James Oglethorpe Monument, Bronze monument in Chippewa Square, Savannah, United States

The James Oglethorpe Monument is a bronze statue of Savannah's founder designed by Daniel Chester French, standing on a granite pedestal by Henry Bacon in Chippewa Square. French portrayed Oglethorpe as a military commander in 18th-century dress, drawing on portraits to ensure accuracy. The monument was dedicated in 1910.

Efforts to build the monument began in 1901, when the Oglethorpe Monument Association was chartered by the Superior Court of Chatham County with delegates from four patriotic groups. The Georgia General Assembly approved $15,000 in 1906 and set the site at Chippewa Square; sculptor Daniel Chester French and architect Henry Bacon were chosen that fall. The monument was unveiled on November 23, 1910, before a crowd of thousands, and its total cost reached $38,000.

Chippewa Square was state property, and the 1906 resolution required the monument to stand there; two busts of Confederate generals, Francis S. Bartow and Lafayette McLaws, were removed from the square in 1910 and moved near the Civil War Memorial in Forsyth Park. The day after the unveiling, on Thanksgiving, the Georgia Bulldogs and Auburn Tigers played their annual rivalry game on a field near the square, with the governors of Georgia and Alabama among 5,000 spectators.

The monument sits in an active city square with easy access and is visible from multiple angles for viewing and photography. Visitors can use the surrounding trees and walkways to comfortably view the statue from different vantage points.

The monument was not a gift: the state of Georgia appropriated $15,000 in 1907 and 1908, the city of Savannah added $15,000 in 1909, and patriotic groups raised the rest of the $38,000 total. Two Confederate busts, of Francis S. Bartow and Lafayette McLaws, were removed from Chippewa Square in 1910 to make room and moved to Forsyth Park.