Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

April 24

1722 At age 25, James Oglethorpe killed a man in a tavern. According to the April 25, 1722 issue of the London Daily Journal:

"Yesterday Morning about 6 of the Clock James Oglethorpe, Esq., lately chosen at Haslemere in Surrey a Representative for the new Parliament, had the misfortune to go into a Night-House of evil Reput, without Temple-Bar (being overcome with Wine), where mixing with a promiscuous Company of Hackney-Coachmen, Shoe-Blackers, and Linkmen, Mr. Oglethorpe missed a piece of Gold, and charging a Link Fellow with having taken it from him, high Words arose, and the Linkman struck Mr. Oglethorpe several Blows with his Link, who resenting such usage drew his Sword and gave the Fellow a mortal Wound in the Breast, for which he was seiz'd and carried before Mr. Justice Street, who committed him to the Gate-House."

There is no record of whether Oglethorpe was charged or what happened in his case. Likely, he claimed self-defense and was released.

1802 Meeting in Washington, D.C., a panel consisting of James Madison, Albert Gallatin, and Levi Lincoln representing the U.S. and Abraham Baldwin, James Jackson, and John Milledge representing Georgia signed an agreement whereby Georgia ceded all territories west of its present boundaries to the U.S. In return, the United States agreed to (1) pay Georgia a total of $1,250,000; (2) assume responsibility for extinguishing all Indian claims to land within Georgia; and (3) recognize all British and Spanish grants to residents of the Mississippi Territory executed before Oct. 22, 1795.

1955 Politician Jack Kingston was born in Bryan, Texas. Kingston graduated from the University of Georgia in 1978, then became a successful insurance agent in Savannah. He was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1984, where he served four consecutive terms. In 1992 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Georgia's first district, a position he has held since.

1975 Elvis Presley appeared in concert at Macon's Coliseum. This was the second of four times that Presley would perform in Macon during his career.

1979 Gov. George Busbee signed a joint resolution of the General Assembly [see text] designating "Georgia On My Mind" as Georgia's official state song.

1999 In 1956, the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame was created to honor high school athletes and coaches. In 1963, its focus expanded to include all sports. However, until 1999, a Georgia Sports Hall of Fame existed on paper only. Each year, a new round of former sports greats were inducted at an annual banquet in Atlanta, but there never was an actual facility housing the hall of fame. That ended on April 24, 1999, when grand opening ceremonies were held in Macon for the new 43,000-square-foot home of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1862 In the Civil War, many soldiers on both sides would die from wounds received in battle. Even more, however, died from illness and disease. One such fatality was Georgian Samuel Lovelace, who died at Bethel Springs, Tenn., as described in this letter from J.C. Curtwright to Lovelace's parents:

"It is with sadness I inform you of the death of your dear son Samuel. He was taken violently sick three days ago. All thought it was measles but from the malignity of the disease I think it was typhus fever. I wrote you the day he was taken sick, and on yesterday I sent you a dispatch stating he was quite sick with measles. But then I thought he was some better. After that a scorching fever came on him, which lasted until 6 o'clock this morning, when he died. He was conscious all the time and expressed a willingness to die. If I was well, I would write you fully about his character and sickness. I can safety say I never knew a better boy than Samuel Lovelace, a Christian and gentleman in all his intercourse with everyone. he had not been with us but a few days until he got the title of 'the best boy in the world.' Everything that could be done for him was done. I will send his books to you. I mourn with you in this terrible bereavement. As soon as I get able [I] will write you fully."

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. 116.

1865 In Washington, Ga., Eliza Andrews recorded in her journal the arrival of the first groups of returning Georgia soldiers who had served with Robert E. Lee at the time of his surrender two weeks earlier:

"The shattered remains of Lee's army are beginning to arrive. There is an endless stream passing between the transportation office and the depot, and trains are going and coming at all hours. The soldiers bring all sorts of rumors and keep us stirred up in a state of never-ending excitement. Our avenue leads from the principal street on which they pass, and great numbers stop to rest in the grove. Emily is kept busy cooking rations for them, and pinched as we are ourselves for supplies, it is impossible to refuse anything to the men that have been fighting for us. Even when they don't ask for anything the poor fellows look so tired and hungry that we feel tempted to give them everything we have. . . ."

Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 181-182.

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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