Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

May 10

1733 In London, Georgia's Trustees issued a warrant authorizing the Parish Church of Saint Margaret at Westminster to raise funds in support of the new colony of Georgia. [Click here to view facsimile of warrant.] Saint Margaret's was the parish in which James Oglethorpe lived during his stays in London.

1738 Georgia's Trustees formally approved George Whitefield to replace John Wesley as the Anglican minister at Savannah. Eager to begin, Whitefield had sailed for Georgia two months earlier, arriving May 7, 1738 -- three days before his appointment became official.

1775 News of the Battle of Lexington reached Savannah, leading not only to patriot celebrations but a raid on the royal powder magazine, where 600 pounds of gun powder were seized to be sent to Boston.

1838 From the Cherokee Agency in southern Tennessee, U.S. Army general Winfield Scott issued an order stating that every Cherokee remaining in the Cherokee Nation must begin the emigration west within two weeks. [Click here for text of order.]

1863 Following his accidental wounding at Chancellorsville by Confederate troops, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson died on this day Although not a Georgian, he was the second best-known general in the Confederate Army -- and his death was mourned throughout the South.

1864 Planter and politician Thomas Butler King died in Waresboro, Ga. Born Aug. 27, 1800 in Palmer, Mass., King was educated at an academy in Massachusetts, after which he read law and passed the bar in Pennsylvania. In his early 20s, King moved to Glynn County, Ga. to join his brother, who was a sea island planter. There, he married the daughter of a wealthy planter. By mid-1830, King had become very successful himself, owning three plantations and 355 slaves. In 1832, he was elected to the Georgia Senate, and in 1838 to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he would serve five terms (1839-43, 1845-51). In Congress, King was active in reorganizing the U.S. Navy, establishing an Atlantic fleet, and pushing the transition from sail- to steam-powered vessels. After brief involvement in California politics and promoting a Texas-to-California railroad, King returned to Georgia to promote in-state railroads. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Gov. Brown appointed King as a commissioner to promote direct trade between Georgia and European countries. King immediately left for Europe, where he had unofficial meetings in Britain and France. When Confederate representatives took on this responsibility in 1862, King returned to Georgia, where he was active in state and Confederate politics until his death in 1864.

1865 Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis was captured by Union troops at Irwinsville, Ga. [Click here to view a Library of Congress web page on Davis' capture.]

1884 The Georgia Marble Company was founded in Tate, Georgia.

1913 The Atlanta Constitution reported that ex-policeman Robert House had said he once caught Leo Frank and a young girl in the woods at Druid Hills park engaging in immoral acts. According to House, Frank had pleaded with him not to report the incident. Click here for a detailed accounting of the case.

1992 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter met with Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev at the Carter Center in Atlanta to discuss Center projects and the formation of a Gorbachev Foundation.

1998 Andres Galarraga, Andruw Jones, Javier Lopez, and Ryan Klesko hit home runs to give the Atlanta Braves an 8-5 home win over the San Diego Padres. The home run derby also was the 22nd consecutive game in which the Braves hit at least one home run--which tied the Braves franchise record set in 1953. This brought the Braves within two games of the National League record and three games of the Major League record for most consecutive games in which a home run is hit.

2006 Former Georgia State School Superintendent Linda Schrenko pled guilty to defrauding the government and money laundering; she used federal education money to help fund her unsuccessful bid for governor in 2002.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1838 From the Cherokee Agency, Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott delivered an ultimatum [click here for full text] to the Cherokees remaining in northern Georgia -- they had to go west, and they had to go now:

"Cherokees! The President of the United States has sent me with a powerful army, to cause you, in obedience to the treaty of 1835 [the Treaty of New Echota], to join that part of your people who have already established in prosperity on the other side of the Mississippi. . . .

My friends! This is no sudden determination on the part of the President, whom you and I must now obey. By the treaty, the emigration was to have been completed on or before the 23rd of this month; and the President has constantly kept you warned, during the two years allowed, through all his officers and agents in this country, that the treaty would be enforced.

I am come to carry out that determination. . . ."

Source: Edward J. Cashin (ed.), A Wilderness Still The Cradle of Nature: Frontier Georgia (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1994), pp. 137-38.

1864 What today would be easily handled in hospital emergency rooms was quite a different story. During the Civil War, wounds to a limb frequently resulted in amputation as the best treatment. In some cases, however, amputation was not even a life-saving option, as evidence by the following letter from Harmon Robinson. Robinson, who served in the 8th Georgia Regiment, was apparently mortally wounded in battle against Grant in Virginia on the previous Friday. At a Union hospital, Robinson dictated a letter to his sisters back in Georgia, which included the following excerpt:

"While lying here under the shad of these pines, I am having this man [Union soldier James E. Smith] write a few lines to you to let you know that on last Friday I had the great misfortune to get a very severe wound in the battle of that day by a minie ball. It passed through my left hip very high up and smashed it very badly, and it is so high up that doctor says he can't do anything for me. . . .The surgeon told me today that there was no hopes of my living. But while there is still life, there is still hopes. . . .

[Smith then closed the letter by stating] "Now he don't tell me anything more to write, so I must close by saying farewell for him to you."

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), p. 290.

1865 After the surrender of General Johnston's army in North Carolina on Apr. 26, even more Confederate soldiers passed through Washington, Ga. on their way home. Eliza Frances Andrews recorded her feelings about them, showing one way for easing the pain of defeat:

"Johnston's army is now in full sweep. The town is thronged with them from morn till night, and from night till morning. They camp in our grove by whole companies, but never do any mischief. I love to look out of my windows in the night and see their camp fires burning among the trees and their figures moving dimly in and out among the shadows, like protecting spirits. I love to lie awake and hear the sound of their voices talking and laughing over their hard experiences. Metta and I often go out to the gate after supper and sing the old rebel songs that we know will please them."

Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 239-240.