Gazaway Bugg Lamar | |
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| Born | October 2, 1798 |
| Died | October 5, 1874 (aged 76) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Children | Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar (son) |
Gazaway Bugg Lamar (October 2, 1798 – October 5, 1874) was an American slave owner and merchant in cotton and shipping in Savannah, Georgia, and a steamboat pioneer. He was the first to use a prefabricated iron steamboat on local rivers, which was a commercial success. In 1846 he moved to New York City for business, where in 1850 he founded the Bank of the Republic on Wall Street and served as its president. He served both Southern businesses and state governments. After the start of the American Civil War, Lamar returned to Savannah, where he became active in banking and supporting the Confederate war effort in several ways. With associates, he founded the Importing and Exporting Company of Georgia, which operated blockade runners.
In December 1864, with Union General Sherman's troops approaching Savannah, Lamar took President Lincoln's loyalty oath (sometimes called the Proclamation of Amnesty) to uphold the United States Constitution, in return for the promise that all his property rights would be restored. A high proportion of cotton confiscated in the city by Sherman belonged to Lamar. After the war he was arrested and held for three months in Washington, D.C., as a suspect in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
After returning to Savannah, Lamar tried to reclaim his cotton from warehouses in Georgia and Florida. He was arrested and convicted by a military court under Reconstruction of trying to take government property and bribe a government official. His sentence was commuted by President Andrew Johnson shortly before the end of his term. Lamar spent years trying to gain compensation for his confiscated cotton. In 1874, he was awarded a government settlement of almost US$580,000 (equivalent to $15,619,059 in 2023).