The story of the Silver Bluff Baptist Church would not be complete
without reference to the Negro Baptist Church at Savannah, Georgia,
which existed before Andrew Bryan became a Christian. Neither E. K.
Love, a recent pastor of the First African Baptist Church, nor James
M. Simms, of the Bryan Church, have intimated, in their respective
histories, that Savannah had a Negro Baptist church before the 20th of
January, 1788. Nevertheless, the fact remains that during the British
occupancy--that is, from the year 1779 to the year 1782--there was at
Savannah, Georgia, an African Baptist church.
If the Negroes of Savannah had been without a Baptist church from 1779
to 1782, it would have been strange indeed. For David George led a
company of fifty or more fugitive slaves from Galphinton, South
Carolina, into that city at the close of the year 1778, and this
company, it is reasonable to infer, included a considerable part, if
not nearly all, of the members of the Silver Bluff Church. Devout
Christians who had enjoyed such privileges as slaves, and that for
years, in South Carolina, would scarcely be satisfied without them in
Georgia, as free men, when they had with them three preachers of the
Gospel, David George, George Liele, and Jesse Peter, men of their own
race and denomination, men from the vicinity of Augusta, who had
figured in the planting and growth of the Silver Bluff Church.
We are glad that we have historical data which establish the fact that
there was a Negro Baptist church in Savannah from 1779 to 1782, and
that the Negro Baptist ministry, which had made itself felt at Silver
Bluff for the centuries to come, was now embraced in the church at
Savannah. But in this church, it will be seen, George Liele, the
eldest of the trio, was the pastor, and not David George. George
Liele, as servant of the British officer, who had given him his
freedom, could secure for the church recognition and influence, at the
hands of the military government then in possession of Savannah, which
neither David George, nor Jesse Peter, could obtain. Liele was with a
man who had influence with the British government. David George and
Jesse Peter, as strangers and fugitives, were unknown to that
government, and without influence. It is in this way that we account
for the fact that George Liele, and not David George, was pastor of
the church. Under ordinary circumstances, the Silver Bluff element,
which probably included nearly the whole church at the beginning,
would have insisted upon having their old pastor.
In seeking facts, which make it manifest that Savannah, Georgia, had a
Negro Baptist church prior to 1788, we have consulted the testimony of
persons who were connected with the church at the time, and that of
persons of recognized standing who were contemporaneous with them and
competent to testify. Joseph Cook, of Euhaw, Upper Indian Land, South
Carolina, in a letter to Dr. John Rippon, London, England, dated
September 15, 1790, uses the following language: "A poor Negro,
commonly called Brother George, has been so highly favored of God, as
to plant the first Baptist church in Savannah, and another in
Jamaica."[46] As Hervey, Cox, Phillipo, and others who have noticed
the missionary efforts of Negro Baptists in the West Indies, inform us
that George Liele left the United States in 1782 and began preaching
at Kingston, Jamaica, British West Indies, in 1784, it is evident from
Cook's letter that the church which Liele planted at Savannah existed
prior to 1782.[47] Cook is corroborated by F. A. Cox, who, in speaking
of George Liele, in his history of the Baptist Missionary Society of
England, states that "He had been pastor of a colored congregation in
America." A paragraph which we take from the _History of the
Propagation of Christianity Among the Heathen_, is of the same nature.
It refers to the church of which Mr. Cook speaks, in this manner: "The
first Baptist preacher in Jamaica was a black man named George Liele,
who, though a slave, had been the pastor of a Baptist church in
Georgia. He was brought to Jamaica about 1782." Liele, on his own
behalf, testified that there was a Negro Baptist church in Savannah,
Georgia, during the British occupancy, and mentions by name at least
three of its members, who were not in this country, after the British
withdrew their forces from Savannah, in 1782. In a letter to Joseph
Cook, written from Jamaica, in 1790, Liele refers to one of these
members in the following manner: "Also I received accounts from Nova
Scotia of a black Baptist preacher, David George, who was a member of
the church at Savannah."[48]
In a communication written in 1791 and addressed to the pastor of a
London church, Liele refers to one of his Jamaica members in this
style: "Sister Hannah Williams, during the time she was a member of
the church at Savannah, until the 'vacuation, did _walk_ as a
faithful, well-behaved Christian."[49] In answer to questions in
regard to Jesse Peter, Liele replied to his London correspondent as
follows: "Brother Jesse Gaulphin, another black minister, preaches
near Augusta, in South Carolina, where I used to preach. He was a
member of the church at Savannah."[50]
In the face of this testimony, coming from different sources and from
parties widely separated from each other who had no motive to deceive,
there is absolutely no room for doubt as to the fact that a Negro
Baptist church existed in Savannah, Georgia, from 1779 to 1782.
As to what measure of prosperity attended the work of the Negro
Baptist church at Savannah, Georgia, during the years 1779-1782, we
are not informed. It was well that at a time when churches in some
parts were going to pieces because of the ravages of war, this little
flock remained intact. We infer, however, that it did a most blessed
work. George Liele speaks in one of his letters of one "Brother
Amos,"[51] who appears to have been a product of the Negro church at
Savannah, or the older church at Silver Bluff, South Carolina. Amid
the changes wrought in the closing days of the Revolutionary War, this
Negro preacher had his lot cast in New Providence, Bahama Islands,
British West Indies. According to George Liele, Amos had a membership
of three hundred in 1791. Benedict informs us that Amos was in
correspondence with his brethren in Savannah, Georgia, in 1812, and at
that time the church at New Providence numbered eight hundred and
fifty.