Author: Marty Barnes

On July 4, 1789 the New York Society of Cincinnati met at a well-known tavern in New York City. Among those in attendance were Martha Washington, John and Abigail Adams and various members of Congress.
(We are told that the President was “indisposed.”)
They would leave the tavern and walk to St. Paul’s church to listen to Alexander Hamilton’s eulogy In honor of his friend and patriot, General Nathanael Greene.
The eulogy is eloquent and quite long and can be read in its totality on the web, but here is just one portion that so describes Nathanael Greene’s life.

“War and revolution bring to the fore men and women who otherwise might have languished in obscurity or only shot forth a few scattered and wandering rays. Such a man was Nathanael Greene, called upon to act a part on a more splendid and ample theater. Plucked from a provincial neighborhood, he rose to high fame in his time and rests now in the pantheon of heroes of the Revolution and a Founder of the new nation.”

General Nathanael Greene died at age 43 on June 11, 1789 of heat stroke at Mulberry Plantation, gifted to him by a grateful state and nation.
Alexander Hamilton would die at age 47, July 11, 1804 from a fatal shot to the stomach during a duel with Aaron Burr.

In the Winter, 2021 edition of “Georgia Backroads” magazine, there is a comprehensive article about President George Washington’s visit to Georgia by Dr. John E. Derden, Emeritus Professor of History, East Georgia State College–“Regaling the President with Stories and Anecdotes, George Washington’s 1791 Tour of Georgia.”
In this lengthy, well-researched article, there is this paragraph:
“Twelve miles below Purrysburg at the Mulberry Grove plantation of Catherine Greene, General Nathanael Greene’s widow, the horses and carriages were put ashore for the twelve mile overland trip to Savannah. Before re-embarking, Washington made a social visit to Catherine, and as he put it – ‘asked her she did.’ General Greene had been a close associate of Washington and Catherine was a close friend.”
It’s curious how bits and pieces of history come our way that seem unrelated and yet they aren’t….For instance in Malcolm Bell, Jr’s biography of Pierce Butler, “Major Butler’s Legacy,” he tells of Major Butler being part of the entourage who traveled with Washington on his Georgia visit and also accompanied the President to Mulberry Grove.
Yet Pierce Butler would have another role to play in Mulberry’s history we would find out. John Graham owned Hampton Point Plantation on St. Simons and would end up selling it to Pierce Butler. With the proceeds from that sale, Graham purchased Mulberry Plantation and the adjoining parcel of land, which would later become Oak Grove Plantation. Graham, who became Lt. Governor of Georgia, would be the one who builds the grand plantation home. And when he flees and goes back to England as the Colonists approach, the British army takes Mulberry Grove over and uses the grounds as a prison for captured troops of the Colony.
We recently received a request to visit Mulberry Grove from a historian and authority on Alexander Hamilton, Jimmy Napoli of NYC. He regularly lectures about Hamilton and provided the historic time line to those who produced the Broadway hit “Hamilton.” When we inquired why he especially wished to visit Mulberry Grove, he told us it was because of the close friendship between General Greene and Hamilton, who admired Greene greatly.
In “The Road to Charleston” by John Buchanan, there is much discussion of the mishandling of the Southern Campaign by various generals and officers.
Tired of hearing the constant arguments, Hamilton stands and simply says
“For God’s sake…Send Greene” and sits down… and thus General Greene is named to take over the Southern Campaign and ultimately forces Cornwallis to surrender.
Napoli went on to tell us that Pierce Butler hated Alexander Hamilton and when he was killed by Aaron Burr in a duel, Butler stepped in to help his friend, Butler, and told him to go to his Hampton Point plantation immediately and to use the alias, R. King. Napoli then told us that Burr had known Catherine Greene and Burr asked if he could stop at Mulberry Grove on his way to St. Simons. However, we told Napoli that he did want to stop over to visit with Catherine Greene, but she was no longer at Mulberry Grove, she was at Dungeness on the Georgia coast. Further, Catherine had no time for Burr, since it was Hamilton who helped her attain part of the back salary owed to her late husband. She told Burr he could come, but she and her family left Dungeness and he was met only by a small household staff.

So all these unrelated threads are important, as they weave together the remarkable history of Mulberry Grove Plantation.

When did Mulberry Grove Plantation actually come into being?

Before it was called Mulberry Grove Plantation, the river acreage was part of Joseph’s Town, an area that General Oglethorpe had set apart in 1735 to be a settlement outside Savannah.

A half-oxen Scotsmen petitioned for and received upwards of 500 areas in 1736 for development, but soon began to see their investments as unprofitable for one insurmountable reason…a dearth of consistent labor. Slavery had been outlawed by Oglethorpe and the Trustees, yet it soon became evident that the indentured white field workers did not have the constitutions to work long days in Georgia’s heat and humidity and often became ill with what was termed then as “fevers and fluxes.”

However, one Scotsman, Captain John Cuthbert, persevered and is credited with developing Mulberry Grove into a working plantation. The Trustees hoped for two industries in the new colony – wine and silk production. To that end, Captain Cuthbert successfully planted a mulberry tree nursery. In addition, he and his sister Ann saw to the building of a home on the 500 acres and became its first residents. Cuthbert also constructed a barn for cattle and in 1739 cleared 30 acres for crops.

At the close of that year, tragedy struck when Captain Cuthbert died in South Carolina while on a special mission for Oglethorpe. Yet, out of this tragedy, comes a historic first when Ann Cuthbert becomes the first woman to own and run a plantation in the colony.

Sometimes history takes a strange detour, and it happened to Mulberry Grove when it received a curious email from a genealogist in NY who was researching an ancestor, Stephen Ogden, who had fought in the Revolutionary War and indicated he had been kept a prisoner on Mulberry Grove Plantation by the British.

Could this be? The genealogist emailed a copy of Ogden’s formal request for his pension after the end of the war. And there it was in his own words….”I was sent under guard to a place called mulberry grove cituate (sic) on the savannah River & from that place I with another man named Faris made our escape after I having been a prisoner for two years.”

Marty Barnes, historian for the organization, began working with the genealogist and also with Hugh Golson, Savannah educator and historian, and with Marianne Cawley of the South Carolina Room of the Charleston Public Library.

At that time, Mulberry Grove was owned by John Graham, Lt. Governor of Georgia and member of the King’s Council. As the colonists’ troops neared, he fled to Savannah and then back to England. According to Golson, the British Army would then have been in charge of Mulberry Grove. In addition, the British Army had a huge encampment at nearly Ebenezer. Golson also explained that when Graham purchased Mulberry, he also bought the adjacent land that would, at a later date, become Oak Grove Plantation. He built his grand plantation home Mulberry grounds, but the history of Oak Grove indicates that when Graham purchased that land to be part of Mulberry, he constructed a series of out-buildings, which the British Army could then have used as prisons. In addition Graham was first a merchant before becoming a plantation owner and research indicates that the additional land that he purchased allowed him to construct a docking area for his ship, thus giving the British that dock to bring in prisoners.

Ogden mentions that he escaped with “Faris.” Ms Cawley identified Faris as Arthur Fairs, of the 6th SC Regiment. In the book “The Siege of Savannah” by Franklin Benjamin Hough, there is a description of a group of SC regiments who arrive at Ebenezer Bluff to eradicate the British camp at Ebenezer, but they are badly beaten and many are taken prisoners by the British and that is presumably where Ogden meets Faris as prisoners at Mulberry. They escape together and Faris gets them safely to a friendly regiment in Barnwell, SC.

How did Stephen Ogden get from New York to Savannah? He lived outside West Point and enlisted in 1776. He was sent to a camp outside West Point and after seven months was given two week’s leave to bring back additional clothing. While he was home, a contingent of British troops came though the town and captured him. He went first to a prison on Long Island and then was taken to a prison in Rhode Island. From there he was taken to Charleston and finally to Mulberry Grove.

And there is an ironic twist of history, as well. General Nathanael Greene, in charge of the Southern Campaign, was successful in causing General Cornwallis to surrender, thus ending England’s reign over the colonies. As a thank you from a grateful nation, he was gifted Mulberry Grove Plantation, a plantation where the British once held Americans fighting for freedom.

The following is an article from the “Farmers and Consumer’s Market Bulletin, written by Lee Lancaster. The article is Georgie’s, the mascot of the FCMB, telling of yet another trip he made through Georgia.

Hello! I’m Georgie, the Georgia Grown mascot. I travel the state of Georgia promoting our No. 1 industry—agriculture. Everybody knows that Eli Whitney invented the modern mechanical cotton gin. But did you know that he invented it in 1793 near Port Wentworth in Chatham County? Born and raised in Connecticut, Whitney was on a ship headed to South Carolina to begin his career as a teacher when he met Catherine Greene, the widow of the Revolutionary War hero, Nathanael Greene and owner of Mulberry Grove Plantation. Gen. Greene was given the plantation as a gift from George Washington after the previous owner was kicked out for supporting another George, King George III of England. Whitney came to the plantation to tutor Greene’s children and tinkered with the idea he had for separating cotton lint from the boll. When he perfected his design, he built a full-size gin at Mulberry Grove. The only remnants of the plantation are a few bricks from the foundation. The rest was destroyed during Sherman’s March to the Sea.

There is an interesting entry in the Plantation Journal of Charles Manigault, 30th October 1864: “We met with a very sad loss to the Plantation. Mr. William Capers our experienced Overseer died on this day. He was a remarkable man and a true gentleman and I made more a companion of him than merely regarding him as a simple Overseer.”

Capers was actually related to Manigault because they married sisters. He went on to tell about Capers – “Mr. Capers assisted me in numerous ways during our four years War. He sent me regularly vegetables and other articles to my half-starved family in Augusta and also advanced me money, which I always returned. His Remains are deposited in the Church Yard, Cherokee Hill, not far (one mile) from where he died.”

William Capers’s grave is unmarked and the only information in the Cemetery archives indicates that he was born in 1816 and died Octo0ber 30, 1864 and that he was 49.

Also in the archives is the notice that Christmas Moultrie’s son Hardee is buried in the cemetery with no marker and the notice that he was born in 1895 and died in 1935.

The following is an accounting of a visit to Cherokee Hill Cemetery in October, 2019, by Dr. Simona Perry and Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives.

Most graves in Cherokee Hill cemetery are laid out south (headstones) to north (footstones). There are also most likely many more graves in this site than there are markers, since there is so much bare ground Most of the graves with stones are on top of the hill. There is a slope that goes down towards the back of the cemetery (west). On the bottom of that slope are other grave sites, many unmarked and some marked. These graves are laid out west (headstones) to east (footstones). In general marked graves have professionally etched engravings or bronze plaques, but there are some where the names and dates have been hand-etched. According to Ms. Spracher, this hand carving is rather common in other area African American cemeteries.

Christmas Moultrie’s grave site is on the north side of the cemetery in a grove of tall cane grass and bamboo, near to other grave sites. There is a footstone at Moultrie’s grave that says Grandfather. To the immediate east of his grave are those Lucinda Brace (1893-1980) and Estella Ford (1896-1981) with “Loving Sisters” on their markers.

There is a slope that goes down to the back of the cemetery (west). On the bottom of that slope are other grave sites, (footstones). In general, marked graves have professionally etched engravings or bronze plaques, but there are some where the names and dates have been hand-etched. According to Ms. Spracher, hand carvings are also fairly common in other African American area cemeteries.

The book – Life and Labor on Argyle Island: Letters and Documents of a Savannah Rice Plantation 1833-1876 edited by James M. Clifton makes reference to Cherokee Hill Baptist Churchyard and could offer more information.

Christmas Moultrie may well have been the last of enslaved babies born at Mulberry Grove and would have witnessed its burning by elements of Sherman’s Army in 1864.

During its existence, Mulberry Grove would have had as many as 13 different owners, and while there are no official numbers, nearly 200 enslaved men, women and children could well have lived and worked on that plantation.

Zachariah Winkler was the owner when the buildings were set afire in 1864, but who actually started Mulberry Grove Plantation?

Before it was called Mulberry Plantation, the river acreage was part of Joseph’s Town, an area General Oglethorpe had set apart in 1735 to become a settlement outside the city of Savannah. In 1736, a half-dozen Scotsmen petitioned for and received upwards of 500 acres each for development, but soon learned their investments were unprofitable for one insurmountable reason-a dearth of consistent labor. Slavery had been outlawed by the Trustees and Oglethorpe, yet it soon became evident that the indentured white field workers did not have the constitution to work long days in the colony’s heat and humidity and became ill with what was termed then as “fevers and fluxes.”

However, one Scotsman, Captain John Cuthbert, persevered and is credited with developing Mulberry Grove into a plantation. The Trustees hoped for two industries in Georgia – wine and silk. To that end, Captain Cuthbert successfully planted a mulberry tree nursery. In addition, he and his sister, Ann, saw to the building of a home on the 500 acres and became the first residents. By 1739, the plantation included a barn for cattle and 30 acres cleared for the raising of crops.

By the closing of that year, however, tragedy struck when Captain Cuthbert died in South Carolina while on a special mission for Oglethorpe. Yet, a bit of history is recorded as the Captain’s sister, Ann, became the first woman in the colony to own and run a plantation.

Ann Cuthbert then married Patrick Graham, a Savannah physician, in 1740 after a romantic, as well as a rather eyebrow-raising courtship.

In his Journal, William Stephens, Secretary to the Trustees recorded the following:

Mr. Patrick Graham, Surgeon, who has made considerable Improvement in Building on his Lot in Town, as well as been a constant Planter for two or three years past, having Miss Cuthbert (Sister to the late Capt. Cuthbert, deceased) for his Patient dangerously ill in a Fever, at that time a Lodger in his House, the Doctor took the Opportunity of prescribing Matrimony to her as a Specific, which he was sure would compleat her cure; and on consenting to take his advice in it, they were married in her late Brother’s Plantation. – Page 60, “Savannah River Plantations.”

As a historical postscript… there is no evidence that legal title to the plantation was ever passed to the good doctor, Graham.

Two December dates are important in the history of Mulberry Grove Plantation. Each would have an important story to tell…one story signifying a beginning. The other heralded the end of an era.

On December 25, 1857, an enslaved baby boy was born on that plantation. He would never know his Mother, for she died soon after his birth. That baby was Christmas Moultrie.

In December 1864, General Sherman’s 60,000 troops entered Savannah, the last stop on the infamous “March to the Sea,” with one wing of Sherman’s army setting fire to Mulberry Grove Plantation as they passed through. History relates that the plantation owner, Zachariah Winkler, stood on those grounds, watching his property burning, while one of his former slaves stood guard over him.

History does not tell us much about Christmas Moultrie’s early life, except it was not easy. After the plantation buildings were burned, what was left of the Moultrie family moved to the nearby Monteith settlement. However, Christmas stayed on the Mulberry property. He told of hard times after the war, but he survived…and as a free man.

He was known as Mulberry’s official caretaker, even though he never learned to read or write and seldom wore shoes except when he went into Savannah, a dozen or so miles down the river. He fished and hunted duck, often selling them to the famous DeSoto Hotel in Savannah. He farmed part of the land and sold vegetable in City Market and made and sold fishing and scrimping nets.

We learn most about Christmas today from two people who knew him well, his granddaughter, Martha McCullough, a retired Savannah teacher, and Savannah author and historian Hugh Golson. Golson was related to the Winkler family and explained that Zachariah Winkler purchased 617 acres of what was then Mulberry, plus an additional 31 acres from Drakes Plantation at auction in 1856 for $14,000 and would become one of the major rice planters on the Georgia side of the Savannah River.

He has also felt that Christmas’s last name came from the Moultrie family in Charleston, South Carolina. Winkler would have needed more slaves after his land purchases, and Golson reasoned that he purchased the additional slaves from the Charleston Slave Market.

Christmas lived in a raised cabin by the plantation gate near the Augusta highway. The cabin had a small bedroom, living area and kitchen with cast iron pots and a wood stove…no electricity, just kerosene lamps. Martha McCullough recounted that when Christmas left for his overnight hunting and fishing forays, often with his dogs in tow, she and her mother would come from Savannah to stay ion the cabin to clean it. She said the wooden floor was always covered with dirt that her grandfather had tracked in.

According to Martha…while he had no formal education, he had wit, common sense and great integrity and was well-liked by both blacks and whites. and in later years, was referred to as the “Mayor of Monteith” for his abilities to diffuse disputes. And…he had friends in high places, as we will learn.

One of Moultrie’s other talents was making moonshine that he declared was better than what was being sold in Savannah’s package stores. Apparently several Savannah judges thought so also. Occasionally he would be arrested for selling ducks out of season or imbibing too much himself when in the city. He would somehow wiggle out of the charges, and then later would send the judges samples of his homemade brew. Martha said she was quite young when her grandfather would hand her a neatly wrapped package before she and her mother left his cabin and tell her to hand-deliver it to certain Savannah judges, confident the no one would question a young girl with a package entering the court house.

The 2013 movie “Savannah” told the life of Ward Allen, born to a wealthy family but who preferred his life on the Savannah River. He was often accompanied on these trips by Christmas. In the film, Ward Allen was played by Jim Caviezel and Christmas by Chiwetel Ejsofar.

Mulberry Grove and the Savannah River were Christmas Moultrie’s life until the 1950’s when he became illl and was unable to hunt and fish as he liked. Martha’s mother brought him to Savannah to live with her and in 1957 he died at age 100.

As for lasting tributes, his grave and headstone are at Cherokee Hill Baptist Graveyard and anyone traveling near I-95 and Highway 21 will notice a sign “The Christmas Moultrie Interchange.”

Martha McCullough’s favorite memory of her grandfather was his constant reminder to her – “trouble don’t last always.”

Information for this story was provided through interviews conducted by Solomon Smith, Susan Smith and Regan Everett for the Mulberry Grove Oral History Project.