from the New Georgia Encyclopedia
The Human History of the Savannah River
The Savannah River's banks are steeped in human history. Portions of the river flow through the sites of some of the most important archaeological digs in the United States. Some of those projects took place in the 1960s in what is now Lake Russell, before it was filled with water.
Archaeologists believe that the Paleoindians first appeared along the Savannah River near the end of the Ice Age, some 12,000 years ago. Clovis points, or stone projectiles used by Paleoindians for hunting, have been found along the Savannah. About 4,500 years ago, in the late Archaic era, crude pottery appeared near the river. Some of the oldest pottery in North America was discovered at Stallings Island, a National Historic Landmark located in the Savannah eight miles upstream from Augusta.
The first-known European explorer to reach the Savannah was Hernando de Soto in 1540. He and his soldiers crossed the river, probably near what is now Augusta, where the river divided and swept around an island. In the late sixteenth century the French started the first European commerce on the Savannah, trading with the Indians for sassafras. Sassafras may have triggered the first naval battle on the river. In 1605 the Spanish, who claimed ownership of the New World territory, came upon a group of French traders on the river and defeated them in a bloody battle.
Some time during the early seventeenth century, the Westo Indians took up residence along the Savannah. They became allies of the English in South Carolina and acted as a buffer against the Spanish to the south. The English traded guns and cloth with the Indians for furs and deerskins. Deerskins were shipped by pack trains and flatboats down the Savannah and around the inland waterway to Charleston, South Carolina, and thence to England.
In the early 1700s growing tensions between the British in South Carolina and the Spanish in Florida prompted the British to establish another colony on the river to buttress the Carolina settlement. In 1733 James Edward Oglethorpe chose a forty-foot-high bluff on the Savannah, eighteen miles upriver from the ocean, as the site of Georgia's first town, Savannah. One year after Savannah's founding, German Lutheransseeking religious freedom sailed thirty miles up the river to establish the town of Ebenezer. In 1736 Oglethorpe established Augusta; his choice of the upriver location was influenced by profitable trade with the Indians.
The Savannah settlement discovered that the marshlands around Savannah were ideal for the cultivation of a particular staple—rice. In the early years of the colony, rice plantations dotted the riverbanks and marshlands, whose waters, fed by the river and the tides, allowed for a rapid prosperity.
When the American Revolution (1775-83) erupted, the patriots quickly saw the strategic importance of the Savannah. Twelve stockade-type forts were already located along the waterway to protect against Indian attacks when the war began. Most of the forts were strengthened when hostilities with the British heated up around 1776. The economic importance of the Savannah River to Georgia was reflected in the state's originalConstitution of 1777. Four of the eight original counties established by the constitution were located along the Savannah—Burke, Effingham,Richmond, and Wilkes. The other four counties were along the coast.
After the Revolutionary War, rice continued to be a major crop. But in 1793, at Catharine Greene's plantation on the banks of the Savannah, just upstream from the city, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. In short order, cotton dominated the region completely. The central sections of Georgia and South Carolina, including the areas bordering the Savannah, became the main cotton-producing region for the entire country. Intense plowing practices caused topsoil to erode and wash off into the Savannah and its tributaries, choking the life out of many of them. In November 1808 the first steamboat appeared on the Savannah, and soon the vessels became regular sights on the river between Savannah and Augusta, as they hauled cotton to markets in Savannah.
Early
Cotton Shippingin the Civil War (1861-65), the Union blockadedthe river and strangled the Port of Savannah. After the war, cotton shipping resumed on the river, but by the 1890s, a declining market and the arrival of theboll weevil greatly reduced the amount of the product going downriver. By that time two other products,naval stores and lumber, were in high demand. Countless trees in the swamps and forests along the Savannah were felled and floated downstream in huge log rafts to satisfy the lumber industry's voracious appetite. After a time, the floating rafts of timber were about the only activity on the river; the steamboats had given way torailroads.
In 1915 representatives of the sugar industry selected a site several miles upriver from Savannah for a sprawling sugar plant that could be reached by oceangoing freighters in the river. A channel to accommodate ships was opened in 1917, paving the way for Savannah to become a major port. In 1945 the Georgia Ports Authority was formed, and the river was dredged to thirty-eight feet. In 1994 the channel was deepened to forty-two feet. Eventually, the river will be deepened to forty-eight feet, or twice its normal depth, to accommodate larger oceangoing vessels.
Archaeologists believe that the Paleoindians first appeared along the Savannah River near the end of the Ice Age, some 12,000 years ago. Clovis points, or stone projectiles used by Paleoindians for hunting, have been found along the Savannah. About 4,500 years ago, in the late Archaic era, crude pottery appeared near the river. Some of the oldest pottery in North America was discovered at Stallings Island, a National Historic Landmark located in the Savannah eight miles upstream from Augusta.
The first-known European explorer to reach the Savannah was Hernando de Soto in 1540. He and his soldiers crossed the river, probably near what is now Augusta, where the river divided and swept around an island. In the late sixteenth century the French started the first European commerce on the Savannah, trading with the Indians for sassafras. Sassafras may have triggered the first naval battle on the river. In 1605 the Spanish, who claimed ownership of the New World territory, came upon a group of French traders on the river and defeated them in a bloody battle.
Some time during the early seventeenth century, the Westo Indians took up residence along the Savannah. They became allies of the English in South Carolina and acted as a buffer against the Spanish to the south. The English traded guns and cloth with the Indians for furs and deerskins. Deerskins were shipped by pack trains and flatboats down the Savannah and around the inland waterway to Charleston, South Carolina, and thence to England.
In the early 1700s growing tensions between the British in South Carolina and the Spanish in Florida prompted the British to establish another colony on the river to buttress the Carolina settlement. In 1733 James Edward Oglethorpe chose a forty-foot-high bluff on the Savannah, eighteen miles upriver from the ocean, as the site of Georgia's first town, Savannah. One year after Savannah's founding, German Lutheransseeking religious freedom sailed thirty miles up the river to establish the town of Ebenezer. In 1736 Oglethorpe established Augusta; his choice of the upriver location was influenced by profitable trade with the Indians.
The Savannah settlement discovered that the marshlands around Savannah were ideal for the cultivation of a particular staple—rice. In the early years of the colony, rice plantations dotted the riverbanks and marshlands, whose waters, fed by the river and the tides, allowed for a rapid prosperity.
When the American Revolution (1775-83) erupted, the patriots quickly saw the strategic importance of the Savannah. Twelve stockade-type forts were already located along the waterway to protect against Indian attacks when the war began. Most of the forts were strengthened when hostilities with the British heated up around 1776. The economic importance of the Savannah River to Georgia was reflected in the state's originalConstitution of 1777. Four of the eight original counties established by the constitution were located along the Savannah—Burke, Effingham,Richmond, and Wilkes. The other four counties were along the coast.
After the Revolutionary War, rice continued to be a major crop. But in 1793, at Catharine Greene's plantation on the banks of the Savannah, just upstream from the city, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. In short order, cotton dominated the region completely. The central sections of Georgia and South Carolina, including the areas bordering the Savannah, became the main cotton-producing region for the entire country. Intense plowing practices caused topsoil to erode and wash off into the Savannah and its tributaries, choking the life out of many of them. In November 1808 the first steamboat appeared on the Savannah, and soon the vessels became regular sights on the river between Savannah and Augusta, as they hauled cotton to markets in Savannah.
Early
Cotton Shippingin the Civil War (1861-65), the Union blockadedthe river and strangled the Port of Savannah. After the war, cotton shipping resumed on the river, but by the 1890s, a declining market and the arrival of theboll weevil greatly reduced the amount of the product going downriver. By that time two other products,naval stores and lumber, were in high demand. Countless trees in the swamps and forests along the Savannah were felled and floated downstream in huge log rafts to satisfy the lumber industry's voracious appetite. After a time, the floating rafts of timber were about the only activity on the river; the steamboats had given way torailroads.
In 1915 representatives of the sugar industry selected a site several miles upriver from Savannah for a sprawling sugar plant that could be reached by oceangoing freighters in the river. A channel to accommodate ships was opened in 1917, paving the way for Savannah to become a major port. In 1945 the Georgia Ports Authority was formed, and the river was dredged to thirty-eight feet. In 1994 the channel was deepened to forty-two feet. Eventually, the river will be deepened to forty-eight feet, or twice its normal depth, to accommodate larger oceangoing vessels.