Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

December 1

1824 The U.S. presidential election--in which Georgian William H. Crawford was a major contender, along with John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and Henry Clay--was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives after no candidate received a majority of the electoral vote. Adams was eventually declared the winner.

1895 Eurith Dickinson (Ed) Rivers was born in Center Point, Ark. After graduating from Young Harris College (1915) and obtaining a law degree from LaSalle Extensin University (1923), Rivers was admitted to the Georgia bar and moved to Lanier County. In 1924, he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, and two years later to the Georgia Senate. Rivers ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1928 and 1930, but was elected to the Georgia House in 1932, where he served as speaker (1933-36). In 1936, Rivers was elected governor on a platform of support for Pres. Roosevelt's New Deal programs. He was reelected in 1938 for a second two-year term. Rivers' administration included many achievements to improve Georgia state government, although it unfortunately was beset with scandels, such as granting 1,897 pardons during his four years in office. Rivers died in Atlanta on June 11, 1967.

1942 Wartime gasoline rationing went into effect in Georgia and the rest of the nation.

1969 Georgia men were subject to a new Selective Service law that instituted the first draft lottery since World War II. Previously, many draft-eligible men had been able to seek student, parent, occupational, and other deferments. Now, those 19-25 would be selected in a national lottery with all new student deferments ended.

1998 The Atlanta Braves signed 39-year-old outfielder and former Brave Otis Nixon to a one-year contract.

2005 Sandy Springs officially became Georgia's newest city. Legislation incorporating the Fulton County community had been enacted at the 2005 session of the General Assembly, but the effective date of incorporation was delayed until one second past midnight on the first day of December 2005.

2008 Dunwoody officially became Georgia's newest city. Legislation incorporating the DeKalb County community had been enacted at the 2008 session of the General Assembly.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1734 At Ebenezer, the Salzburgers experienced their first winter in Georgia. Though used to the winters of Europe, the found themselves unprepared for the cold for several reasons, as John Martin Boltzius recorded in his journal:

". . . The cold became more intense last night . . . . The cold affects us so much and prevents us from proper execution of our tasks because 1) we did not expect it and, consequently, failed to get many things that are needed for a rough winter. 2) Warm living quarters to which we were used to in Germany are lacking here. 3) Houses here are merely put together from boards and are easily penetrated and filled with the summer heat and the winter cold?"

Source: George Fenwick Jones (ed.), Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America . . . Edited by Samuel Urlsperger: Vol. Two, 1734-1735 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969), p. 26.

1864 The progress of the American Civil War was closely watched in Great Britain. Today's London Times reported of Sherman's March to the Sea:

"That it is a most momentous enterprise cannot be denied; but it is exactly one of those enterprises which are judged by the event. It may either make Sherman the most famous general of the North, or it may prove the ruin of his reputation, his army, and even his cause together."

Source: London Times, Dec. 1, 1864.

1864 Today's report in the British Army and Navy Gazette seemed openly concerned about Sherman's march, noting:

"It is clear that, so long as he roams about with his army inside the Confederate States, he is more deadly than twenty Grants, and that he must be destroyed if Richmond or anything is to be saved."

Source: British Army and Navy Gazette, Dec. 1, 1864.

1864 Throughout Sherman's March to the Sea, Union foragers frequently went far beyond official policy on seizing and destroying civilian property in the path of the advancing army. On a number of occasions, Union commanding generals tried to stop the abuses, as indicated by this extract from Special Order 187 issued by Maj. Gen. P. Joseph Osterhaus near Millen, Ga.:

"I. The attention of division commanders and commanding officers of detachments is called to the irregularities existing in foraging and the manner in which this privilege is often abused. It is noticed that many men not belong to proper foraging parties are allowed to straggle from the ranks and forage for themselves, without any authority whatever. Is is by such men that the greater part of the pillaging is done and depredations committed, of which there is so much complaint. Officers in charge of foraging parties must be continually instructed to keep their men well in hand, never allowing them to to precede the advance guard of the column; and to use more discretion in taking from the poor, being careful to leave them sufficient for their immediate subsistence. It is also noticed that the number of mounted men is very large increasing, and that the ranks [of walking soldiers] are correspondingly diminished. Measures will be at once taken to check this growing evil. The number of mounted foragers to each brigade should be limited and regulated in orders, which, if not done, mounted foragers will be no longer allowed. . . ."

Source: U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1893, reprinted by The National Historical Society, 1971), Series I, Vol. XLIV, p. 594.