Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

November 27

1806 Author and stage actress Frances Anne (Fanny) Kemble was born in London, England. Kemble came from a family of well-known actors, but was more interested in literature herself. However, financial problems of her father forced her onto the stage, her first role being that of Juliette. Kemble was an immediate success and embarked on an American tour in 1832. While in Philadelphia she met, and eventually married, Pierce Butler, grandson of a Georgia plantation owner.

Kemble was an intelligent, independent woman who abhorred slavery and was not shy about speaking out against it. These abolitionist views did not sit well with her husband; yet she still strived to make the marriage work. When Butler inherited the Georgia plantation upon his grandfather's death, she moved to Georgia with him. From December 30, 1838 to April 17, 1839, Kemble kept a journal of what she witnessed. Although she spent just over sixteen months of her life in Georgia, the result was one of the most powerful pieces of historical literature ever produced. Unable to reconcile their differences, Butler and Kemble were divorced in 1849, with Butler retaining custody of their two daughters. During the Civil War she published the journal she had kept some twenty-five years before -- Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation. Her descriptions of the horrifying treatment of slaves is credited with doing much toward maintaining British neutrality during the war, when for economic reasons many favored the South -- which produced cotton for British textile mills. Kemble went on to publish other thoughtful and intelligent works -- Records of a Girlhoodin 1878, Records of a Later Life in 1882, Notes Upon Some of Shakespeare's Plays in 1882, Far Away and Long Ago in 1889, and Further Records in 1891. Kemble died in London on Jan. 15, 1893.

1863 The Battle of Ringgold Gap was fought. After their loss at Missionary Ridge, retreating Confederate troops entrenched themselves in Catoosa County at Ringgold Gap, where the Western & Atlantic RR cut through Taylor's Ridge. For five hours, Union troops tried unsuccessfully to dislodge the Confederate defenders. Finally, they pulled back, leaving a Confederate victory.

1863 Confederate Brig. Gen. Claudius Charles Wilson died of fever as Union and Confederate troops fought at Ringgold Gap in Catoosa County. Wilson was born Oct. 1, 1831 in Effingham County, Ga. Before the war he served as a lawyer and state prosecuting attorney. In 1861, he became a captain in the 25th Georgia Volunteer Infantry, advancing to the rank of colonel in Sept. 1861. He served in the Vicksburg campaign, subsequently commanding a brigade in Walker's corps at Chickamauga. In Nov. 1863, just prior to his death, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.

1864 Camped just north of Sandersville, Sherman and the 20th Corps marched into town, where Sherman ordered the courthouse burned (because Confederates had used it to fire on Union troops). On this Sunday, they marched four miles to Tennille Station, where they camped for the night.

1931 Georgia politician Hoke Smith died in Atlanta. Born Sept. 2, 1855 inNewton, N.C., Smith and his parents moved toAtlanta after the Civil War. Here, he studied law and was admitted to practice at age 17. In the following years, he invested wisely and became quite wealthy. In the late 1800s, he became active in Democratic politics, and for his support of Grover Cleveland in the 1892 presidential campaign was named U.S. Secretary of Interior. He resigned the cabinet post in 1896 and returned to the practice of law. In 1905, he decided to seek the office of Georgia governor, and in 1906 won overwhelmingly. His administration included many progressive reforms. Smith lost to Joseph M. Brown in 1908, but two years later regained the office of chief executive. After the death of U.S. Senator Alexander Clay in 1910, the General Assembly elected Smith to fill Clay's remaining term. In the Senate, Smith is best remembered for his support of agriculture and vocational education. The two most notable pieces of legislation associated with him were the Smith-Lever Act, which authorized agricultural extension programs, and the Smith-Hughes Act, which provided for pre-college vocational education in the areas of agriculture, industrial arts, and homemaking skills. Smith died in Atlanta on November 27, 1931.

1944 President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in Warm Springs, Ga. for his forty-first visit to his "second home." He had just finished a grueling re-election campaign, and was leading the nation (and the world) toward victory in World War II. But physically he was declining noticeably; he was suffering from heart disease and exhaustion. While this stay at Warm Springs certainly re-invigorated Roosevelt mentally, and to some degree physically (he did get a lot of rest), his health problems would continue.

1961 The five Albany students arrested for trying to integrate the local Trailways bus station on November 22, 1961 were tried and convicted for "tending to create a disturbance." [Contributed by Dr. Lee Formwalt, Albany State University]

1965 The Atlanta Falcons participated in their first NFL draft. Their first pick was Tommy Nobis, an Outland Trophy-winning linebacker from the University of Texas. Nobis was also drafted by Houston Oilers of the American Football League,but he signed a Falcons contract on December 14.

1967 Martin Luther King Jr. announced the formation by SCLC of a Poor People's Campaign, with the aim of representing the problems of poor blacks and whites.
 
 
 
 

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1838 L.M. Parsons of Macon, Ga. wrote Josiah Parsons in New Hampshire describing the operation of pole boats on the Ocmulgee River:

"The boating is done by pole boats. The boats have generally from thirty to forty hands [and] are constructed with a gangway [on] each side for the hands as they push to walk the whole length of the Boat -- as they are obligated to move regularly they make a beautiful appearance as they come up always singing. They have very strong Voices and their tunes are generally so arranged that two [or] three of the best will sing a line that the whole will join in chorus."

Source: Spencer B. King, Jr., Georgia Voices: A Documentary History to 1872 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1966, reprinted 1974), p. 130.

1864 During the March to the Sea, Sherman's secretary, Henry Hitchcock, recorded in his diary:

"Twelfth day, Headquarters in a field, Tennille Station, Georgia Central R. Rd. - Ride from Sandersville here through pine forests over sandy road . . . At this place found R.R. depot, store-houses, etc., in smoking ruins . . . this is the land for sweet potatoes -- from Covington to Milledgeville. Good story of soldier who 'don't touch any but red ones now,' and scornfully rejects white ones. Accidentally got to talking with brunette lady of the house today about the war, etc. I pity these women sincerely, but curse the miserable 'State pride' which blinds them. I believe there is no such contemptible provincialism in this world as these people have. It does me good to quote A.H. Stephens' Union speeches to them -- and it hits hard -- the harder because most politely done, with surprise and regret at his abandonment of principles so admirably and truthfully declared . . . . General in fine spirits, and well he may be. He desires nothing better than for Longstreet (Confederate General James Longstreet, rumored, inaccurately, to be at Augusta) to come and fight him. All our commanders constantly report our troops in the very best of spirits and condition, 'spoiling for a fight.' Our little skirmish yesterday at Sandersville showed it . . . Meanwhile we are all the time destroying the Georgia Central Railroad -- tearing up and burning the ties and sleepers and bending and twisting the rails. At Oconee Bridge, twelve miles from here, over two miles of trestle work through swamps on both sides of the river have been burned, as well as the bridge, a long and important one."

Source: M.A. DeWolfe Howe (ed.), Marching with Sherman: Passages from the Letters and Campaign Diaries of Henry Hitchcock, Major and assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers, November 1864-May 1865 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995), pp. 99-105.

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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