Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

August 11

1862 From Chattanooga, Confederate general Braxton Bragg issued Special Order 14 declaring martial law within the city limits of Atlanta, Georgia.

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

1864 During the siege of Atlanta, Sherman lost a regiment on this day – but not due to battle. Rather, the three-year term of enlistment for the 1st Regiment of the East Tennessee Infantry was about to end. Members of this unit had been the first secession opponents in eastern Tennessee to volunteer for the Union Army in Aug. 1861. Gen. Schofield, commander of the Army of the Ohio, issued a special order commending the 1st Regiment for its faithful service and directing it members to travel by rail to Knoxville, Tenn., where they would be mustered out of service.

1864 In a message to Col. Cole, Inspector-General Field Transportation for the Confederate Army, Gen. John B. Hood requested the impressment of 4,000 slaves "for teamsters and other services in this army" to help in the defense of Atlanta.

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

1913 On the thirteenth day in the trial of Leo Frank, his defense called several medical experts to contradict the testimony of Dr. Roy Harris, secretary of the State Board of Health who had examined Mary Phagan's corpse. The defense witnesses said Harris was merely guessing at the time of death and that Phagan had been sexually violated, as there was insufficient evidence to substantiate either claim. Herbert Schiff, an assistant to Frank, again asserted that the financial work done by Frank on the day of the murder was time consuming; it could have easily taken 3 1/2 hours to complete. Schiff also testified that Jim Conley was a very unreliable worker and that other employees had complained about him numerous times. Click here for a detailed accounting of the case.

1914 Gov. John Slaton signed a proposed constitutional amendment creating Evans County from portions of Bulloch and Tattnall counties. The county was named for former Confederate general, historian, and minister Clement A. Evans [see Feb. 25 entry for biographical information on Evans]. Georgia voters ratified the amendment on Nov. 3, 1914, making Evans Georgia's 152nd county.

1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the commencement address [see text] for the summer graduation exercises in Sanford Stadium at the University of Georgia. At the ceremony, UGA president Harmon Caldwell presented FDR with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. After his speech, FDR left for Barnesville, Ga., where he would deliver an important political speech (see below).

1938 During a speech in Barnesville [see text], with Georgia Senator Walter F. George on the stage behind him, President Franklin D. Roosevelt publicly criticized George for not supporting the Democratic Party and the New Deal. George responded by warning the president that some of his programs threatened state rights and white supremacy. At the time, George was campaigning for reelection in the Democratic primaries and faced stiff competition by New Deal foe Eugene Talmadge. However, Roosevelt's public chastisement of George in his Barnesville speech, and George's response, undercut Talmadge's efforts to tie George to Roosevelt and the New Deal. After the speech, many Georgians rallied to George's campaign, and he went on to win reelection.

1953 Terry Bollea was born in Augusta, Georgia, though he later moved to Tampa and then to Venice Beach, California. A big boy – he weighed 195 pounds by age 12 – Bollea got even bigger working out in the gym, where he began taking steroids (a fact he later testified to in court). At age 23 he had his first professional wrestling match. By the 1980s, the 6'6", 295-pound Bollea was wrestling under the name of Hulk Hogan.

As a "good guy" and biggest name for the World Wide Wrestling Federation, he always admonished his legions of young fans – known as "Hulksters" – to say their prayers. By the mid-'90s, however, Hogan had changed personas and now wrestled as bad guy "Hollywood Hulk Hogan" on Turner Broadcasting's World Championship Wrestling, shown nationwide on WTBS. From August 1996 to August 1997, Hogan was WCW world champion. He transformed back into a good guy when he appeared on World Wrestling Entertainment in the 2000s. In 2005 he was inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame.  However long he stays active, and whether he wrestles as a good guy or a bad guy, the Augusta-born legend will be remembered as one of the biggest names in the history of professional wrestling.

1962 In Albany, Georgia, police closed city parks and the library after integrated groups tried to use the facilities. For more, see the Albany Movement from the Civil Rights Digital Library.

1968 The Atlanta Braves signed famed Negro League pitcher Satchel Paige to a contract. At the time, Paige was in his 60s, but the Braves took the action so Paige could qualify for a Major League Baseball pension.

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated by acts approved on Aug. 11:

1903 Menlo (Chattooga County)

1905 Climax (Decatur County),Good Hope (Walton County), and Graysville (Catoosa County)

1908 Chalybeate Springs (Meriwether County), Glenwood (Montgomery County), and Orland (Montgomery County)

1913 Clermont (Hall County) and Cotton (Mitchell County)

Other acts affecting Georgia cities and towns approved on Aug. 11:

1909 Name of Five Forks (incorporated Dec. 8, 1899 in Madison County) changed to Colbert

1909 Charters of Oakland (incorporated Dec. 12, 1894 in Fulton County) and Piedmont (incorporated Oct. 14, 1891 in Pike County) repealed

1925 Name of Milltown (incorporated Dec. 8, 1899 in Lanier County) changed to Lakeland

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1738 William Stephens reported on the finding of a man given up for dead:

". . . The young Man who was almost given over for lost , was at last happily found again; wherein Providence seemed in a particular Manner to shew [sic] itself: One of the Inhabitants of Hampstead, who among others had been seeking him two Days in vain, had so strong an Impression made on him in the Night, that he could not rest; wherefore going out again this Morning, in a short Time upon firing his Piece, he heard the poor Man make a Faint Answer, and then he soon came up with him: He had been three Days bewildered in a Swamp, which lies this side Vernon River, the largest in all the Country, and in many Places unpassable; but was now got within a small Distance of Hampstead, which was more than he knew; and being quite spent, he was laid down, expecting never to have risen again, when he heard this honest Man's Gun; who carried him to his House, gave him Milk, and what he had, and then came and acquainted his Friends with it, who went and brought him joyfully to Town. . . ."

Source: William Stephens, A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia (London: 1742) as reprinted (no city cited: Readex Microprint Corp.,1966) Vol. I, pp. 260-261.

1938 In the stadium at Gordon Military College in Barnesville, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the principal speaker at dedication of power lines of the Lamar Electric Membership Corporation. Roosevelt used this occasion to tell the story of the Georgia roots of the Rural Electrification Administration:

"Fourteen years ago a Democratic Yankee [referring to himself] came to a neighboring county in your state in search of a pool of warm water wherein he might swim his way back to health. The place – Warm Springs – was a rather dilapidated, small summer resort. His new neighbors extended to him the hand of genuine hospitality, welcomed him to their firesides and made him feel so much at home that he built himself a house, brought himself a farm, and has been coming back ever since.

"There was only one discordant note in that first stay of mine at Warm Springs: When the first-of-the-month bill came in for electric light for my little cottage, I found that the charge was 18 cents a kilowatt-hour – about four times as much as I paid in Hyde Park, New York. That stated my long study of proper public-utility charges for electric current and the whole subject of getting electricity into farm houses.

"So it can be said that a little cottage at Warm Springs, Georgia, was the birthplace of the Rural Electrification Administration.

"Electricity is a modern necessity of life and ought to be found in every village, every home, and every farm in every part of the United States. The dedication of this Rural Electrification Administration project in Georgia is a symbol of the progress we are making – and we are not going to stop."

Source: Richard A. Pence (ed.), The Next Greatest Thing (Washington, D.C.: The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, 1984), p. 77.