Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

October 20

1727 James Oglethorpe dropped out of Corpus Christi College at Oxford University without completing his B.A. degree. However, he would receive a special M.A. degree on July 31, 1731. (See July 31 entry for story of why he received the M.A. degree.)

1820 As a result of Spain selling East Florida to the U.S. for $5 million, Georgia got a new southern neighbor.

1839 Lawyer and veteran politician Augustus Octavious Bacon was born in Bryan County, Georgia (although he ultimately made his home in Macon). After graduating from the University of Georgia with undergraduate and law degrees, he began the practice of law in Atlanta in 1860. Bacon became involved in politics after serving in the Confederate army during the Civil War. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1871-1883, eventually rising to the prominent position of Speaker of the House. Bacon was elected to the U.S. Senate, serving from 1895 until his death in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 14, 1914. Following his death, the Georgia General Assembly passed an act creating Bacon County, which Gov. John Slaton signed into law on Nov. 3, 1914.

1886 The committee created by the legislature to choose a site for the new state technology school of Georgia selected Atlanta.

1905 En route to Atlanta, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt's train stopped in Roswell so he could visit Bulloch Hall, girlhood home of his mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt.

1918 There was a slight decrease in the number of new cases of Spanish influenza reported statewide.

1963 St. Simons Island-born Jim Brown set a National Football League single-season rushing record of 1,863 yards -- a record that stood until broken by O.J. Simpson in 1973. In 1971, Brown was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

1969 The U.S. Department of Interior designated the Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge on Wassaw Island off the coast of Chatham County.

1996 Playing in New York, the Atlanta Braves embarrassed the Yankees in the opening game of the World Series with a 12-1 win. In his first at-bat, 19-year-old Andruw Jones hit a home run to become the youngest player to homer in the history of the World Series. During his second at-bat, Jones hit another home run to become the second player to hit back-to-back home runs in his first appearance in the World Series.

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1861 From Villa Rica, Ga., Joseph W. Chambers wrote Gov. Joseph E. Brown about boys sixteen and younger enlisting as soldiers. Chambers had two teenage sons of his own, and it was not fear of their death or injury that he spoke about in his letter but rather concern that his boys would learn to drink and gamble:

"I take my pen this evening to write you a few lines to inform you of one thing that is going on and that is this. I don't think that men making up companies to go off to war should take boys contrary to their parents' will. It is causing many to see a great deal of trouble about them and some women has been affected so long that their minds ain't able to bear it, boys running off not more than fourteen and sixteen years old from their parents, persuaded by others who are going off to the war. And I think notes should be given to men who are making up companies to go off should not receive them that [are] under age. And you know that it would make you feel dreadful bad to have a child to go off contrary to your wish and will. It produces a great deal of dissatisfaction and trouble when it can be avoided. And I have confidence to believe you will do all you can to prevent it.

"For boys so young has but very little judgement about them or thought of consideration at best and are so apt to fall into bad habits and [be] ruined for everymore. And I think and say to you that they should not be [al]lowed to drink nor gamble in their camps at all. For men drinkers is not fit for service anyway when influenced by liquor. And I wants such restriction made if it can possibly be done, as I shall soon have two sons there. I have tried to raise them up right, tried to show them what a great evil it is to drink, gamble or any other evil. But after I have done all this, when they get off from home they may fall into these evils when they are presented to them. And they are many [who] shall persuade them into it to get what they have. And if it was not allowed in camps they wouldn't be so apt to fall into these habits and be ruined."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), Georgia: History written by Those who lived It (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1995), p. 145.

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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