Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 323
It is the work of the famous sculptor, Alexander Doyle, who at the age
of thirty was the designer of more public monuments and statues than
any other man in America, and who was credited with at least one-fifth
of the memorials of this kind to be found within the Union. Surmount
ing a pedestal of granite, the figure of Sergeant Jasper, heroic in size
and wrought of bronze, is portrayed in the act of seizing the colors of
his regiment. It reproduces the heroic scene of his martyrdom, on the
Spring Hill redoubt, during the siege of Savannah. "With the flag in
one hand, he raises his gallant sword with the other, to defend the em
blem of his country's liberties. The inscription on the monument reads:
"To the memory of Sergeant William Jasper, who,
though mortally wounded, rescued the colors of his regi
ment, in the assault on the British lines about the city,
THE JASPER MONUMENT, SAVANNAH
October 9, 1779. A century has not dimmed the glory of
the Irish-American soldier whose last tribute to civil lib
erty was his life. 1779-1879. Erected by the Jasper
Monument Association.''
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Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, enroute to Jack
sonville, Florida, honored the occasion by a drive through the city, and
General John B. Gordon was also among the distinguished visitors. In
the membership of the Jasper Association were many of the foremost
men of Savannah, including: John tannery, Peter W. Meldrim, John
R. Dillon, John T. Ronan, J. J. McGowan, John H. Estill, George A.
Mercer, W. 0. Tilton, Luke Carson, John Screven, Jordan F. Brooks,
Jeremiah Cronin and J. K. Clarke. Though not as large as either the
Greene or the Pulaski monument, it is quite as impressive, and from