Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

August 10

1774 Despite Gov. James Wright's August 5 proclamation prohibiting any public meetings to address grievances against British colonial policies, about 30 Georgia patriots assembled at Tondee's Tavern in Savannah. There, a series of eight resolutions opposing British policies were adopted.

1776 The Declaration of Independence was read to the citizens of Savannah. A copy had arrived in Georgia two days earlier and been read to the Council of Safety.

1807 In Louisville, then Georgia's capital, drawings began for Georgia's second land lottery, which gave additional territory to Baldwin and Wilkinson counties.

1814 William L. Yancey was born in Warren County, Georgia. He would become a prominent leader in the secession movement in Alabama. Yancey died on July 27, 1863. 

1864 The artillery bombardment of Atlanta escalated. At 5 p.m. Union batteries began firing new 4 1/2-inch rifled cannon, with each weapon fired every five minutes. After Sherman complained about not hearing the guns fire, the frequency of shelling increased. That night, Sherman wrote Gen. Howard, "Let us destroy Atlanta and make it a desolation."

1901 Former Confederate general Gilbert Sorrel died in Roanoke, Va. [See Feb. 23 entry for biographical information on Savannah-born Sorrel.]

1909 Gov. Joseph M. Brown signed an act making it illegal to "wilfully [sic] or falsely utter or circulate any defamatory words or statements derogatory to the fair fame or reputation for virtue of any virtuous female." Violation of the law was punishable as a misdemeanor.

1910 The General Assembly adopted a joint resolution appropriating $2,500 to a fund-raising campaign by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to erect a monument to Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in Dalton, Georgia. The UDC chose to place the monument (see photo) in Dalton because it was here that Johnston assumed command of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, which was quartered in Dalton during the winter of 1863-64.

1921 Gov. Thomas Hardwick signed legislation enacting Georgia's first motor fuel tax of one cent per gallon. The new tax was not an excise tax as such but rather an occupation tax on fuel distributors (defined by the law as anyone who imports or manufacturers motor fuel). However, it was a tax that distributors presumably would pass on to the gas stations, who would pass it on to motorists. The law contained no provision for earmarking the new tax for construction of highways.

1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in Georgia for his thirty-third visit to his "second home." This was a brief two-day campaign visit; he delivered two major speeches the follwing day - See August 11 entry.

1949 Georgia-born Ezzard Charles knocked out Gus Lesnovich in the eighth round at Yankee Stadium in his first world heavyweight title defense.
 
 

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1738 William Stephens recorded the search for a missing man [see August 9 entry]:

"The Horsemen went out several Ways toward those Parts where the Man had lost himself, and continued their Search all Day, firing Pistols, and calling frequently on each other; but returned in the Evening without Success; and the Indians who went out with them continued Abroad all Night, endeavouring to find some Track of him; but our Hopes began to fail of making any good Discovery. . . ."

Source: William Stephens, A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia (London: 1742) as reprinted (no city cited: Readex Microprint Corp.,1966) Vol. I, pp. 259-260.

1864 From a hospital in Griffin, Ga., Confederate soldier John Davis wrote to his wife and children:

"Oh, my dear. I can't express myself to you. I am here in a helpless condition, suffering pain indescribable and no hand of a loving Wife to sooth my pain. . . . Where the ball entered my side, the wound is about the size of a silver dollar. It is so sore I can't walk. . . .

"My dear Mary, I am anxious to know where Joel [apparently their son] is. . . . I will say to you if he has not gone to my regiment, don't let him go there. It will be a long time before I get back there. That is a hard place. If he has to go anywhere before I get home, he had better sign to the Georgia state troops. . . .Keep him at home if you [can] until I come. . . . I have no inclination to screen him from service. I know our country has called for all to defend our homes, and he must go to some place. We have to sacrifice our Sons in our country's cause. If we die in our country's cause, it will be an honorable death. It is now liberty or death. Let us defend our homes and loved ones. . . ."

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. 328.

1864 As bad as the situation was for the Confederates defending Atlanta, Sherman had his own problems, as he indicated in a letter written this day to Gen. Grant:

"Your dispatch of the 9th [urging Sherman to use blacks for non-combat duties] is received. It is to replace our daily losses that I propose that all recruits made daily in the Western States instead of accumulating at depots, should at once come to Nashville and be sent here on the cars, which can bring 400 a day without interfering with freights. . . . My lines are now ten miles long, extending from the Augusta road on the left, round to East Point on the south. I cannot extend more without making my lines too weak. We are in close contact and skirmishing all the time. I have just got up four 4 1/2-inch rifled guns with ammunition, and propose to expend about 4,000 rifled shot in the heart of Atlanta. . . . Since July 28 General Hood has not attempted to meet us outside of his parapets. In order to possess and destroy effectually his communications I may have to leave a corps at the railroad bridge well intrenched [sic], and cut loose with the balance and make a desolating circle around Atlanta. I do not propose to assault the works, which are too strong, or to proceed by regular approaches. I have lost a good many regiments and will lost more by the expiration of service, and this is the only reason why I want re-enforcements. I have killed, crippled, and captured more of the enemy that we have lost by his acts."

Source: U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (originally printed 1891, reprinted by The National Historical Society, 1971), Part 5, Vol. 38, p. 447.
 
 

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia

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