Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

April 7

1763 The initial issue of Georgia's first newspaper – Savannah's Georgia Gazette – was published.

1798 Pres. John Adams signed an act of Congress authorizing him to appoint commissioners to meet with representatives from Georgia to negotiate respective claims to all territories west of the Chattahoochee River and north of the 31st parallel. Additionally, the act provided for creation of the Mississippi Territory in Georgia's western territories to consist of all land between a line from the Yazoo River eastward to the Chattahoochee River on the north and the 31st parallel on the south.

Source: Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The act further allowed the president to establish a government for the new territory. However, to ease Georgia's fears, the act provided that establishment of a government for the Mississippi Territory did not amount to a unilateral annexation of land claimed by Georgia.

1880 Former Confederate Commissary General Isaac Munroe St. John died in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

Source: Find-a-Grave

St. John was born in Augusta, Ga. on Nov. 19, 1827. [See Nov. 19 entry for biographical information.]

1891 Former Georgia congressman Lucius Jeremiah Gartrell died in Atlanta, Ga. [See Jan. 7 entry for biographical information.]

Source: Wikipedia Public Domain Image

1948 The U.S. Post Office issued a 3-cent Mississippi Territory commemorative stamp on the 150th anniversary of passage of act of Congress creating the territory from a portion of Georgia's western claims. The stamp showed a map of western Georgia with the new Mississippi Territory identified. [See April 7, 1798 entry above.]

Source: Ed Jackson

1955 The first C-130 Hercules production aircraft lifted off the Dobbins runway in Marietta.

Dan Haughton, who succeeded James Carmichael as plant manager in 1952, led the fight to build the C-130 at the Georgia Division of Lockheed. The C-130 ensured that the Marietta facility would continue in operation after the Korean War ended in 1953. The plane has been described as a personnel carrier, heavy cargo hauler, paratrooper plane, heavy air-drop platform, and flying ambulance. It was designed to provide straight-in rear loading of cargo on pallets. By 1968 the company would deliver its 1,000th Hercules, and by 1990 the total reached 1,951. [Contributed by Dr. Tom Scott, Kennesaw State University]

1968 After his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr.'s body lay in state in Sisters Chapel at Spelman College in Atlanta. There, King's coffin was viewed by approximately 25,000 people, including his wife, four children, and father, as well as close friend Ralph David Abernathy.

1978 In his first regular-season game as Atlanta Braves manager, Bobby Cox saw his team lose 13-4 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Winning pitcher for the Dodgers was Don Sutton, who would later become a Braves' announcer.

1982 Atlanta Brave Brett Butler knocked in the winning run to defeat San Diego 6-4, marking the second of 13 consecutive wins to kick off the 1982 season.

1985 Former UGA Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker ran for a USFL record of 233 yards, leading the New Jersey Generals to a 31-25 victory over the Houston Gamblers. Walker's 88-yard run on his second carry of the game broke a second USFL record – longest run from scrimmage.

1995 Gov. Zell Miller signed an act [see text] designating the peach as Georgia's official state fruit.

 In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1775 Writing to friends and business associates in London, Savannah merchant James Habersham expressed his concern over the growing revolutionary movement in America. Though he did not wish to see open rebellion, neither did he agree with recent British policies. He correctly foretold the outcome of the situation in this letter, penned just eleven days before the Battles of Lexington and Concord:

"...The fiery patriots in Charleston have stopped all Dealings with us, and will not Suffer any goods to be landed there from Great Britain; and I suppose the Northern Provinces will follow their Example. . . .The People on this Continent are generally almost in a State of Madness, and Desperation, and should conciliating Measures take Place on your Side, I know not what may be the Consequence, I fear, an open Rebellion against the parent State, and consequently among ourselves. Some of the inflamatory resolutions and Measures taken and published in the Northern Colonys I think too plainly portend this; however I must, and do upon every occasion declare, that I would not chuse to live here longer, than we are in a State of proper Subordination to, and under the protection of Great Britain, altho' I cannot altogether approve of the steps she has lately taken, and do most cordially wish, that a permanent Line of Government was drawn, and persued, by the Mother and her Children, and may God give your Senators Wisdom to do it, and heal this Breach; otherwise I cannot think of this event but with Horror and Grief. Father against Son, and Son against Father, and the nearest relations and Friends combatting with each other, I may Perhaps say with Truth, cutting each others throats,dreadfull to think of much less to experience. . . ."

Source: Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. VI, The Letters of the Hon. James Habersham, 1756-1775 (Savannah: Georgia Historical Society, 1904), pp. 235-236.

1865 From Cuthbert in southwest Georgia, Eliza Frances Andrews wrote in her diary of the final days of the Civil War in Georgia:

". . . The two female colleges have been turned into hospitals, one of which is under Cousin Bolling's charge.

"The news this evening is that Montgomery has gone, and the new capital of the Confederacy will be either Macon, or Athens, Georgia. The war is closing in upon us from all sides. I am afraid there are rougher times ahead than we have ever known yet. I wish I was safe at home. Since Brother Troup has been ordered from Macon our chance of getting a government wagon is gone, and the railroad won't be finished through to Atlanta for a week or ten days yet. If ever I do get back home again, I will stay there till the war is over."

Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl: 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 135-136.