Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

February 20

1796 Gov. Jared Irwin signed legislation creating Jefferson County and Lincoln County as Georgia's 23rd and 24th counties. Jefferson County, created from Burke and Warren counties, was named for former U.S. secretary of state and author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson. Lincoln County, created from portions of Wilkes County, was named for Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, who had commanded the Continental Army's southern department during the Revolution and later served as Pres. George Washington's Secretary of War.

1854 Gov. Herschel Johnson signed legislation creating Calhoun County as Georgia's 112th county. Created from portions of Baker and Early counties, the new county was named for former U.S. senator, vice president, and ardent advocate of states rights John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.

1854 Gov. Johnson signed Georgia's first child labor legislation. The law limited the working of all white persons under age 21 working in cotton, woolen, and other manufacturing establishments to the hours between sunrise and sunset "with the usual and customary time for meals." The penalty for violating the law was a fine up to $200 or imprisonment in jail up to 60 days.

1888 Aviator Benjamin (Ben) T. Epps was born in Oconee County, Georgia. While he was very young, his family moved to nearby Athens, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. Epps was a talented mechanic who established a successful business repairing electronic equipment and cars -- both of which were quickly becoming popular. However, Epps' true love was the idea of flying. He built his own airplane in 1907, and by the end of World War I he had either built or purchased the planes necessary to start a flying service. Epps and a partner rented some land in then rural Clarke County and established Georgia's first airport in 1919. He continued to experiment with different designs while running his service -- transporting passengers, training pilots, and staging air shows. Some of Epps' innovative designs were precursors of the light, economical planes that became popular many years after his death. On October 16, 1937, the 49-year-old Epps died from injuries sustained when a plane he was testing crashed. In his honor, Georgia's first airport in Athens was renamed Ben Epps Field. Later, Epps was named to the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame.

1892 The University of Georgia and Auburn Mechanical and Military College played one of the South's first intercollegiate football games in Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Years later, the Georgia team would be known as the "Bulldogs." At this early point in the football program, however, the University of Georgia mascot was a billy goat. Sadly, the Georgia Billy Goats lost to Auburn, 10-0.

1970 After having rejected it on July 24, 1919, Georgia finally ratified the 19th Amendment (which granted women the right to vote). (Click here for record of state ratification of the 19th Amendment.)

1974 Atlanta Constitution editor Reg Murphy was kidnaped and held for ransom. After the newspaper paid a $700,000 ransom, Murphy was released. Later, William A.H. Williams was arrested for the crime. Most of the ransom money was recovered at Williams' house.

1988 Edgar Chandler, Buddy Fowlkes, Leon Hardeman, Graham Hixon, Jim Luck, Amater Traylor, LeRoy Walker, and Rayfield Wright were inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated by acts approved by the governor on Feb. 20:

1854 Barnesville (then Pike, now Lamar County), Magnolia (Clinch County), and Sylvania (Screven County)

1874 South Rome (Floyd County)

1877 Midville (Burke County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1738 Johann Martin Boltzius had traveled from Ebenezer to Savannah to work with some German servants there, as he noted in his diary:

". . .The Lord Trustees' German servants, to whom I preached the word of God again yesterday in the morning and afternoon, ask me for Bibles, testaments, hymnals, and other books. The last of these we lack, and there are even some people in our congregation who have recently learned to read but are not yet provided with them. We also desire more Bibles of smaller size, which are also cheaper. These people have almost no books, are in great ignorance, and are so wicked that one complains to us about the other. There are also some Catholics among them who have probably slipped in without the knowledge of the Lord Trustees."

Source: George Fenwick Jones and Renate Wilson (trans. and ed.), Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America... Edited by Samuel Urlsperger, Volume Five, 1738 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1980), p. 39.

1864 Near Lake City, Fla., the 19th Georgia Infantry engaged Union forces -- including three regiments of U.S. Colored Troops -- as recorded by Corp. Henry Shackelford in a letter to his mother:

". . . They [members of the 19th Georgia] were not out long before the enemy made their appearance, advancing slowly. We could see them a half mile, as the country is quite level, and no undergrowth. They soon drove in our skirmishers and firing commenced. One could plainly see the blue coats army in fine order. The order was given to up and at them, which was no quicker said than done, and then what an awful roar of cannon and musketry, men falling and groaning, officers giving commands, the balls flying as thick as sleet. Cheer after cheer went up, onward pushed the rebels firing and yelling.

"The Yankees were giving back and on our pushing forward, pitched three negro regiments against us, and all acknowledged that they fought well. We walked over many a wooly head as we drove them back. The Yanks couldn't stand before "Georgia Boys" and finally gave way and ran, our boys pursuing. We got all their artillery, 8 pieces, took about 400 prisoners and killed about the same number. How our boys did walk into the niggers, they would beg and pray but it did no good. We drove them about five miles when a halt was ordered, we built big fires and then how we did enjoy captured coffee, sugar, hams, bread and everything else. We remained about three hours in this position, and then returned to our old camps "kivered" with honor and glory.

"Our regiment lost 97 killed and wounded. Co. A lost one man killed Sergt Guinn - and 8 or 10 wounded. Capt. Morrison is badly wounded in the thigh. To sum the whole thing up, we whipped the Yankees badly and they acknowledge it themselves. Our brigade did honor to themselves and their country. Proud old Georgia will never have cause to be ashamed of Colquit's brigade. . . ."

Source: Letter from Cpl. Henry Shackelford on Battle of Olustee web page

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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