Savannah, Georgia1763 — 1965
Hidden in Print
Black Savannah

Black history and life as seen through Savannah’s newspapers, 1763–1965

Engraving of Savannah’s riverfront from the masthead of the Daily Morning News
The engraving at the top of the same front page · Daily Morning News masthead, 1851
The City Watched · June 25
1851

175 years ago.

Negroes and alcohol

A grand jury found Savannah’s “negro Grogeries” flourishing. It called that “alarming and deplorable.”

In May 1851, the grand jury of Chatham County’s Superior Court made a formal presentment, a public list of problems it wanted addressed. Its first item was “the number of negro Grogeries in Savannah, and their flourishing condition.” A grogery, or grog shop, sold liquor.

The jurors wrote that the shops gave “facilities” for “trafficking with negro slaves,” and they also cited “bold and midnight depredations” on the river and in the city. They asked City Council for a River Watch and a stronger City Police.

Their last request: that owners and agents of shops and grogeries be barred from serving as the city’s watchmen and subordinate officers. The notice was signed May 17, 1851, and the Daily Morning News kept printing it for weeks, including on the front page of June 25.

The receipt
Front page of the Daily Morning News, June 25, 1851, with the grand jury presentment outlined in red
Daily Morning News, June 25, 1851, p. 1, column 1. Georgia Historic Newspapers, Digital Library of Georgia.
See the full article

The whole presentment, as printed. The left edge sits in the page’s binding shadow, so the first letters of some lines are lost in the scan itself.

The full grand jury presentment as printed

How it opened, and how it closed

Two clippings from the same notice.

The first item
“…the number of negro Grogeries in Savannah, and their flourishing condition, indicate a state of Society that is alarming and deplorable…”
Opening lines of the presentment
The last request
“…a disqualification on the part of owners and agents of shops and grogeries, from acting in the capacity of watchmen and subordinate officers.”
Closing request of the presentment

What they wrote, and what it records

What they wrote
  • The number of grogeries and “their flourishing condition” “indicate a state of Society that is alarming and deplorable, and ought not to be tolerated.”
  • Trading with enslaved people through these shops was “demoralizing to the black population, ruinous to their health, and destructive of their usefulness as labourers.”
  • “Bold and midnight depredations on the River, and the City” demanded the authorities’ attention.
  • City Council should establish a River Watch and give “additional vigor and efficiency to the City Police.”
  • Owners and agents of shops and grogeries should be barred from serving as watchmen and subordinate officers.
What it records
  • In 1851, grog shops known as “negro Grogeries” were numerous in Savannah and doing well.
  • Enslaved people were buying and selling through these shops.
  • Thefts at night on the river and in the city worried the jury.
  • Owners and agents of shops and grogeries could serve as the city’s watchmen and subordinate officers. The jury wanted that stopped.
  • The notice was signed by the foreman and eighteen other jurors, and the paper kept printing it for weeks.
Language of the time

Terms on this page

Grand jury
A panel of citizens called by a court to examine matters in the county.
Presentment
A grand jury’s formal public statement of problems it wants addressed.
Panel
One group of jurors drawn for a court term.
Grogery, grog shop
A shop selling liquor, often along with other goods.
Trafficking
Here, simply buying and selling; trade.
Depredations
Thefts and raids on property.
River Watch
A patrol guarding the river and its wharves.
Watchmen
The city’s night police.

Read it in full

Transcribed from the page and checked word by word. Letters in [brackets] are lost in the binding shadow and restored from context; […] marks letters that cannot be read. One note: the archive’s search text reads “Groceries.” The printed page says “Grogeries.”

Chatham Superior Court, May Term, 1851: the presentment

CHATHAM SUPERIOR COURT.
May Term, 1851.

[T]HE GRAND JURY of the first Panel, of the Superior Court of Chatham County, at their present [May] Term (1851,) of said Court, respectfully submit [to th]e consideration of the Honorable Court the fol[low]ing presentment:

[T]hat the number of negro Grogeries in Savannah, [and] their flourishing condition, indicate a state of So[ciet]y that is alarming and deplorable, and ought not [to b]e tolerated. That trafficking with negro slaves, [thro]ugh facilities furnished by these establishments, [is d]emoralizing to the black population, ruinous to [thei]r health, and destructive of their usefulness as [lab]ourers. That the bold and midnight depredations [o]n the River, and the City, demand the serious atten[tion] of the public authorities, and the full exercise of all [thei]r vigilance and energy. That for the protection [of th]e Rice, Cotton, Timber, and other property of the [com]munity, they, the Grand Jury, would also re[spe]ctfully recommend to the consideration of the Hon[ora]ble City Council, the propriety of establishing a [nigh]t River Watch, and of giving additional vigor and [effi]ciency to the City Police: and as a means of bring[ing] about a result so desirable. They would further [rec]ommend a disqualification on the part of owners [and] agents of shops and grogeries, from acting in the [ca]pacity of watchmen and subordinate officers.

G. B. CUMMING, Foreman.

[…]E. A. Soullard, Jacob Waldburg, John C. Ferrill, […] W. Starke, Wm. H. Cuyler, William Mackay, […] H. Ladd, F. E. Tebeau, W. H. Miller, John S. […]gers, John W. Nevitt, Octavus Cohen, James Ker, […]son Oden, Albion K. Moore, Henry F. Waring, […]s. J. Bulloch, Isaac Cohen.

[A t]rue extracts from the minutes
JOHN F. GUILMARTIN, Clerk.
[S]avannah, May 17, 1851. may 28

Two years earlier
June 6, 1849: an editor complained that the city’s ban on Black residents smoking in the streets had been ignored “for some time past.” Read “High Life Below Stairs” →
Stand where it happened

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Source

“Chatham Superior Court. May Term, 1851.” Grand jury presentment, signed May 17, 1851. Daily Morning News (Savannah, GA), June 25, 1851, p. 1. Georgia Historic Newspapers, Digital Library of Georgia.