Savannah Historical Figures
Mary Telfair
Daughter of Georgia Governor Edward Telfair. Known for her philanthropy that created the Telfair Academy of Arts and Science, the Georgia Historical Society’s Hodgson Hall, and the Telfair Hospital.
Johnny Mercer
Beloved, award-winning Savannah lyricist who founded Capital Records and penned over a thousand songs.
Richard Arnold
Doctor and Mayor of Savannah who surrendered the city to Union Forces in 1864.
Josiah Tattnal
US Naval Officer who later became a Commodore in the Confederate Navy.
Noble Wymberly Jones
Original Colonist who came to Savannah in 1733 as a child and went on to become a founding doctor of The Georgia Medical Association.
Henry Rootes Jackson
Prominent lawyer, US Diplomat, Confederate Officer, and Poet.
Alexander Lawton
Lawyer, Politician, Diplomat, and Confederate General who commanded the local troops that seized Fort Pulaski in 1861.
Edythe Chapman Neill
Stage and silent film star known as “Hollywood’s Mother.”
Conrad Aiken
Novelist and Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet Laureate of Georgia.