Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

March 13

1736 From St. Augustine, Don Francisco de Moral Sanchez, governor of Spanish Florida, wrote James Oglethorpe complaining about English settlements and forts in lands long claimed by Spain.

Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine

1865 At the Confederate Capitol in Richmond, Va., the Senate approved by a single vote a bill authorizing the recruitment of black soldiers into the Confederate army [click here to view act]. The House had already approved the bill, which was then sent to Pres. Jefferson Davis, who signed it immediately.

In November 1864, Jefferson Davis addressed the Confederate Congress calling for "the enrollment of 40,000 negroes to be employeed as pioneer and engineer laborers."

Davis urged that these slaves be purchased from their owners and then freed at the end of their service. Davis' call prompted considerable controversy, but following Confederate losses at Franklin, Nashville, and Savannah in late 1864, the fall of Fort Fisher in January 1865, the failure of the Hampton Roads peace conference on Feb. 3, 1865, and the continuing desertions of southern soldiers, opinions about arming slaves began to change for some. Several Confederate generals--including Robert E. Lee--called for using slaves to fill the ranks of decimated Confederate armies, with Lee recommending that any slaves who agreed to fight for the South should be freed when the war was over (though the legislation that would pass on March 13, 1865, made no provision for freeing any blacks who joined as soldiers).

In Georgia, with a few exceptions, there had been no serious thought of arming slaves until Sherman's march through the state. However, by late 1864 and early 1865, an earnest debate was underway. Newspaper editorials about black soldiers in the Confederate ranks were split on the issue, while Gov. Joseph E. Brown was adamantly opposed. Some Georgians who had earlier opposed the plan were changing their minds, convinced that southern independence could only be secured by arming slaves and providing for their emancipation after the war. [For an examination of attitudes in Georgia on allowing slaves to serve in combat, see Philip D. Dillard, "The Confederate Debate Over Arming Slaves: Views from Macon and Augusta Newspapers," The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. LXXIX, No. , Spring 1995).

Throughout the South, several thousand blacks reportedly enlisted following passage of the March 13 act, but by now it was too late for the South. Just four weeks later, Lee surrender to Gen. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia.

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

1933 In downtown Atlanta, four major banks reopened after a three-day "holiday" decreed by Gov. Eugene Talmadge on Mar. 6, subsequently extended by Pres. Franklin Roosevelt.

All banks were directed to prevent large withdrawals without specific statements on how the money would be spent.

1957 After citizens of Calhoun and Gordon County purchased and deeded to the state 220 acres of land encompassing the original site of New Echota, the official capital of the Cherokee Nation before removal, the Georgia Assembly authorized the governor to provide $250,000 over two years to be used in the reconstruction of New Echota as a state historic site. [Click here and here for more information on New Echota State Historic Site.]

1957 Gov. Marvin Griffin signed a joint resolution in which the General Assembly "impeached" U.S. Supreme Court chief justice Earl Warren and associate justices Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, Thomas Clark, Felix Frankfurter, and Stanley Reed. The resolution further called on Georgia's congressional delegation to institute formal impeachment charges against the justices in the U.S. House of Representatives. Though nothing came of the efforts by Griffin and the General Assembly, "Impeach Earl Warren" outdoor signs were quickly erected across the South by whites uphappy at the Warren Court's decisions in the two Brown vs. Board of Education decisions in 1954 and 1955. These signs could still be seen across the South until Warren retired from the bench in 1969.

1957 Gov. Marvin Griffin signed Georgia's first water pollution control act. The legislation created a Water Quality Council to regulate wastewater treatment facilities.

1996 The International Wildlife Coalition and the U.S. Humane Society charged the U.S. Navy with causing the death of five or six right whales during war games off the coast of Georgia and Florida. According to the groups, some of the whales died from concussions from gunnery practice and bomb explosions, while others died from being scrapped by naval vessels. The Navy denied responsibility for the deaths.

With only 300 still living, the right whale is the most endangered species of large whale. Its calving grounds are off the coast of Georgia and northern Florida.

1999 Before a soldout crowd in New York's Madison Square Garden, Atlanta's Evander Holyfield battled Britain's Lennox Lewis for the unified world boxing champtionship.

Evander Holyfield (left) and Lennox Lewis (right)

At age 36, Holyfield went into the match with a record of 36 wins (25 by knockout) and 3 losses. Lewis, 33, had a record of 34 wins (27 by knockout) and 1 loss. Holyfield was world heavyweight champion of the International Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Association titles, while Lewis held the World Boxing Council title. Everyone expected one fighter to emerge holding all three titles as the first unified world boxing champion since 1992. But that was not to be. Lewis threw many more punches than Holyfield and never appeared in danger of being knocked down, but in a decision booed by the crowd, one judge gave the match to Lewis, one to Holyfield, and one had it a draw. The 12-round fight ened in a controversial draw. For the fight, Holyfield won $20 million, compared to Lewis's $10 million.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1764 Savannah merchant James Habersham wrote to Georgia's colonial agent William Knox concerning the terms of the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War. Under this treaty, Spain ceded East and West Florida to England, while France ceded all lands east of the Mississippi River (except New Orleans) to England. In this letter, Habersham expressed concern that Georgia's southern boundary was not being moved to include parts of Florida, and he expressed satisfaction that the French would no longer be Georgia's neighbors [contrast this with the letter a mere eight years later (see March 12 "In Their Own Words" entry) in which revolutionary fervor is building -- which would lead to an alliance with France against England]:

". . . It is with concern we find that the Boundary of this Province is confined to St. Mary's [River], the method by which it was effected, considering the behaviour of those concerned, is no ways surprising to us. The Cession of New Orleans and the Lands West of the River Mississippi to Spain yields us great satisfaction, as we the hopefull indeed pretty well assured the Spaniards will prove more advantageous and less turbulent Neighbors, than we should have found the French to be. . . ."

Source: Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. VI, The Letters of the Hon. James Habersham, 1756-1775 (Savannah: Georgia Historical Society, 1904), p. 18.

1861 After Georgia's secession, many Georgia militia units left for newly established training camps to be organized into regiments and prepare for active duty. From one such camp in Augusta, Maurice O'Callaghan wrote to his friend Johnny Perkins:

"I received your kind letter this morning and you may rest assured that it give[s] me no less joy than if it had been from my Brother, for I cherish a true friend. As [for] myself, Johnny, I will give you a small history of my new home. For our subsistence we have what the boys call wasp-nest bread -- it is a baker's bread -- and one piece of fat meat three times a day and coffee three twixt twice a day. Second, we drill three times a day with muskets that weights 17 [pounds] each. We have a jolly time here. There is 200 soldiers here now. You just ought to see us with our red shirts on and caps on. We look more like British than Southern soldiers. We are going to pitch our tents in a few days on the parade ground, where every man will cook for himself. This will suit me very well, for I do not think our cook is the cleanest in the world now how.

"Johnny, as I have to rise in the morn at daybreak and ought to have went to bed at 9 o'clock but have stole time on the office of [the] day to the amount of about an hour, I must close. I want you to tell all the boy[s] to write me, such as Alf and Job. Give them my best wishes. Oh, I had liked to have forgot Miss Coffer, my little sweetheart. Tell [her] howdy for me and keep her for me, for she is the only one I can claim in that part, for Miss Ollie has forgot me or at least I think so from the way she has treated me. I wrote her a letter, and she did not answer and as after I have her ample time to do so. Then I studied a while and said farewell. . . ."

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. 2-4.

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