Sergeant Jasper

Sergeant William Jasper, a famed Revolutionary hero, was mortally wounded a few hundred yards northwest of this spot on October 9, 1779, during the ill-fated attack by American and French forces on the British defenses around Savannah. In 1888, a monument to Jasper was unveiled in this Square with great ceremony. Its 15½ foot bronze statue, designed by the distinguished New York sculptor Alexander Doyle, shows Jasper bearing the colors of the Second Regiment of South Carolina Continentals during the assault at Savannah, with his right hand holding a sabre and pressed against the bullet wound in his side, his bullet-ridden hat at his feet, and his face revealing intense suffering and resolute purpose. Bas relief panels on the north, west, and east sides portray three episodes in Jasper’s Revolutionary career as conceived by the sculptor: his brave replacement of the flag under heavy fire on the ramparts of Fort Sullivan near Charleston, the liberation of Patriot prisoners by Jasper and a companion at what is now called Jasper Spring near Savannah, and the dying hero’s last moments after the attack of October 9, 1779.

Savannah, Georgia · United States