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George Anderson
Mercer, Feb. 9, 1865 - October 23, 1907 |
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John L. Johnson, Co. H,
4th Georgia Inf., CSA |
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In memory of James Carmichael Herndon,
Doctor of Medicine. Surgeon in the Army of the United States. Assistant
Medical Director in the Army of the Confederate States, and Staff officer
of General Robert E. Lee. Subsequently a resident physician of the city of
Savannah. He finished a career of constant Fidelity, Christian Fortitude,
and Professional Devotion, at Fernandina, Florida. Answering there, with
his life, the appeals of a stricken community, and falling a lamented
victim of the pestilence which desolated that city, in the year 1877
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Hamilton McDavit
Branch. Born March 17, 1843, Died February 24, 1899. A Confederate soldier |
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Detail of Branch
monument |
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Commodore Josiah
Tattnall, US & CSN. Born near this spot Nov. 9th, 1795, died June 14th, 1871
Enlarge
In April 1814, Midshipman Tattnall was detached from Constellation and, by
24 August, was in command of a force of employees from the Washington Navy
Yard. He led them into the Battle of Bladensburg in an unsuccessful effort
to stop the British advance on the American capital. On 14 October, he was
ordered to Savannah for duty on Epervier. In May 1815, that sloop sailed for
the Mediterranean with Commodore Stephen Decatur's squadron to engage the
Barbary Pirates in Algiers in the Second Barbary War. On 17 June, she
participated in the capture of the frigate Mashouda and, two days later, of
the brig Estedio. In July, when Epervier was ordered back to the United
States with dispatches, Tattnall remained in the Mediterranean in
Constellation. In January 1817, he transferred to Ontario and returned in
her to the United States
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Capt. Tattnall held command of the
Sackett's Harbor Station. Though he opposed secession, Tattnall resigned his
commission on 21 February 1861. A week later, Governor Joseph E. Brown
commissioned Tattnall as the senior flag officer of the Navy of Georgia. On
26 March 1861, he received his commission as a captain in the Confederate
Navy. Tattnall commanded Southern naval units during the defense of Port
Royal until the harbor was captured by Union forces on 7 November 1861. From
there, he moved to overall command of the defense of Virginia's waters early
in March 1862. Tattnall, by then a flag officer in the Confederate Navy as
well as the Navy of Georgia, directed CSS Jamestown and other warships in
captures of Federal merchantmen off Sewell's Point in April 1862
On 11 May 1862, in the face of advancing Federal forces, Flag Officer
Tattnall ordered the destruction of his flagship, CSS Virginia
(ex-Merrimack). He was later acquitted by a court martial of all charges
stemming from that action. He resumed command of the naval forces of Georgia
on 29 May 1862, and retained it until 31 March 1863, when he turned over
command of forces afloat to Comdr. Richard L. Page and concentrated upon the
shore defenses of Savannah. When Savannah fell to General William Tecumseh
Sherman's troops, Tattnall became a prisoner of war.
He was paroled on 9 May 1865, and, soon thereafter, took up residence
once more in Savannah. Captain Tattnall died there and was buried in
Bonaventure Cemetery |
