*Article from Stroll Longpoint May 2026 Issue.*
Written by: John Maclean, Author and Resident
You might think the Revolutionary War didn’t touch Whitemarsh and Long Point, but the War did. Thunderbolt and Bonaventure served as a major camp and hospital for French Commander d’Estaing during his ill-fated attempt to wrest Savannah from British control in October 1779.
The French originally landed at Beaulieu. The ships, including some American ones, then traveled to Saint Augustine Creek (now renamed as part of the Wilmington River) and anchored off Bonaventure. My own direct McIntosh ancestor, a loyalist, was forced to jump from a window in Thunderbolt to escape capture. Bonaventure was a 600-acre plantation built by John Mullryne. He named it Bonaventure, meaning “Good Fortune.” He and his son-in-law, Josiah Tattnall, remained Loyalists and helped Royal Governor Wright escape the dastardly clutches of the Liberty Boys. The Plantation was later confiscated after the War, but their names live on as streets in the cemetery.
After the Siege of Savannah battle, hundreds of wounded lay around the grounds of Bonaventure awaiting death, disease, or, in rare cases, recovery. Some, like Count Pulaski, were taken aboard an American ship known as the Wasp. He soon died of gangrene and was buried at sea according to his aide-de-camp. Stories placing his demise elsewhere have been created, but original sources agree on a watery grave near the Wilmington River. The grapeshot that mortally wounded him was removed by Dr. Lynah and donated by the Lynah family to the Georgia Historical Society. There is an idea that some of the dead French soldiers may have been buried on the Plantation grounds. It was a huge defeat for the Americans and French, with over 240 killed and 600 wounded.
French Commander d’Estaing departed from Causton’s Bluff rather than Thunderbolt. He had been shot in the leg and arm. The French moved their heavy artillery overland to Tybee for loading onto ships. Haitian soldiers were the rear guard at Causton’s Bluff until everyone was on board, and then they sailed down to Tybee as well. The Plantation was bought back by Tattnall’s son in 1785, and in the next century, it was established as a cemetery. The City ran out of room in Colonial Cemetery and opened Laurel Grove in 1853. It eventually took over Bonaventure in 1907. So, as you drive over the Thunderbolt Bridge, look toward Bonaventure, and you will see in the historian’s eye sailing ships anchored, and soldiers gathered from the second deadliest battle of the entire Revolution.
