Savannah officials are working to find the person responsible for placing googly eyes on the Nathanael Greene Monument in Johnson Square.

Early Thursday afternoon, officers with the Savannah Police Department (SPD) responded to the square for a report of a trespass.

According to a police report, one officer confirmed the googly eyes were, in fact, on the monument in the center of the square.

The eyes were removed, and it didn’t appear to result in any damage to the statue. The officers wrote a trespassing report since the person responsible had to cross over a fence around the statue to place the googly eyes on Nathanael Greene’s Monument.

Greene was one of America’s top Revolutionary War officers — second to George Washington. He lived in Savannah with his family following the war, but he died shortly after of heat stroke. 

In 1902, Greene and his son’s remains were moved to Johnson Square and reburied in the base of the monument.

The city posted photos of the googly-eyed monument on its Facebook page Thursday afternoon hoping to help bring information on the incident forward. While some left comments about the disrespectful nature of the googly eyes, others found it amusing.

“It’s so funny if somebody gets arrested for this,” said one commenter. “So what are you in jail for? Putting googly eyes on a monument.”

But the city reiterated that the incident needs to be taken seriously.

“Who did this?!” the city posted, in part, on Facebook. “It may look funny, but harming our historic monuments and public property is no laughing matter, in fact, it’s a crime.”

SPD says they will be reviewing the camera footage to see what happened and potentially identify a suspect.

The city is asking anyone who has information about the person responsible to call the Savannah Police Department. Their non-emergency line is 912-652-6500.

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