Burke County
Waynesboro, Burke County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
Burke County. Burke County, an original county, was created by the Const. of Feb. 5, 1777, from Creek Cession of May 30, 1733. In 1758, it had been organized as the Parish of St. George. Originally, it contained parts of Jefferson, Jenkins and Screven Counties. Burke County was named for Edmund Burke (1729-1797), writer, member of Parliament and eloquent defender of the cause of the colonies in America. Lemuel Lanier was commissioned Sheriff, Jan. 27, 1778. Thos. Burton, David Lewis, Nathan Hooker, Dan. McMurphy became Tax Collectors in 1778. Thos. Lewis, Jr., was made Surveyor Feb. 17, 1782. In 1787 John Davies was commissioned Clerk of Courts and John Duhart, Coroner. 017-6 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1956
Erected by Georgia Historical Commission
The Story
One of Georgia's original counties, Burke was created in 1777 from lands ceded by the Creeks, having earlier been organized as the colonial Parish of St. George. It was named for Edmund Burke, the British statesman and orator whose speeches in Parliament famously defended the American colonies' grievances. The marker lists the county's earliest sheriffs, tax collectors, and clerks from the 1770s and 1780s.
Why it matters
The county honors a transatlantic voice for the colonial cause and reflects how Revolutionary Georgia reorganized its old parish system into counties.
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Related people
- · Edmund Burke
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Burke County's 8 Governors
Waynesboro, GA
Historic Burke County, the former St. George's Parish, claims eight Georgia governors by birth, residence, or marriage. Among them were Revolutionary figures like John Houstoun, Declaration signer Lyman Hall, and Edward Telfair, along with later leaders including Herschel V. Johnson—Stephen Douglas's 1860 running mate—and Progressive-era senator and governor Hoke Smith. Together their careers span more than a century of the state's political life.
Colonial Fort Augusta Stone
Augusta, GA
When General James Oglethorpe's Georgia trustees ordered this fort raised in 1735, Augusta was the raw edge of Britain's youngest American colony—a fortified trading post on the Savannah River where deerskins moved between backcountry hunters and the coast. Within a generation the settlement had grown enough to build St. Paul's Church tucked beneath the fort's earthen curtain wall in 1750. During the Revolution the British renamed the strongpoint Fort Cornwallis and held it against Patriot forces, making this quiet churchyard ground the site of some of the war's hardest fighting in the Deep South.
Battle of Brier Creek
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In the winter of 1779, British and American armies faced each other across the Savannah River, with control of Georgia and possibly the whole war in the balance. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln maneuvered to flank the British, but on March 3 Gen. Augustine Prevost's forces executed a bold night march and surprise assault that shattered Gen. John Ashe's American command. The rout ended in disaster, redeemed only by the desperate last stand of Georgia Continentals and militia under Gen. Samuel Elbert and Col. McIntosh, who fought until nearly all were dead or wounded.
Bulloch County
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Bulloch County was carved from Bryan and Screven Counties in 1796 and named for Archibald Bulloch, a leading Georgia patriot who in early 1776 was chosen president of the colony's Executive Council and became its first provisional governor. He held that post until his sudden death in February 1777, at the height of the Revolution. The marker also records the county's first slate of officers, commissioned in 1796.