Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

December 24

1814 The U.S. and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent officially ending the War of 1812. Word of the treaty, however, did not reach Georgia until February 1815. When learning of its provisions, many Georgia politicians called on the president to renounce the treaty and continue the war.

1821 Gov. John Clark signed an act creating Newton County as Georgia's 53rd county. Created from portions of Henry, Jasper, and Walton counties, Newton County was named for Sgt. John Newton, who served with Revolutionary War hero William Jasper.

1825 Gov. George Troup signed legislation creating Taliaferro and Butts counties as Georgia's 69th and 70th counties. Created from portions of Greene, Hancock, Oglethorpe, Warren, and Wilkes counties, Taliaferro County was named for Col. Benjamin Taliaferro, who served in Revolutionary War and the U.S. House of Representatives (1799-1802). Butts County, created from Henry and Monroe counties, was named for Capt. Samuel Butts, a member of the Georgia Militia killed while fighting Creek Indians in the War of 1812.

1827 Gov. John Forsyth signed an act directing him to appoint five commissioners to select a 1200-acre site on the state-owned Coweta Reserve (which was near Coweta Falls on the Chattahoochee River) and to lay out a "trading town" to consist of at least 500 half-acre town lots plus a 10-acre square for construction of public buildings for officials of Muscogee County's government. The legislation incorporating the new town designated its name as Columbus.

1832 Gov. Wilson Lumpkin signed an act incorporating the Georgia Infirmary, which was created "for the relief and protection of aged and afflicted negroes" in Georgia. The facility was to be located in Chatham County. Named in the act as the board of directors were Jacob Wood of McIntosh County and Rev. C.C. Jones of Liberty County.

1900 In Savannah, an argument between two teenagers turned deadly as Moses "Coony" Houston shot and killed (she actually died on Christmas, but was shot on Christmas Eve) Delia Green. "Coony" apparently claimed Green was "his girl" while she objected. The incident inspired the popular song "Delia's Gone," a.k.a. "Delia," "All I Have is Gone," and "All I Got Done Gone." Item contributed by John Garst, University of Georgia.

1941 The U.S.S. Atlanta was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard. Margaret Mitchell was sponsor of the light cruiser, which unfortunately would be lost in the Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942.

1978 In their first appearance in the National Football League playoffs, the Atlanta Falcons defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 14-13.

2000 The University of Georgia defeated the University of Virginia 37-14 in the Oahu Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii. In his final game as coach, Jim Donnan led the Bulldogs to their fourth consecutive bowl victory in four years--a school record. It also marked the second time in history that the Bulldogs won 8 games in four consecutive years.

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated by acts approved on Dec. 24:

1827 Columbus (Muscogee County)

1842 Villa Rica (Carroll County)

1884 Gracewood (Richmond County), Harmony Grove (Jackson County), Sharon (Taliaferro County), and Jug Tavern (Jackson, Walton, and Gwinnett counties)

1890 Unadilla (Dooly County)
 
 

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1864 Pvt. Frederick Buerstatte of the 26th Wisconsin Volunteers recorded in his diary from Savannah on Christmas eve:

"24th Dec. -- We cleaned our quarters. Each person planted a Christmas tree in front of his tent."

Source: Civil War Letters of Major Fredrick C. Winkler, in 26th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers Home Page

1864 Fearing that Sherman was going to change the path of his march to Augusta instead of Savannah, Judge Garnett Andrews in Washington, Ga. sent his 25-year-old daughter Eliza to live with her oldest sister near Albany. Her journey took her through the area Sherman's forces had marched through earlier. Writing in her journal, Eliza Andrews described the destruction she saw:

"About three miles from Sparta we struck the 'Burnt Country,' as it is well named by the natives, and then I could better understand the wrath and desperation of these poor people. I almost felt as if I should like to hang a Yankee myself. There was hardly a fence left standing all the way from Sparta to Gordon. The fields were trampled down and the road was lined with carcasses of horses, hogs, and cattle that the invaders, unable either to consume or to carry away with them, had wantonly shot down to starve out the people and prevent them from making their crops. The stench in some places was unbearable; every few hundred yards we had to hold our noses or stop them with the cologne Mrs. Elzey had given us, and it proved a great boon. The dwellings that were standing all showed signs of pillage, and on every plantation we saw the charred remains of the gin-house and packing-screw, while here and there, lone chimney-stacks, 'Sherman's Sentinels,' told of homes laid in ashes. The infamous wretches! I couldn't wonder now that these poor people should want to put a rope round the neck of every red-handed "devil of them" they could lay their hands on. Hay ricks and fodder stacks were demolished, corn cribs were empty, and every bale of cotton that could be found was burnt by the savages. I saw no grain of any sort, except little patches they had spilled when feeding their horses and which there was not even a chicken left in the country to eat. A bag of oats might have lain anywhere along the road without danger from the beasts of the field, though I cannot say it would have been safe from the assaults of hungry man. Crowds of soldiers were tramping over the road in both directions; it was like traveling through the streets of a populous town all day. They were mostly on foot, and I saw numbers seated on the roadside greedily eating raw turnips, meat skins, parched corn - anything they could find, even picking up the loose grains that Sherman's horses had left. I felt tempted to stop and empty the contents of our provision baskets into their laps, but the dreadful accounts that were given of the state of the country before us, made prudence get the better of our generosity."

Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 32-33.