Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

October 9

1779 Count Casimir Pulaski was mortally wounded in battle during the siege of Savannah. He would die two days later.

1782 Lewis Cass was born in Michigan. He later became governor of Michigan, and then U.S. Senator from that state.

Lewis Cass

Cass's political beliefs were popular in the South, and in late 1832 the Georgia General Assembly named a new county after him.

1846 Map of Georgia

After the outbreak of the Civil War, Cass became a strong proponent of the Union cause. That, coupled with the death of Col. Francis Bartow at the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run), led the Georgia General Assembly on Dec. 6, 1861, to rename Cass County as Bartow County.

Francis Bartow

1868 Georgia politician and Confederate general Howell Cobb died while on a visit to New York City. See Sept. 9 entry for biographical information on Cobb.

1918 Precautionary measures against the spread of Spanish influenza in Atlanta seemed to be working as few new cases were reported. Meanwhile, the flu epidemic continued to spread through the country.

1961 Ray Charles' recording of "Hit The Road Jack" reached #1 on the pop singles chart.

1963 The Board of Regents approved the creation of a new junior college in Cobb County. This action followed local leaders promise to pick up the costs of land acquisition, road and utility improvements, and construction of the original eight buildings. On April 22, 1964, Cobb County voters went to the polls, where 88 percent of the voters approved a bond referendum providing $2.35 million for campus construction. A large federal grant supplemented the original building costs. The embryonic institution was given a variety of unofficial names until August 1965, when it officially became Kennesaw Junior College – named for the nearby mountain where a major Civil War battle had been fought a century earlier. With the campus still under construction, classes began in September 1966 in classrooms provided at Southern Tech in Marietta. The initial enrollment was 1,014 students. The KJC campus in north Cobb County was not ready for occupancy until January 9, 1967, the beginning of winter quarter. In 1977, the institution became known as Kennesaw College, and the following year it became a four-year school. In 1996, Kennesaw College was renamed Kennesaw State University.[Contributed by Dr. Tom Scott, Kennesaw State University]

1976 Campaigning in Cleveland, Jimmy Carter kept us his attack on President Ford to maintain the momentum he had gained from the second presidential debate. He challenged Ford to make his income tax return public.

1980 Twelve year old Charles Stephens was strangled to death in Atlanta. He was the latest victim in the Atlanta Child Murders case.

1995 Georgia's Sam Nunn announced he would not seek re-election for a fifth term in the U.S. Senate. Known for his expertise in American national defense, the 57-year-old Democrat from Perry indicated that he planned to "follow a new course" in his life.

Georgia towns and cities incorporated by acts approved on Oct. 9:

1891 Dennard (Houston County) and Cement (Bartow County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1734 Although Mary Musgrove is credited for the valuable work she performed interpreting during James Oglethorpe's meetings with Yamacraw and other Creek Indians, it was actually her husband – John Musgrove – who played the role of key translator during the first two years of Georgia's existence. It was he who accompanied the delegation of Yamacraw Indians to England in 1734. On this important mission, Musgrove was able to perform his duties when Tomochichi met King George II and the Archbishop of Canterbury. But, on several other occasions, Musgrove had a problem that left him ineffective as a translator, as evidenced by this entry about the Trustees' meeting on Oct. 9 from the diary of the Earl of Egmont:

"We then entered upon the most serious affair of all, which is settling a tariff of trade with the Indians, for which purpose we sent for them down, but the Interpreter [John Musgrove] was drunk and we could understand one another. . . .

"Hereupon we desire Mr. Oglethorp to see what he could settle with the Indians to-morrow when Musgrove should be sober."

Source: U.K. Historical Manuscripts Commission, Diary of the First Earl of Egmont (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1923), Vol. 2, p. 129.

1795 During the 1780s and '90s, there were frequent hostilities on Georgia's frontier due to Indian attacks on whites who had settled illegally on their lands. Sometimes, white Georgians retaliated against innocent Indians, as evidenced by this letter from Timothy Barnard to Gov. George Mathews:

"On the evening of the 7th instant, I had information of twelve Indians being killed at the station on Carr's Bluff, Oconee River, by the white people at that station and, if the one that made the escape tells the truth, without any provocation at that time. Whatever might [have] be[en] done for time past, [we] have not heard of any violations being committed on the frontiers on the part of the Indians since their meeting the Agent of Indian Affairs at Beard's Bluff on the Altamaha. If any late depredation has been committed that has been the cause of this affair at Carr's Bluff it has not yet come to my ears. . . .The first five that were missing are fellows well known all 'round about the settlement and have been generally remarked for honest, innocent fellows by the inhabitants in that quarter. They are all fellows that I myself can clear of ever meddling with the white people or their property in any respect whatsoever. Those five were all Creeks but lived among the Uchees. The other sever were all Uchees. As soon as the information arrived, I sent off to the head men of the three towns they belonged to to stop the relations of them from going out to take satisfaction but am afraid nothing will avail, as they that are killed belong to six or seven different families. . . ."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), Georgia: History written by Those who lived It (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1995), pp. 60-61.

1864 Col. Fredrick Winkler of the 26th Wisconsin Infantry wrote his wife from occupied Atlanta:

"We have had despatches of another fight at Allatoona, in which the rebels were discomfited. General Sherman has telegraphed to General Slocum that Hood was moving south and might swing around upon him; it would seem, therefore, that the road is now clear. Then there is hope ahead, and we may at least hope, before another week passes, to be in communication with our homes. We are no longer in Atlanta I received orders on Friday night to march my regiment to the Chattahoochee River bridge and there report to Colonel Smith, commanding the 1st Brigade of our division. We came down accordingly and have just got into our new camp. There is not a board here and it is very cold; we ought to have fireplaces. We were fairly driven into bed last night by the cheerless cold at seven o'clock. To-night we will sleep in our uniforms, otherwise there is no standing it. A portion of the railroad bridge was carried off by the current about a week ago, and it has been impassable ever since; thus misfortunes multiply upon this road. The repairs will be completed today.

"We are in a terribly sad state of ignorance. We know that communications are now open, but beyond that, not a word. Several persons who came from Atlanta yesterday say that it was on the bulletin board that Grant was in full possession of Richmond. It is too good to believe, we hope and we fear, and perhaps a slightly audible mortification on being cut off is indulged in. We have not a grain of forage for our horses. I have sold my extra one, as I had not half enough for my Jennie, who is no longer as round as a ball. A sort of cane that grows in the marshes, leaves and sticks must keep them alive.

"One of our couriers was waylaid between here and Atlanta and murdered by guerrillas yesterday. His dead body was found by the wayside, rifled of his arms, with one bullet through his head and one through his breast. We have to get up at four o' clock every morning now, so as to be on the alert in case the rebels should come, but they won't come here. What good would it do them? The destruction of a bridge so near to Atlanta will too poorly compensate Mr. Hood even for a trifling loss, and he has learned from experience that he cannot assault our fortified positions without very heavy loss."

Source: Civil War Letters of Major Fredrick C. Winkler, in 26th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers Home Page

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