Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

January 22

1733 James Oglethorpe and a small party of Carolina rangers traveled up the Savannah River looking for a location for the Georgia colonists to settle. [See map] In so doing, he followed a decision by the Trustees on Nov. 9, 1732 that the first settlement -- which was to be named Savannah -- be located on that river. About fifteen miles upstream from the mouth of the Savannah, Oglethorpe found an area along the south bank that rose high over the river. As Oglethorpe wrote the Trustees about the site:

"The river there forms a half moon, along the South side of which the banks are about 40 foot high and upon the top a flat which they call a bluff. The plain high ground extends into the country five or six miles and along the riverside about a mile. Ships that draw twelve foot water can ride within ten yards of the bank."

The site Oglethorpe had found was known as Yamacraw Bluff, the name derived from the small tribe of Yamacraw Indians who lived there. The bluff was a popular place for Carolina Indian traders, and in 1732 John and Mary Musgrove had opened a trading post there. Using the Musgroves as translators, Oglethorpe met Yamacraw chief Tomochichi and asked for permission to settle a town on the bluff. Tomochichi agreed. Most likely, his decision was based on self-interest -- his tribe was small, poor, exiled from the other Creeks, and dependent upon English goods. A preliminary verbal agreement was reached (though a formal treaty would not be signed until May 21). Oglethorpe then left to rejoin the colonists at Beaufort, leaving some of the Carolina rangers behind to build a stairway up the side of the bluff.

[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. 22, 1732/33 (Old Style) represents Feb. 2,1733 under the calendar now in effect. For a fuller explanation, click here.]

1776 Archibald Bulloch began his term as president of the Council of Safety (1776-77).

1796 In the General Assembly then meeting at Louisville, a House committee was appointed to report on the constitutionality of the Yazoo Act. The committee's report condemned the act, noting "fraud, corruption, and collusion" associated with its passage--and also charged "utmost depravity" on the part of legislators who had voted for it. Further declaring the act unconstitutional, the report proposed legislation to rescind the Yazoo Act and to remove all reference and copies of the law in public records.

1818 Creek Indians signed the Treaty of Creek Agency ceding to Georgia land south of the Altamaha River, plus land between the Appalachee and Chattahoochee rivers.

1861 Six delegates to Georgia's secession convention signed the following statement of protest to the Ordinance of Secession:

"We, the undersigned, Delegates to the Convention of the State of Georgia, now in Session, whilst we most solemnly Protest against the action of the majority in adopting an Ordinance for the immediate and separate Secession of this State, and would have preferred the policy of co-operation with our southern sister States, -- yet, as good citizens, we yield to the will of a majority of her people, as expressed by their Representatives; and we hereby pledge 'our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor' to the defence of Georgia, if necessary, against hostile invasion from any source whatever."

Signers of the protest were both delegates of Gwinnett County (James P. Simmons and Thomas M McRae), both delegates of Montgomery County (S.H. Lattimer and Davis Welchel), P.M. Byrd of Hall County, and James Simmons of Pickens County.

1866 In Milledgeville, Georgia governor Charles Jenkins signed a joint resolution of the General Assembly calling on the President of the U.S. to withdraw federal troops from Georgia. [Click here to read complete resolution.]

1893 The train known as the Nancy Hanks made its maiden run. It was named for the trotting horse which had broken the world record several months earlier. Painted all blue with gold trim, the train consisted of a powerful locomotive and four cars. It made the Atlanta-Savannah run in just under seven hours -- which then was considered phenomenal. Its speed, however, caused it to kill many farm animals who strayed on the tracks. The cost of lawsuits led to the end of the Nancy Hanks on Aug. 13, 1893.

1959 Following a Jan. 9 federal court decision, Atlanta city buses were integrated after a civil rights rally at which black leaders told blacks to sit anywhere on the bus they wanted--though they urged black men not to sit next to white women.

1981 Fifteen year old Terry Pue disappeared; his strangled body was found near Interstate 20 in Atlanta. He was the latest victim in the Atlanta Child Murders case.

Georgia cities and town incorporated by acts of the General Assembly approved on Jan. 22:

1852 Cave Springs (Floyd County) and DeSoto (Floyd County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1740 From St. Simons Island, James Oglethorpe wrote the Duke of Newcastle, Britain's Secretary of State, with information about the Spanish threat to Georgia and requesting permission to attack St. Augustine, capital of Spanish Florida:

"I formerly acquainted Your Grace that the Spaniards attacked the island of Amelia in this province and killed two men there and barbarously mangled their bodies. I received farther advices of their intending an invasion. . . .

"They have, contrary to their treaties, lately built a fort on the Northern side of the lakes which form the River Saint John's, on the lands belonging to His Majesty. This river is also called Saint Matthias and by that name mentioned as the boundaries of Carolina in King Charles II's grant to the Lords Proprietors. . . .

"The Assembly and province of [South] Carolina, being sensible that they are not in any safety whilst the Spaniards possess Florida and the strong fort at Augustine, have desired that I would attack it and have offered to give me assistance for that purpose. I have held a council of war, and the result of it was that if the Assembly would grant a sufficient sum to raise 600 men and 800 pioneers with provisions, embarkations, &c., with the assistance of the regiment and our Indian allies and the Northern squadron of men of war, we might undertake the siege [of Saint Augustine] successfully.

"Captain Pearse who commands His Majesty's ships in North America is arrived here pursuant to His Majesty's orders for the protection of this province, and I, having showed him His Majesty's instructions from Your Grace, have desired his assistance to annoy the Spaniards by attacking Augustine, the taking of which will be the surest means of protecting this province and Carolina. For whilst they have that fortress [the Castillo de San Marcos at St. Augustine], they can always annoy us and favour the revolting of the Negroes, several fatal instances of which Your Grace has been informed of."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), General Oglethorpe's Georgia: Colonial Letters, 1733-1743 (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1990), pp. 441-444.

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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