Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

December 5

1765 The British ship Speedwell arrived in Savannah with stamps for use in implementing the Stamp Act.

1801 Gov. Josiah Tattnall approved acts creating Tattnall County from portions of Montgomery County and Clarke County from portions of Jackson County. Tattnall, Georgia's 25th county, was named for Josiah Tattnall, who played a prominent role in repealing the infamous Yazoo Act. In 1796, the General Assembly elected Tattnall to fill the term of U.S. senator James Jackson. At the end of that term in 1799, Tattnall returned to private life. However, on Nov. 7, 1801, the General Assembly elected him governor and immediately named a new county after him. Clarke, Georgia's 26th county, was named after Revolutionary War hero Elijah Clarke, who played an important role in the defeat of British forces at the Battle of Kettle Creek in 1779.

1811 Gov. David Mitchell approved an act creating Madison County as Georgia's 38th county. Created from portions of Clarke, Elbert, Franklin, Jackson, and Oglethorpe counties, the new county was named for James Madison, who was U.S. president at the time of its creation.

1853 Gov. Herschel Johnson approved acts creating Catoosa County from portions of Walker and Whitfield counties and Pickens County from portions of Cherokee and Gilmer counties. Catoosa, Georgia's 100th county, was named for Catoosa Springs, which took its name from the Cherokee Indians. Pickens, Georgia's 101st county, was named for colonel and ultimately general Andrew Pickens, who was active in fighting British forces in Georgia's backcountry during the American Revolution.

1877 Georgia voters approved the Constitution of 1877 -- sometimes known as Georgia's "Redeemer Constitution" -- by a vote of 110,442 to 40,947. This marked the final nail in the coffin of Reconstruction.

1877 In a statewide election over whether to keep Atlanta as state capital or to return the seat of government to Milledgeville, Georgia voters approved Atlanta by a vote of 99,147 to 55,201.

1902 Gov. Joseph Terrell signed legislation making it a misdemeanor for anyone to sell cocaine in Georgia without a prescription from a licensed doctor or dentist.

1910 Former Confederate Brig. Gen. Alfred Cumming died in Rome, Ga. Born in Augusta on Jan. 30, 1829, he graduated from West Point in 1849. In 1861, Cumming resigned from the U.S. Army, assuming the rank of Lt. Col. in Augusta Volunteer Battalion. In Oct. 1862, he was promoted to the rank of Brig. Gen. and served at Vicksburg and in the Confederate defense during Sherman's Atlanta Campaign.

1932 Musician Richard Penniman, better known as Little Richard, was born in Macon, Georgia. He would later become famous for such rock-and-roll hits as "Tutti Frutti," "Lucille," "The Girl Can't Help It," and "Good Golly Miss Molly." Over 32 million Little Richard records have been sold, and his songs have been recorded by such music greats as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and Paul McCartney. Based on his pioneering recordings in the early 1950s, Little Richard likes to proclaim himself "the founder of rock and roll."

1941 Because of the so-called "Cocking Affair," the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools announced that ten Georgia colleges would be dropped from its accredited list because of "unprecedented and unjustifiable political interference by Governor Talmadge." The ten colleges affected were:

University of Georgia - Athens

Georgia College of Technology - Atlanta

North Georgia College - Dahlonega

West Georgia College - Carrollton

Georgia State College for Women - Milledgeville

Middle Georgia College - Cochran

Georgia Southwestern College - Americus

Georgia Teacher's College - Statesboro

South Georgia College - Douglas

Georgia State Women's College - Valdosta

1957 On the morning of December 5, at approximately 11:03 a.m. a massive explosion destroyed four buildings and damaged several others in the heart of downtown Villa Rica, Georgia, killing 12 persons and seriously injuring 20 others. In terms of injury and loss of life, this remains the most catastrophic event in the history of Villa Rica and Carroll County. The response to the disaster came from many quarters. Fire, police, civil defense, Army National Guard and Georgia State Patrolmen, from four surrounding counties converged on the scene, along with two fire companies from the City of Atlanta.

1963 Vince Dooley was named head football coach at the University of Georgia

1991 The Atlanta Braves signed free agent first baseman Sid Bream

Georgia towns and cities created by acts approved on Dec. 5:

1895 Young Harris (Towns County)
 
 

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1772 This letter from Savannah merchant James Habersham to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations shows reference to what may have been the first provision for care of the mentally ill and retarded in Georgia history:

". . . I have the Honor of receiving your Lordship's letter of the 29th July last, enclosing a Draught of a Clause proposed to be inserted in the Commissioners for Governors of His Majesty's Plantations in America, respecting to the Care and Custody of Ideots and Lunaticks, agreable to the Usage and Practice in England, which I referred to the Chief Justice and Attorney General, to enquire into the Laws and Usage of this Colony to see, whether there is anything, that will furnish any Objection against the Clause proposed, and report the same to me - - Accordingly they have made their Report, a Copy of which is herewith enclosed, and I am humbly of Opinion with them, that it woud be highly expedient to insert the Clause in the Commission for the governor of this Province. . . ."

Source: Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. VI, The Letters of the Hon. James Habersham, 1756-1775 (Savannah: Georgia Historical Society, 1904), p. 218.

1864 In his memoirs, Gen. Sherman recalled that things went well as his force began the final leg of its March to the Sea:

"[O]n the 5th of December, I reached Ogeechee Church, about fifty miles from Savannah, and found there fresh earthworks, which had been thrown up by McLaw's division; but he must have seen that both his flanks were being turned and prudently retreated to Savannah without a fight. All the columns then pursued leisurely their march toward Savannah, corn and forage becoming more and more scarce, but rice-fields beginning to occur along the Savannah and Ogeechee Rivers, which provided a good substitute, both as food and forage. The weather was fine, the roads good, and every thing seemed to favor us."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), Marching Through Georgia: William T. Sherman's Personal Narrative of His March Through Georgia (New York: Arno Press, 1978), p. 158.

1864 Sherman's secretary, Maj. Henry Hitchcock, recorded evidence in his diary for this day that Sherman's troops were not the only looters of innocent civilians:

"We rode on to 'Ogeechee Church' . . .but presently learning of good house nearby we went there. Found that the house was a Mr. Loughborough's--a former New Jersey man . . . .

"Evidently, L. was man of wealth. Inside house everything in dire confusion--bureau drawers pulled out, furniture upset, books piled and tossed about, house evidently 'ramsacked' as Aleck calls it. Glad to learn from L.'s servants--all I asked telling the same story--that the rebels did this. L., it seems, left here yesterday (Sunday) after dinner; the main body of rebs staid, camped in his fields, till daylight this morning--the left, but their pickets remained, some few at work near creek, others at the house, --and these did the mischief at the house."

Source: M.A. DeWolfe Howe (ed.), Marching with Sherman: Passages from the Letters and Campaign Diaries of Henry Hitchcock, Major and Assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers, November 1864-May 1865 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995), pp. 146-147.

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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