The area that was to become Liberty County was originally occupied by the Guale Indians. In the early 16th century, the Spanish placed a Catholic mission called Santa Catalina de Guale on today's St. Catherine's Island to minister to the Guale. During the 18th century, the Guale became part of the Muscogee confederation. In 1733, Gen. James Oglethorpe negotiated with the local Muskogean Indian tribes for this land that became part of the new colony of Georgia. Settlement of the area by European settlers was sparse until 1752. In that year, a group of Congregationalists from Dorchester, South Carolina petitioned the royal government of Georgia for grants of land in an area known as the Midway District, located between the Ogeechee and South Newport Rivers. The land was granted to them, and they moved as a community with their families and Negro slaves into the area. They immediately began clearing the swamps and marshes and establishing rice fields.
On March 15, 1758, the royal government of Georgia created Saint John's Parish, which included this area between the Ogeechee River and South Newport River. The town of Sunbury was established on June 19, 1758, on the Medway River and quickly became the 2nd busiest port in Georgia, behind Savannah.
The Congregationalists who settled the Midway District were able to establish a flourishing rice culture with the use of Negro slaves to tend to the rice fields. These Congregationalists were 2nd and 3rd generations of people born in British America and had become more independent-minded and distinct in their political views from the other citizens of the colony. In 1774, they were among the first in the colony of Georgia to join the movement for the repeal of the Intolerable Acts. In 1775, unable to persuade the rest of the colony of Georgia to join with the other 12 colonies to send a representative to the 2nd Continental Congress, they sent their own representative from Saint John's Parish, Dr. Lyman Hall.
The royal government of Georgia came to an end in January 1776 when the patriotic Georgia Council of Safety arrested the governor, James Wright and took over the government of the colony. The new government, composed of many of the leading citizens of Saint John's parish, organized a convention and established the first Constitution for the State of Georgia.
On February 5, 1777, under the new constitution, the parishes of Saint John's, Saint Andrew's and Saint James' were consolidated and named Liberty County to honor the efforts of the citizens of Saint John's parish in pursuing the American ideal of liberty.[3]
Sunbury was first designated the county seat in 1784. In 1797, the seat was transferred to Riceboro, and in 1837 it was transferred again to Hinesville.[4]
On July 1, 1922, James Harvey and Joe Jordan, two African American men, were lynched by a mob of about 50 people in Liberty County during an escort by police from Jesup, Georgia to a jail in Savannah, Georgia. The event drew condemnation from both the local black community and from several prominent white citizens, with the preacher at Midway Methodist Church denouncing the acts and publishing a widely circulated letter condemning the Wayne County officials of being complicit in the murders. The incident prompted an investigation by the NAACP, and in total, 22 men were indicted, with four being convicted.[5]
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 603 square miles (1,560km2), of which 490 square miles (1,300km2) is land and 113 square miles (290km2) (18.7%) is water.[6]
The eastern and southern portion of Liberty County is located in the Ogeechee Coastal sub-basin of the Ogeechee River basin. The northern and western portion of the county is located in the Canoochee River sub-basin of the Ogeechee River basin.[7]
The Liberty district operates public schools, including the comprehensive high school Liberty County High School and the Bradwell Institute, as well as its educative middle schools Midway Middle School, Lewis Frasier Middle School, and Snelson-Golden Middle School.
They also provide a career academy, Liberty College & Career Academy (LCCA), for extra academics where students study for a profession they could seek out in the future.
As a predominantly African-American county home to a prominent military base (Fort Stewart), Liberty is a Democratic stronghold. It has consistently supported Democrats for president since 1992 (the longest active streak in Southeast Georgia) and was last contested at this level in the 2000s, when Southern Republican George W. Bush came within single digits of carrying the county in both of his elections (coming within less than 4% in 2004).
United States presidential election results for Liberty County, Georgia[24]
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