as he would ever achieve by contributing to the South’s ongoing narrative of sacrifice. I took the photo seen here in November 2014, when I visited the park.

Graduating in the West Point class of 1842 at 48th out of 56, McLaws—born on this date in 1821—confirmed during the Civil War that he was a soldier of limited ability, best used when he could be carefully monitored. Robert E. Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, Douglas Southall Freeman, described McLaws as a “professional soldier, careful of details and not lacking in soldierly qualities, but there was nothing daring, brilliant or aggressive in his character.”

Acquitting himself reasonably well in the Battle of the Seven Days and Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign, he proved more dilatory at Chancellorsville and, out west, at James Longstreet’s Knoxville campaign. His performance in the latter role led Longstreet, a classmate years before, to remove him from command, resulting in a court martial for McLaws. (Although McLaws came to Longstreet’s defense when the corps commander became a scapegoat for Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, McLaws understandably still appears not to have completely forgiven his former chief for his treatment of him during the war.)

In the postwar period, McLaws served as an insurance agent, internal revenue collector, and postmaster. But his military service remained closest to his heart, so he became involved with the Confederate Veterans Association of Savannah. He died in Savannah in 1897 and was buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery. 

It is hard to imagine this bust being anywhere else but where it is now. But it, along with the Barstow sculpture, had originally been placed in Chippewa Square.   

The busts, unveiled in 1902, were created by George Julian Zolnay (1863-1949), who had developed a reputation as “the Sculptor of the Confederacy” with monuments to Confederate spy Sam Davis and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Eight years later,  when the Savannah city council decided to make room in Chippewa Square for a memorial to the founder of the colony of Georgia, James Oglethorpe, they voted to move the McLaws and Barstow busts to Forsyth Park, where they have remained since.

These are the facts, in brief, of McLaws' life and his bust in Forsyth Park. But that cannot begin to summon the emotions that swirled around his life and his cause, even up to the present day. How much those emotions can be roiled was seen over the weekend,in the controversy over Lee-Jackson Day in another lovely, if smaller, Southern town, Lexington, VA. 

For the past decade, Lexington had been the site of a parade on Lee-Jackson Day celebrating Confederate heritage. This year, however, a group called the Community Anti-racism Education Initiative reserved a permit first. Hard feelings have developed. I am afraid we are going to see more of this kind of thing beginning January 20.

Photo of the Day: Entrance, Forsyth Park, Savannah, GA

This is not the first time I’ve blogged about Forsyth Park (see earlier “Photo of the Day” posts on the site’s fountain and a central walkway), which I saw and photographed nearly two years ago. But I don’t mind revisiting it, at least in my mind, because it is not only the largest park in Savannah’s historic district, but as far as I’m concerned, one of the most beautiful urban parks in our great country.

Photo of the Day: Fountain in Fall, Forsyth Park, Savannah

I covered Forsyth Park in a prior post, but the beauty of this Savannah landmark is such that I thought it would be worthwhile to have a different shot, this time of its fountain.

I am told that the biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the South occurs in this city. It seems that one of the customs on that wonderful day is to dye the water in this fountain green.

Photo of the Day: Tree-Lined Walk, Forsyth Park, Savannah GA

Yes, I know I had a post yesterday on this beautiful urban park. But the splendors of Forsyth Park in Savannah are multitudinous. 

The most obvious ones, as seen in this other photo I took two weeks ago on a day trip to that coastal city, are the trees with Spanish moss that form a canopy over walkers; the people from all walks of life who throng this long walk leading to the  park’s equally stunning fountain; and the faith that the park’s early planners had, in the mid-19^th century, that, despite the weaknesses of man in civic society (including their own lack of recognition of the evils of slavery), the residents of the city would still find a way to preserve the best of themselves, in harmony with nature.

(I have another, personal reason for liking this picture: the presence of a relative who shall remain nameless!)

But I know you can find plenty more wonders of your own, besides these, in this picture and this park.

Photo of the Day: Fountain, Forsyth Park, Savannah GA

The choice of this fountain in Forsyth Park in Savannah for my "Photo of the Day" was entirely arbitrary; I could have taken almost any other picture of this lovely, tree-lined antebellum park and the selection would probably have been as good. Indeed, my only regret was that I didn’t take even more pictures than I did in the five minutes or so I spent there on a tour of the city two weeks ago when I was on vacation.

The fountain was placed at the north end of the park in 1858, three years before the Civil War. Both long-time residents and tourists such as myself have, through the years, been grateful that somehow this Parisian-style urban landmark was spared the ravages of the conflict that tore so much of the rest of Georgia apart.

That is just as well; this part of the city had already, 80 years before the war, seen some of the bloodiest scenes of the American Revolution, as French soldiers dug trenches to help their Continental Army allies in the siege of Savannah in September and October 1779. American and French losses in the defeat amounted to 244 killed, 584 wounded, and 120 captured, while the British suffered 40 killed, 63 wounded, and 52 missing.

Since then, the city has seen not red blood, but once a year, on March 17, a far different color. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, the water in the fountain is dyed green. It must be quite a scene here during one of the biggest St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the U.S.

Years ago, a Savannah native autographed my copy of his first novel this way: "You've been bitten by Savannah. Are you in love?" With scenes like this in Forsyth Park, how could I not be?