Ed Jackson and Charly Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

June 16

1734 After six weeks at sea, the H.M.S. Aldborough docked at Cowes on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England. Departing from the ship was a party from Georgia consisting of James Oglethorpe,Tomochichi, Tomochichi's wife and nephew, several other Yamacraw Indians, and John Musgrove as interpreter. From here, Oglethorpe wrote a letter to Sir John Phillips, Bart. about his plans to take the Indians to Westbrook Manor, the Oglethorpe's family home in Godalming in Surrey County. [Click here to read text of letter.] At Westbrook, the Indians would recover from the trip before going on to London to meet the Trustees and King George II.

1802 At Fort Wilkinson, located west of the Oconee River and just south of present day Milledgeville, the Creek Indians signed the Treaty of Fort Wilkinson in which they ceded two parcels of land to the United States. One was a narrow strip west of the Oconee and Appalachee rivers, the second a wider (roughly twelve miles) strip running from the Altamaha to the St. Marys River. In exchange the U.S. agreed to provide the Creeks with various goods, including blacksmith tools, over the next ten years.

1847 Former University of Georgia math professor, surveyor, newspaper editor, railroad official, banker, agricultural researcher, and Athens city commissioner James Camak died. Camak is best remembered as instrumental in organizing the Georgia Railroad in 1833 and for his efforts to scientifically locate the 35th parallel to establish Georgia's boundary with Tennessee.

1868 The first issue of the Atlanta Constitution was published.

1878 Crawford Long, the first physician to operate on a patient under anesthesia, died in Athens.

1901 Former Confederate general William M. Gardner died in Memphis, Tenn. Born June 8 ,1824 in Augusta, Ga. Gardner graduated from West Point in 1846, after which he served in the Mexican War. He resigned from the U.S. Army in January 1861 and subsequently served as a lieutenant colonel in the 8th Georgia Infantry. Wounds at the Battle of First Manassas left him unsuited to field command. In Nov. 1861, Gardner was designated brigadier general in command of the District of Middle Florida. In 1864, he became commander of Confederate prisons east of the Mississippi, serving in Richmond.

1941 In Washington, D.C., the War Department announced that a 2200-acre site at Wellston, Georgia had been selected for construction of a new Air Corps depot (see telegram from Congressman Carl Vinson). This marked the birth of what today is Warner Robins Air Force Base.

1967 Six Flags Over Georgia opened. A total of 3,325 customers visited the park on opening day, with adults paying $3.95 and children $2.95 (plus 50 cents for parking). Attendance picked up to an average of 10,600 visitors per day for a total of 1.2 million visitors during the inaugural season.

1984 Former Morehouse College Olympian Edwin Moses won his 100th consecutive 400-meter hurdles race.

1991 Atlanta Braves outfielder Otis Nixon set a modern National League baseball record by stealing six bases against Montreal.

1993 The Postal Service released a commemorative stamp honoring Georgia-born singer Otis Redding. [Click here for image and story of the stamp.]

1998 Ryan Klesko hit a grand slam home run and Denny Neagle pitched the Atlanta Braves to a 7-0 shutout of the Florida Marlins giving general manager Bobby Cox his 1,005th win -- a franchise record for the Braves.
 
 

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1740 John Martin Boltzius wrote in his journal of the farming successes of one of the Salzburgers at Ebenezer, as well as a problem with deer feasting on his crops:

"Mr. [Hans] Schmidt has planted a piece of land beyond Abercorn Creek, to which he took me in his boat to show me the blessing of the Lord there. I had to marvel as much as he over the height, strength, and copiousness of the corn stalks, and it is easy to recognize the difference between this and other good land. He is find that everything one plants here will grow, and he has many different things growing here in the most beautiful condition, such as beans, rice, pumpkins, greens, and sweet potatoes. He is worried that the deer, which hide amidst the tall corn and cannot be hunted as much as formerly, will not leave much of the beans, vegetables, and sweet potatoes. He has to go there from time to time at night and chase they away; yet he and others thank God that they do nothing to the corn and rice, not even eating a single small leaf, while all domestic cattle like to eat both green and dry corn leaves and even dry rice straw in winter."

Source: George Fenwick Jones and Don Savelle (trans. and ed.), Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants Whop Settled in America . . . Edited by Samuel Urlsperger (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1983), Vol. 7, pp. 161-162.

1744 Yet again, William Stephens recorded the struggles of the young colony:

"June 16. Saturday. President and Assistants met to deliberate on the present posture of Affairs and the great distress we were in, as well thro want of a more powerful Aid against the Enemy, whom we expected every day to attack the Colony, as also the sad apprehensions we were under of becoming soon destitute of the Ordinary support of life, having recourse to no publick [sic] Store for help and our Keepers of Stores plainly giving us to understand, that they must put a Stop to all Credit, till they saw some prospect of Cash returning again. . . ."

Source: E. Merton Coulter (ed.), The Journal of William Stephens, 1743-1745 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1959), p. 114.

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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