Contents
- Index
- Go Back a Page
- Go Forward a Page
Photograph by Mike Stroud, July 2008
Source:http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=9274
The inscription reads:
JASPER SPRING
AT THIS SPRING
CLOSE BY THE ENTRENCHMENTS OF
THE BRITISH WHO HELD SAVANNAH
SARGENT
WILLIAM JASPER
AND SARGENT
JOHN NEWTON
IN 1779, EFFECTED THEIR HEROIC RESCUE OF A
NUMBER OF AMERICAN PATRIOTS WHO WERE
BEING TAKEN TO SAVANNAH FOR MILITARY TRIAL.
THESE PRISONERS WERE UNDER A GUARD OF TEN
BRITISH SOLDIERS. SARGENTS JASPER AND NEWTON
HAD FOLLOWED THEM FOR MANY MILES ALMOST WITHIN
SIGHT OF THE BRITISH FORTIFICATIONS, THE ESCORT HERE
STACKED ARMS. TWO SOLDIERS GUARDED THE PRISONERS
WHILE THE OTHERS REFRESHED THEMSELVES AT THE
SPRING. RUSHING FROM THEIR CONCEALMENT IN THE
HEAVY UNDERBRUSH, THE GALLANT AMERICANS SHOT
DOWN THE TWO GUARDS, SEIZED THE GUNS, DISABLED
TWO OTHER OF THE ENEMY AND MADE THE REMAINDER
PRISONERS. THE RESCUED PATRIOTS WERE RELEASED AND
ARMED WITH THE CAPTURED GUNS. THE BRITISH
PRISONERS WERE THEN MARCHED TO THE
AMERICAN CAMP IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
SARGENT WILLIAM JASPER WAS ENLISTED IN ST.
GEORGE'S PARISH, NOW BURKE COUNTY, GEORGIA, JULY
SEVENTH, 1775, AND SERVED CONTINUOUSLY UNTIL
HE RECEIVED A MORTAL WOUND, A FEW HUNDRED YARDS
EAST OF THIS SPOT, ON OCTOBER 9, 1779, WHILE PLACING
HIS REGIMENTAL FLAG ON THE BRITISH EARTHWORKS
IN THE ASSAULT BY THE AMERICAN AND FRENCH
ALLIED FORCES ON SAVANNAH.
SARGENT JOHN NEWTON, TAKEN PRISONER
ON THE SURRENDER OF CHARLESTON IN 1780,
DIED SOON AFTER ON A BRITISH PRISON SHIP.
"ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES 1932"
There is similar information on this page, and further information on the Newton and Jasper story here.
Back to the opening page.