Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

May 1

1738 In London, the Trustees received a committee report that a total of £908 had been raised for building churches in Georgia. They then directed that an engineer make an estimate of the cost for building a church at Savannah.

1748 John Percival, Earl of Egmont and chronicler (through a journal and private diary) of the Georgia Trustees, died. See July 12 entry for biographical information.

1863 Confederate general Edward Dorr Tracy was killed in the Battle of Port Gibson, Miss. Born Nov. 5, 1833 in Macon, Ga., Tracy became a lawyer. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the 4th Alabama as a captain and was present at the Battle of First Manassas. In Oct. 1861, he was appointed a lieutenant colonel is the 19th Alabama and served at the Battle of Shiloh and in the defense of eastern Tennessee. In Aug. 1862, Tracy was promoted to brigadier general.

1863 Georgia got a new national flag as the Confederate Congress adopted legislation changing the Confederate national flag from the Stars and Bars to the Second National Flag -- which employed a small Confederate battle flag as a canton on a field of white and was popularly known in the South as the Stainless Banner.

1886 Jefferson Davis attended the unveiling of a monument to Ben Hill in downtown Atlanta. Hill had served in the Confederate Senate and had been an ally and supporter of Davis. During his journey from his home on the Mississippi coast to Atlanta, Davis had been greeted by crowds eager to see and cheer the former president of the Confederacy. In Atlanta, a crowd of 100,000 -- including much of the city's white population -- turned out for the unveiling of the Hill monument, which was located at the intersection of Peachtree and West Peachtree streets. Later, Hill's monument was moved to the interior of Georgia's state capitol, where it remains today [see photo].

1903 Politician and educator Melvin Thompson was born in Millen, Georgia. Thompson began his career in Georgia's public school system, working as a teacher and administrator from 1926-1937. He then worked for the State Department of Education for seven years, where he became knowledgeable of the political process through his attempts to secure passage of educational legislation. Thompson was a major organizer of Gov. Ellis Arnall's 1942 campaign, and Arnall rewarded him with an appointment as his executive secretary before appointing him state revenue commissioner in 1945. Thompson was elected lieutenant governor in 1946, the first to hold this newly created position.

But a storm of controversy soon followed this election, as Thompson became embroiled in Georgia's infamous Three Governors Controversy after election winner Eugene Talmadge's death before he could be inaugurated. Three different men claimed to be Georgia's rightful governor, but eventually Thompson was declared governor by the Georgia Supreme Court. Thompson served for less than two years before losing to Herman Talmadge in a special election in 1948. Two other attempts at running for governor were unsuccessful, before Thompson retired to Valdosta to operate a successful real estate business. He died in Valdosta October 3, 1980. His major accomplishments as governor were an increase in teachers' salaries and the purchase of Jekyll Island, but he will always be noted for his unanticipated and unwilling role in the 1946 gubernatorial election controversy.

1913 In Atlanta, John Gantt and Arthur Mullinax, no longer suspects in the murder of Mary Phagan, were released from custody. Newt Lee and Leo Frank were still being held in the Fulton County jail. Although the local media apparently did not know it (or at least didn't report it) a third man was arrested around 2:00 p.m. on May 1. Jim Conley, a sweeper at the factory, was discovered trying to rinse out a soiled shirt. Upon further investigation the stains on his shirt proved to be blood.

1928 Pitcairn Aviation began regular air mail flights between Atlanta to New York.

1930 Frankin D. Roosevelt arrived in Warm Springs, Ga. for his nineteenth visit to his "second home."

1932 While visiting Warm Springs, Franklin D. Roosevelt led a dedication ceremony for a new cottage he had built for his stays there. This was the cottage that came to be known as the "Little White House."

1975 Playing for the Milwaukee Brewers, former Atlanta Brave Hank Aaron broke another record of Babe Ruth. Driving in two runs, Aaron broke Ruth's career RBI record of 2,209. Aaron would go on to knock in a total of 2,297 career runs.

1982 The city of Kennesaw, Georgia passed a law requiring each household to keep a firearm and ammunition.

1997 Gov. Zell Miller signed legislation designating the Georgia Tartan the official tartan of Georgia. [Click here to read text of act.]

1999 University of Georgia female track star Debbie Ferguson was presented the Jackie Joiner-Kersee Award for 1999. This recognition, bestowed on the top female in college track and field in the nation, is considered the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.

2000 The Atlanta Braves set the modern-day Braves consecutive winning streak at 14 by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1. The game witnessed a bit of comic relief. In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Dodgers were down two runs with two outs, when a Dodgers fan ran out on the field an mooned Atlanta relief pitcher John Rocker. Rocker then gave up a run -- but came back to strike out the next batter.
 
 

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1865 A darker side to the Confederacy's defeat was witnessed by two Georgia women recording similar events on this day. First, Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas recorded:

"What a first of May. It had not occurred to me until I commenced to write -- Today I have witnessed what I am sorry shall prove our last experience as a Confederate Nation -- A riot has taken place in Augusta -- an event often dreaded but never experienced before! Soon after breakfast I heard that soldiers were breaking open the stores on Broad Street and helping themselves -- Immediately after I saw numbers of men walking rapidly, some running with large bags, bundles upon their shoulders . . . . The bright dream of Southern independence has not been realised -- The war is over and again we become a part of the United States - -how united will depend alone upon treatment we receive from the hands of the North . . . ."

Source: Virginia Ingraham Burr (ed.), The Secret Eye: The Journal of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, 1848-1889 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990), p. 260.

1865 In Washington, Ga., Eliza Frances Andrews also recorded lawlessness by Confederate troops:

"The conduct of a Texas regiment in the streets this afternoon gave us a sample of the chaos and general demoralization that may be expected to follow the breaking up of our government. They raised a riot about their rations, in which they were joined by all the disorderly elements among both soldiers and citizens. First they plundered the Commissary Department, and then turned loose on the quartermaster's stores. Paper, pens, buttons, tape, cloth - everything in the building -- was seized and strewn about on the ground. . . . Col. Weem's provost guard refused to interfere, saying they were too good soldiers to fire on their comrades, and so the plundering went on unopposed. Nobody seemed to care much, as we all know the Yankees will get it in the end, any way, if our men don't."

Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), p. 193.