Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

August 25

1737 While in London, James Oglethorpe was commissioned as "Colonel of the Regiment of Foot for the Defence of His Majesty's Plantations in America." This commission has caused some confusion, for two months earlier--on June 19--Prime Minister Horace Walpole had granted Oglethorpe a commission as "General and Commander in Chief of all and singular his Majesty's provinces of South Carolina and Georgia in America; and likewise to be Captain of that Independent Company of Foot doing Duty in his Majesty's said Province of South Carolina." Was Oglethorpe a colonel or a general?

The answer is that the designation of "general and commander in chief" was not a military rank in the British Army but rather a temporary field title. In February 1737, Oglethorpe had declined Walpole's offer of the governorship of South Carolina (which would have forced him to resign his seat in Parliament). Still, Oglethorpe needed some type of legal authority if he was to direct South Carolina forces in the defense of Georgia. In essence, the "general and commander in chief" designation was a political compromise to give Oglethorpe temporary authority over South Carolina forces in the face of a threatened Spanish invasion. His subsequent August 25 commission as a colonel in the British Army, however, was a true military rank that authorized him to raise and command his own regiment. In 1743, after repulsing the Spanish invasion of St. Simons Island, Oglethorpe was promoted to the military rank of brigadier general.

1827 Martha Lumpkin, youngest daughter of future-governor Wilson Lumpkin (1831-35), was born. Lumpkin was instrumental in establishment of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, which had its southern terminus in DeKalb County at the site that would one day become Atlanta. First named Terminus, the small but growing town was incorporated on Dec. 23, 1843 and named Marthasville in honor of ex-governor Lumpkin's daughter.

1864 The artillery bombardment of Atlanta ceased. That night Union troops north of the city quietly withdrew from their network of trenches and fortifications.

1877 After six weeks of deliberation, delegates at a convention in Atlanta completed work on a new post-Reconstruction constitution for Georgia and approve the Constitution of 1877. On the following Dec. 5, voters of the state ratify the new constitution by almost by a vote of almost three to one. In their efforts to prevent future abuses such as occurred during Reconstruction, delegates framed the most conservative constitution in the state's history--one which tightly constrained what state government could do.

1913 Walt Kelly, creator of the Okefenokee Swamp comic strip character Pogo, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1913 This marked the twenty-fifth, and final, day in the trial of Leo Frank. Prosecutor Hugh Dorsey ended his concluding argument, which had taken parts of three days. The defense then argued that Frank was the latest in a long line of Jews who were persecuted for their religious beliefs, and again asserted that Jim Conley was the true murderer. Conley, and many other prosecution witnesses, had shady characters, while Leo Frank had been a pillar of the community with many well-respected people, plus many of his employees, testifying on his behalf. If the case came down to Leo Frank's word against Jim Conley's, then it was obvious who should be believed. After hearing their instructions from Judge L.S. Roan, the jury retired to ponder the verdict. At 4:55 p.m., they returned and announced their decision -- guilty! Neither Frank nor his family or lead attorneys were present in the courtroom when the verdict was read. Reportedly Judge Roan had feared mob violence should Frank have been acquitted. When told of the verdict, Frank re-asserted his complete innocence, saying the jury had been influenced by mob law. Undoubtedly, he was right on both counts. Although Leo Frank's innocence can never be established with 100 percent certainty, based on what is now known about the case, the overwhelming consensus of expert opinion is that in a miscarriage of justice, a Fulton County jury convicted an innocent man of the death of Mary Phagan. Click here for a detailed accounting of the case.

1933 Georgia Congressman Carl Vinson, responding to to Governor Eugene Talmadge's attacks upon him, accused the governor of "obstructive tactics" regarding President Roosevelt's depression recovery programs. Ten million dollars had been earmarked for improving Georgia's road, but the appropriation was held up because Talmadge had fired two members of the highway board and declared martial law when a federal supervisor was appointed to oversee the $10 million grant. Vinson accused Talmadge of trying to "twist the highway matter to suit his own political ends."

1942 Ninth District Congressman Nathan Deal was born in Millen, Georgia. After graduating from the Walter F. George School of Law in 1966, he served two years as a captain in the U.S. Army. In 1981 he was elected to the Georgia Senate, where he served until 1992. In November 1992, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1739 The difficult conditions in early Georgia could make people's tempers very short, as William Stephens (the Trustees' secretary) witnessed in his own home. He was being visited by Noble Jones, when a bailiff named Parker appeared and accused Jones of mistreating his family by refusing to give a bottle of wine to a servant for use by his sick wife:

". . . This Mr. Jones grew warm at; and Parker not a Jot less so; when throwing his Arm to and fro (as is common with him to do in any Vehemence of expression) Mr. Jones started from his seat, and dared him to strike; both then shaking their Fists at each other, but care was taken to prevent Blows, and it ended in scurrilous Language on both Sides, each looking on himself as the best Man, and throwing out Ribaldry in Abundance, with scurvy Reflexions on one another's former Courses of Life. . . ."

Source: William Stephens, A Journal of the Proceeding in Georgia ([not city cited]: Readex Microprint Corporation, 1966), Vol. II, p. 106.

1861 From Manassas Junction, Va., Confederate soldier H.C. Kendrick wrote to his brother back in Georgia:

"I have eaten dinner and what a dinner I did have! I made the butter and syrup fly, you may be sure. You know how I used to eat that old black syrup that we had in '59? Well, just like I ate that I eat here, maybe a little more so. I made the best biscuits I have had in some time. Then we had with that good old sheep meat, which was just as good as anything could be. One of the boys of our mess hollered, saying, "Come up here [to] the 9th Regiment and eat of our mutton. It is just as good as you ever saw in Georgia. Come up and eat of it."

"Thomas, Sister E. said in her letter that you wanted to come to war. you listen to me, will you? I say I would not come if I was in your place. You had better stay there with Mother and Father and take care of them. They need protection. Where shall they get it if you come to old Virginia? Why, they cannot get it and you must stay there. You must not come to the conclusion that you would not be instrumental in gaining the rights of the country because you are not in the state of old Virginia but he reconciled with what you are doing and stay. . . ."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), "Dear Mother: don't grieve about me. If I get killed, I'll only be dead.": Letters from Georgia Soldiers in the Civil War (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1990), p. 57.

1865 Despite the dramatic change in her family's fortunes following the end of the Civil War, Eliza Andrews was unbowed -- as this day's journal entry attests:

"The Ficklens sent us some books of fashion brought by Mr. Boyce from New York. The styles are very pretty, but too expensive for us broken-down Southerners. I intend always to dress as well as my means will allow, but shall attempt nothing in the way of finery so long as I have to sweep floors and make up beds. It is more graceful and more sensible to accept poverty as it comes than to try to hide it under a flimsy covering of false appearances. Nothing is more contemptible than broken-down gentility trying to ape rich vulgarity -- not even rich vulgarity trying to ape its betters. For my part, I am prouder of my poverty than I ever was of my former prosperity, when I remember in what a noble cause all was lost. We Southerners are the Faubourg St. Germain of American society, and I feel, with perfect sincerity, that my faded calico dress has a right to look with scorn at the rich toilettes of our plunderers. Notwithstanding all our trouble and wretchedness, I thank Heaven that I was born a Southerner, -- that I belong to the noblest race on earth -- for this is a heritage that nothing can ever take from me. The greatness of the Southern character is showing itself beyond the mere accidents of time and fortune; though reduced to the lowest state of poverty and subjection, we can still feel that we are superior to those whom brute force has placed above us in worldly state. Solomon says: "Better is a living dog than a dead lion," but I don't believe it, even if it is in the Bible."

Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-65 (New York: Appleton, 1908), pp. 380-381.