Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

September 19

1863 The Battle of Chickamauga began marking the first major engagement between Confederate and Union troops in Georgia.

Twelve days earlier, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg had been forced to pull his Army of Tennessee out of Chattanooga. They had retreated to a point on the W&A Railroad near Ringgold, Georgia. Union Gen. William Rosecrans' Army of the Cumberland had pursued Bragg. After some skirmishes on the 18th, the two sides engaged in a major battle at Chickamauga Creek (which ironically was a Cherokee name that means either "River of Death" or "River of Blood"). Despite heavy losses on both sides, the first day's results were inconclusive.

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

1868 Philip Joiner, a black representative expelled from the Georgia General Assembly and other local Republican leaders in Albany led a 30-mile march of several hundred African Americans and a few whites to Camilla to attend a Republican political rally. However, some white Mitchell County residents were determined that the rally would not occur. As the marchers entered the courthouse square in Camilla, whites opened fire, killing at least thirteen of the marchers and wounding nearly forty. News of the Camilla Massacre flashed over telegraph wires and was reported in newspapers across the nation.

The Aug. 8, 1868, issue of Harper's Weekly contained this Thomas Nast
cartoon entitled "One Less Vote." It was part of a series of articles and
cartoons critical of white southerner's opposition to Reconstruction.

Both Republicans and Democrats used the massacre to fortify their positions on Reconstruction in the 1868 presidential campaign. [For more information, see the Digital Library of Georgia's page on the Civil Unrest in Camilla.]

1889 Prior to this day, there was no law in Georgia prohibiting the sale of cigarettes or tobacco products to children.

That changed when Gov. John B. Gordon signed an act of the General Assembly prohibiting the sale or provision of cigarettes, tobacco, or cigarette paper to minors. As written, the bill included all forms of tobacco, which meant that it was now illegal for boys to use snuff and chewing tobacco – a common practice in rural areas. Opposition to this fact led the General Assembly to amend the law to only prohibit "cigarette tobacco" in a law signed by Gov. Gordon on Nov. 4, 1889. Interestingly, an amazing number of Southerners believed that smoking was a sin – but felt there was nothing wrong with using snuff or chewing tobacco. As a result, many men and women in the South – particularly in rural areas– used smokeless tobacco.

1895 Dedication ceremonies were held for the Chickamauga National Battlefield in extreme northwest Georgia. Because thousands of Civil War veterans were expected to attend that event, organizers of the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta designated Sept. 21st as Blue and Gray Day.

1900 Chancellor Walter Bernard Hill conducted opening exercises at the University of Georgia by noting this was the centennial of the University's first graduating class.

Actually, Chancellor Hill didn't have the correct facts. The University was chartered by the General Assembly in 1785, but at that time its future campus was located on Cherokee land. It was not until 1801 that classes actually began and 1804 that the first nine students graduated.

1928 Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in Warm Springs, Georgia for his fourteenth visit to his "second home." On this trip he would finally be persuaded to run for the governorship of New York, after declining several invitations from New York Democratic officials and presidential candidate Al Smith - who hoped Roosevelt could help him carry New York. Smith did not carry New York or win the presidential election, but Roosevelt was victorious in his campaign. This marked his return to active politics (though he had been campaigning for Smith) after being stricken with polio in 1921.

1970 The U.S. Post Office Department issued a stamp commemorating the completion of the carving of the huge carving on the face of Stone Mountain showing Confederate president Jefferson Davis and generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The stamp's issuance came just over four months after formal dedication ceremonies for the carving on May 9.

1976 The Atlanta Braves named Bill Lucas Director of Player Personnel, making him the first black in baseball history to hold a front office position.

1997 Atlanta's Ted Turner announced a $1 billion donation to United Nations' charities – reportedly the largest philanthropic contribution by a single individual in world history. Prohibited from donating directly to the U.N., Turner indicated he would transfer $100 million in his Time-Warner stock each year for ten years for use by U.N.-supported charities. Turner further called on other wealthy individuals to also step forward to assist the U.N.

1998 On the 130th anniversary of the Camilla Massacre, a plaque was erected in Camilla, Georgia with the following inscription:

1998 In ceremonies attended by 1,200 people at the Georgia World Congress Center, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame held its 20th awards program. Inducted into the Hall of Fame for 1998 were:

Allman Brothers Band for best group performance
Peabo Bryson for best individual performance
J. Lee Friedman for nonperforming accomplishments
Emma Kelly, the piano player Johnny Mercer called the "Lady of 6,000 Songs" and who was featured in novel and movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," for pioneer award
Gov. Zell Miller for the Georgia Music Hall of Fame President's Merit Award

2009 Inductees into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame were:

Collective Soul
Third Day
Peter Conlon
Bryan-Michael Cox
John L. (Johnny) Carson
Roy Hamilton
Shakir Stewart
Berry Oakley

2009 A series of storms continued passing through west and north Georgia, which would eventually drop over ten inches of rain (significantly more in some areas) over much of the state. The result was severe flooding in numerous Georgia counties, some even closing interstate highways. Death tolls from the flooding would reach at least nine people. The serious flooding began in earnest on this day.

Georgia cities and towns incorporated by acts approved on Sept. 19:

1891 Hoschton (Jackson County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1738 After returning to Frederica from England, James Oglethorpe wrote the Trustees on conditions in Georgia:

"I am arrived here and find things in a better situation than I heard in England, all the Southern division of the province [Georgia] is in very good order.

"I have now told you the best. I hear that the Northern division of the province has lost near three-fourths parts of the people since I left it, some running away for fear of the Spaniards but ten for fear of debt. For the Court of Savannah has taken upon them to imprison for debt, notwithstanding the people surrender their effects. . . . I can say nothing with certainty of what has been done at Savannah, 'till I see with my own eyes. . . .I fear, if some of the people who have had misfortunes are not assisted with provisions, the misery will be too great for description. I hope you will obtain another supply [appropriation] from Parliament, and there is great hope, nay I may say no doubt, that both silk and wine will be in very short time come to perfection.

". . . I must again mention that if there is not a supply from Parliament this year, those brave fellows, who stood the worst and who 'till the arrival of the regiment were forced to be almost the whole year under arms, must starve with their families, since they could not do the duty and work at the same time. . . ."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), General Oglethorpe's Georgia: Colonial Letters, 1733-1743 (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1990), Vol. II, pp. 347-348.

1895 Reporting on the previous day's opening ceremonies for the Cotton States and International Exposition, the front page story of the Atlanta Constitution proclaimed:

"The thunder of a hundred guns just at sunset yesterday was the signal that the exposition was formally opened.

"A minute before Grover Cleveland, president of the United States, sitting in his library at Gray Gables, had touched the electric key. The sharp metallic click of the instrument being watched by 3,000 people at Atlanta, sounded clearly in response.

"The crowd cheered. The cannon thundered. The steam hissed and the machinery started.

"The south's greatest exposition was officially opened.

"Twenty-five thousand people saw the opening. The largest and longest military parade ever seen in the city marched from the city to the grounds to witness the ceremonies. Over half the states in the union were represented by distinguished representatives. Many foreign countries had representatives in line.

"The opening exercises were deeply impressive. . . . It was a scene that marked an era in the south's history. It marked the industrial awakening of a great section and initiated a new departure in the relations of its races. What was happening on the stage of the auditorium, where the opening exercises were held, possessed nothing more than the significance of a historic event.

"The first day of the great show was intensely gratifying. It far surpassed in rate of attendance and interest the highest spectations of the directory. It was a great day, a memorable day, a day to be remembered.

"It started the exposition upon a career and promises many rich triumphs to those who are bone and sinew of the enterprise."

Source: Atlanta Constitution, Sept. 19, 1895