Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

December 23

1799 Attorney and judge Joseph Henry Lumpkin was born in Oglethorpe County, Georgia. Lumpkin, younger brother of Gov. Wilson Lumpkin, attended the University of Georgia until it temporarily closed its doors, subsequently transferring to Princeton where he graduated with honors in 1819. On the reopening of the University of Georgia, Lumpkin enrolled while also beginning the private study of law. In 1820, he helped found the Phi Kappa Literary Society while also being admitted to the bar. He began practicing law in Lexington but soon moved to Athens. Lumpkin was one of three attorneys selected by the General Assembly to draft Georgia's Penal Code in 1833. In 1845, Lumpkin was one of three lawyers appointed to Georgia's first Supreme Court. The other two justices -- Hiram Warner and Eugene A. Nisbet -- selected Lumpkin as presiding justice, and he was named the court's first chief justice when that position was created in 1863. Though active on the Supreme Court, Lumpkin did not forget his alma mater and was influential in establishing a school of law at the University of Georgia, also assuming some teaching duties. He also acted as trustee of the University from 1854 until his death in 1867. The University of Georgia Lumpkin Law School was named in his honor.

1825 Gov. George Troup signed legislation creating Thomas and Lowndes counties as Georgia's 67th and 68th counties. Created from portions of Decatur and Irwin counties, Thomas County was named for Gen. Jett Thomas, a hero of the War of 1812. Lowndes County, created from portions of Irwin County, was named for William Lowndes, a noted South Carolina politician who died after being nominated for vice president of the U.S.

1830 Gov. George Gilmer signed legislation creating Stewart County as Georgia's 78th county. Created from portions of Randolph County, Stewart County was named for Daniel Stewart, an officer in the American Revolution and War of 1812.

1833 Gov. Wilson Lumpkin signed an act chartering the Monroe Railroad Co. and granting it with authority to build a rail line from Macon to Forsyth in Monroe County.

1836 Gov. William Schley signed an act incorporating the Georgia Female College, reputed to be the first female college chartered by an American state. Located in Macon, the college's name was changed to Wesleyan College in 1919.

1837 Gov. George Gilmer signed an act appropriating $20,000 for construction of Georgia's first state insane asylum, which would operate under the supervision of the governor and a Medical Committee.

1889 Henry Grady died in Atlanta of complications from pneumonia -- likely brought about by a recent trip to Boston. Born in Athens on May 24,1850, Grady began his journalistic career in Rome, Ga., where he eventually purchased his own newspaper and earned a respected reputation as an editor. In 1872 he purchased one-third of the Atlanta Daily Herald, bringing him closer to the world of Georgia politics and business. A political moderate, Grady tended to support the campaigns of such politicians as John B. Gordon, Alfred Colquitt, and Benjamin Hill. But it was as an editorialist on the future of the South that Grady left his lasting mark.

Grady envisioned a South with developed industry and more diversified agriculture, united in harmony with the North. In a March 1874 editorial he first used the term "New South" to describe his vision. When his newspaper folded financially, Grady was hired, after several brief stints with other newspapers, by the Atlanta Constitution. While it was little noticed at the time, Grady was responsible for the Constitution hiring a shy storyteller from Eatonton, Ga. -- Joel Chandler Harris. It was also at the Constitution that Grady became nationally renowned for his coverage of the Tilden-Hayes presidential debates and the growth of southern railroads. But it was his "New South" speech delivered in New York on December 22, 1886 that catapulted Grady into the public spotlight, to the point where he was actually considered a possible running mate for Grover Cleveland in 1888.

 

But Grady was not interested in holding political office. Back in Atlanta he stayed busy helping the city become the center of his "New South," organizing expositions, supporting progressive legislation, and calling for ever improving city services. His eloquence made him a popular speaker, both in Georgia and nationally. In December of 1889 he spoke on "The Race Problem in the South" at the meeting of the Boston Merchants' Association. Tragically he became during the trip and died at his home in Atlanta at the young age of thirty-nine. In 1921 the University of Georgia College of Journalism was named in his honor.

1896 A resolution of the General Assembly was approved directing that the Senate chamber be lighted by electricity before the next session.

1941 Margaret Mitchell traveled to New York to attend commissioning ceremonies for the new light cruiser U.S.S. Atlanta. Mitchell was the new ship's sponsor.

1986 Boston College beat Georgia 24-27 in the Hall of Fame Bowl.

1987 The Jimmy Carter National Historic Site was created in Plains, Georgia.

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated by acts approved on Dec. 23:

1843 Marthasville (then DeKalb, now Fulton County)

1896 Yatesville (Upson County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1736 In his journal, John Wesley recorded a harrowing day and night he and two companions endured:

"Wednesday 23. Mr. Delamotte and I, with a Guide, set out to walk to Cowpen; when we had walk'd two or three Hours, our Guide told us plainly, 'He did not know where we were.' However, believing it could not be far off, we thought it best to go on. In an Hour or two we came to Cypress-Swamp, which lay directly across our way: There was not Time to walk back to Savannah before Night; so we walk'd thro' it, the Water being about Breast-high. By that Time we had gone a mile beyond it, we were out of all Path; and it now being past Sun-set, we sat down, intending to make a Fire, and to stay there 'till Morning; but finding our Tender wet, we were at a Stand; I advis'd to walk on still; but my Companions being faint and weary, were for lying down, which we accordingly did about Six o'Clock: The Ground was as wet as our Cloaths, which (it being a sharp Frost) were soon froze together; however, I slept 'till Six in the Morning. There fell a heavy Dew in the Night, which cover'd us over as white with Snow. Within an Hour after Sun-rise, we came to a Plantation, and in the Evening, without any Hurt, to Savannah."

Source: [no author or editor cited], Our First Visit in America: Early Reports from the Colony of Georgia, 1732-1740 (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1974), pp. 213-214.

1739 The Trustees' secretary William Stephens, recorded two acts of piracy, one which resulted in a gift to a church!

". . . a Sloop Privateer which came from Providence Island, that anchored at Cockspur last Night: Their Business was with the General, to get their Commission approved and strengthened by him; but missing him here, they would lose no Time in going to find him at St. Simon's: They had taken some small Prizes from the Spaniards (as they said) which they sent home; but they told us of a privateer belonging unto Rhode-Island had the good Fortune lately, though but a small sloop with forty Hands, to take a rich Spaniard lately on the Spaniards own Coast, with such a Quantity of Silver aboard, that they shared four hundred dollars apiece, besides solid Plate for the Use of a Church. . . ."

Source: William Stephens, A Journal of the Proceeding in Georgia ([no city cited]: Readex Microprint Corporation, 1966), Vol. II, p. 228.

1864 From Savannah, Gen. Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 139, which provided:

"Savannah, being now is our possession, and the river partially cleared out, and measures have been taken to remove all obstructions, will at once be made a grand depot for future operations.

"1. The chief-quartermaster, General Easton, will, after giving the necessary orders touching the transports in Ogeechee River and Ossabaw Sound, come in person to Savannah, and take possession of all public buildings, all vacant store-rooms, warehouses, &c., that may be now or hereafter needed for any department of the army. No rents will be paid by the Government of the United States during the war, and all buildings must be distributed according to the accustomed rules of the quartermaster's department, as though they were public property.

"2. The chief commissary of subsistence, Col. A. Beckwith, will transfer the grand depot of the army to the city of Savannah, secure possession of the needful buildings and offices, and give the necessary orders, to the end that the army may be supplied abundantly and well.

"3. The chief engineer, Captain Poe, will at once direct which of the enemy's forts are to be retained for our use and which dismantled and destroyed; and the chief ordnance officer, Captain Baylor, will, in like manner, take possession of all property pertaining to his department captured from the enemy and cause the same to be collected and carried to points of security. All the heavy sea-coast guns will be dismounted and carried to Fort Pulaski.

"4. The troops, for the present, will be grouped about the city of Savannah, looking to convenience of camps, General Slocum taking from the Savannah around to about the seven-mile post, on the canal, and General Howard thence to the sea. General Kilpatrick will hold King's Bridge until Fort McAllister is dismantled and the troops withdrawn from the south side of the Ogeechee, when he will take post about Anderson's plantation, on the plank road, and picket all the roads leading from the north and west.

"5. General Howard will keep a small guard at Forts Rosedale, Beaulieu, Wimberly, Thunderbolt, and Bonaventura, and he will cause that shore and Skidaway Island to be examined very closely, with a view to finding many and convenient points for the embarkation of troops and wagons on sea-going vessels."

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, pp. 793-794.