SAVANNAH (ante), co. seat of Chatham co., Georgia, terminal station of the Cen tral, the Atlantic and Gulf, and- the Savannah and Charleston railroads; pop. '80, 30,761, about 4,000 less than Atlanta. The city is noted for its beautiful streets and the large number of small parks (about 25). Forsyth place, in the center of the town, is it very pleasant resort, filled with tropical and semi-tropical trees and flowers. The climate is delightful in winter but generally considered unhealthful in summer. The harbor is excellent, and the Savannah river is navigable as far as Augusta. As a cotton port it is inferior to New Orleans only, having maintained the position held before the war much better than Charleston; about 850,099 bales are shipped annually. Other impor tant exports are rice and lumber. There are a large cotton mill, foundries, planing and flouring mills; but, on the whole, the manufactures are not very important. The great warehouses are on a street below the bluff, known as the Bay. Among the public buildings are the custom house, court house, city exchange, St. Andrew's hall, Chatham academy, and the Masonic hall where, in 1861, the ordinance of secession was passed.
In Forsyth park is a confederate monument; and in Johnson square an obelisk to the memory of gen. Greene and count Pulaski, the corner-stone of which was laid by Lafay ette in 1825. The Pulaski monument in Monterey square is 55 ft. high, of marble, sur mounted by a statue of Liberty, and is considered one of the finest works of the kind in this country. Bonaventure cemetery, near the city, is unique in its long avenues of live-oaks, draped with the gray southern moss. The city has good police and fire depart ments, 3 hospitals, medical school, 32 churches, a public library, historical society, 5 banks, 2 daily and 4 weekly papers, as and water works, and an excellent school sys tem. It has had two great fires, one in 1796 (damage $1,000,000), the other in 1820 (loss $4,000,000). Savannah was invested by Sherman in Dec. 10, 1564; on the 13th fort McAllister was taken: and a few days later Hardee, the confederate general, evacuated the city, which NA as occupied by the union forces Dec. 21, 1864.