Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

December 3

1832 Gov. Wilson Lumpkin signed legislation creating Forsyth, Lumpkin, Union, Cobb, Gilmer, Murray, Cass (later Bartow), Floyd, and Paulding counties as Georgia's 81st-89th counties respectively. All were created from Cherokee County, which consisted of all lands in Georgia then occupied by the Cherokee Nation. Because the Cherokees had not ceded these lands, and in fact many would remain until removed by force in 1838, the new counties were "paper counties" only at the time of their creation.

• Forsyth County was named in honor of John Forsyth -- former state attorney general, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, U.S. secretary of state (under presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren), and U.S. minister to Spain (who negotiated the U.S. purchase of Florida from Spain).
• Lumpkin County was named for Georgia governor Wilson Lumpkin, who held office at the time of the county's creation. Formerly U.S. representative, and later elected U.S. senator, Lumpkin was active in all three roles in seeking removal of Georgia's Cherokee Indians.
• Union County was named in recognition of the federal union. When the legislation to create the new county was being debated in the Georgia General Assembly, John Thomas (who represented the area) suggested the name "UNION, for none but union-like men reside in it." True to its name, 30 years later during the Civil War, the county remained strongly tied to the Union.
• Cobb County was named for former U.S. congressman and senator and state superior court judge Thomas W. Cobb. Tradition holds that Cobb's wife, Marietta, was also honored when legislators named the county seat of Cobb County.
• Gilmer County was named for two-time Georgia governor (1829-1831, 1837-1839), state legislator, and U.S. congressman George R. Gilmer -- a strong proponent of state sovereignty over Cherokee lands in Georgia. Gilmer was governor at the time of the Cherokee's forced removal to the west.
• Murray County was named for attorney, state legislator, and speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives Thomas W. Murray. At the time of his death, Murray was a candidate for the U.S. House.
• Cass County was named for Gen. Lewis Cass of Michigan. Because of Cass's support for abolition and the Union, the General Assembly renamed Cass County in Dec. 1861 in honor of Georgia Confederate Gen. Francis Bartow, who died July 21, 1861 at the Battle of First Manassas in Virginia.
• Floyd County was named for Gen. John Floyd, who was involved in various campaigns against the Creek Indians in the early 1800s. Floyd later served in the Georgia General Assembly and U.S. Congress.
• Paulding County was named in honor of Revolutionary War hero John Paulding.

1857 Gov. Joseph E. Brown signed legislation creating Dawson County from areas of Gilmer and Lumpkin counties. Dawson, Georgia's 119th county, was named for William C. Dawson. A lawyer, Dawson served as clerk of the Georgia House of Representatives, codified the Georgia statutes in 1828, and and served as a state judge. Subsequently, he was elected to the Georgia Senate, U.S. House, and U.S Senate. Also, in 1836, Dawson raised a volunteer company to fight in the Seminole War.

1949 Rock and Roll singer Mickey Thomas was born in Cairo, Georgia.

1991 The Atlanta Braves signed free agent third baseman Terry Pendleton.

Georgia towns and cities created by acts approved on Dec. 3:

1895 Cohutta (Whitfield County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1864 In his memoirs General Sherman wrote about this day in his March to the Sea:

"On the 3d of December I entered Millen with the Seventeenth Corps and there paused one day, to communicate with all parts of the army. General Howard was south of the Ogechee River, with the Fifteenth Corps, opposite Scarboro. General Slocum was at Buckhead Church, four miles north of Millen, with the Twentieth Corps. The Fourteenth was at Lumpkin's Station, on the Augusta Road, about ten miles north of Millen, and the cavalry division was within easy support of this wing. Thus the whole army was in good position and in good condition. We had largely subsisted on the country; our wagons were full of forage and provisions; but, as we approached the sea-coast, the country became more sandy and barren, and food became more scarce; still, with little or no loss, we had traveled two-thirds of our distance, and I concluded to push on for Savannah."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), Marching Through Georgia: William T. Sherman's Personal Narrative of His March Through Georgia (New York: Arno Press, 1978), p. 157.

1864 The Texas Rangers shadowing Sherman's army provided the "little loss" Sherman wrote of, as remembered in Pvt. Enoch John's diary :

"Dec. 3d. Moved on slowly, all tired, and weather bad. After riding ten miles, we heard of a party of Yanks and cut for them; found twelve at a house. We soon had six ready for the ditch, and six prisoners, and are now in Scriven county, and the poorest country in the State, all pine timber. We camped five miles of Silvania, the county seat."

Source: Diary of Cpl Enoch John

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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