Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

1791 Pres. George Washington left Savannah to visit Augusta. On this day of his visit to Georgia, he again stopped at Caty Greene's Mulberry Grove plantation, where he had lunch.

1821 Gov. John Clark signed legislation creating Dooly, Houston, Monroe, Fayette, and Henry counties respectively as Georgia's 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st, and 52nd counties. The five counties were created from land ceded by the Creek Indians in the Treaty of Indian Springs on Jan. 8, 1821.

• Dooly County was named for Col. John Dooly, a Georgia patriot in the Revolution who was killed by Tories in 1780.
• Houston County was named for Georgia governor John Houston (1784-85).
• Monroe County was named for U.S. president James Monroe.
• Fayette County was named the Marquis de LaFayette, a hero of the American Revolution.
• Henry County was named for American patriot Patrick Henry.

1864 After two days of heavy fighting in the Battle of Resaca, a portion of Sherman's army crossed the Oostanaula River at Lay's Ferry three miles downstream from the battle. Realizing that by the next day, the Confederates will be trapped by Union forces from front and rear, Johnston orders his troops to abandon Resaca that night. In what will become characteristic of Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, the outnumbered Confederates retreat to fight another day. Results of the two-day Battle of Resaca were inconclusive -- casualties totaled approximately 2,800 for the Confederates and while Union casualties were 2,750.

1879 Atlanta's first telephone exchange opened in the Kimball House with a total of ten telephones connected to the hotel switchboard.

1913 The Atlanta Constitution began a fund-raising drive to bring William J. Burns, America's most famous and successful detective, into the investigation of Mary Phagan's death. Burns, who then was in Europe, was rumored to interested in the case. Click here for a detailed accounting of the case.

1925 Politician and lawyer Carl Sanders was born in Augusta, Georgia. Sanders attended the University of Georgia on a football scholarship before interrupting his education to enlist in the Air Force during World War II. After the war, he returned to UGA, ultimately earning a law degree in 1947. Sanders' political career began in 1954 with his election to the Georgia House of Representatives from his native Richmond County. Two years later he was elected to the Georgia Senate, where he advanced quickly, becoming president pro tempore in 1960. When his Senate term ended in 1962 Sanders made the decision to run for governor. His primary opponent was former governor Marvin Griffin, who had crafted Georgia's "massive resistance" strategy to counter the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decisions. This was a historic election in Georgia, as the U.S. Supreme Court had declared the county-unit system unconstitutional, meaning small, rural counties would no longer dominate statewide election. Sanders was the first Georgia candidate to use television widely in a campaign, appealing to urban voters. He won the election easily, becoming the youngest governor in the nation at the time. During his administration (1963-67), Georgia's colleges and universities prospered, many government agencies were streamlined to run more effectively, significant improvements took place in prison and mental health systems, congressional districts were reapportioned on the basis of equal population, and a $140 million surplus was left in the state treasury. Sanders was a popular and progressive governor whose leadership helped Georgia avoid the more violent confrontations of the civil rights movement and made notable progress toward modernizing the state. At the time, Georgia's constitution prohibited a governor from running for a consecutive terms. After his one term as governor, Sanders began a successful law practice in Atlanta that would last over three decades. [Click here for more information.]

1930 Famous painter and sculptor Jasper Johns was born in Atlanta.

1967 Atlanta Braves pitching ace John Smoltz was born in Warren, Michigan..

1995 Dr. Jacquelyn Belcher assumed the presidency of DeKalb College, the third-largest institution in the University System of Georgia.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1742 While the Anglican Church may have been the official church of colonial Georgia, the following entry from William Stephens' journal in 1742 shows that there was actually a polyglot of religious beliefs in the early days, at least one of which left a distinct impression upon him:

"May 15, Sunday. . . [O]ur great misfortune in the want of a Regular Minister appeared more and more now daily, when such a variety of different Teachers encrease [sic], and lead aside many weak people to follow them, and give attention to such Effluvia of Nonsense, as the most illiterate often take upon them to utter, and is past the Common understanding of all Among the rest. I think the Seed sown by the Moravians when they lived among us, Seems to have taken Root, and now to spring up afresh, whose Tenetts [sic] tho I do not comprehend, I must do them the Justice to say, that in Civil life I always looked on them as quiet inoffensive people and less addicted to Contention than most others of our Religious Parties."

1791 On his last day in Savannah, Pres. George Washington recorded in his diary:

"Sunday, 15th. After morning Service, and receiving a number of visits from the most respectable ladies of the place (as was the case yesterday) I set out for Augusta, Escorted beyd. the limits of the City by most of the Gentlemen in it, and dining at Mulberry Grove the Seat of Mrs. Green, lodged at one Spencers -- distance 15 miles.

"Savanna [sic] stands upon what may be called high ground for this Country. It is extremely Sancy wch. makes the walking very disagreeable; and the houses uncomfortable in warm and windy weather, as they are filled with dust whenever this happens. The town on 3 sides is surrounded with cultivated Rice fields which have a rich and luxuriant appearance. On the 4th or backside it is a fine sand. The harbour is said to be very good, and often filled with square rigged vessels, but there is a bar below over which not more than 12 water can be brot. except at sprg. tides. The tide does not flow above 12 or 14 miles above the City though the City is swelled by it more than double that distance. Rice and Tobacco (the last of wch. is greatly increasing) are the principle Exports. Lumber and Indigo are also Exported, but the latter is in the decline, and it is suppased [sic] by Hemp and Cotton. Ship timber, viz: -- live Oak and Cedar, is (and may be more so) valuable in the exptr."

1864 In light of the fact that Union Gen. William T. Sherman had a 100,000-man army now in Georgia with the capture of Atlanta as its primary goal, interest in religion began picking up, as indicated by the following commentary in Atlanta's Intelligencer newspaper:

"There seems to be an extraordinary interest exhibited in religious works at the present time. The First Baptist Church continues to be crowded night after night, and many persons are seeking the way to become Christians. At Wesley Chapel, the revival progresses with unabated zeal and interest, and accounts from various parts of the army state that our soldiers are enlisting in great numbers under the banner of the Most High."

"After dinner Sallie and I and the children rode out to the cemetary [Oakland]. The saddest sight that I have seen is the acre of fresh dug graves that are filled by dead soldiers, the result of this terrible war. Not a blade of grass left growing there."

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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