Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia  

January 5

1734 One of the early actions of the Trustees in 1732 was to authorize or commission persons in England to raise funds to send Britain's worthy poor to Georgia on charity. Three such solicitors were Jewish and used the money they raised to send 42 persecuted Jews (mainly from Portugal) to Georgia -- without the knowledge or approval of the Trustees. The Jewish immigrants arrived in Savannah on July 11, 1733, and James Oglethorpe allowed them to stay. However, the Trustees were unhappy and on Jan. 5, 1734 ordered the Jewish solicitors to return their commissions to the Trustees and to make an effort to recall the Jews living in Savannah and send them somewhere else. [That recall never took place, and Savannah became home of the oldest Jewish settlement in the South.]

1868 Maj. Gen. George Meade arrived in Atlanta to assume the duties of commander of the Third Military District with responsibilities for the Reconstruction of Georgia. Soon after his arrival, a number of prominent citizens -- including Georgia's Gen. John B. Gordon -- welcomed Meade with a banquet. However, in less than two weeks, the warmth of Meade's reception turned cold when on Jan. 13 he removed Georgia's provisional governor and treasurer, followed a few days later by removal of the comptroller-general and secretary of state.

1926 Civil rights and homeless advocate Hosea Williams was born in Attapulgus, Georgia.

1957 Jackie Robinson announced his retirement from major league baseball.

1979 Robins Air Force Base officials met with area state legislators about a proposal to annex Robins AFB to increase the official population of the city or Warner Robins in order to qualify for more state and federal grants. The next day, the base commander asked the city's mayor to drop the plans.

1983 Jim Williams was granted an appeal for a new trial; he had been convicted of murder the previous year in the case that was dramataized in the book and movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

1988 Former Atlanta Hawk "Pistol Pete" Maravich died at age 40 from a heart attack while playing a basketball pickup game in Pasadena, California. Born on June 22, 1947 in Aliquippa, Pa.the basketball standout set a NCAA record of 44.2 points per game at Louisiana State University. The 1970 College Player of the Year, Maravich was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks, where he spent four seasons. He led the National Basketball Association in scoring in 1977.

2003 The Atlanta Falcons defeated the Green Bay Packers 27-7 in a playoff game. This was the first time Green Bay had ever lost a playoff game on their home field.

2009 Former U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell died in Atlanta, GA. Bell was born in Sumter County, GA in 1918 and attended Mercer Law School in Macon. He served as U.S. Attorney General under President Jimmy Carter.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1756 In 1754, England and France went to war over their worldwide empires. In North America, the conflict was known as the French and Indian War. Concerned about the defenses of the American colonies, the British Board of Trade wrote royal governor John Reynolds asking what needed to be done to put Georgia into a proper state of defense. On this day, Reynolds responded with a letter about how unprepared Georgia was:

" . . . The real state of defense of this colony is such that it may be laid before Your Lordships in a very few words.

"At Augusta, which is 150 miles northwest from Savannah, there is now remaining a wooden fort of 120-foot square, but it is so rotten that great part of it is propped up to prevent its falling. It has eight small iron guns, which are honeycombed, the carriage rotten, and there is no ordnance stores. This is the only fortification in the province. For Frederica, which lies 100 miles southwest from Savannah in the late war was well fortified, is now totally dismantled, and nothing remains there but twenty old cannon without carriages or any ordnance stores. At Savannah here are eleven old cannon, three- and four-pounders, without any carriages or any ordnance stores, except twenty-seven old swivel guns and sixty-one old muskets, most of them with broken stocks and many without locks. This is the true state of the forts, fortifications and ordnance stores in this province. . . ."

Source: Edward J. Cashin (ed.), Setting Out to Begin a New World: Colonial Georgia (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1995), pp. 112-114.

1865 Union Maj. Fredrick Winkler of the 26th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry wrote in his diary from the South Carolina side of the Savannah River:

"We left our camp in Savannah on Monday morning and crossed the river on a steamer, the Planter. We landed in the rice fields. The first trip brought over three regiments, including mine. I was put in command, and our brigade commander went back. We had to repair, or rather rebuild, a bridge on the dike, and that took us until late in the afternoon; then we marched forward four miles, where our first brigade was camped. Here I found General Ward, who told me to camp there for the present.

"Evening: I was interrupted this morning by an order to go out reconnoitering. Tuesday I sent out a party early and they had not been gone long before we heard quite heavy firing, so I concluded to go out and see what it was myself. Our horses had not then come across the river and I had to go on foot. I found that our party had met a rebel cavalry force, who had fallen back to an entrenchment commanding the road, on each side of which there was an impassable swamp. I sent parties to the right and left to try to get through the swamp, but they could not accomplish it and I finally found, on personal examination, it was just about impracticable. I was bound to get them out, so I took a few of my men and made a wide detour. We went over a rice field dike as far as we could and then worked our way inch by inch through a canebrake on very swampy bottom, and finally came out on a road which would lead me to their rear. Here I came upon a cavalry picket post, who gave the alarm, and they all ran off. To-day I went over the same road and met no enemy, but found immense quantities of rice and sent a scow load down the river. We moved forward about a mile and went into camp on good dry ground yesterday. To-day our wagon came up and brought us a few boards. I have a floor in my tent, but no chimney. There are no bricks here, the soil is all sandy. It is reported that a portion of the 17th Corps has embarked on board of transports, bound for some more northerly port. I hinted to a staff officer of the division that I wanted to resign, a few days ago; he thought I could not possibly get my resignation approved."

Source: Civil War Letters of Major Fredrick C. Winkler, 1864 in 26th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers Home