Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

April 16

1831 Minister and educator Morgan Callaway was born on this day in Washington, Georgia. While at the University of Georgia, he joined the Baptist Church after attending a revival, though he later became a Methodist. He graduated in 1849 and then read law and was admitted to the bar in Augusta. Because of his father's opposition to a career in law, Callaway decided to be an educator. In November 1860, he became president of the Methodist Church's Andrew Female College in Cuthbert. In 1862, he resigned that post to join the Confederate Army. After the war, Callaway served as a Methodist minister in Washington, Georgia, and then as president of La Grange Female College. In 1872, he joined the faculty of Emory College in Oxford, first teaching Latin and then English.

In 1882, Georgia Methodists – both black and white – launched a campaign to create Paine Institute in Augusta for training black youth to become leaders in the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. Callaway was named president of the new school. However, before leaving Emory College, he preached a sermon in Oxford in which he indicated that he felt he had been called by God to work for the new black school. However, the sermon subsequently was printed and led to so much controversy that he resigned the presidency of the new school and returned to Emory College. Callaway served as Emory vice president until his death on Jan. 16, 1899. [Note: According to the Dictionary of Georgia Biography, Callaway was born on Sept. 16, 1831. However, according to other sources – including the website of the Callaway Family Association and the USGenWeb website for the Resthaven Cemetery in Washington, Ga., where Callaway is buried – Morgan Callaway was born on April 16, 1831 – which is the date accepted by TDGH for his birth.]

1862 In Richmond, Va., Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis approved a conscription act passed by the Confederate Congress that mandated three years of service for all males between 18 and 35 years of age. Georgia Gov. Joseph E. Brown would openly criticize the new law and unsuccessfully attempt to exempt state troops from the draft. For more, see This Week in Georgia Civil War History.

1865 Confederate general Robert Charles Tyler was killed in the Battle of West Point at West Point, Georgia.

Little is known about his early life. He was born around 1833 – perhaps in Baltimore, Md. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Tyler enlisted as a private in the 15th Tennessee. He was quickly promoted to lieutenant colonel by the Battle of Shiloh, in which he was wounded. In May 1862, Tyler was promoted to full colonel and served as Braxton Bragg's provost marshal during his invasion of Kentucky. Subsequently, he served at the battles of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, where he was wounded again. In Feb. 1864, Tyler was promoted to brigadier general. On April 16, 1865, he was killed during a Union attack under Gen. James H. Wilson on Confederate forces at West Point, Georgia. Tyler is buried in the Fort Tyler Cemetery in West Point, Ga.

1865 Columbus fell to Union General James H. Wilson in the last Civil War battle east of the Mississippi River.

For more, see This Week in Georgia Civil War History.

1963 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous "Letter From A Birmingham Jail" while imprisoned for demonstrating in Birmingham, Alabama.

1978 Georgia-native U.S. Army Gen. Lucius D. Clay died just days before his 80th birthday at Cape Cod, Mass.

See April 23, 1898 entry for biographical information on Clay.

1982 In the 6th inning, the Atlanta Braves scored 5 runs against Houston Astros pitcher Nolan Ryan. The runs proved sufficient to defeat the Astros with a 5-3 victory. This marked the ninth consecutive win since the season opened, tying the Braves' franchise record for best start since the Boston Beaneaters went 9-0 in 1888.

2006 In ceremonies attended by Gov. Sonny Perdue, other state officials, and several members of the King family, a new and larger portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. was unveiled at the Georgia state capitol.

The new portrait replaced a smaller painting of King hung outside the governor's office in 1974 (see Feb. 17, 1974 entry). The new portrait, 50 percent larger than the previous one, was created because the 1974 portrait of King was dwarfed by the larger portraits of governors that hung around it.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1743 Among anticipated products from the 10-year-old colony of Georgia were rice, silk, and wine. But the following 1743 journal entry from Georgia president William Stephens shows that colonists were being advised their land might best be suited for other crops:

"April 16. Saturday. Wanting something more worth note, it may not be improper to observe, that meeting with two or three Carolina Gentleman planters, who came on no other Business than to spend a day or two of pleasure in this Colony, and see what they thought good, our Discourse run chiefly upon Planting, and Improvemts, wherein they plainly confessed their Errour in pursuing almost Soley the planting of Rice for so many years, without turning their thoughts to other things, which would be as profitable, and proper a product of this land and Climate."

Source: E. Merton Coulter (ed.), The Journal of William Stephens, 1743-1745 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1959), p. 194.