Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

June 3

1887 Famous African-American tenor Roland Hayes was born in Calhoun, Georgia. He debuted in Boston in 1917, though his fame came after performing for Britain's king and queen in 1921. During a nationwide tour in 1924, Hayes performed more than 80 concerts. He also published his own arrangements of Negro spirituals in "My Songs" in 1948. In 1991, Hayes was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

1907 Thomas Howard Ruger, who served as Georgia's military governor briefly during Reconstruction, died in Stamford, Conn. Born in Lima, New York on Apr. 2, 1833, Ruger graduated from West Point in 1854. During the Civil War, he was promoted to temporary major general after the Battle of Franklin. After the war, Maj. Gen. George Meade appointed Ruger as acting governor of Georgia after removing Gov. Charles Jenkins from office for obstructing Reconstruction. Ruger served from January to July 1868, when Republican Rufus Bullock was sworn into office. Ruger went on to become superintendent of West Point (1871-76), eventually attaining the rank of major general before retiring in 1897.

1913 After spending the night in jail and after intense questioning, Minola McKnight -- the Frank family cook -- signed a statement saying Leo Frank was very nervous and drinking heavily the night after the murder of Mary Phagan. She said she overheard Frank's wife say he made her sleep on the rug and kept asking for his pistol so he could shoot himself. Frank had told her "It is mighty bad, Minola. I might have to go to jail about this girl, and I don't know anything about it." Finally she said her wages had been raised as a "tip to keep quiet." Click here for a detailed accounting of the case.

1941 Georgia voters ratified a constitutional amendment extending the term of office of governor and constitutional officers from two years to four.

1942 Curtis Mayfield was born in Chicago, Illinois. He became a Grammy-award winning rhythm-and-blues/soul singer, musician, composer, and record producer. Paralyzed by an accident in 1990, Mayfield and his family subsequently made Atlanta their home.

1962 In Paris, an airplane crash near Paris, France killed 103 member of the Atlanta Art Association. an Air France jetliner crashed soon after takeoff from Orly Airport killing 130 people -- the worst single air accident to that time. Of the dead, 115 were Georgians -- 106 of which were art patrons from Atlanta on an European tour sponsored by the Atlanta Art Association. The only survivors of the crash were two French stewardesses. Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. immediately flew to Paris to help in identifying the victims and to expedite the return of the remains to Atlanta. As a result of the crash, a movement to honor the victims led to building of the Woodruff Memorial Arts Center in Atlanta.

1976 Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson conducted the ceremony officially re-naming Hunter Drive, Mozley Drive, and Gordon Road as Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.

1980 Jimmy Carter won enough delegates to assure his Democratic nomination for the 1980 presidential election.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1838 Missionary Daniel Buttrick witnessed the roundup of Cherokee Indians for removal to the West. On the day, Buttrick recorded in his diary:

"Most of our [Cherokee] neighbors are now with us, going this evening or tomorrow to the [Army holding] camps, choosing to go in by themselves rather than be driven in by soldiers. . . .

"During this week I visited the camps in company with Dr. Vail and found our dear brother Epenetus Aihaia and his wife and children among the prisoners. They had been at Brainerd to attend a sacramental meeting. On hearing that the soldiers were taking all the people prisoners in Georgia, they set out to return back to us. The wife and children were riding one horse and Epenetus was walking. They had not proceeded far, however, before they were taken by a company of soldiers and driven to a fort near Lafayette courthouse. There they were kept with about 500 others for ten days and then driven in the usual manner to the camps. His wife had been so overcome by the scenes as to be now unable to do anything. . . . While at the post, the whole company of 500 had resolved to have nothing to do with the treaty money and chose Epenetus to be their speaker and make their purpose known to the commissioners who were waiting with the money to pay them. Epenetus . . . told the commissioners that they did not come to that place voluntarily but as prisoners, that the treaty was not made by the authorities of the Nation and they should have nothing to do with it. As prisoners, they must receive their food, but they would take no money nor clothes offered on account of the treaty. It is said that the Cherokees told the commissioners that they did not wish any of their cloths, since they had clothing enough of their own which they had not been allowed to take!

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), Georgia: History written by Those who lived It (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1995), p. 81.

1864 Among the Union troops in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign was the 26th Wisconsin Infantry. This unit fought at the Battle of Dallas on May 28 and then marched east to the Western & Atlantic Railroad -- which served as the Federal supply line from Chattanooga. En route, Maj. Fredrick Winkler of the 26th Wisconsin wrote his wife:

"June 3rd, 1864. We have changed our position. Our corps was relieved in the position we held by the 15th Corps, about noon day before yesterday. We marched towards the left some miles and went into a dense wood, where we bivouacked until a little past noon yesterday, when amid torrents of rain, such rain as you have scarcely ever known in Wisconsin, we continued our march toward the left of the army. We halted, then marching slowly arrived a little before sunset in this place, in the extreme left of the army, in a reserve position-the 23rd Corps in our front. It seems that we are pushing our army towards the left, probably to get to the railroad. Orders have just come to be ready to march at a moment's notice. . . . There has been slow skirmishing in front ever since we came here, accompanied by occasional shelling. One shell came right into the regiment last night, grazing one man's leg."

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

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