Savannah is the capital of
Chatham county, and is the largest city in the
State of Georgia.
It was founded by
General Oglethorpe in 1732, the year of
George Washington's birth, and is situated on the right bank of the
Savannah river, eighteen miles from its mouth, ninety miles southwest of
Charleston, one hundred and eighty-eight miles southeast of
Milledgeville, and one hundred and thirty-two miles from
Augusta.
The site of the city is a sandy plain, elevated about forty feet above low-water mark.
It is regularly laid out with wide, sandy and unpaved streets, which, however, are well protected from the rays of the summer's sun with handsome shade trees.
At every other corner there is a public square, usually circular or oval in shape, thickly spread with handsome shade trees.
The number of these squares is twenty-four. Broad and Bay streets, the most prominent thoroughfares, have grassy promenades in the middle, with carriage-ways on each side.
Many of the private dwellings are handsomely built of brick and granite.--Among the public buildings, the most prominent are the
City Exchange, Theatre, Court-house, Jail, State Arsenal, Artillery Armory, Lyceum, Oglethorpe Hall, Hibernian Hall, Market-house, Chatham Academy, and the Customhouse.
The latter is one hundred and ten feet long by fifty-two feet wide, is built of granite, and its estimated cost was nearly $175,000. The Independent Presbyterian Church is a fine granite building, and cost $120,000.
St. John's (Episcopal) Church is also a very handsome building.
The city has some eighteen or twenty Protestant, and three or four Catholic churches, one Hebrew synagogue, five banks, a savings institution, several fire companies, an historical society, several reading rooms, and a public library of some eight thousand or ten thousand volumes.
The private schools are numerous, and liberal provision is made for the education of the poor.
Among the charitable institutions may be mentioned the
Orphan Asylum, the
Savannah Hospital, the
Georgia Infirmary, the
Union Society, the Widows' Society, the
Savannah Free School, Hibernian and St. Andrew's Societies, and
Seamen's Friend Society.
A monument has been erected in Johnson Square to the memory of
General Greene, and another (a most imposing structure) to the memory of
Pulaski, the noble Pole who gallantly fell in an attack on the city, when held by the
British, in October, 1789. The city is lighted with gas, and well supplied with water from the
Savannah river.
Savannah is the centre of a very extensive system of railroads, which contributed vastly to its commercial importance and general prosperity.
Thirteen railroads, direct or tributary, converged to
Savannah in 1861, and their united length measured one thousand and fifty-five miles.
The workshops and depots of the Georgia Central railroad are located at
Savannah, and are confessedly the most gigantic, costly and complete on the continent.
The population of
Savannah is between twenty-five thousand and thirty thousand, and a more enterprising, refined and hospitable people the Southern Confederacy cannot boast.
Many
Virginians well recollect the princely hospitality which was extended the members of the Commercial Convention, which convened in that city in 1858.--
Petersburg Express. 
