Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

January 13

1733 After almost two months at sea, James Oglethorpe and Georgia's first 114 colonists sailed into Charles Town harbor aboard the ship Anne. Upon arriving, Oglethorpe went ashore, where he was warmly welcomed by South Carolina governor Robert Johnson and the speaker of the Commons House of Assembly.

[Note: Letters, diaries, and records of this time show dates based on the Julian calendar (referred to as "Old Style") then in effect in Britain and the American colonies. The Gregorian calendar ("New Style") was adopted in 1752. Thus, Jan. 13, 1732/33 (Old Style) represents Jan. 24, 1733 under the calendar now in effect. For a fuller explanation, click here.]

1868 Third Military District commanding general George Meade removed Georgia provisional governor Charles Jenkins and provisional treasurer John Jones from office for their failure to honor his instructions to issue $40,000 from Georgia's state treasury to cover the cost of the Reconstruction constitutional convention then meeting in Atlanta. Meade's order named U.S. Brig. Gen. Thomas Ruger as Georgia's new governor. [Ruger would serve as provisional governor until July 4, 1868, when Rufus Bullock briefly held the position.] Jenkins responded to his removal by taking $400,000 from the state treasury and depositing it in New York to secure the state's debt. Jenkins also took Georgia's state seal to Halifax, Nova Scotia so that provisional state officials would not have a seal to authenticate legislative acts and other official documents. The third thing Jenkins did after fleeing Georgia was to file suit in the U.S. Supreme Court charging that Gen. Meade, Thomas Ruger, and others had illegally seized state property.

1939 Vivien Leigh signed on to play the role of Scarlett O'Hara in movie "Gone With The Wind."

1959 Ernest Vandiver was inaugurated governor of Georgia. [See July 3 entry for biographical information.]

1961 Federal judge William Bootle again ordered the University of Georgia to admit Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes after they were temporarily suspended following a nighttime riot outside Hunter's dorm. Governor Vandiver announced that additional violence would not be tolerated, and that he would provide whatever protection was necessary to insure their safety.

1979 The U.S. Postal Service issued a Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative stamp to commemorate the slain civil rights leader. First day of issue ceremonies were held in Atlanta.

1982 Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson became the 12th and 13th players elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Aaron came within nine votes of becoming the first-ever unanimous selection, receiving 97.8 percent of the votes of baseball writers participating in the Hall of Fame election.

1987 Incumbent Georgia governor Joe Frank Harris was inaugurated for his second four-year term of office. [See Feb. 16 entry for biographical information.]

2003 Gov. Sonny Perdue was sworn in marking the first Republican governor of Georgia since Reconstruction.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1733 James Oglethorpe and the first Georgia colonists arrived at Charles Town, South Carolina. Earlier in the day, on first seeing the coast of America from the decks of the Anne, Oglethorpe wrote the Trustees:

"We just now discover the coast of America and it proves to be the land which lies off Charles Town. We are now with nine miles distant and can, from the deck with the naked eye, discover the trees just above the horizon, no disagreeable sight to those who for seven weeks have seen nothing but sea and sky. We have had a very favourable passage, considering that we passed the Tropic of Cancer and stood to the southward 'till we came into 20 Degrees and then stood back again to 32 where we now are. By this means we lengthened our navigation from England above a third, which was done to avoid the fury of the Northwest winds that generally rage in the winter season on the coast of America. We have lost none of our people except the youngest son of Richard Cannon, aged eight months, and the youngest son of Robert Clarke, aged one year and an half, both of whom were very weakly when I came on board and had indeed been half starved through want before they left London as many others were who are recovered with food and care. But these were so far gone that all our efforts to save them were in vain. Doctor Herbert and all on board are in perfect health except Mr. Scott who was bruised with a fall in the last storm. At present we are all in a hurry so must beg leave to refer you for a fuller account in my next letters. We intend to take in a pilot at this place for to conduct us to Port Royal where we shall hire embarkations to carry us to Georgia."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), General Oglethorpe's Georgia (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1990), Vol. I, p. 3.

1733 Peter Gordon was one of the original Georgia colonists who came aboard the Anne with James Oglethorpe. In his journal, Gordon recorded their arrival at Charles Town:

"January the 13th about nine in the morning we see two sails of shipps, and soon after we made land and stood for it, which we discovered in a short time to be Charles Town. Mr. Oglethorp sent for me, and desired to know if my cloaths were on board, and if I could conveniently come at them, for that he intended to send me ashore with his complements to the Governour, and to bring of a pilote. But being advised to fire guns, which is the usuall signall for pilotes to come off, and that it would give us the greater dispatch, it was accordingly done, but no pilote coming, Mr. Oglethorp resolved to goe himself, and sett off emediatley from the shipp in the pinnace with six rowers, Mr. Amatiss, Mr. Kilberry, and two servants -- about six he arrived at Charlestown, and returned on board the next day at noon, and brought with him Mr. Midleton one of the pilots belonging to the men of warr, stationed at Carolina."

Source: [No author or editor cited], Our First Visit in America: Early Reports from the Colony of Georgia, 1732-1740 (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1974), p. 9.

1869 The day after the public opening of Georgia's new state capitol in the building originally intended as the Kimball Opera House, the Atlanta Constitution reported on the gala event:

"Last evening presented a scene long to be remembered by our citizens ho had the pleasure of being present at the opening of the 'so-called' Opera House, which, from dome to basement, was brilliantly illuminated with gas. The exterior of the edifice presented a perfect blaze of light that arrested the attention of every passerby . . . .

"Entering the House of Representatives, the ear was delighted with the sweetest music produced by the military band of this post; who, we venture to assert have no superior in the Army of the United States. Immediately above their head was the full portrait of that brave old military chieftan and perfect gentleman, 'Old Hickory,' a man whose name will never, never die.

"The house is brilliantly lighted by a circular of gas jets some thirty feet from the floor, and at least fifteen feet in its diameter. All around these jets was placed a fluted glass mirror, that threw the bright rays of light completely over the room, rendering all side lights completely unnecessary. The fresco work on the ceiling, and indeed all over the room, was really magnificent, and elicited loud marks of approval from all who visited the building.

"The Senate Chamber is very beautiful, though no so imposing as the House of Representatives. Over the seat of the President of the Senate, is a full length portrait of Georgia Washington, the first rebel known in American history, from the celebrated painting of Gilbert Stuart. It is very beautiful, and an ornament to the Senate Chamber.

"The Supreme Court Library contains two full length portraits; the one on the left of the Hall representing Benjamin Franklin, the Printer, Philosopher and Statesman, and the other, on the right, of the gallant Lafayette.

"The committee rooms deserve especial notice for the extreme good taste in which they have been arranged, but the apartments upstairs, the doors of which were all marked: 'Sleeping Room--For Rent,' were in bad taste to say the least of it. They might very properly have been reserved for the use of the attaches of the building, but the idea of making a cheap lodging house out of the top so elegant a building seems really absurd. . . ."

"The Messrs. Kimball have displayed a tremendous energy in the matter; and certain it is, that this colossal edifice is ready for the Legislature--is very nearly completed, and is an ornament and architectural achievement of which not only Atlanta, but the state may justly be proud."

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), Vol. I, pp. 802-804.

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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