Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

April 10

1702 In London, Theophilus Oglethorpe died at age 51. This left Eleanor Oglethorpe to raise their seven surviving children -- including five-year-old James Oglethorpe.

1735 Button Gwinnett was born in Gloucester, England (though one source indicates April 10 as the date of his baptism in St. Catherine's Church). [Click here for a biographical profile of Gwinnett.]

1806 Religious leader and Confederate general Leonidas Polk was born in Raleigh, N.C. He resigned shortly after entering West Point to follow a religious career. He became an Episcopal minister and eventually was made a bishop. He also was a principal founder of the the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Polk joined the Confederate cause in June 1861 as a major general in command of Confederate Military Department 2 (Red River to Kentucky). Replaced by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, Polk commanded a corps at the battles of Shiloh and Perryville. In Oct. 1862, he was promoted to Lt. Gen. and served at the battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga. Because of disagreements with Gen. Braxton Bragg, Polk was transferred to command of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. During Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, Polk commanded his own corps. On June 14, 1864, Polk was killed by Union artillery fire at Pine Mountain prior to the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

1862 Union Gen. David Hunter demanded the surrender of Fort Pulaski and its garrison of 365 men and 24 officers.When Col. Charles Olmstead refused, Federal forces opened fire with a heavy bombardment.

1926 Comedian Junior Samples, who convincingly played the barely literate bumpkin on the long-running TV series "Hee Haw," was born in Cummings, Ga. He died of a heart attack on Nov. 13, 1983

1947 Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major league baseball when the Brooklyn Dodgers bought his contract from the Montreal Royals of the International League. Robinson appeared in a Dodger uniform the next day, though he would not actually play until April 15.

1949 After being used for 78 years, the last street car in Atlanta took its final run in the early morning hours. Riding on this sentimental run were various city and county officials and street-car lovers.

1949 Sam Snead won the Masters golf tournament. [Click here to read the story of his win.]

1960 Arnold Palmer won his second Masters golf tournament [Click here to read the story of his win.]

1961 At age 25, Gary Player became the first non-U.S. golfer to win the Masters golf tournament. The South African won by a single stroke over defending champion Arnold Palmer and amateur Charles Coe (who shot a 72-hole total of 280, the lowest Masters score for an amateur up to that time). [Click here to ready the story of his win.]

1977 Tom Watson won the Masters golf tournament. [Click here to read the story of his win.]

1982 The Atlanta Braves' record season-opening streak of wins continued with the fourth victory, as the Braves defeated Houston 8-6. In the first two innings, the Braves scored five runs. Brett Butler would cross the plate three times in the game, which was won by pitcher Larry McWilliams.

1988 Likely, some Georgia football fans must have groaned upon hearing the news that on this evening, former Bulldog Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker was going to perform with the Fort Worth Ballet. 

2005 Tiger Woods joined Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus as the only person to win at least four Masters golf championships when he won the 2005 tournament with a birdie putt on the first sudden death hole. Read the story here.
 
 
 

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1822 New England lawyer Jeremiah Evarts wrote in his diary while visiting Georgia:

"Wednesday, April 10. Left Savannah 1/4 before 11 in my sulky, after having made many calls, written letters and transacted business. There is a little colony of Dutch or Germans at Ebenezer, 26 miles from Savannah, on a pleasing emisence, 50 feet above the river. Here is a respectable looking church, the bricks of which it is built having been brought from Europe. The clergyman preaches in the language of the people every Sabbath and cannot preach in english. It is said that the younger members of the settlement cannot understand the language of their fathers, which fast going out of use."

Source: Edward J. Cashin (ed.), A Wilderness Still the Cradle of Nature: Frontier Georgia (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1944), p. 64.

1855 In her journal, Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas gave the following respectful, yet humorous, account of the wedding of two slaves, soon after her own marriage. She also mentions the presence of a famous author at the same event:

"Tuesday, April 10, 1855 - In the afternoon went over to see Tamah married and heard Sam Drayton preach. He is one of the most intelligent Negroes I have ever met with, and has a decidedly fine command of language. Dr. and Mrs. Longstreet [referring to Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, author of Georgia Scenes], Mr. Carmichael, Mrs. Harris, Mr. Thomas and I beside the Segos were present. The bridegroom just awakened from a sleep he had been taking during the sermon, had his witts woolgathered and looked quite faint. He took the bride's arm and she being taller than he, it looked as if the order of 'to obey' should have been changed..."

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. 121.

1865 From Cuthbert, Ga., where she was visiting, Eliza Frances Andrews wrote in her journal about the end of the Civil War:

". . . The tableaux club met at Mrs. Joyner's in the evening. Metta and I will not be in Cuthbert long enough to take part in the entertainment, but were admitted to the rehearsal. After the rehearsal some one suggested that we should go out serenading. There were several good voices in the party, and after calling at one or two private houses, somebody said it would be a good idea to go and cheer up the soldiers in the Hood Hospital, which was but a block or two away, with some war songs. The poor fellows were so delighted when they heard us that all who were able, dressed themselves and came out on the terraces, while others crowded to the windows and balconies. They sent a shower of roses down on us, and threw with them slips of paper with the names of the songs they wished to hear. We gave them first: 'Cheer, boys, cheer, we march away to battle," which pleased them so much that they called for it a second time. Then some one struck up 'Vive L'Amour,' and Mett gave an impromptu couplet: 'Here's to the boys in Confederate gray, Vive la compagnie, Who never their country nor sweethearts betray, Vive, etc.' While the soldiers were clapping and shouting the chorus, two good lines popped into my head, and when the noise had subsided a little, I sang: 'Here's a toast to the boys who go limping on crutches, Vive la compagnie, They have saved our land from the enemies' clutches, Vive, etc.' I waved my hand at a group of brave fellows leaning on crutches, as I finished, and a regular rebel yell went up from the hospital grounds. Flowers were rained down from the windows, and I never was so delighted in my life - to think that my little knack of stringing rhymes together had served some good purpose for once. The soldiers clapped and shouted and rattled their crutches together, and one big fellow standing near me threw up his battered old war hat, and cried out: 'Bully for you! give us some more!' and then I added: 'Here's death to the men who wear Federal blue, They are cowardly, cruel, perfidious, untrue,' etc. But after all, it looks as if the wretches are going to bring death, or slavery that is worse than death, to us. We may sing and try to put on a brave face, but alas! who can tell what the end of it all is to be?

Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl: 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 139-141.

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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