Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

November 29

1794 Georgia's General Assembly ratified the 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

1834 U.S. Brig. Gen. Thomas E. G. Ransom was born in Norwich, Vt. After serving at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, and the Atlanta Campaign, Ransom was in command of the 17th Corps in pursuit of Hood when he died Oct. 29, 1864 in Rome, Ga.

1895 William V.S. Tubman, 17th Liberian president (1944-71) and grandson of an ex-slave from Augusta, was born in Liberia.

1929 - While Franklin D. Roosevelt was in Warm Springs, Ga. for his eighteenth visit to the state he considered his "second home."

1935 Pres. Franklin Roosevelt participated in dedication ceremonies for Techwood Homes--the nation's first public housing project--at Georgia Tech's football stadium. In his remarks, Roosevelt noted:

"Within sight of you today stands a tribute to useful work under government supervision--the first slum clearance and low-rent housing project. Here, at the request of the citizens of Atlanta, we have cleared out nine square blocks of antiquated, squalid dwellings for years a detriment to this community. Today these hgopless dwellings are goine and in their place we see the bright, cheerful buildings of the Techwood Housing Project. Within a very short time people who never before could get a decent roof over their heads will live here in reasonable comfort and healthful, worthwhile surroundings. Other will find similar homes in Atlanta's second slum clearance, the University [Homes for Negroes] Project."
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1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in Warm Springs, Ga. for his thirty-ninth visit to his "second home." The visit was cut short when Japanese officials made threatening remarks about attacking American and British interests in the Pacific Ocean. Roosevelt returned to Washington the following day; Pearl Harbor was attacked one week later.

1943 The newest employee at the Bell Aircraft plant in Marietta was Mrs. Helen Dortch Longstreet, widow of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet of the Confederate States of America. She completed a riveting class at the Rickenbacker Aircraft Training School in Marietta. According to Larry Bell, in a November 1943 speech, some 34 percent of the employees at the plant were women. He also added that 92 percent of the workers were southerners, including forty of the top 125 administrative staff. [Contributed by Tom Scott, Kennesaw State University.]

1944 Georgia born doctor Alfred Blalock performed the world's first blue baby operation at Johns Hopkins. This operation was a forerunner of modern heart surgery.

1961 Georgia historian and educator Margaret Davis Cate died in Brunswick, Ga. [See Nov. 24 entry for brief biography.]

1980 In response to the bus drivers' strike which had crippled the Fulton County School District's transportation plan, MARTA began offering half-price fares to students going to and from school.

1980 Led by freshman phenom Herschel Walker's 205 yards rushing and three touchdowns, the Georgia Bulldogs vanquished archrival Georgia Tech 38-20 to complete an undefeated season. Walker not only led the team to victory, but also broke the national single season rushing record when he blasted up the middle, powering over several defenders along the way, on a 65-yard touchdown run which iced Georgia's victory. Now the only thing standing in the way of a national championship for the Bulldogs was a January 1 clash with Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.

1991 At age 76, Augusta-born black author Frank Yerby died of heart failure in a hospital in Madrid, Spain.

1997 If you were a Georgia Tech fan, you felt cheated from a victory that Tech had earned. If you were a Georgia fan, it was unbelievable--perhaps one of the two greatest miracle finishes of modern Bulldog football history. With less than a minute to go in the final quarter, Georgia Tech scored a touchdown to move ahead of arch rival and 14th-ranked Georgia by one point. Tech then tried for a two-point conversion--and made it. Tech was now three points up with 48 seconds left in the game. Georgia could tie the score with a field goal, but it now appeared that for the first time in seven years, Tech would not lose to Georgia. On the ensuing kickoff, Tech kicked the ball out of bounds to keep it out of the hands of senior star Hines Ward. The ball was put into play on Georgia's own 35 yeard line. Quarterback Mike Bobo threw three straight completions, and the Bulldogs marched up the field to the Tech 21-yard line. With only seconds to go in the game, Bobo threw a pass up the middle--but a Tech line backer intercepted the ball. Tech fans went wild, not hearing the whistle from one of the referees signaling defensive pass interference. It was a close call--and one that Tech coaches and fans didn't see--but Georgia got the ball back on the Tech 8-yard line. With ten seconds left in the game, Bobo dropped back and lofted the ball in a miracle pass play to Corey Allen. Just before running out of the far left corner of the end zone, Allen caught the ball. For the second time in his career at Georgia, Allen had a game-saving catch. Bobo arguably had the best day of his career at Georgia, completing 30 out of 39 passes for 415 yards and 4 touchdowns (tying a Georgia record). A third Bulldog--Hines Ward--also had a stellar performance with 6 pass receptions--two for touchdowns, including 54-yard scoring play. Ward, however, was not allowed a chance to make collegiate football history. No Division I-A player had ever achieved 1,000 offensive yards in each of three areas--running, pass receiving, and pass completion. Ward came into the game with over 1,000 yards in the first two categories, but he lacked 82 yards in pass completions. Prior to the game, Bulldog coach Jim Donan had promised Ward a shot at the record--but the game was so close throughout that Bobo stayed in as quarterback through the whole game.

1998 Playing in St. Louis, the Atlanta Falcons defeated the St. Louis Rams by a score of 21-10 to go 10-2 and set yet one more franchise record for best start in the team's history. Starting quarterback Chris Chandler, injured the previous week, did not play at all.
 
 

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1847 Dr. William N. White, a New York educator who had come to Atlanta to open a school, had opened a small academy with 25 students in October. In his journal he described the death of one of his students, as well as commented on a traditional student gift to teachers:

"Little Isaac Humphries, one of my pupils, died last night after an illness of but four days. he was a bright and pretty little fellow, and I shall miss him very much indeed. I dismissed school about three o'clock so that we might attend the funeral. I addressed them for a few moments on the subject of death, and they seemed much affected.

"My little pupils are as docile and affectionate as children can be. I have about a peck of apples from their bountiful donations. I almost always go home with a pocketful, which they lay upon my desk. Herman, a little German, having no apples brought me some cigars. . . . ."

Source: Franklin M. Garrett, Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969 reprint of 1954 original volume), Vol. I, p. 250.

1864 Sherman's secretary, Henry Hitchcock, wrote in his diary:

"Camp in pine grove near 'Rocky Creek,' Fourteenth day out Gilkeson (?) Co. Ga.--November 29/64 Certainly this is the perfection of campaigning. Since we left Sandersville I have seen nothing of an enemy. We know, however, that it is dangerous to go off the roads or to get either before or behind the army. But no orders nor danger can prevent squads of men going off foraging, and only yesterday a lieutenant and small party were 'gobbled' in our rear on the very road we had just come over in the morning. And this though it is well understood that to be made prisoner probably means to have one's throat cut at once."

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), p. 110.

1864 Substantiating the danger that Union stragglers and foragers faced, Pvt. Enoch John--part of a special unit of 30 scouts that Hood had designated to follow and harrass Sherman's army--wrote in his diary:

"Nov. 29th. Turned out early, and within four miles of Soursville we found our enemies, charged the lot, killed three, captured three, and run the whole brigade for a mile. We then turned off to the left, and soon found nine Yanks, burning some houses, cotton, cotton gins, barns, &c.; charged them at once, and in a very few minutes the whole lot were in kingdom come. We then moved back and camped, satisfied with the day's sport."

Source: Diary of Cpl Enoch John

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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