Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

December 15

1703 Clergyman John Martin Boltzius was born at Forst on the Elbe, Lower Lusatia, in what is now Germany. Boltzius was a hard-working priest who, among his other duties, ministered to pupils in an orphanage -- exhibiting excellent traits of organization, humanitarianism, and supervision. It was these traits that led him to be recommended to the Georgia Trustees as minister to the Salzburgers intent on migrating to Georgia. Boltzius dutifully accepted the challenge, though he spoke no English and little of the Salzburger dialect. But he was a quick learner and soon picked up both languages, corresponding frequently in each.

The Salzburger settlement site, called Ebenezer, was on a sandy pine barren surrounded by swamps just north of Savannah. [see map] Crops could not grow there and Ebenezer Creek proved to be unnavigable; many settlers and virtually all children born there died in the first year of settlement. When these deficiencies became apparent, Boltzius convinced James Oglethorpe to allow the Salzburgers to move to another site. The new site -- called New Ebenezer -- proved to be successful, thanks largely to the work of Boltzius. Here, he ministered to his people, also assuming many secular duties -- such as supervising purchases of materials, the distribution, clearing, and planting of land, construction of houses and other buildings, and the keeping of records. Boltzius was a vocal supporter of the Trustees' ban on slavery, which angered many Georgians. The Salzburger site was the only evidence the Trustees could point to that agriculture in Georgia could be successful using free labor. Boltzius remained the spiritual and secular leader of Ebenezer until his death on November 19, 1765. [Click here for a link to the Georgia Salzburger Society.]

1791 The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution -- the Bill of Rights -- went into effect following ratification by Virginia.

1799 Frontiersman and Revolutionary War hero Elijah Clarke [sometimes spelled "Clark"] died in Richmond County, Georgia. In many ways Clarke was the prototype American frontiersman, rough and rowdy, as ready to engage in a drunken brawl with a neighbor as to engage whatever enemy he faced -- British, Spanish, or Indian. He was born in North Carolina in the 1730s or early 1740s. Clarke grew up on the frontiers of North and South Carolina, finally arriving in Georgia in 1773. He rose to prominence in the Revolutionary War, in which he was wounded four times. On February 14, 1779, Clarke led a group of Georgia and South Carolina militiamen to surprise victory over some 600 Loyalists at Kettle Creek in his home county of Wilkes. Even after Georgia and South Carolina had fallen to the British, Clarke led his men on a number of guerrilla raids that extracted heavy tolls on the British, even after his home was destroyed and his family exiled into the wilderness. In June 1781, Clarke led a Georgia force that helped force the British to evacuate Augusta.

After the Revolutionary War, Clarke was rewarded with a confisticated plantation and thousands of acres of land. He also served in the Georgia legislature and became a state militia general. However, he became obsessed with establishing order along Georgia's frontier. In 1794, Clarke organized a group of volunteers to attack Spanish East Florida to put down Indian uprisings that had resulted from white raids into Indian territory. President Washington put a stop to this venture, but Clarke did not immediately return home; he and his volunteers settled in disputed land west of the Oconee River. There they tried to create an independent government called the Trans-Oconee Republic. Governor George Mathews called out the militia and the settlers grudgingly returned to Georgia. Clarke was so disgusted with the state of Georgia that he considered moving to Kentucky, but stayed and tried to hold on to his dwindling supply of land -- the loss of which inspired his actions and his disgust. By the time of his death he had lost everything but his plantation home -- confiscated from a Loyalist after the Revolutionary War. While Clarke's frontier temperament was out of place in a growingly civilized Georgia, his contributions to the state in its infancy during the Revolutionary War could not be denied. The Georgia legislature recognized this by naming a county in his honor December 5, 1801. Clarke County became home to the University of Georgia. Clarke's remains were eventually reinterred in Elijah Clark State Park near Lincolnton, Ga. along the Georgia-South Carolina border.

1818 Gov. William Rabun signed legislation creating Early, Irwin, Appling, Walton, Gwinnett, Hall, and Habersham counties respectively as Georgia's 40-46th counties.

• Early County, created from Creek lands ceded by the Treaty of Fort Jackson (1814), was named for former Georgia governor and congressman Peter Early.
• Irwin County, created from Creek lands ceded by the Treaty of Fort Jackson (1814) and the Treaty of Creek Agency (1818), was named for former Georgia governor Jared Irwin.
• Appling County, created from the same Creek lands as Irwin County, was named for Col. Daniel Appling, a Georgia hero of the War of 1812.
• Walton County, created from Creek lands ceded by the Treaty of Creek Agency (1818), was named for Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence and former governor George Walton.
• Gwinnett County, created from Cherokee lands ceded by the Treaty of Cherokee Agency (1817) and Creek lands ceded by the Treaty of Creek Agency (1818), was named for Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence and president of the Council of Safety Button Gwinnett.
• Hall County, created from Cherokee lands ceded by the Treaty of Cherokee Agency (1817) and Treaty of Washington (1819), was named for Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence and former Georgia governor Dr. Lyman Hall.
• Habersham County, created from the same Cherokee lands as Hall County, was named for Maj. Joseph Habersham -- a Revolutionary War hero, Georgia congressman, and U.S. postmaster general under presidents Washington and Adams.

1824 Gov. George Troup signed legislation creating Upson and Ware counties as Georgia's 59th and 60th counties.

• Upson County, created from Crawford and Pike counties, was named for Georgia politician and planter Stephen Upson.
• Ware County, created from Appling County, was named for Georgia U.S. Sen. Nicholas Ware.

1853 Gov. Herschel Johnson signed legislation creating Dougherty County as Georgia's 103rd county. Dougherty County, created from Baker County, was named for Athens judge Charles Dougherty, a strong advocate of states' rights in the 1850s.

1859 Gov. Joseph E. Brown signed an act abolishing public execution in Georgia. According to the legislation, the action was taken because "public execution . . .is believed by many to be demoralizing in its tendency and disgraceful to the character of our people for refinement and good taste, and not so well calculated to accomplish the object for which it was instituted, to-wit: the prevention of crime."

1885 Politician and lawyer Robert Toombs (click here and here for more information) died at his home in Washington, Georgia. Born July 2, 1810 in Wilkes County, Ga., he was product of a well to do family. Toombs attended the University of Georgia, but was expelled for numerous rules violations his senior year and ended up completing his education at the University of Virginia. Returning to Georgia, he was admitted to the bar at age 20 and began practicing law in Washington, Georgia. Here, Toombs developed a very successful law practice, which supplemented by an inheritance allowed him to invest in plantations in Georgia, Arkansas, and later in Texas. Toombs became active in politics and was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives (1837-43), the U.S. House (1846-1851), and the U.S. Senate (1851-1861).

Perhaps the most ardent proponent of Georgia's secession [see Nov. 1860 speech to the Georgia General Assembly], Toombs was named Confederate Secretary of State -- a post he soon resigned. In July 1861, he was named brigadier general and commander of Toombs' Brigade -- a Confederate unit in the Army of Northern Virginia -- and fought in battles of Seven Days, Second Manassas, and Sharpsburg. However, Toombs wanted the Confederacy to take the war to the North rather than fight a defensive war. Also, he had a volatile personality that led him to challenge officers of higher rank. After failing to obtain a promotion he felt he deserved, Toombs resigned his commission and returned to Georgia, where he became a vocal opponent of Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis's policies. In 1864, Gov. Joseph E. Brown gave Toombs command of a unit of the Georgia State Guard, which had limited action during Sherman's March to the Sea. At the end of the war, Toombs fled to Europe. Returning two years later, the "unreconstructed rebel" refused to apply for a pardon. During Reconstruction, he fought Republican control of Georgia and proved to be the most influential member of Georgia's "Redeemer" convention that framed the Constitution of 1877.

1896 An act was approved amending the section of the Code of Georgia providing: "Females are not entitled to the privilege of the elective franchise, nor can they hold any civil office or perform any civil function, unless specifically authorized by law, nor are they required to discharge any military, jury, police, patrol or road duty" to allow any woman who has been a resident of Georgia for at least four years and is at least twenty-one to be appointed State Librarian.

1939 The world premier of Gone With the Wind was held in Atlanta at the Loew's Grand Theater. By 6 p.m., crowds had gathered to watch Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh, and the film's other stars arrive. The greatest applause of the evening, however, was reserved for the novel's author, Margaret Mitchell.

1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in Warm Springs, Ga. for a brief (one day) visit. This was his thirty-eighth visit to his "second home."

1950 Ezzard Charles knocked out Nick Barone to retain heavyweight boxing title.

1961 Speaking to an overflowing Shiloh Baptist Church and Mount Zion Baptist churches (across the street from each other) in Albany, Martin Luther King, Jr. urged the movement to continue. Because of King's presence and the mass arrests, national attention had now turned to Albany. [Contributed by Dr. Lee Formwalt, Albany State University]

1978 President Jimmy Carter announced that on Jan. 1, 1979, he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China and sever official relations with Taiwan.

1989 The movie "Glory," much of which was fimed in Savannah and Georgia's coastal islands, was released.

2000 Derwin Brown, who had defeated incumbent DeKalb County sheriff Sidney Dorsey in an election in August, was killed in his driveway. Dorsey and some accomplices would later be charged with the murder.

Georgia cities and towns incorporated by acts approved on Dec. 15:

1821 Lawrenceville (Gwinnett County)

1894 Newborn (Newton County)
 
 
 
 

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1772 Savannah merchant James Habersham wrote to royal governor James Wright (then in England). His letter dealt primarily with business transactions between the two men, but included the following account of Habersham's excessive (in his opinion) expenditures for celebrating the king's birthday:

". . . In regard to the Tables on the King's Birth day, I did not pay for them the last day, and if I recollect I did not for the year preceeding for you, but Mrs. [name left blank] charged me one Shilling pr head more, than she did you for the Dinner and more for Wine &c, so that I had better have paid for the rough Boarded Tables, and probably have more Money, than the expence of them -- I demurred paying, the old Woman 2 or 3 Weeks, after the Bill was delivered, but as I suppose she wou'd make a Murmuring about docking her Account, I paid her for the Whole of it -- Both her Dinner and Liquor were complained of, and what was provided in the Court Room and in the Field cost be about 55 Sterling, which was a great deal more than it deserved. . . ."

Source: Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. VI, The Letters of the Hon. James Habersham, 1756-1775 (Savannah: Georgia Historical Society, 1904), p. 219.

1864 The Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel carried this account of what was happening in Atlanta since Sherman's departure:

"Many of the old citizens are returning, and the general watchword is repair and rebuild. Whit Anderson has opened a bar-room on Decatur Street, where he serves his customers with dignity and grace, and Sid Holland a small grocery on Peachtree Street. The [Atlanta newspaper] Intelligencer has returned, and is now issuing an extra from the old shoe factory on Alabama Street. J.J. Toon has secured the old pay office on Whitehall Street for an office, and resides in Markham's fine villa on Walton Street. The post office is open on Decatur Street, under the charge of the energetic Dick Wall, and Bob Yancey has his shaving emporium next door. Johnson Bridwell has started a salt factory. Col. L.J. Glenn, the efficient commandant of the post, is considered the right man in the right place. He is courteous to all, yet rigidly attentive to the interests of the government and the people. The Macon & Western Railroad is running to Lovejoy's Station and the Atlanta & La Grange Railroad to Palmetto. The city is filled with thousands of dogs and cats, ownerless and almost wild."

Source: Franklin M. Garrett, Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of its People and Events (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969 reprint of 1954 original volume), p. 661.

1864 From outside of Savannah, Union Maj. Fredrick Winkler of the 26th Wisconsin Volunteers wrote in his diary:

"We have changed positions several times since arriving in front of Savannah; we are now between the Charleston & Savannah and the Central Railroads. On the right, there is also a turnpike running along the railroad. On these roads the rebels have a very strong fort, mounted with heavy guns; they throw spherical case loaded with balls two inches in diameter from time to time. Quite a number of the balls and pieces of shell have come into our camp, but no one has been hurt. We have strong breastworks, which afford us protection. Just after we came here, I became the owner of a beautiful black mare in a rather peculiar manner. I rode out on the right a ways to see about our connection with the 14th Corps, when I was met by three soldiers, two of them mounted on mules and one on the mare in question. The latter stopped and said, 'Say, I would like to give you a first-rate blooded mare.' I looked at him in surprise and asked him what I should give him for her; but he said, 'I just want to give her to you; I have been detailed on cattle guard and rode her so far; she is a captured horse, unfit for Government use, and I have no forage and want to give her to some one who will take good care of her.' He was an utter stranger to me. Of course, I took the mare and promised to take good care of her. On the river here is a group of beautiful live oak trees; the trunks are very thick, and the branches extend out in all directions. The trees form a grove with a continuous roof. I don't know whether the fleet has landed yet. There were obstructions in the river which had to be removed first."

Source: Civil War Letters of Major Fredrick C. Winkler, in 26th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers Home Page

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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