Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

June 10

1835 Rebecca Latimer Felton was born in Decatur, Georgia. She became the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate when in 1922, Governor Thomas Hardwick appointed her to fill the seat vacated with the death of Sen. Tom Watson. The 87-year-old served briefly until a special election could be held, which was won by Walter F. George.

1913 Luther Z. Rosser, Leo Frank's defense attorney in the Mary Phagan murder case, publicly accused the police chief had "banked his sense and reputation as both a man and politician on Frank's guilt." He added that if the police had approached the investigation with an open mind, Jim Conley would have already told the whole truth. Click here for a detailed accounting of the case.

1914 Georgia's first black pharmacist, Dr. Moses Amos, opened the Gate City Drug Store in the new Odd Fellows Building in Atlanta.

1915 Thanks to the efforts of founder Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, the Girl Scouts of America was incorporated on this day in Washington, D.C.

1972 Hank Aaron hit a grand slam home run -- the 14th in his career, which tied the National League record of Brooklyn Dodger Gil Hodges. Aaron's home run was his 649th, which pushed him ahead of Willie Mays in career home runs.

1985 Former University of Georgia Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker set a USFL record as a running back on the New Jersey Generals by breaking the 2,000-yard mark in a 31-24 win over Jacksonville. Walker's record was only surpassed by two NFL running backs--O.J. Simpson (2,003 yards in 1973) and Erik Dickerson (2,105 yards in 1984).

1985 After a dismal experience with a sweetened version of its 99-year-old formula, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola announced that it is bringing back its popular soft drink in its original version (to be known as "Classic Coke").

 2004 Ray Charles, noted for his rendition of "Georgia on My Mind" and one of the first inductees into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, died in Los Angeles, CA.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1864 From near Marietta in the midst of the Confederate defense of Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, a demoralized Bolton Thurmond wrote to his sweetheart Frances Porterfield not only of increasing Confederate desertions but indeed of his own thoughts about abandoning his unit:

". . . Frances, I haven't any good news to write to you. But, oh, the dreadful news. War and fighting forever! The fight is still raging, but thank God I am yet alive and unhurt. I written [sic] you a letter the other day. We were some eight miles from Marietta. We have moved further up on our right. The enemy are moving their forces to our right all the time. They haven't been able to press us on very much, only skirmishing but trying to flank around us and get in our rear. they are bent for Atlanta. . . . I can walk home from here in two days and nights. It is only 75 miles from here. We are drawing nearer and nearer every day to our homes and are [passing] a heap of the Georgians' homes and the most of them stops as they get home and goes the other way. That is what will end this struggle if nothing else, the men quitting. I have come to the conclusion to not be driven much further. I had rather go North the remainder of my days than to be treated any such a way and never know what minute I may be shot down and after all [I] can't see as it [further prolonged war] will be any benefit to us, only ruining our country and killing our good men. . . . If I had you in Kentucky I would be glad. . . . A great many of our brother soldiers has left us on this retreat, and a heap more says if they fall back from here they will not go any further a-past their homes. I can't blame them. We will have no army after [a] while, alas! Frances, you must keep this letter concealed. Don't let anyone see it. But remember me forever is my wish.

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), "Dear Mother: Don't grieve about me. If I get killed, I'll only be dead.": Letters from Georgia Soldiers in the Civil War (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1990), pp. 299-300.

1864 In Atlanta, a Union sympathizer known as "Miss Abby" wrote in her diary:

"Fast day again! Stores are closed and all business suspended. The mayor has appointed this as a day of fasting and prayer, the especial cause being the rather too rapid marching this way of the 'ruthless foe.' We are to pray that they may be defeated, driven back and our righteous cause prevail. the voices of prayer are heard in every church in the city. From over the hills, the cannons boom, boom, and in the skies above there are mighty thunderings, the rumblings of God's chariot wheels."

Source: Mills Lane, Georgia History written by Those who lived It (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1995), p. 169.

1865 Eliza Frances Andrews' diatribes against Yankees were replaced by something closer to home and much more important on this day:

"June 10. Saturday. Our pleasant evening had a sad termination. We went to our rooms at twelve o'clock, and I had just stretched myself out for a good night's rest when mother came to the door and said that father was very ill. I sprang to the floor and went to get a light and hunt for the laudanum bottle. . . . A man of father's age and feeble health cannot well stand a severe attack of illness, and I felt cold with terror every time I thought of the possibility that he might die. Oh, how I reproached myself for being so often disrespectful about his politics, and I solemnly vow I will never say anything to vex him again. He is the dearest, best old father that ever lived, and I have talked dreadfully to him sometimes, and now I am so sorry. . . ." Her father, Judge Garnett Andrews, recovered from this illness and lived another eight years.

Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 297-297.