Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

May 13

1740 James Oglethorpe's invasion force of Spanish Florida reached the St. Johns River, where they found Col. Vanderdusen and part of the Carolina regiment, as well as Lt. Col. Cook from St. Simons Island.

1760 In London, the Lords of Trade appointed James Wright Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. Wright would not arrive in the colony until October.

1775 Lyman Hall arrived in Philadelphia as the representative of Georgia's St. John's Parish to the Second Continental Congress.

1798 A convention meeting at Louisville adopted a new state constitution for Georgia – the Constitution of 1798.

1864 At 5 a.m., Union troops left behind to take Mill Creek Gap through Rocky Face Ridge were unopposed as they marched through gap into Dalton.

Union Troops Marching Towards Mill Creek Gap

Finding the Confederate rear guard had just pulled out for Resaca, the Union troops set off in pursuit. Around 9 a.m., they caught up with the rear guard and engaged in a minor skirmish.

Meanwhile to the south, the first fighting at Resaca was taking place as Union forces began testing the strength and location of Confederate defenses.

Click here for a summary of fighting at Resaca on May 13.

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

1865 Col. B.B. Eggleston, Union commander of Atlanta, issued an order directing owners or employers of blacks to provide them with proper passes, and further stipulating that any black found in the city limits of Atlanta without a pass would be arrested.

1913 Detectives investigating the murder of Mary Phagan were reported to be on the verge of making a new arrest – one "which would throw an entirely new light upon the case." Meanwhile rumors were swirling about the notes found near the body of Mary Phagan. Samples of her handwriting had been collected, and handwriting experts brought in. Click here for a detailed accounting of the case.

1957 The first commercial jet – a French Caravelle – landed at Atlanta Municipal Airport.

Atlanta Municipal Airport, 1957

The Caravelle jet flew in from Washington D.C. at an average speed of 386 miles an hour. The 547-mile flight took 78 minutes – almost half the time for a prop plane. The introduction of jet passenger service to Atlanta was a special flight sponsored by Delta Airlines and would help make the case for building a larger and more modern airport for Atlanta.

1977 One day after finally ending a 17-game losing streak, manager Dave Bristol returned from his scouting trip to take over the helm of the Atlanta Braves. Unfortunately, the Braves returned to their previous ways, losing in a shut-out to the St. Louis Cardinals. The season would end for the Braves with a dismal record of 61 wins and 101 losses.

1998 Atlanta Braves outfielder Ryan Klesko hit a home run in a 10-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals to tie the Major League team record of 25 consecutive games in which a home run was hit. Klesko's homer also gave the Braves a new National League record for consecutive home run games.

2005 The Pentagon announced its recommendation of U.S. military base closures to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC). The list included four bases in Georgia – Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Fort Gillem in Forest Park, the Naval Air Station in Marietta, and the Naval Supply Corps School in Athens. Subsequently, BRAC approved the Pentagon's recommendations and in September 2005 sent its list to President Bush, who in turn approved the list and submitted it to Congress in November 2005. Congress had the opportunity to veto the entire list but instead approved the complete list of base closures. The Defense Department was then given until Sept. 15, 2011, to implement the base closures.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1791 On his second day in Savannah, Pres. George Washington was busy but recorded only the following in his diary:

"Friday, 13th. Dined with the Members of the Cincinnati [the Society of the Cincinnati, a military society consisting of officers who had fought in the Continental Army during the Revolution] at a public dinner given at the same place, and in the evening with to a dancing Assembly at which there was about 100 well dressed and handsome ladies."

Source:John C. Fitzpatrick (ed.), The Diaries of George Washington: 1748-1799 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1925), pp. 176-177.

1865 Eliza Frances Andrews continued to bemoan the situation following the defeat of the Confederacy:

"A favorite topic of conversation at this time is what we are going to do for a living. Mary Day has been working assiduously at paper cigarettes to sell the Yankees. I made some myself, with the same intention, but we both gave them all away to the poor Confederates as fast as we could roll them. It is dreadful to be so poor, but somehow, I can't suppress a forlorn hope that it won't last always, and that a time may come when we will laugh at all these troubles even more heartily than we do now. But although we laugh, I sometimes feel in my heart more like crying, and I am afraid that father speaks the truth when he says that things are more likely to become worse than better."

Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 250-251.

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