Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

274 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
man who, amid the direst perils of the Revolution, was so unflinchingly
steadfast in his allegiance to the House of Brunswick.
Georgia's delegates who signed the Declaration of Independence
were: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall and George Walton. This event
took place in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. But such were the primitive
means of communication in colonial times that it was not until August 10,
1776, that Georgia was apprised, either by official report or by oral
rumor, of what had taken place in Philadelphia. On the day in ques
tion, a copy of the Declaration of Independence was brought to Savan
nah by a courier mounted on horseback, who also bore a letter from
John Hancock. AVithout delay Archibald Bulloch convened the execu
tive council and in formal session read the glorious document which
severed the last links between- the Crown and the colonies. It was not
inappropriate that the old patriot who, on July 4, 1775, had called Geor
gia's first secession convention to order should have been accorded this
high honor.
Together with the executive council, he then repaired to the public
square and read the document again to the assembled populace of Savan
nah. It was received with acclamations of great enthusiasm. But still
again the document was read, ere the sun intoxicated by the musical
accents lit the Avestern horizon into sympathetic flames. This time it
was read to the Georgia battalion at the Liberty Pole in front of Tondee 's
Tavern, the historic rendezvous of the patriots. It fired the hearts and
steeled the nerves of the soldier boys, who were soon to make the lusty
echoes ring on the battlefield. At the command of Colonel Mclntosh
thirteen volleys were fired indicative of the fair sisterhood of sovereign
states which comprised the Continental Union. Later in the day the
tables were spread in the open air and the dignitaries dined under the
cedars.
But the final ceremonies took place after nightfall, when the bonfires
were kindled and the mortal ashes of King George were consigned in
effigy to the dust. The red glare of the torch, the sharp flash of the
bayonets and the struggling moonbeams' misty light, recalled the burial
of Sir John Moore. It was an evening never to be forgotten. But Archi
bald Bulloch soon fell asleep; and the Declaration of Independence sealed
the lips of the old patriot who presided over Georgia's first secession
convention.
GEORGIA'S FIRST SECESSION CONVENTION.—"Memorable in the political aimals of
the colony were the proceedings of the Provincial Congress, which assembled at
Savannah on the 4th of July, 1775. Every parish was represented, and the delegates
were fitting exponents of the intelligence, the dominant hopes, and the material
interests of the communities from which they respectively came. This was Georgia's
first secession convention. It placed the province in active sympathy and confederated
alliance with the other twelve American colonies, practically annulled within her
limits the operation of the obnoxious acts of Parliament, questioned the supremacy
of the realm, and inaugurated measures calculated to accomplish the independence of
the plantation and its erection into the dignity of Statehood.''
The following members submitted credentials and came together at Tondee's
Long Hoom:
Town and District of Savannah.—Archibald Bulloch, Noble Wymberley Jones,