Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

July 1

1776 Delegates at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia took the first vote on the Declaration of Independence.

Second Continental Congress Voting on the Declaration of Independence

1873 Georgian Henry Flipper became one of the first blacks to enter West Point Military Academy, going on to become the first black to graduate.

1893 Walter F. White was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He becomes an important voice for American blacks, particularly noted for his long efforts to marshal public opinion and government policy against lynching in the South. He also serves as executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1931 to 1955.

1899 Thomas A. Dorsey was born in Villa Rica, Georgia. This songwriter, singer, and pianist arranges up-tempo blues versions of many gospel hymns leading many to call him the "Father of Gospel Music."

1956 A new state flag earlier authorized at the 1956 session of the General Assembly became effective. This flag would serve as the official state flag until a new flag was adopted in 2001. Click here for more information.

1971 The National Park Service opened Andersonville National Historic Site, which encompasses Andersonville National Cemetery, the site of Andersonville Prison Cemetery, and the National Prisoner of War Museum.

1976 The Georgia Agrirama opened in Tifton as the state's official agricultural museum.

1983 Georgia's present state constitution became effective.

1985 Young Harris College graduate Ronnie Milsap reached the top of the country-and-western charts today with "She Keeps the Home Fires Burning."

1991 President George H.W. Bush nominated Savannah-born Clarence Thomas for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1997 Georgia's graduated driving license law went into effect. Previously, Georgia minors could obtain a driver's permit at age 15 and an unrestricted driving license at age 16. There were no curfews on driving by minors, nor were there limits on how many minors could be in a car driven by a minor.

1997 The board of directors of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) was terminated . ACOG's chief financial officer and a deputy continued in office to pay outstanding bills and any legal settlements, but for the most part, ACOG operations ended after seven years.

1997 Georgia's Department of Children and Youth Services had a new name and mission by virtue of legislation that became effective on this day. The 1997 General Assembly decided to change the agency's name to Department of Juvenile Justice, in part to signal a new and tougher approach to dealing with juvenile offenders.

1998 The name of DeKalb College changed to Georgia Perimeter College.

1999 Georgia's new Department of Community Health became effective, replacing the former Department of Medical Assistance and several other state health-related agencies. The new agency was created to coordinate health policy in Georgia and promote economy and efficiency in health care services. Among programs it was created to administer were responsibility for Medicaid benefits to over 1 million low-income Georgians, health insurance for state employees, licensing of physicians, and promotion of women's health.

2005 A statewide ban on smoking in all public buildings went into effect.

2011 The Georgia Department of Natural Resources opened Chattahoochee Bend State Park in Coweta County, the first new state park to open since 1993.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1740 From Anastasia [Eustatia] Island in the harbor of St. Augustine [see map], Capt. Norbury wrote Walter Hayter on the status of the siege of the Spanish fortress, the Castillo de San Marcos:

"I have just time to acquaint you that I, General Oglethorpe and all his officers and his regiment are well, and that now we are very busy in bombarding and cannonading the two and castle of Saint Augustine and have made our approaches with our cannon and mortars within half a mile of the town and have done great execution in knocking down and burning with our shells part of the town and castle. And the enemy fire upon us day and night from the town, castle and their galleys and launches balls from 24-, 18- and 9-pounders but as yet have done us little damage. Only one of our men had both his legs taken off with one of them. We are all very well entrench and are now going to attack the town and Castle. General Oglethorpe is marched with a strong detachment from this island to the main called Moucey [Mose] or the Negroes' Fort, to attack the town and castle and to surround them and keep them in. The remainder of our forces with the Carolina Regiment, commanded by Colonel Vanderdussen, Rangers and Indians are to attack on the left of the town and, the men of war's men to the amount of 200 are to attack the Spanish galleys in their boats and galleys, and by a single given we all storm at once, and under God and in so just a war, we shall carry it. . . ."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), General Oglethorpe's Georgia: Colonial Letters, 1733-1743 (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1990), Vol. II, pp. 462-463.

1776 While the reasons for their imprisonment are not given, two prominent Georgia citizens were ordered to be held in custody by the Georgia Council of Safety:

"At a meeting of the Council, July 1, 1776. . . Whereas it appears to this Board, that Doctor Zubly and Mr. Edw. Telfair, who were in custody, agreeable to a resolve of Congress, were improperly and illegally dismissed by the Chief Justice: It is therefore the opinion of this Board, that the said Doctor Zubly and Mr. Telfair be taken again into custody, until it shall otherwise be determined. . . ."

Telfair went on to become a zealous patriot and Georgia governor; Dr. Zubly remained a loyalist and his properties were confiscated.

Source: Collections of the Georgia Historical Society (Savannah: Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution,1901), Vol. V, Part I, p. 68.

1838 Daniel Buttrick, a missionary to the Cherokee Indians at the time of their forced removal, recorded in his diary on this day:

"I rode alone to the camp. Before closing my [church] meeting, I told our dear [Cherokee] friends that if they continued to profane the Lord's Day by playing cards, drinking and frolicing [sic] as they had done, they might depend upon it that the wrath of God would pursue them to death. On returning home, I met the soldiers and Cherokees and found that the women had been in the creek swimming, while the soldiers stood by them on the bank and other young men were in the creek naked but just below. The women, who infested the place by going into the creek while the soldiers were standing by, might be some who had been seduced by the soldiers. Brother Vail, the other day on going to the landing, saw six soldiers about two Cherokee women. The women stood by a tree, and the soldiers with a bottle of liquor were endeavoring to entice them to drink, though the women as yet were resisting them. It was reported afterwards that those soldiers had the two women out with them all night.

"A young married women, a member of the Methodist society, was at the camps, though her husband was not there, I believe, at the time. The soldiers, it is said, caught her, dragged her about and at length, either through fear or other causes, was induced to drink and yield to their seduction, so that is now an outcast."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), Georgia: History written by Those who lived It (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1995), pp. 84-85.

1864 In a letter to his wife, Maj. Fredrick Winkler of the 26th Wisconsin Infantry wrote about the status of Sherman's Atlanta Campaign:

"I am suffering a little from the blues, it is so tedious here and so hot. The mall has not come. I have been looking for my commission as Lieutenant Colonel for sometime; the malls are so slow and irregular, that is reason enough, but it is not satisfactory. I have two new flags at Chattanooga, sent by the State for the regiment; I have procured a detail for my quartermaster to go and get them and take our old flag back, which is to be sent to the State. He will also go to Bridgeport to bring the rest of my worldly possessions. A year ago to-day was a hard day for this regiment, the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. I don't feel much like writing today. If I had a good place, I would lie down and rest, but here we are in the heat, in the open field, and those disagreeable stray bullets always flying about. One of my men was badly wounded in the hip and thigh this morning, and last evening a bullet went through Captain Steinmeyer's tent, right over his body; fortunately he was lying down at the time. Since those orders the other day to get ready with ten days' rations, we have heard nothing more about moving. . . ."

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

For more, see This Week in Georgia Civil War History.