Chronology Of Georgia

Chronology Of Georgia
by
Richard E. Irby, Jr
February 17, 1997

	1629 Charles I grants a charter to Sir Robert Heath which includes all territory between 31° and 36° N Lat. and extended from sea to sea. This is approximately from Albemarle Sound in North Carolina to Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia. The delivery of this charter is a matter of dispute. There are even claims that this charter was conveyed to Samuel Vassal in 1630. March 24, 1663 Charles II delivers the 1629 charter to the Earl of Claredon, the Duke of Albemarle, Sir George Carteret and five other favorites. July 10, 1665 A second charter extends the bounds of the grant to 36° 30' and 29° N Lat. This is approximately from the northern border of North Carolina (36° 34') and Daytona Beach, Florida. April, 1670 Charleston, South Carolina founded. July 18, 1670 Treaty of peace between England and Spain, who claims the entire eastern half of North America, signed at Madrid, Spain provides that actual possession of land would determine ownership. The English have no settlements south of Charleston while the Spanish have settlements as far north as latitude 32° 30'. This is approximately the latitude of Port Royal (Santa Elena), South Carolina or about fifty miles north of Savannah. 1673 The Spanish reoccupy Santa Catalina (St. Catherines Island) and begin constructing a fort. February, 1681 The Spanish abandon St. Catherines Island and move the garrison to Sapelo Island. June, 1717 Sir Robert Montgomery secures a grant from the Palatine and Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina for the lands between the Alatamaha and Savannah Rivers. He names his colony the Margravate of Azilia. 1717 Sir Robert Montgomery publishes A Discourse Concerning the Designed Establishment of a New Colony to the South of Carolina, in the Most Delightful Country of the Universe. 1719 The people of South Carolina rebel against the lords proprietors and elect James Moore governor. 1720 Sir Robert Montgomery publishes A Description of the Golden Island. 1721 Colonel John Barnwell, of South Carolina, builds Fort King George at the mouth of the Altamaha River. This is the first British settlement in what will be Georgia. July, 25, 1729 Seven of the lord proprietors surrender their rights to George II. Lord, John, Carteret later Earl of Granville, retains his one-eight interest in the soil creating a minor legal problem with title to the land. The lord proprietors receive Ł22,500 for their claims. This includes Ł17,500 for the claims plus Ł5,000 for arrears in quitrents. A strip of land in North Carolina, lying between north latitudes 35° 34' and 36° 30', called the Granville district is laid off as Lord Carteret's one-eight share of Carolina. February 13, 1730 First written mention of Georgia. Earl of Egmont's diary. Georgia purchased Egmont's Journal of the Transaction of the Trustees for $16,000 in 1946. Egmont's Journal is known as Georgia's birth certificate. July 30, 1730 James Oglethorpe and 20 associates petition George II for a royal charter to establish a colony southwest of Carolina. January 27, 1732 The Privy Council approves Georgia's charter. February 28, 1732 Lord Carteret, Baron of Hawnes, surrenders his one-eight interest, by purchase?, in all lands between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers to the Trustees. April, 1732 George II signs Georgia's charter. June 9, 1732 The privy seal is affixed to Georgia's charter and George II grants charter with seven-eighties interest to James Edward Oglethorpe, the Earl of Egmont and 19 associates for all the land "between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers from the Atlantic coast to the headwaters of these streams and thence to the South Seas" for 21 years. July 20, 1732 Twelve trustees attend the first meeting of the Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia in America at Old Palace Yard, Westminster. A total of 72 trustees will serve during the life of the charter. Six of the original Trustees will still be serving when the charter is surrendered. The Trustees are not allowed to hold office, own land or profit from Georgia in any way. October 3, 1732 A total of 114 colonists have been enrolled. Male colonists are drilled by the sergeants of the Royal Guard. November 17, 1732 James Oglethorpe and 114 colonists embark on the Ann from Gravesend, England for Charles Town, Carolina. Ten tuns of Alderman Parson's best beer are on board. The Ann stops at Madeira to take on board five tuns of wine Two children die on the voyage. Four children are born. 1732 Parliament grants Ł10,000 to colony. Numerous contributions are received from all classes of English society Limitations on land tenure. The colony is supposed to produce hemp, silk, grapes, olives and medicinal plants, for which England is dependent upon foreign countries. The hemp should not have been a problem. The police in Georgia currently spent most of their time preventing the cultivation of hemp. Silk culture had already been tried in Virginia. James I had attempted to substitute silk worms for tobacco. Virginia did produce some silk and Mrs. Washington had a ball gown of Virginia silk. Virginia silk provided the coronation robes for Charles I. The ship wreck in Shakespeare’s The Tempest is based on the wreck of the Sea Venture which was wrecked while carrying in its cargo some mulberry plants to feed silk worms in Virginia. Georgia produced about 1,000 pounds of silk in the twenty years of Trustee rule. January 13, 1733 The Ann arrives off Charles Town. January 14, 1733 The Ann departs Charles Town for Port Royal. January 14, 1733 Oglethorpe departs Beaufort for Georgia. January 15, 1732 Colonists land at Beaufort-Port Royal. South Carolina gives the colonists more than Ł2,000, twenty barrels of rice, a hundred cows, thirty hogs and many horses, sheep and oxen. The residents of Edisto send 20 sheep. A Mr. Hume sends a silver spoon to be given to the first baby born in Georgia. Sunday following January 24 Day of Thanksgiving. Feast includes 4 fat hogs, eight turkeys, many fowls, English beef, a hogshead of punch, a hogshead of beer and a generous supply of wine. February 1, 1733 Savannah founded by Oglethorpe with 116 colonists. February, 1733 The Trustees Garden is established. This is the first public agricultural experimental garden in the colonies. The upland cotton which prolong slavery with such disastrous consequences is developed here as well as Georgia's famed peaches. March 17, 1733 The birth of Georgia Close is the first recorded English birth in Georgia. April 6, 1733 The death of Dr. William Cox is the first recorded English death in Georgia. July 7, 1733 Oglethorpe convenes the first court in Georgia. July 11, 1733 Forty Jews arrive in Savannah. Three Jews had received permission from the trustees to raise money for the Colony of Georgia. Instead of depositing the funds raised to the trustees account in the Bank of England, as expected, they use the money to recruit forty Jews and transport them to Georgia. The trustees were not pleased but Oglethorpe ignored their demands that the Jews be excluded. The Trustees wrote “Reward them suitable...but not with lands in Georgia.” These Jews formed Mickve Israel the oldest Congregation now practicing Reform Judaism in the United States. March 12, 1734 Salzburgers arrive in Savannah and establish a town called Ebenezer which they soon abandoned for a site on the Savannah which is known briefly as New Ebenezer. The name Ebenezer means Stone of Help but is not German as often erroneously reported. It is either Hebrew or Chaldean and was a Philstine city mentioned in I Samuel, 4:1, 5:1 and 7:12. June, 1734 Oglethorpe arrives in England. 1734 Molasses Act January 9, 1735 The only three laws enacted for Georgia under Trustee rule: 1-Slaves prohibited in Georgia. 2-Rum prohibited in Georgia. 3-Traders required to purchase a license before trading with the Indians. Laws had to be enacted by parliament and signed by the King. The Trustees could only suggest laws. 1735 Augusta founded on the Savannah River.????? See letter to Ort. February 6, 1736 Oglethorpe arrives in Savannah John and Charles Wesley arrive in Georgia and a party of Moravians July 26, 1736 Charles Wesley returns to England Oglethorpe again goes to England in late 1736. April, 1737 William Stephens appointed by the Trustees as secretary for their affairs in Georgia. November, 1737 William Stephens arrives in Savannah and assumes his duties. His instructions are to provide the Trustees with detailed reports on military, civil and religious matters and to make recommendations to the magistrates. His purpose is to provide the Trustees with reliable information. When officials began to ignore instructions, forwarded, through Stephens, that conflict with Oglethorpe's commands the Trustees divide the colony. February 1738 John Wesley returns to England Moravians refuse military service and remove to Pennsylvania. They complete their exodus in 1740. March, 1738 William Stephens notes with disapproval that the “Malcontents” as he called the disaffected are mostly Lowland Scots. Georgia will ban Scots, both Highland and Lowland, from the state after the revolution. October, 1739 England declares war on Spain. War of Jenkins Ear. November, 15, 1739 News reaches Frederica that a party of Spanish, Negroes and Indians recently landed on Amelia Island during the night, killed two unarmed Highlanders and mutilated the bodies. January 1, 1740 Oglethorpe invades Florida. June, 1740 Oglethorpe bombards St. Augustine for three weeks with out effect. July 5, 1740 South Carolina troops at the siege of St. Augustine begin a disorderly retreat and Oglethorpe lifts siege. April 15, 1741 Trustees divide Georgia into two counties: Savannah and Frederica. William Stephens is appointed president of Savannah at a salary of Ł80 per annum. October 7, 1741 William Stephens is made President of Savannah County in an attempt to keep the Savannah officials under Trustee control. Oglethorpe is left in command of Frederica County. July 7, 1742 The Battle of Bloody Marsh was the last Spanish action in the War of Jenkins' Ear. The Spanish were prevented from taking Charleston. Almost all authors speak of a great slaughter and numerous dead but no one quotes actual casualties figures. Oglethorpe reports killing 170 to 200 Spaniards. Both English and Spanish sources report the action as being especially bloody. Georgia desperately needed a victory and the Spanish needed an excuse. The Boston Post October 4, 1742 p2 reported: “They both did meet, they both did fight, they both did run away, they both did strive to meet again, the quite Contrary Way.” In any event it was a Glorious Victory. July 14, 1742 Parliament directs the trustees to repeal the prohibition on rum. The officers charged with enforcing the rum prohibition were using their position to sell rum. July 25, 1742 First Thanksgiving Day in Georgia. April 18,1743 Trustees abrogate constitution to the extent that it provides for a separate board at Savannah. July 11, 1743 William Stephens becomes President of Georgia. 1744 Oglethorpe departs Georgia on the Success. Georgia is not prospering under Trustee rule. The agricultural schemes and utopian dreams, of the Trustees, have all evaporated. Lord Carteret surrenders all interest in his grant. 1749 The law prohibiting the importation of slaves repealed. Georgia planters were hiring South Carolina slaves for life and even openly purchasing slaves at the dock in Savannah. July 20, 1749 Mary Musgrove declares herself Empress of the Creeks and marches on Savannah with an Creek Army to either collect moneys due her for services rendered during the War of Jenkins' Ear or to drive the whites from Georgia. The Creeks are satisfied with a few presents and some rum. Mary's claims are settled by London for Ł2,100 and title to St. Catherine's Island. 1751 Trustees decide to surrender charter a year early but continue as a defacto government until relieved by a royal governor in 1754. April, 1751 William Stephens retires and becomes the first person to receive a pension from Georgia. April 8, 1751 Henry Parker appointed president of Georgia. December 6, 1752 Patrick Graham appointed president of Georgia on Henry Parker's death. May 16, 1752 Puritans arrive in Georgia from Dorchester, South Carolina. They were originally from Dorchester, Massachusetts. There are 280 whites in 43 families and 536 Negro slaves. A second group of 70 bring 1,500 slaves with them. They settled Midway and the now deserted port of Sunbury. June 23, 1752 Trustees hold last meeting. They sign and seal deed of surrender. The seal is then defaced. July, 1752 The lord justices issue a proclamation that all officers, both civil and military, are to continue in office and await the pleasure of his majesty. September 2, 1752 The new style Gregorian calendar replaces the old style Julian calendar in the British Empire. Wednesday September 2, is followed by Thursday September 14. New Years Day is moved from March 25, to January 1. Riots ensue. March 5, 1754 The Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations submit a plan for establishing a civil government in Georgia. May, 1754 Benjamin Franklin draws up a plan of union and publishes his famous Unite or Die cartoon. The cartoon supposedly shows a serpent divided into 10 pieces with the head labeled NE for New England and the other segments labeled NY, NJ, P, M, V, NC, SC and G. The plan of union is rejected. June 19, 1754 Albany Convention assembles representatives of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New England meet with the Six Nations to work out a joint plan of defense against the French. June 21, 1754 Seal for Georgia approved by George II. A engraved seal of silver equal to the ones sent to North and South Carolina is ordered sent to the governor. October 29,1754 Georgia's first royal governor, Reynolds, arrives at Savannah. October 31,1754 John Reynolds takes the oath of office and becomes the first royal governor of Georgia. January 7, 1755 The first Assembly under the British Crown meets at Savannah. The first law passed by the Assembly provides for punishment of anyone who questions the decisions of the Assembly. January, 1756 Four hundred French Arcadians arrive in Georgia. About 6,000 will be sent to Georgia and the Carolinas. February 8, 1757 The Assembly enacts a bill which permits justices of the peace to bind out all Acadians (Cajuns), that refused to work, to anyone willing to feed, lodge and cloth them in return for whatever service could be obtained of them. February 16, 1757 Henry Ellis arrives in Savannah and observes the burning of William Little in effigy that evening. Reynolds is relieved by lieutenant Governor Henry Ellis and ordered to London for an investigation of his governorship. March 17, 1758 Georgia organized into eight parishes: Christ Church, Saint Andrew, Saint George, Saint James, Saint John, Saint Matthew, Saint Paul and Saint Philip. May 17, 1758 Henry Ellis appointed governor upon the resignation of Reynolds. May 13, 1760 James Wright appointed lieutenant governor of Georgia. October 11, 1760 James Wright arrives in Savannah. October 25, 1760 George II dies after a 33-year reign at 77. George III begins a disastrous 60-year reign. October 31, 1760 James Wright takes oath of office as lieutenant governor. November 2, 1760 Ellis is relieved by James Wright at his own request due to the bad effect of the weather on his health. Ellis was governor of Nova Scotia from 1761 to 1763 but never visited that colony. May 4, 1761 James Wright appointed governor. February 10, 1763 The Treaty of Paris terminates the Seven Years War. France cedes Canada and all territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain and West Louisiana to Spain. Spain cedes all territory east of the Mississippi, with the exception of New Orleans, to Great Britain. April 7, 1763 The Georgia Gazette begins publication. The Georgia Gazette is the first newspaper in Georgia and the eight in the English colonies. October 7, 1763 Settlement between northern Florida and the 50th parallel west of the Alleghenies banned. April 5, 1764 Sugar Act passed. First serious dispute between the colonies and Great Britain. 1765 Four additional parishes created: Saint Mary, Saint Thomas, Saint David and Saint Patrick. March 22, 1765 Stamp Act passed May 2, 1765 The Georgia Gazette suspends publication due to Stamp Act. October 7, 1765 Stamp Act Congress held in New York. Georgia sends an unofficial observer those sole duty is to bring back a copy of the minutes. October 31, 1765 Stamp Master hanged in effigy in Savannah. November 1, 1765 Stamp Act becomes effective but Georgia has no stamps, no stamp master and no official notice of the Stamp Act. Wright suspends the courts and clears ships with certificates attesting that no stamps are available. Savannah is soon crowded with ships from all over the Empire seeking passes. The main problem with the Stamp Act aside from abstract theories of taxation and representation is practical one. The Stamps must be paid for in specie which is very scarce. The medium of exchange is paper currency and there is not enough coin in Georgia to pay for the Stamps required for one year, James Habersham estimates Georgia's income in gold and silver at Ł1,000 per annum and the Stamp Act requirements at Ł5,000 per annum. November 6, 1765 The Liberty Boys meet at Machenry's Tavern for their first meeting. December 4, 1765 Port of Savannah closed. December 5, 1765 Stamps arrive on the Speedwell.. Reynolds has the Stamps hidden on Cockspur Island. January 3 or 6?, 1766 Mr. Angus, the stamp master , arrives in Savannah January 7, 1766 Sixty to seventy ships cleared from Savannah with stamped paper. Georgia only colony, including those that chose to stay in the British Empire, where stamps were sold. February 8, 1766 Unsold Stamps returned to the Speedwell. 1766 South Carolina denounces Georgia as An infamous colony and resolves to burn all vessels trading with Georgia and to hang all persons trafficking with Georgia. Two Georgia vessels are captured before they can clear the Charleston bar and their cargoes are condemned and destroyed. South Carolina threatens to invade Georgia in order to teach Georgians to love liberty. March 4, 1766 House of Commons votes to repeal Stamp Act. March 17, 1766 House of Lords votes to repeal Stamp Act. March 18, 1766 George III signs bill to repeal Stamp Act May 21,1766 The Georgia Gazette resumes publication. June, 29 1767 The Townshend Revenue Act passed by Parliament The Act imposes duties on tea, glass, paint, oil, lead and paper imported into the colonies. The estimated revenue is Ł40,000 per annum. Charles, Champagne Charley, Townsend is Chancellor of the Exchequer. Townshend said, “These colonies are children of the mother country. They were planted by our care and nurtured by us. They will not grudge us their mite to help with the heavy burden we bear.” Colonel Barre scoffed, “Planted by our care indeed! They fled from our oppression and thrive by our neglect. James Habersham warns the British, “If you persist in your right to tax the colonists, you will drive them to rebellion.” June 10, 1768 The sloop Liberty, owned by the smuggler John Hancock, is seized by British custom agents at Boston. Riots ensue. August 1, 1768 Boston merchants draw up a non importation agreement. September, 1769 Jonathan Bryan leads in a vote by citizens of Savannah to boycott British goods. January 19&20, 1770 The battle of Golden Hill New York in the first clash between British forces and colonists. March 5, 1770 Boston Massacre. British troops fire into a rioting mob killing five men and wounding six. Three men die instantly and two die later of wounds. The British Captain and his men are tried for murder and acquitted. The prosecutor is Robert Treat Paine and the defense attorneys are John Adams and Josiah Quincy. September 5, 1774 First Continental Congress in Philadelphia is attended by twelve of the nineteen continental colonies. Georgia, Canada, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, East Florida and West Florida do not attend. October 14, 1774 A Declaration of Rights and Grievances adopted by the Continental Congress. George Washington writes "no thinking man in all of North America desires independence". October 20, 1774 The Continental Congress adopts The Association which is an agreement to import nothing from Great Britain after December 1, 1774, and to export nothing to Great Britain, Ireland or the British West Indies after September 10, 1775 unless grievances against the Crown are redressed. The Association is ratified within six months by all colonies except Georgia and New York. October 26, 1774 The Continental Congress sends a petition to King George and an address to the British people. December, 1774 St. Johns Parish ratifies the acts of the Continental Congress and attempt to secede from Georgia and join South Carolina. St. Johns elects its own delegate, Lyman Hall, to the Continental Congress. The Continental Congress banned all intercourse with Georgia except for St. Johns Parish. January 18, 1775 First Provincial Congress. Only five of the twelve parishes sent representatives. April 19, 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord May 10, 1775 Second Continental Congress May 11, 1775 The Royal magazine in Savannah looted by Habersham and other members of the Council of Safety. 600 pounds of powder taken. June 15, 1775 George Washington appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army. June 22, 1775 William Ewen appointed President of Council of Safety. July 4, 1775 Second Provincial Congress. All parishes sent representatives. July 8, 1775 The Continental Congress sends the Olive Branch Petition to the King. July 10, 1775 Habersham and Captain Bowen accomplished the first seizure of a British ship at sea. They take Captain Maitland's armed schooner which is carrying powder. Georgia retains 9,000 pounds and sends 5,000 pounds to the Continental Army. August 13, 1775 George III Proclaims the America’s in a State of Rebellion. December 11, 1775 George Walton appointed President of Council of Safety. 1776 South Carolina adopts a resolution to annex Georgia and threatens to destroy Georgia by constructing a town opposite Savannah and drying up Georgia's commerce. January, 1776 South Carolina agents arrive in Georgia to agitate for a union of South Carolina and Georgia. January 18, 1776 The Council of Safety issuers a warrant for the arrest of Governor Wright and the Royal Council. February, 1776 The Georgia Gazette ceases publication. February 11, 1776 Wright and several other Royal Officials break their parole and escape on the HMS Scarborough.. February 20, 1776 William Ewen, President of Council of Safety. March 2&3, 1776 Battle of the Rice Boats at Savannah April 15, 1776 The Third Provincial Congress adopts the "Rules and Regulations" for the government of Georgia pending advice and direction from he Continental Congress. May 1, 1776 Archibald Bullock, Appointed President by the Third Provincial Congress. July 2, 1776 The Continental Congress, with New York abstaining, declared the United Colonies free and independent states. July 4, 1776 Declaration of independence justifying the action of July 2 approved. February 5, 1777 The twelve parishes are organized into eight counties: Burke, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Richmond and Wilkes March 4,1777 Button Gwinnett, Appointed President by Council of Safety. May 6, 1777 Lachlin McIntosh wounds Button Gwinette in a duel. Gwinette dies a few days later. Bad blood from the duel poisons Georgia politics for years. May 8, 1777 John Adam Treutlen elected governor by the First House of Assembly. July 15, 1777 Governor Treutlen issuers a proclamation offering Ł100 for the arrest of William Henry Drayton or any other person or persons aiding Drayton in advocating the union of South Carolina and Georgia. August, 1777 Mr. Drayton accuses Governor Treutlen and the Executive Council of Georgia of being Tories. September 16, 1777 An act is adopted subordinating all Georgia laws to "the resolves and regulations of the honourable the Continental Congress". Georgia is the only state that did not declare independence. January 10, 1778 John Houstoun elected governor by the Second House of Assembly. December 29, 1778 British occupy Savannah. 1779 Spain, the united States unsung ally, asks Britain to recognize the independence of the thirteen united States of America and to cease hostilities. Spain contributes over $5,000,000 to the revolution. Britain offers Spain Florida, Gibraltar and the New Foundland cod fishing rights for neutrality. The Georgia Gazette resumes publication as the Royal Georgia Gazette. January 7, 1779 William Glascock, President of Executive Council. January 31, 1779 British take Augusta. February 14, 1779 Battle of Kettle Creek. March 3, 1779 Battle of Brier Creek. March 3, 1779 James Mark Prevost, lieutenant governor and acting governor. June 21, 1779 Spain declares war on Great Britain. Spain captures Natchez. This will interfere with Georgia's efforts to establish Bourbon County Georgia in 1785. July 24, 1779 Seth John Cuthbert, Appointed temporary President of Supreme Executive Council. August 6, 1779 John Wereat, Appointed President of Supreme Executive Council. September 16, 1779 General Lincoln and Admiral d'Estaing besiege Savannah September 25, 1779 Bombardment of Savannah begins at seven a.m. but is discontinued to improve the batteries. October 3, 1779 Firing resumes at midnight but is again discontinued as the French gunners are drunk. October 9, 1779 Storming of Savannah complete failure with terrible loss of life. October 11, 1779 Count Pulaski dies of wounds sustained during siege of Savannah. October 18, 1779 Siege of Savannah abandoned after 34 days. November/December 1779 George Walton chosen governor by Georgians opposed to the Supreme Executive Council. January 4, 1780 Richard Howley elected governor by the Fourth House of Assembly. The Assembly creates an Executive Council and declares acts of the Supreme Executive Council null and void. George Wells appointed President of Executive Council. February 3, 1780 Heard's Fort designated as Capital of Georgia. February 16, 1780 Humphrey Wells appointed President of the Executive Council. February 18, 1780 Humphrey Wells resigns as President of the Executive Council in favor of Stephen Heard. February 18,1780 Stephen Heard, appointed President of the Executive Council. May 24, 1780 Governor Howley serves as a Georgia's delegate to the Continental Congress. August, 1780 Myrick Davies, President of Executive Council. August 17, 1781 Assembly meets in Augusta and elects Nathan Brownson speaker. August 18, 1781 Nathan Brownson elected governor by Assembly. March 1, 1781 Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union signed. March 2, 1781 The United States in Congress assembles October 19, 1781 General Cornwallis surrenders. January 3, 1782 John Martin, governor. July 11, 1782 British evacuate Savannah 1783 The Georgia Gazette resumes publication as the Gazette of the State of Georgia. January 8, 1783 Lyman Hall, governor. January 9, 1784 John Houstoun, governor. February 25, 1784 Franklin and Washington Counties created. 1785 Combined Society formed. January 6, 1785 Samuel Elbert, governor. January 28, 1785 University of Georgia founded February 7, 1785 Bourbon County Georgia created. January 9, 1786 Edward Telfair, governor. February 3, 1786 Greene County created. July 1, 1786 Oglethorpe dies. January 5, 1787 George Mathews, governor. September 21, 1787 Battle of Jacks Creek. December 31, 1787 Georgia ratifies United States Constitution. The fourth state to do so. 1788 Bourbon County Act repealed. January 2, 1788 The Georgia delegates formally sign the United States Constitution at Augusta. January 25, 1788 George Handley, governor. January 7, 1789 George Walton, governor. November 9, 1789 Edward Telfair, governor. December, 21 1789 Governor Telfair signs first Yazoo Act selling 20,000,000 acres of and for $207,000 or about one cent per acre to. The Yazoo Companies attempted to pay in worthless paper money and Georgia refuses to transfer the land. The Virginia Yazoo, headed by Patrick Henry, even had the unmitigated gall to attempt to pay in worthless Georgia paper money. The South Carolina Yazoo Company sues Georgia in the U.S. Supreme Court to compel delivery but the suit fails when Georgia is able to obtain ratification of the eleventh amendment to the U.S. Constitution on February 7, 1795. December 10, 1790 Columbia and Elbert Counties created. 1792 Eli Whitney, 27, invents a gin capable of handling short stapled upland cotton at Mulberry Grove Plantation in Georgia. First improvement to the cotton gin since 300 B.C. February 12,1793 The Fugitive Slave Act passed. November 5/7, 1793 George Mathews, governor. December 19,1793 Hancock, Bryan, McIntosh, Montgomery, Oglethorpe and Warren Counties created. April 28, 1794 Count d'Estaing guillotined by the Paris mob May, 1794 General Elijah Clarke, dissatisfied with the Treaty of Paris, crosses the Oconee and establishes the Transoconee Republic in Creek lands. The republic is 10 miles wide and stretches for 120 miles along the Oconee River. September 28, 1794 General Clarke surrenders ending the Oconee War. January 2, 1795 House passes Second Yazoo Bill. January 3,1795 Senate passes Second Yazoo Bill. January 7, 1795 Governor Mathews signs the Second Yazoo Act selling somewhere between 35,000,000 and 50,000,000 acres of land for $500,000. February 7, 1795 Eleventh amendment to the U.S. constitution ratified foreclosing South Carolina Yazoo Company v. Georgia.. January 15, 1796 Jared Irwin, governor. February 6, 1796 Yazoo Act rescinded February 8, 1796 Bullock County created. February 11, 1796 Jackson County created February 18, 1796 Yazoo records burned with Holy Fire from Heaven. February 20, 1796 Lincoln County created. 1796 A fine of $1,000 and permanent disbarment from any office of trust or profit is prescribed for any official taking notice of the Yazoo Act in any way. 1797 Nineteen pages of Yazoo records discovered in a mortgage book. The pages are torn out and consigned to the flames. The missing pages are replaced by a page pasted in to explain the reason for the missing pages 1798 Georgia forbids further importation of slaves. January 12, 1798 James Jackson, governor. February 26, 1799 Governor Jackson announces a competition for a design for a State Seal in the Louisville Gazette. Daniel Sturges, state surveyor, submits the winning design and wins the $30 prize. March 3, 1801 David Emanuel, President of Senate. November 7, 1801 Joshia Tattnall, Jr., governor. December 5, 1801 Clarke and Tatnall Counties created. November 4, 1802 John Milledge, governor. May 11, 1803 Baldwin, Wayne and Wilkinson Counties created. September 23, 1806 Jared Irwin, governor. December 10, 1807 Jasper, Jones, Laurens, Morgan, Putnam, and Telfair Counties created. January 1, 1808 United Stares bans all importation of slaves. December 13, 1808 Pulaski County created. 1809 Fletcher v. Peck comes before the U.S. Supreme Court. November 10, 1809 David B. Mitchell governor. December 14, 1809 Twiggs County created. March 6, 1810 U.S. Supreme Court rules in Fletcher v. Peck that Fletchers title is valid and Georgia's recision of the 1795 Yazoo Act invalid. December 5, 1811 Madison County created. December 10, 1812 Emanual County created. November 5, 1813 Peter Early, governor. 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend. December 24, 1814 Treaty of Ghent ends War of 1812. United States and Great Britain agree to cooperate in suppressing the slave trade but Yankee Clippers built at Baltimore, Maryland and New Port, Rhode Island out sail the ponderous British man-of-wars assigned to patrol the slave lanes. November 10, 1815 David B. Mitchell, governor. 1816 William H. Crawford of Georgia states' rightist and last Federalist candidate for president loses to James Monroe 183 electoral votes to 34 electoral votes. 1817 First Seminole war begins as Georgia backwoodsmen attack Indians just north of the Florida border. !817-1818. November 4, 1817 William Rabun, governor. March 9, 1818 Andrew Jackson arrives at Fort Scott to concentrate troops for an expedition into Spanish Florida against who have been raiding United States territory. December 15, 1818 Appling, Early Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Irwin and Walton Counties created. 1818 First Seminole War ends. May 22, 1819 S.S. Savannah sails from Savannah, Georgia and arrives in Liverpool, England on June 30. October 24, 1819 Mathew Talbot, President of Senate. November, 5 1819 John Clark, governor. December 21, 1819 Rabun County created. March 3, 1820 Missouri Compromise accepted by Congress. Missouri is admitted as a slave state in exchange for Maine's admittance as a free state on condition that slavery be abolished in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase. May 15, 1821 Dooly, Fayette, Henry, Houston, Monroe and Newton Counties created. December 15,1821 Governor John Clark signs bill establishing Clinton Female Academy. December 9, 1822 Bibb, Dekalb and Pike Counties created. November 7, 1823 George M. Troup, governor. December 8, 1823 Decatur County created. December 15, 1824 Upson and Ware Counties created. February 12, 1825 Creek Chiefs cede all Creek lands in Georgia to the United States in Treaty of Indian Springs and promise to leave Georgia by September 1, 1825. Creek tribesmen repudiate treaty. June 9, 1825 Carroll, Coweta, Lee, Muscogee and Troop Counties created. December 12, 1825 Baker County created. December 23, 1825 Lowndes and Thomas Counties created. December 24, 1825 Butts and Taliafeffr Counties created. January 24, 1826 Treaty of Washington abrogates Treaty of Indian Springs. The Creeks cede a smaller area and are allowed to remain on their lands until January 1, 1826. November 7, 1827 John Forsyth, governor. December 14, 1827 Harris, Marion, Meriwether and Talbot. 1828 Gold discovered in Georgia. December 20, 1820 Campbell and Randolph Counties created. December 24, 1825 Taliaferro County created. November 4, 1829 George R. Gilmer, governor. December 21, 1830 Cherokee County created. December 22, 1830 Heard County created. December 23, 1830 Stewart County created. March 18, 1831 U.S. Supreme Court rules that an Indian tribe may not sue in federal court. Cherokee Nation v. Georgia November 9, 1831 Wilson Lumpkin, governor. December 26, 1831 Sumter County created. 1832 The New England Anti-Slavery Society is founded at Boston March 3, 1832 U.S. Supreme Court rules that the U.S. Government has exclusive authority over tribal Indians and their lands within any state, Worcester v. Georgia. May 9, 1832 Seminoles in Florida sign treaty ceding all tribal land east of the Mississippi. Fifteen Chiefs sign. See 1835. December 3, 1832 Bartow, Cobb, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Murray, Paulding, and Union Counties created. December 4, 1833 The American Anti-Slavers Society is founded at Philadelphia. December 9, 1832 Crawford County created. 1833 Hardy Ivy builds a cabin on land that will become Atlanta. December 18, 1833 Walker County created. July 9, 1834 The S.S. John Randolph, the first successful iron steamship, is launched in Savannah. 1835 Second Seminole War begins. Osceola thrusts his knife through the 1832 treaty. Osceola is arrested but escapes. 1835-1842. November 4, 1835 William Schley, governor. 1836 Seminoles massacre Major Francis L. Dade and his 103 man command. February, 1836 Battle of Hitchity. March 27, 1836 Colonel J.W. Fannin and his Georgian's executed by order of Santa Ana at Goliad on Palm Sunday. July, 1836 Battle of Brushy Creek. July 3, 1836 Battle of Chickasawachee Swamp. July 27, 1836 Battle of Echowanochaway Creek. December 19, 1836 Emory College established. The original site was Oxford. 1837 Terminus western terminal of Western and Atlantic Railroad. Will become Atlanta. 1837 Osceola and several followers are arrested under a flag of truce at St. Augustine on orders of General Thomas S. Jesup. November 8, 1837 George R. Gilmer, governor. December 14, 1837 Macon County created. December 25, 1837 Dade County created. December 25, 1837 Zachary Taylor, Old Rough and Ready, defeats Seminoles at Okeechobee Swamp. 1838 Trail of Tears. Cherokees expelled from Georgia. 1838 Underground railroad started. December 28, 1838 Chattooga County created. May 12, 1839 Georgia Historical Society Founded. November 6, 1839 Charles J. McDonald, governor. 1842 Crawford W. Long performs first recorded operation under general anesthesia. Ether parties are a vogue and Long notices the absence of pain in guests that fall down and bruise themselves at an ether party he hosts. He removes a cyst from James Venable's neck while Venable is under the influence of ether. 1843 Terminus is renamed Marthasville after Martha Atalanta Lumpkin daughter of Governor Wilson Lumpkin. See 1847. November 8, 1843 George W. Crawford, governor. 1844 Crawford W. Long uses ether in childbirth at Jefferson, Georgia. He administers ether to his wife during the birth of their second child. 1845 The Methodist Episcopal Church in America splits into northern and southern conferences after Georgia Bishop James O. Andrews resists an order to give up his slaves or resign his Bishopric. 1847 Atlanta, Georgia is incorporated. Formally Marthasville. Named for Martha Atalanta Lumpkin daughter of Governor Wilson Lumpkin. Atalanta is a variant of Atlanta. November 3, 1847 George W.B. Towns, governor. 1848 Dred Scott sues in U.S. Supreme Court for his freedom. 1849 Forsyth Female Collegiate Institute established in Forsyth. This institution will become Tiff College 1849 Harriet Tubman escapes to the north and becomes a conductor on the underground railroad. 1850 Compromise of 1850 February 13, 1850 Gordon County created. February 14, 1850 Clinch County created. September 8,1850 A new Fugitive Slave Act strengthens the 1793 act by substituting federal jurisdiction for state jurisdiction. February 16, 1851 Clay County created. November 5, 1851 Howell Cobb, governor. December 20, 1851 Polk and Spalding Counties created. December 30, 1851 Whitfield County created. 1852 Male and Female Seminary established in Barnesville. This school will become Gordon Military College in 1927. January 15, 1852 Taylor County created. November 9, 1853 Hershel V. Johnson, governor. December 5, 1853 Catoosa and Pickens Counties created. December 7, 1853 Hart County created. December 15, 1853 Dougherty County created. December 16, 1853 Webster County created. December 20, 1853 Fulton and Worth Counties create. January 21, 1854 Fannin County created. February 9, 1854 Coffee County created. February 13, 1854 Chattahooche County created. February 18, 1854 Charlton County created. February 20, 1854 Calhoun County created. February 28, 1854 Republican party organized at Ripon, Wisconsin by former Whigs and disaffected Democrats opposed to the extension of slavery. 1854 Wisconsin Supreme Court rules Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is unconstitutional. January 26, 1856 Haralson County created. February 16, 1856 Terrell County created. February 25, 1856 Berrien and Colquit Counties created. February 26, 1856 Miller County created. March 6, 1856 Towns County created. March 6, 1857 Dred Scott decision rules Missouri Compromise of 1820 unconstitutional. November 6, 1857 Joseph E. Brown, governor. December 3, 1857 Dawson County created December 18, 1857 Milton and Pierce Counties created December 19, 1857 Glascock County created. December 21, 1857 Mitchell County created. December 22, 1857 Schley, White and Wilcox Counties created. November 30, 1858 Clayton County created. December 10, 1858 Quitman County created. December 11, 1858 Banks, Brooks and Johnson Counties created. December 13, 1858 Echols County created. March 7, 1859 U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Ableman v. Booth reversing the Wisconsin court decision of 1854 1859 Georgia prohibits the post-mortum manumission of slaves by last will and testament. The state legislature votes to permit free blacks to be sold into slavery if they have been indicted as vagrants. 1856 J.C. Fremont, born in Savannah, Georgia, is the first Republican candidate for president of the United States. He is defeated by James Buchanan. Fremont will be one of two native born Georgian's to serve as Generals in the United States army during the War Between the States. December 3, 1860 President Buchanan in his message to congress denies the right of secession but asserted that the constitution gave him no right to attempt coercion. January 2, 1861 Georgia seizes Fort Pulaski. January 9, 1861 Star of the West attempts to resupply Fort Sumter but veers off when fired upon. Bishop Stevens claims first shot. G. E. Haynsworth fired first shot across her bow and Cadet Horlbeck fires second shot at her.. January 10, 1861 North Carolina irregulars seize Fort Johnson and Fort Caswell. January 14, 1861 Forts Johnson and Caswell returned to United States forces. January 19, 1861 Georgia rescinds the January 2, 1788 ratification of the United States Constitution.. The motion is introduced by Judge Eugenius Nisbet and the vote is 208 to 89. All members sign but six do so under protest. January 24, 1861 Georgia forces occupy the Augusta Arsenal. March 4, 1861 Lincoln inaugurated. Lincoln informs Governor Pickens of South Carolina of his intentions to declare war if federal troops are fired upon. Pickens informs Montgomery and Davis orders Beauregard to reduce Fort Sumter. April 12, 1861 Bombardment of Fort Sumter begins at 4:30 A.M. The bombardment lasts 33 hours and the Confederates fire 3,000 shells. No one on either side is killed and only one injured at Ford Sumter. Edmund Ruffin is credited with first shot. Captain James fired the signal shell from a ten inch mortar on Johnson's Island but the first gun from the iron clad battery on Morris Island is generally considered the first shot. Roger A. Pryor declined the honor of firing the signal shell. Ruffin later wraps himself in the Confederate Flag and commits suicide. April 13, 1861 Fort Sumter surrenders at 2:30 PM on Saturday. Anderson is allowed to fire a 100 gun salute to the United States Flag. only 50 guns are fired. One of the guns explodes and Private Daniel Hough is killed and five are injured killed. Some authors say two were killed. Perhaps one died of wounds. Lt. R. K. Meade joins the Confederate Army. April 14, 1861 Fort Sumter is evacuated at noon. The commanding officer at Fort Sumter is Major Anderson the artillery officer is Abner Doubleday. Doubleday will be credited, erroneously, with the invention of baseball in 1839 in Cooperstown N.Y. by the 1908 Spalding Commission . War Between the States begins. April 15, 1861 Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers for three months service. April 16, 1861 Forts Johnson and Caswell occupied by North Carolina forces. April 19, 1861 Riots in Baltimore when the 6th Massachusetts Infantry passes through to Washington. Rail communications between Washington and the North are cut off for three weeks. Troops to reinforce Washington are landed at Annapolis September 11, 1861 Joe Brown elected to a third term as governor. November 8, 1861 Joe Brown inaugurated as governor. February 10, 1862 General Robert E. Lee requests permission from Governor Joseph E. Brown to dismantle the batteries on Jekyll Island as the inhabitants of the island and Brunswick had removed inland. Major Edward C. Anderson removes the guns and sends them to Savannah. March 9, 1862 United States forces occupy Jekyll Island. April, 1862 Conscription Act passed by the Confederate States. April 12, 1862 The Great Locomotive Chase July, 1862 The Griswold Cotton Gin Company produces their first revolving pistols for the Confederate Army. March 3, 1863 Conscription Act passed by the United States. April 11, 1863 Fort Pulaski, Georgia captured by United States forces. July 13-16, 1863 Draft Riots in New York City September 19&20, 1863 Battle of Chicamauga. May 8, 1864 Battle of Dug Gap. May 14-15, 1864 Battle of Resaca, Georgia. May 16, 1864 Battle of Rome Cross Roads. June 3, 1864 Capture of the USS Water Witch June 4, 1864 Battle of New Hope Church, Georgia June 27, 1864 Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. July, 1864 Stoneman Raid. July 4, 1864 Battle of Ruff's Mill. July 19, 1864 Battle of Moore's Mill July 20, 1864 Battle of Peachtree Creek, Georgia. July 22, 1864 Battle of Atlanta begins. July 28, 1864 Battle of Ezra Church. July 30, 1864 Battle of Dunlap Farm. July 31, 1864 Battle of Sunshine Church. Maj. Gen. George Stoneman, U.S.A. and 600 men surrenders to Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson, Jr. P.A.C.S. August 2, 1864 Stoneman's Raiders repulsed at Barbers Creek outside Athens by Lumpkin's Artillery. August 3, 1864 Battle of Jug Tavern or Kings Tanyard. August, 31 & September 1, 1864 Battle of Jonesboro. September 1, 1864 Confederates evacuate Atlanta, Georgia September 2, 1864 Atlanta occupied by United States troops. October 5, 1864 Battle of Allatoona, Georgia October 12, 1864 Battle of Narrows. November 15, 1864 Sherman's begins march to the sea. November 19, 1864 United States forces occupy Buckhead and burn buildings and supplies. November 22, 1864 Battle of Griswoldville. United States troops hold mock session of the legislature and repeal ordnance of succession. November 23, 1864 United States troops enter Milledgeville. Secretary of State Nathan C. Barnett hides the Great seal of State under his house and the legislature minutes in a hog pen . November 28, 1864 Cavalry action at Buckhead Church. December 12, 1864 Battle between Confederate Gunboats on the Savannah River and United States field artillery. December 13, 1864 United States troops capture Fort McAllister, Georgia. December 19, 1864 Savannah evacuated. December 21, 1864 United States troops occupy Savannah. April 8, 1865 Lee surrenders. April 14, 1865 Lincoln shot by John Wilks Booth at Fords Theater on Good Friday. April 14, 1865 General Anderson raises the same flag over Fort Sumter that he lowered 4 years ago. S3 p81. 1865 President Johnson vetoes civil rights bill. Congress passes the bill over the veto. April 16, 1865 Battle of Columbus. Last major land battle during the War Between the States. April 16, 1865 Battle of West Point. Fort Tyler falls after an 8 hour siege. April 17, 1865 United States forces burn Haiman's Sword Factory. The factory also produced Colt Navy Pistols. May 10, 1865 Jefferson Davis captured by United States troops at Irwinsville, Georgia. May 11, 1865 Governor Joe Brown arrested by United States troops. May 12, 1865 Surrender of some 3,000 to 4,000 Confederate troops, mostly Georgians, at Kingston. June 17, 1865 First Reconstruction. James Johnson appointed Provisional Governor by President Johnson June 29, 1865 Governor Joe Brown resigns.. November, 1865 Legislature and other officials elected. November 10, 1865 Commandant of Confederate prisoner of war camp at Andersonville, Georgia is hanged in Washington's Old Capitol Prison in Washington D.C. December 9, 1865 Legislature ratifies 13th amendment. December 14, 1865 Charles J. Jenkins, governor. 1866 Kentucky sends Georgia a 100,000 bushels of corn. April 26, 1866 First Confederate Memorial Day. April 30, 1866 Joint Committee sends 14th amendment to Congress. November, 1866 Georgia rejects 14th amendment. June 8, 1866 Congress passes 14th amendment. 1867 Atlanta University is founded. It will become a leading institution of higher learning for blacks. March 2, 1867 Second Reconstruction. Georgia placed under the 3rd Military district by the Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867. March 30, 1867/April 1, 1867 General John Pope arrives in Georgia or appointed to take command of the 3rd military district. May, 1867 General Pope closes the University of Georgia. August 5, 1867 President Johnson fires Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. December 9, 1867 Constitutional Convention meets in Atlanta. 169 total delegates. 37 Negro delegates. 1868 The model for RFD mail begins in Norwood. January, 1868 General Meade succeeds General Pope. January 13, 1868 Brig. Gen. Thomas H. Ruger, Military Governor. JANUARY 30, 1868 General George Meade removes Governor Jenkins from office. Jenkins takes $400,000 in State money, deposits it in a New York bank, hides the State Seal and flees to Nova Scotia. March 11, 1868 Constitutional Convention adjourns. March 13, 1868 President Johnson impeached. Acquitted by one vote on May 26. April 20-24/21-23, 1868 Voting on new constitution. May 11, 1868 First convicts leased in Georgia. General Thomas Ruger USA Provisional Governor of Georgia leases 100 able-bodied and healthy Negro convicts to William A. Fort. July 3, 1868 Second group of 100 convicts leased to William A. Fort and Joseph J. Printup. July 4, 1868 New legislature meets. July 4, 1868 Rufus B. Bullock, Provisional Governor. July 13, 1868 General Thomas Kruger appointed military governor of Georgia. Last governor to live in Milledgevile. July 21, 1868 The 14th amendment ratified. July 22, 1868 Rufus B. Bullock, governor. July 25, 1868d Congress approves Georgia's re admission to the United States but adjourns before Georgia's Senators could be seated. September, 1868 Legislature expels 28 Negro members. Four are so light skinned that it is not possible to determine if they meet the 1/8 requirement and they are left along. 1868 Georgia's Representatives seated. June 28, 1869 Rufus B. Bullock, leases Grant, Alexander and Co. all convicts in the Georgia penitentiary for two years. March, 1869 Georgia's Representatives barred from their seats in congress. Georgia's Senators were never seated. December, 1869 Third Reconstruction. United States army reoccupies Georgia. General Alfred H. Terry military governor. January, 1870 Terry's Purge. Negroes returned to legislature and 29 whites removed. February, 1870 Fifteenth amendment ratified. July 15, 1870 Georgia readmitted to the United States. October, 1870 Bullock secretly resigns and flees Georgia. October 17, 1870 Douglas County created. October 18, 1870 McDuffie and Rockdale Counties created. October 26, 1870 Dodge County created. February, 1871 Georgia represented in both houses of congress. Jefferson Long of Macon was the lone Negro congressman. October 30, 1871 Benjamin Conley, President of Senate and acting governor. November 1, 1871 Democrat controlled legislature takes office. December 14, 1871 Governor authorized to farm convicts out for not less than one year or more than two years. The lease to Grant, Alexander and Co. which had expired on June 28, 1871 is extended until April 1, 1871. December, 1871 Special election called to replace Bullock. 1872 United States forces evacuate Georgia. January 12, 1872 James M. Smith, governor. March 7, 1872 Governor James M. Smith leases and farms out all convicts of the state to Grant, Alexander and Co. for two years at $50 per capita per year. Contract expired April 1, 1872. March 3, 1874 Governor authorized to farm out convicts for not less than one year or more than five years. All convicts available leased out and as leases expired new leases were made. 1875 Tennessee enacts Jim Crow law. February 25, 1875 Oconee County created. February 25, 1875 Governor allowed to lease convicts for twenty years. As the leases made under the 1874 act expire the convicts are leased to Penitentiary Companies Nos. 1, 2 and 3. 1876 Rufus Bullock arrested in New York City and returned to Georgia for trial. He is acquitted. January 12, 1877 Alfred H. Colquitt governor. December 5, 1877 Atlanta becomes capital of Georgia. Vote is 99,147 to 55,201. 1879 Federal Circuit Court finds Tennessee's Jim Crow law unconstitutional. 1881 Tennessee passes second Jim Crow law. The M. Rich Dry Goods Store is opened on Whitehall Street in Atlanta by Moris Rich. It will become Rich's of Atlanta. November 4, 1882 Alexander H. Stephens governor. 1883 New Capitol approved. It will be constructed of Indiana limestone rather than Georgia marble and completed in 1889. March 5, 1883 James S. Boynton, President of Senate and acting governor. May 10, 1883 Henry D. McDaniel, governor. October 13, 1885 The Georgia Institute of Technology is established by Act of the General Assembly. May 8, 1886 Coca Cola goes on sale at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. November 9, 1886 John B. Gordon, governor. 1887 Jim Crow law passed by Florida November 8, 1887 John Henry “Doc” Holiday, Atlanta dentist and gunfighter dies at Glenwood Springs, Colorado from tuberculosis at the ripe old age of 35. Doc. Holiday had went west in 1873 after being given two years to live. Just before dying he downed a large glass of whiskey, glanced at his bootless feet and exclaimed “I'll be dammed” He had always expected to die with his boots on. November 8, 1890 William J. Northern, governor. 1891 Jim Crow laws enacted in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. 1891 First Garden Club founded In Athens. 1893 Public hangings abolished. 1894 Georgia sends food to assist farmers in the midwest. Two trainloads of flour, corn meat and cattle food to Nebraska. October 27, 1894 William Y. Atkinson, governor. May 18, 1896 The U.S. Supreme Court upholds racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson.. December 2, 1896 Fitzgerald incorporated. October 29, 1898 Allen D. Candler, governor. 1899 The boll weevil crosses the Rio Grande from Mexico. October 25, 1902 Joseph M. Terrell governor. 1905 Royal Crown Cola is bottled in Columbus, Georgia by Claude A. Hatcher, a local grocery wholesaler August 17, 1905 Crisp, Grady, Jenkins and Tift Counties created. August 18, 1905 Jeff Davis, Stephens, Toombs and Turner Counties created. July 31, 1906 Ben Hill County created. April 24, 1907 Rufus Bullock dies in New York City. June 29, 1907 Hoke Smith, governor. 1908 Convict lease system abolished. Replaced by the notorious “Chain Gangs.” June 26, 1909 Joseph M. Brown, governor. July 4, 1910 Three blacks killed at Uvalda, Georgia over James Jeffries loss to Jack Johnson in boxing match. Riots in Boston, Cincinnati, Houston, New York and Norfolk. July 1, 1911 Hoke Smith, governor. November 16, 1911 John M. Slaton, President of Senate and acting governor. November 29, 1911 Augusta winter quarters for Signal Corps Aviation School. 1912 White residents of Forsyth County drive the Black population out. January 25, 1912 Joseph M. Brown, governor. March 12, 1912 Girl Scouts founded in Savannah. June 28, 1913 John M. Slayton, governor July 30, 1912 Bleckley County created. August 14, 1912 Wheeler County created 1914 New Georgia Seal. Date is changed from 1799 to 1776. July 7, 1914 Barrow County created. July 14 1914 Candler County created. July 27, 1914 Bacon County created. August 11, 1914 Evans County created. June 26, 1915 Nathaniel E. Harris, governor. November 18, 1915 A new Ku Klux Klan is started November 25, Thanksgiving night, on Stone Mountain by William Joseph Simmons. 1916 Boll weevil reaches Atlantic coast. June 30, 1917 Hugh M. Dorsey, governor. August 5, 1917 Atkinson County created. August 21, 1917 Treutlen County created. July 30, 1918 Cook County created. November 9, 1918 Moina Michael is inspired to use the Flanders Field Poppy as a memorial emblem for the W.W.I dead. July 8, 1920 Seminole County created. August 7, 1920 Lanier County created. August 14, 1920 Brantley and Long Counties created. August 17, 1920 Lamar County created. 1921 Boll weevil cuts Georgia and South Carolina Cotton production in half. June 25, 1921 Thomas W. Hardwick, governor. September 22, 1922 Rebecca Latimer Felton appointed first female U.S. Senator to fill the vacancy left by her deceased husband pending a special election. June 30, 1923 Clifford M. Walker, governor. George Washington Carver testifies before House Ways and Means Committee on the value of peanuts which are being planted in greater quantities by Georgia and South Carolina farmers. July 18, 1924 Peach County created. 1927 The Georgia Warm Springs Foundation treatment for suffers of poliomyelitis is founded by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The center will be operated by the National Foundation March of Dimes. June, 25, 1927 Lamartine G. Hardman, governor. June 27, 1931 Richard B. Russell, Jr., governor. 1933 West Georgia College founded at Carrollton January 10, 1933 Eugene Talmadge, governor. 1934 The Masters golf tournament for professionals begins at Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club. June 30, 1936 Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell published. April 12, 1945 President Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs, Georgia. January 12, 1937 Eurith D. Rivers, governor. January 14, 1941 Eugene Talmadge, governor. January 28, 1942 The Eight Air Force is activated in Savannah. January 12, 1943 Ellis G. Arnall, governor. Wins Supreme Court Case to equalize freight rates. January 20, 1947 Melvin E. Thompson, lieutenant governor and acting governor. November 17, 1948 Herman E. Talmadge, governor. January 11, 1955 S. Marvin Griffin, governor. April 20, 1956 First Midas Muffler shop opens at Macon, Georgia. May 13, 1957 The first commercial jet airliner, a French Caravelle, lands at Atlanta. January 13, 1959 S. Ernest Vandiver, Jr. , governor. January 10, 1961 he University of Georgia enrolls two Black students, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, under federal court order. September 18, 1961 Georgia Tech admits three Black students. January 15, 1963 Carl E. Sanders, governor. January 10, 1966 Black legislators seated for the first time in 58 years. January 11, 1967 Lester G. Maddox becomes governor. April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots in Albany, Fort valley, Macon and Savannah. 1969 The U.S. declares a Georgia anti pornography law unconstitutional and says, "If the First Amendment means anything it means that a state has no business telling a man, setting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch." January 14, 1975 George D. Busbee becomes governor. July 2, 1976 The United States Supreme Court upholds Georgia's death penalty. January 11, 1983 Joe Frank Harris, governor. April 23, 1985 Coca Cola introduces New Coke. July 10, 1985 Coca Cola reintroduces Old Coke as Coca Cola Classic. January 24, 1987 Approximately 20,000 protesters march through Cummings, Georgia in all White Forsyth County. 1991 Zell Miller, governor.

1629
Charles I grants a charter to Sir Robert Heath which includes all territory between 31° and 36° N Lat. and extended from sea to sea. This is approximately from Albemarle Sound in North Carolina to Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia. The delivery of this charter is a matter of dispute. There are even claims that this charter was conveyed to Samuel Vassal in 1630.

March 24, 1663
Charles II delivers the 1629 charter to the Earl of Claredon, the Duke of Albemarle, Sir George Carteret and five other favorites.

July 10, 1665
A second charter extends the bounds of the grant to 36° 30' and 29° N Lat. This is approximately from the northern border of North Carolina (36° 34') and Daytona Beach, Florida.

April, 1670
Charleston, South Carolina founded.

July 18, 1670
Treaty of peace between England and Spain, who claims the entire eastern half of North America, signed at Madrid, Spain provides that actual possession of land would determine ownership. The English have no settlements south of Charleston while the Spanish have settlements as far north as latitude 32° 30'. This is approximately the latitude of Port Royal (Santa Elena), South Carolina or about fifty miles north of Savannah.

1673
The Spanish reoccupy Santa Catalina (St. Catherines Island) and begin constructing a fort.

February, 1681
The Spanish abandon St. Catherines Island and move the garrison to Sapelo Island.

June, 1717
Sir Robert Montgomery secures a grant from the Palatine and Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina for the lands between the Alatamaha and Savannah Rivers. He names his colony the Margravate of Azilia.

1717
Sir Robert Montgomery publishes A Discourse Concerning the Designed Establishment of a New Colony to the South of Carolina, in the Most Delightful Country of the Universe.

1719
The people of South Carolina rebel against the lords proprietors and elect James Moore governor.

1720
Sir Robert Montgomery publishes A Description of the Golden Island.

1721
Colonel John Barnwell, of South Carolina, builds Fort King George at the mouth of the Altamaha River. This is the first British settlement in what will be Georgia.

July, 25, 1729
Seven of the lord proprietors surrender their rights to George II. Lord, John, Carteret later Earl of Granville, retains his one-eight interest in the soil creating a minor legal problem with title to the land. The lord proprietors receive Ł22,500 for their claims. This includes Ł17,500 for the claims plus Ł5,000 for arrears in quitrents. A strip of land in North Carolina, lying between north latitudes 35° 34' and 36° 30', called the Granville district is laid off as Lord Carteret's one-eight share of Carolina.

February 13, 1730
First written mention of Georgia. Earl of Egmont's diary. Georgia purchased Egmont's Journal of the Transaction of the Trustees for $16,000 in 1946. Egmont's Journal is known as Georgia's birth certificate.

July 30, 1730
James Oglethorpe and 20 associates petition George II for a royal charter to establish a colony southwest of Carolina.

January 27, 1732
The Privy Council approves Georgia's charter.

February 28, 1732
Lord Carteret, Baron of Hawnes, surrenders his one-eight interest, by purchase?, in all lands between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers to the Trustees.

April, 1732
George II signs Georgia's charter.

June 9, 1732
The privy seal is affixed to Georgia's charter and George II grants charter with seven-eighties interest to James Edward Oglethorpe, the Earl of Egmont and 19 associates for all the land "between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers from the Atlantic coast to the headwaters of these streams and thence to the South Seas" for 21 years.

July 20, 1732
Twelve trustees attend the first meeting of the Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia in America at Old Palace Yard, Westminster. A total of 72 trustees will serve during the life of the charter. Six of the original Trustees will still be serving when the charter is surrendered. The Trustees are not allowed to hold office, own land or profit from Georgia in any way.

October 3, 1732
A total of 114 colonists have been enrolled. Male colonists are drilled by the sergeants of the Royal Guard.

November 17, 1732
James Oglethorpe and 114 colonists embark on the Ann from Gravesend, England for Charles Town, Carolina. Ten tuns of Alderman Parson's best beer are on board. The Ann stops at Madeira to take on board five tuns of wine Two children die on the voyage. Four children are born.

1732
Parliament grants Ł10,000 to colony.

Numerous contributions are received from all classes of English society

Limitations on land tenure.

The colony is supposed to produce hemp, silk, grapes, olives and medicinal plants, for which England is dependent upon foreign countries. The hemp should not have been a problem. The police in Georgia currently spent most of their time preventing the cultivation of hemp.

Silk culture had already been tried in Virginia. James I had attempted to substitute silk worms for tobacco. Virginia did produce some silk and Mrs. Washington had a ball gown of Virginia silk.

Virginia silk provided the coronation robes for Charles I.

The ship wreck in Shakespeare’s The Tempest is based on the wreck of the Sea Venture which was wrecked while carrying in its cargo some mulberry plants to feed silk worms in Virginia.

Georgia produced about 1,000 pounds of silk in the twenty years of Trustee rule.

January 13, 1733
The Ann arrives off Charles Town.

January 14, 1733
The Ann departs Charles Town for Port Royal.

January 14, 1733
Oglethorpe departs Beaufort for Georgia.

January 15, 1732
Colonists land at Beaufort-Port Royal. South Carolina gives the colonists more than Ł2,000, twenty barrels of rice, a hundred cows, thirty hogs and many horses, sheep and oxen. The residents of Edisto send 20 sheep. A Mr. Hume sends a silver spoon to be given to the first baby born in Georgia.

Sunday following January 24
Day of Thanksgiving. Feast includes 4 fat hogs, eight turkeys, many fowls, English beef, a hogshead of punch, a hogshead of beer and a generous supply of wine.

February 1, 1733
Savannah founded by Oglethorpe with 116 colonists.

February, 1733
The Trustees Garden is established. This is the first public agricultural experimental garden in the colonies. The upland cotton which prolong slavery with such disastrous consequences is developed here as well as Georgia's famed peaches.

March 17, 1733
The birth of Georgia Close is the first recorded English birth in Georgia.

April 6, 1733
The death of Dr. William Cox is the first recorded English death in Georgia.

July 7, 1733
Oglethorpe convenes the first court in Georgia.

July 11, 1733
Forty Jews arrive in Savannah.

Three Jews had received permission from the trustees to raise money for the Colony of Georgia. Instead of depositing the funds raised to the trustees account in the Bank of England, as expected, they use the money to recruit forty Jews and transport them to Georgia. The trustees were not pleased but Oglethorpe ignored their demands that the Jews be excluded. The Trustees wrote “Reward them suitable...but not with lands in Georgia.”

These Jews formed Mickve Israel the oldest Congregation now practicing Reform Judaism in the United States.

March 12, 1734
Salzburgers arrive in Savannah and establish a town called Ebenezer which they soon abandoned for a site on the Savannah which is known briefly as New Ebenezer. The name Ebenezer means Stone of Help but is not German as often erroneously reported. It is either Hebrew or Chaldean and was a Philstine city mentioned in I Samuel, 4:1, 5:1 and 7:12.

June, 1734
Oglethorpe arrives in England.

1734
Molasses Act

January 9, 1735
The only three laws enacted for Georgia under Trustee rule:

1-Slaves prohibited in Georgia.

2-Rum prohibited in Georgia.

3-Traders required to purchase a license before trading with the Indians.

Laws had to be enacted by parliament and signed by the King. The Trustees could only suggest laws.

1735
Augusta founded on the Savannah River.?????
See letter to Ort.

February 6, 1736
Oglethorpe arrives in Savannah John and Charles Wesley arrive in Georgia and a party of Moravians

July 26, 1736
Charles Wesley returns to England

Oglethorpe again goes to England in late 1736.

April, 1737
William Stephens appointed by the Trustees as secretary for their affairs in Georgia.

November, 1737
William Stephens arrives in Savannah and assumes his duties. His instructions are to provide the Trustees with detailed reports on military, civil and religious matters and to make recommendations to the magistrates. His purpose is to provide the Trustees with reliable information. When officials began to ignore instructions, forwarded, through Stephens, that conflict with Oglethorpe's commands the Trustees divide the colony.

February 1738
John Wesley returns to England

Moravians refuse military service and remove to Pennsylvania. They complete their exodus in 1740.

March, 1738
William Stephens notes with disapproval that the “Malcontents” as he called the disaffected are mostly Lowland Scots. Georgia will ban Scots, both Highland and Lowland, from the state after the revolution.

October, 1739
England declares war on Spain. War of Jenkins Ear.

November, 15, 1739
News reaches Frederica that a party of Spanish, Negroes and Indians recently landed on Amelia Island during the night, killed two unarmed Highlanders and mutilated the bodies.

January 1, 1740
Oglethorpe invades Florida.

June, 1740
Oglethorpe bombards St. Augustine for three weeks with out effect.

July 5, 1740
South Carolina troops at the siege of St. Augustine begin a disorderly retreat and Oglethorpe lifts siege.

April 15, 1741
Trustees divide Georgia into two counties: Savannah and Frederica. William Stephens is appointed president of Savannah at a salary of Ł80 per annum.

October 7, 1741
William Stephens is made President of Savannah County in an attempt to keep the Savannah officials under Trustee control. Oglethorpe is left in command of Frederica County.

July 7, 1742
The Battle of Bloody Marsh was the last Spanish action in the War of Jenkins' Ear. The Spanish were prevented from taking Charleston. Almost all authors speak of a great slaughter and numerous dead but no one quotes actual casualties figures. Oglethorpe reports killing 170 to 200 Spaniards. Both English and Spanish sources report the action as being especially bloody. Georgia desperately needed a victory and the Spanish needed an excuse. The Boston Post October 4, 1742 p2 reported: “They both did meet, they both did fight, they both did run away, they both did strive to meet again, the quite Contrary Way.” In any event it was a Glorious Victory.

July 14, 1742
Parliament directs the trustees to repeal the prohibition on rum. The officers charged with enforcing the rum prohibition were using their position to sell rum.

July 25, 1742
First Thanksgiving Day in Georgia.

April 18,1743
Trustees abrogate constitution to the extent that it provides for a separate board at Savannah.

July 11, 1743
William Stephens becomes President of Georgia.

1744
Oglethorpe departs Georgia on the Success.

Georgia is not prospering under Trustee rule. The agricultural schemes and utopian dreams, of the Trustees, have all evaporated.

Lord Carteret surrenders all interest in his grant.

1749
The law prohibiting the importation of slaves repealed. Georgia planters were hiring South Carolina slaves for life and even openly purchasing slaves at the dock in Savannah.

July 20, 1749
Mary Musgrove declares herself Empress of the Creeks and marches on Savannah with an Creek Army to either collect moneys due her for services rendered during the War of Jenkins' Ear or to drive the whites from Georgia. The Creeks are satisfied with a few presents and some rum. Mary's claims are settled by London for Ł2,100 and title to St. Catherine's Island.

1751
Trustees decide to surrender charter a year early but continue as a defacto government until relieved by a royal governor in 1754.

April, 1751
William Stephens retires and becomes the first person to receive a pension from Georgia.

April 8, 1751
Henry Parker appointed president of Georgia.

December 6, 1752
Patrick Graham appointed president of Georgia on Henry Parker's death.

May 16, 1752
Puritans arrive in Georgia from Dorchester, South Carolina. They were originally from Dorchester, Massachusetts. There are 280 whites in 43 families and 536 Negro slaves. A second group of 70 bring 1,500 slaves with them. They settled Midway and the now deserted port of Sunbury.

June 23, 1752
Trustees hold last meeting. They sign and seal deed of surrender. The seal is then defaced.

July, 1752
The lord justices issue a proclamation that all officers, both civil and military, are to continue in office and await the pleasure of his majesty.

September 2, 1752
The new style Gregorian calendar replaces the old style Julian calendar in the British Empire. Wednesday September 2, is followed by Thursday September 14. New Years Day is moved from March 25, to January 1. Riots ensue.

March 5, 1754
The Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations submit a plan for establishing a civil government in Georgia.

May, 1754
Benjamin Franklin draws up a plan of union and publishes his famous Unite or Die cartoon. The cartoon supposedly shows a serpent divided into 10 pieces with the head labeled NE for New England and the other segments labeled NY, NJ, P, M, V, NC, SC and G. The plan of union is rejected.

June 19, 1754
Albany Convention assembles representatives of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New England meet with the Six Nations to work out a joint plan of defense against the French.

June 21, 1754
Seal for Georgia approved by George II. A engraved seal of silver equal to the ones sent to North and South Carolina is ordered sent to the governor.

October 29,1754
Georgia's first royal governor, Reynolds, arrives at Savannah.

October 31,1754
John Reynolds takes the oath of office and becomes the first royal governor of Georgia.

January 7, 1755
The first Assembly under the British Crown meets at Savannah.

The first law passed by the Assembly provides for punishment of anyone who questions the decisions of the Assembly.

January, 1756
Four hundred French Arcadians arrive in Georgia. About 6,000 will be sent to Georgia and the Carolinas.

February 8, 1757
The Assembly enacts a bill which permits justices of the peace to bind out all Acadians (Cajuns), that refused to work, to anyone willing to feed, lodge and cloth them in return for whatever service could be obtained of them.

February 16, 1757
Henry Ellis arrives in Savannah and observes the burning of William Little in effigy that evening.

Reynolds is relieved by lieutenant Governor Henry Ellis and ordered to London for an investigation of his governorship.

March 17, 1758
Georgia organized into eight parishes: Christ Church, Saint Andrew, Saint George, Saint James, Saint John, Saint Matthew, Saint Paul and Saint Philip.

May 17, 1758
Henry Ellis appointed governor upon the resignation of Reynolds.

May 13, 1760
James Wright appointed lieutenant governor of Georgia.

October 11, 1760
James Wright arrives in Savannah.

October 25, 1760
George II dies after a 33-year reign at 77.

George III begins a disastrous 60-year reign.

October 31, 1760
James Wright takes oath of office as lieutenant governor.

November 2, 1760
Ellis is relieved by James Wright at his own request due to the bad effect of the weather on his health. Ellis was governor of Nova Scotia from 1761 to 1763 but never visited that colony.

May 4, 1761
James Wright appointed governor.

February 10, 1763
The Treaty of Paris terminates the Seven Years War. France cedes Canada and all territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain and West Louisiana to Spain. Spain cedes all territory east of the Mississippi, with the exception of New Orleans, to Great Britain.

April 7, 1763
The Georgia Gazette begins publication. The Georgia Gazette is the first newspaper in Georgia and the eight in the English colonies.

October 7, 1763
Settlement between northern Florida and the 50th parallel west of the Alleghenies banned.

April 5, 1764
Sugar Act passed. First serious dispute between the colonies and Great Britain.

1765
Four additional parishes created: Saint Mary, Saint Thomas, Saint David and Saint Patrick.

March 22, 1765
Stamp Act passed

May 2, 1765
The Georgia Gazette suspends publication due to Stamp Act.

October 7, 1765
Stamp Act Congress held in New York. Georgia sends an unofficial observer those sole duty is to bring back a copy of the minutes.

October 31, 1765
Stamp Master hanged in effigy in Savannah.

November 1, 1765
Stamp Act becomes effective but Georgia has no stamps, no stamp master and no official notice of the Stamp Act. Wright suspends the courts and clears ships with certificates attesting that no stamps are available. Savannah is soon crowded with ships from all over the Empire seeking passes.

The main problem with the Stamp Act aside from abstract theories of taxation and representation is practical one. The Stamps must be paid for in specie which is very scarce. The medium of exchange is paper currency and there is not enough coin in Georgia to pay for the Stamps required for one year, James Habersham estimates Georgia's income in gold and silver at Ł1,000 per annum and the Stamp Act requirements at Ł5,000 per annum.

November 6, 1765
The Liberty Boys meet at Machenry's Tavern for their first meeting.

December 4, 1765
Port of Savannah closed.

December 5, 1765
Stamps arrive on the Speedwell.. Reynolds has the Stamps hidden on Cockspur Island.

January 3 or 6?, 1766
Mr. Angus, the stamp master , arrives in Savannah

January 7, 1766
Sixty to seventy ships cleared from Savannah with stamped paper. Georgia only colony, including those that chose to stay in the British Empire, where stamps were sold.

February 8, 1766
Unsold Stamps returned to the Speedwell.

1766
South Carolina denounces Georgia as An infamous colony and resolves to burn all vessels trading with Georgia and to hang all persons trafficking with Georgia. Two Georgia vessels are captured before they can clear the Charleston bar and their cargoes are condemned and destroyed. South Carolina threatens to invade Georgia in order to teach Georgians to love liberty.

March 4, 1766
House of Commons votes to repeal Stamp Act.

March 17, 1766
House of Lords votes to repeal Stamp Act.

March 18, 1766
George III signs bill to repeal Stamp Act

May 21,1766
The Georgia Gazette resumes publication.

June, 29 1767
The Townshend Revenue Act passed by Parliament The Act imposes duties on tea, glass, paint, oil, lead and paper imported into the colonies. The estimated revenue is Ł40,000 per annum.

Charles, Champagne Charley, Townsend is Chancellor of the Exchequer. Townshend said, “These colonies are children of the mother country. They were planted by our care and nurtured by us. They will not grudge us their mite to help with the heavy burden we bear.”

Colonel Barre scoffed, “Planted by our care indeed! They fled from our oppression and thrive by our neglect.

James Habersham warns the British, “If you persist in your right to tax the colonists, you will drive them to rebellion.”

June 10, 1768
The sloop Liberty, owned by the smuggler John Hancock, is seized by British custom agents at Boston. Riots ensue.

August 1, 1768
Boston merchants draw up a non importation agreement.

September, 1769
Jonathan Bryan leads in a vote by citizens of Savannah to boycott British goods.

January 19&20, 1770
The battle of Golden Hill New York in the first clash between British forces and colonists.

March 5, 1770
Boston Massacre. British troops fire into a rioting mob killing five men and wounding six. Three men die instantly and two die later of wounds. The British Captain and his men are tried for murder and acquitted. The prosecutor is Robert Treat Paine and the defense attorneys are John Adams and Josiah Quincy.

September 5, 1774
First Continental Congress in Philadelphia is attended by twelve of the nineteen continental colonies. Georgia, Canada, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, East Florida and West Florida do not attend.

October 14, 1774
A Declaration of Rights and Grievances adopted by the Continental Congress. George Washington writes "no thinking man in all of North America desires independence".

October 20, 1774
The Continental Congress adopts The Association which is an agreement to import nothing from Great Britain after December 1, 1774, and to export nothing to Great Britain, Ireland or the British West Indies after September 10, 1775 unless grievances against the Crown are redressed. The Association is ratified within six months by all colonies except Georgia and New York.

October 26, 1774
The Continental Congress sends a petition to King George and an address to the British people.

December, 1774
St. Johns Parish ratifies the acts of the Continental Congress and attempt to secede from Georgia and join South Carolina. St. Johns elects its own delegate, Lyman Hall, to the Continental Congress. The Continental Congress banned all intercourse with Georgia except for St. Johns Parish.

January 18, 1775
First Provincial Congress. Only five of the twelve parishes sent representatives.

April 19, 1775
Battles of Lexington and Concord

May 10, 1775
Second Continental Congress

May 11, 1775
The Royal magazine in Savannah looted by Habersham and other members of the Council of Safety. 600 pounds of powder taken.

June 15, 1775
George Washington appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army.

June 22, 1775
William Ewen appointed President of Council of Safety.

July 4, 1775
Second Provincial Congress. All parishes sent representatives.

July 8, 1775
The Continental Congress sends the Olive Branch Petition to the King.

July 10, 1775
Habersham and Captain Bowen accomplished the first seizure of a British ship at sea. They take Captain Maitland's armed schooner which is carrying powder. Georgia retains 9,000 pounds and sends 5,000 pounds to the Continental Army.

August 13, 1775
George III Proclaims the America’s in a State of Rebellion.

December 11, 1775
George Walton appointed President of Council of Safety.

1776
South Carolina adopts a resolution to annex Georgia and threatens to destroy Georgia by constructing a town opposite Savannah and drying up Georgia's commerce.

January, 1776
South Carolina agents arrive in Georgia to agitate for a union of South Carolina and Georgia.

January 18, 1776
The Council of Safety issuers a warrant for the arrest of Governor Wright and the Royal Council.

February, 1776
The Georgia Gazette ceases publication.

February 11, 1776
Wright and several other Royal Officials break their parole and escape on the HMS Scarborough..

February 20, 1776
William Ewen, President of Council of Safety.

March 2&3, 1776
Battle of the Rice Boats at Savannah

April 15, 1776
The Third Provincial Congress adopts the "Rules and Regulations" for the government of Georgia pending advice and direction from he Continental Congress.

May 1, 1776
Archibald Bullock, Appointed President by the Third Provincial Congress.

July 2, 1776
The Continental Congress, with New York abstaining, declared the United Colonies free and independent states.

July 4, 1776
Declaration of independence justifying the action of July 2 approved.

February 5, 1777
The twelve parishes are organized into eight counties: Burke, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Richmond and Wilkes

March 4,1777
Button Gwinnett, Appointed President by Council of Safety.

May 6, 1777
Lachlin McIntosh wounds Button Gwinette in a duel. Gwinette dies a few days later. Bad blood from the duel poisons Georgia politics for years.

May 8, 1777
John Adam Treutlen elected governor by the First House of Assembly.

July 15, 1777
Governor Treutlen issuers a proclamation offering Ł100 for the arrest of William Henry Drayton or any other person or persons aiding Drayton in advocating the union of South Carolina and Georgia.

August, 1777
Mr. Drayton accuses Governor Treutlen and the Executive Council of Georgia of being Tories.

September 16, 1777
An act is adopted subordinating all Georgia laws to "the resolves and regulations of the honourable the Continental Congress".

Georgia is the only state that did not declare independence.

January 10, 1778
John Houstoun elected governor by the Second House of Assembly.

December 29, 1778
British occupy Savannah.

1779
Spain, the united States unsung ally, asks Britain to recognize the independence of the thirteen united States of America and to cease hostilities. Spain contributes over $5,000,000 to the revolution.

Britain offers Spain Florida, Gibraltar and the New Foundland cod fishing rights for neutrality.

The Georgia Gazette resumes publication as the Royal Georgia Gazette.

January 7, 1779
William Glascock, President of Executive Council.

January 31, 1779
British take Augusta.

February 14, 1779
Battle of Kettle Creek.

March 3, 1779
Battle of Brier Creek.

March 3, 1779
James Mark Prevost, lieutenant governor and acting governor.

June 21, 1779
Spain declares war on Great Britain.

Spain captures Natchez. This will interfere with Georgia's efforts to establish Bourbon County Georgia in 1785.

July 24, 1779
Seth John Cuthbert, Appointed temporary President of Supreme Executive Council.

August 6, 1779
John Wereat, Appointed President of Supreme Executive Council.

September 16, 1779
General Lincoln and Admiral d'Estaing besiege Savannah

September 25, 1779
Bombardment of Savannah begins at seven a.m. but is discontinued to improve the batteries.

October 3, 1779
Firing resumes at midnight but is again discontinued as the French gunners are drunk.

October 9, 1779
Storming of Savannah complete failure with terrible loss of life.

October 11, 1779
Count Pulaski dies of wounds sustained during siege of Savannah.

October 18, 1779
Siege of Savannah abandoned after 34 days.

November/December 1779
George Walton chosen governor by Georgians opposed to the Supreme Executive Council.

January 4, 1780
Richard Howley elected governor by the Fourth House of Assembly.
The Assembly creates an Executive Council and declares acts of the Supreme Executive Council null and void.

George Wells appointed President of Executive Council.

February 3, 1780
Heard's Fort designated as Capital of Georgia.

February 16, 1780
Humphrey Wells appointed President of the Executive Council.

February 18, 1780
Humphrey Wells resigns as President of the Executive Council in favor of Stephen Heard.

February 18,1780
Stephen Heard, appointed President of the Executive Council.

May 24, 1780
Governor Howley serves as a Georgia's delegate to the Continental Congress.

August, 1780
Myrick Davies, President of Executive Council.

August 17, 1781
Assembly meets in Augusta and elects Nathan Brownson speaker.

August 18, 1781
Nathan Brownson elected governor by Assembly.

March 1, 1781
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union signed.

March 2, 1781
The United States in Congress assembles

October 19, 1781
General Cornwallis surrenders.

January 3, 1782
John Martin, governor.

July 11, 1782
British evacuate Savannah

1783
The Georgia Gazette resumes publication as the Gazette of the State of Georgia.

January 8, 1783
Lyman Hall, governor.

January 9, 1784
John Houstoun, governor.

February 25, 1784
Franklin and Washington Counties created.

1785
Combined Society formed.

January 6, 1785
Samuel Elbert, governor.

January 28, 1785
University of Georgia founded

February 7, 1785
Bourbon County Georgia created.

January 9, 1786
Edward Telfair, governor.

February 3, 1786
Greene County created.

July 1, 1786
Oglethorpe dies.

January 5, 1787
George Mathews, governor.

September 21, 1787
Battle of Jacks Creek.

December 31, 1787
Georgia ratifies United States Constitution. The fourth state to do so.

1788
Bourbon County Act repealed.

January 2, 1788
The Georgia delegates formally sign the United States Constitution at Augusta.

January 25, 1788
George Handley, governor.

January 7, 1789
George Walton, governor.

November 9, 1789
Edward Telfair, governor.

December, 21 1789
Governor Telfair signs first Yazoo Act selling 20,000,000 acres of and for $207,000 or about one cent per acre to. The Yazoo Companies attempted to pay in worthless paper money and Georgia refuses to transfer the land. The Virginia Yazoo, headed by Patrick Henry, even had the unmitigated gall to attempt to pay in worthless Georgia paper money. The South Carolina Yazoo Company sues Georgia in the U.S. Supreme Court to compel delivery but the suit fails when Georgia is able to obtain ratification of the eleventh amendment to the U.S. Constitution on February 7, 1795.

December 10, 1790
Columbia and Elbert Counties created.

1792
Eli Whitney, 27, invents a gin capable of handling short stapled upland cotton at Mulberry Grove Plantation in Georgia. First improvement to the cotton gin since 300 B.C.

February 12,1793
The Fugitive Slave Act passed.

November 5/7, 1793
George Mathews, governor.

December 19,1793
Hancock, Bryan, McIntosh, Montgomery, Oglethorpe and Warren Counties created.

April 28, 1794
Count d'Estaing guillotined by the Paris mob

May, 1794
General Elijah Clarke, dissatisfied with the Treaty of Paris, crosses the Oconee and establishes the Transoconee Republic in Creek lands. The republic is 10 miles wide and stretches for 120 miles along the Oconee River.

September 28, 1794
General Clarke surrenders ending the Oconee War.

January 2, 1795
House passes Second Yazoo Bill.

January 3,1795
Senate passes Second Yazoo Bill.

January 7, 1795
Governor Mathews signs the Second Yazoo Act selling somewhere between 35,000,000 and 50,000,000 acres of land for $500,000.

February 7, 1795
Eleventh amendment to the U.S. constitution ratified foreclosing South Carolina Yazoo Company v. Georgia..

January 15, 1796
Jared Irwin, governor.

February 6, 1796
Yazoo Act rescinded

February 8, 1796
Bullock County created.

February 11, 1796
Jackson County created

February 18, 1796
Yazoo records burned with Holy Fire from Heaven.

February 20, 1796
Lincoln County created.

1796
A fine of $1,000 and permanent disbarment from any office of trust or profit is prescribed for any official taking notice of the Yazoo Act in any way.

1797
Nineteen pages of Yazoo records discovered in a mortgage book. The pages are torn out and consigned to the flames. The missing pages are replaced by a page pasted in to explain the reason for the missing pages

1798
Georgia forbids further importation of slaves.

January 12, 1798
James Jackson, governor.

February 26, 1799
Governor Jackson announces a competition for a design for a State Seal in the Louisville Gazette.

Daniel Sturges, state surveyor, submits the winning design and wins the $30 prize.

March 3, 1801
David Emanuel, President of Senate.

November 7, 1801
Joshia Tattnall, Jr., governor.

December 5, 1801
Clarke and Tatnall Counties created.

November 4, 1802
John Milledge, governor.

May 11, 1803
Baldwin, Wayne and Wilkinson Counties created.

September 23, 1806
Jared Irwin, governor.

December 10, 1807
Jasper, Jones, Laurens, Morgan, Putnam, and Telfair Counties created.

January 1, 1808
United Stares bans all importation of slaves.

December 13, 1808
Pulaski County created.

1809
Fletcher v. Peck comes before the U.S. Supreme Court.

November 10, 1809
David B. Mitchell governor.

December 14, 1809
Twiggs County created.

March 6, 1810
U.S. Supreme Court rules in Fletcher v. Peck that Fletchers title is valid and Georgia's recision of the 1795 Yazoo Act invalid.

December 5, 1811
Madison County created.

December 10, 1812
Emanual County created.

November 5, 1813
Peter Early, governor.

1814
Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

December 24, 1814
Treaty of Ghent ends War of 1812. United States and Great Britain agree to cooperate in suppressing the slave trade but Yankee Clippers built at Baltimore, Maryland and New Port, Rhode Island out sail the ponderous British man-of-wars assigned to patrol the slave lanes.

November 10, 1815
David B. Mitchell, governor.

1816
William H. Crawford of Georgia states' rightist and last Federalist candidate for president loses to James Monroe 183 electoral votes to 34 electoral votes.

1817
First Seminole war begins as Georgia backwoodsmen attack Indians just north of the Florida border. !817-1818.

November 4, 1817
William Rabun, governor.

March 9, 1818
Andrew Jackson arrives at Fort Scott to concentrate troops for an expedition into Spanish Florida against who have been raiding United States territory.

December 15, 1818
Appling, Early Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Irwin and Walton Counties created.

1818
First Seminole War ends.

May 22, 1819
S.S. Savannah sails from Savannah, Georgia and arrives in Liverpool, England on June 30.

October 24, 1819
Mathew Talbot, President of Senate.

November, 5 1819
John Clark, governor.

December 21, 1819
Rabun County created.

March 3, 1820
Missouri Compromise accepted by Congress. Missouri is admitted as a slave state in exchange for Maine's admittance as a free state on condition that slavery be abolished in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase.

May 15, 1821
Dooly, Fayette, Henry, Houston, Monroe and Newton Counties created.

December 15,1821
Governor John Clark signs bill establishing Clinton Female Academy.

December 9, 1822
Bibb, Dekalb and Pike Counties created.

November 7, 1823
George M. Troup, governor.

December 8, 1823
Decatur County created.

December 15, 1824
Upson and Ware Counties created.

February 12, 1825
Creek Chiefs cede all Creek lands in Georgia to the United States in Treaty of Indian Springs and promise to leave Georgia by September 1, 1825.

Creek tribesmen repudiate treaty.

June 9, 1825
Carroll, Coweta, Lee, Muscogee and Troop Counties created.

December 12, 1825
Baker County created.

December 23, 1825
Lowndes and Thomas Counties created.

December 24, 1825
Butts and Taliafeffr Counties created.

January 24, 1826
Treaty of Washington abrogates Treaty of Indian Springs. The Creeks cede a smaller area and are allowed to remain on their lands until January 1, 1826.

November 7, 1827
John Forsyth, governor.

December 14, 1827
Harris, Marion, Meriwether and Talbot.

1828
Gold discovered in Georgia.

December 20, 1820
Campbell and Randolph Counties created.

December 24, 1825
Taliaferro County created.

November 4, 1829
George R. Gilmer, governor.

December 21, 1830
Cherokee County created.

December 22, 1830
Heard County created.

December 23, 1830
Stewart County created.

March 18, 1831
U.S. Supreme Court rules that an Indian tribe may not sue in federal court. Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

November 9, 1831 Wilson Lumpkin, governor.

December 26, 1831
Sumter County created.

1832
The New England Anti-Slavery Society is founded at Boston

March 3, 1832
U.S. Supreme Court rules that the U.S. Government has exclusive authority over tribal Indians and their lands within any state, Worcester v. Georgia.

May 9, 1832
Seminoles in Florida sign treaty ceding all tribal land east of the Mississippi. Fifteen Chiefs sign. See 1835.

December 3, 1832
Bartow, Cobb, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Murray, Paulding, and Union Counties created.

December 4, 1833
The American Anti-Slavers Society is founded at Philadelphia.

December 9, 1832
Crawford County created.

1833
Hardy Ivy builds a cabin on land that will become Atlanta.

December 18, 1833
Walker County created.

July 9, 1834
The S.S. John Randolph, the first successful iron steamship, is launched in Savannah.

1835
Second Seminole War begins. Osceola thrusts his knife through the 1832 treaty. Osceola is arrested but escapes. 1835-1842.

November 4, 1835
William Schley, governor.

1836
Seminoles massacre Major Francis L. Dade and his 103 man command.

February, 1836
Battle of Hitchity.

March 27, 1836
Colonel J.W. Fannin and his Georgian's executed by order of Santa Ana at Goliad on Palm Sunday.

July, 1836
Battle of Brushy Creek.

July 3, 1836
Battle of Chickasawachee Swamp.

July 27, 1836
Battle of Echowanochaway Creek.

December 19, 1836
Emory College established. The original site was Oxford.

1837
Terminus western terminal of Western and Atlantic Railroad. Will become Atlanta.

1837
Osceola and several followers are arrested under a flag of truce at St. Augustine on orders of General Thomas S. Jesup.

November 8, 1837
George R. Gilmer, governor.

December 14, 1837
Macon County created.

December 25, 1837
Dade County created.

December 25, 1837
Zachary Taylor, Old Rough and Ready, defeats Seminoles at Okeechobee Swamp.

1838
Trail of Tears. Cherokees expelled from Georgia.

1838
Underground railroad started.

December 28, 1838
Chattooga County created.

May 12, 1839
Georgia Historical Society Founded.

November 6, 1839
Charles J. McDonald, governor.

1842
Crawford W. Long performs first recorded operation under general anesthesia. Ether parties are a vogue and Long notices the absence of pain in guests that fall down and bruise themselves at an ether party he hosts. He removes a cyst from James Venable's neck while Venable is under the influence of ether.

1843
Terminus is renamed Marthasville after Martha Atalanta Lumpkin daughter of Governor Wilson Lumpkin. See 1847.

November 8, 1843
George W. Crawford, governor.

1844
Crawford W. Long uses ether in childbirth at Jefferson, Georgia. He administers ether to his wife during the birth of their second child.

1845
The Methodist Episcopal Church in America splits into northern and southern conferences after Georgia Bishop James O. Andrews resists an order to give up his slaves or resign his Bishopric.

1847
Atlanta, Georgia is incorporated. Formally Marthasville.
Named for Martha Atalanta Lumpkin daughter of Governor Wilson Lumpkin.
Atalanta is a variant of Atlanta.

November 3, 1847
George W.B. Towns, governor.

1848
Dred Scott sues in U.S. Supreme Court for his freedom.

1849
Forsyth Female Collegiate Institute established in Forsyth. This institution will become Tiff College

1849
Harriet Tubman escapes to the north and becomes a conductor on the underground railroad.

1850
Compromise of 1850

February 13, 1850
Gordon County created.

February 14, 1850
Clinch County created.

September 8,1850
A new Fugitive Slave Act strengthens the 1793 act by substituting federal jurisdiction for state jurisdiction.

February 16, 1851
Clay County created.

November 5, 1851
Howell Cobb, governor.

December 20, 1851
Polk and Spalding Counties created.

December 30, 1851
Whitfield County created.

1852
Male and Female Seminary established in Barnesville. This school will become Gordon Military College in 1927.

January 15, 1852
Taylor County created.

November 9, 1853
Hershel V. Johnson, governor.

December 5, 1853
Catoosa and Pickens Counties created.

December 7, 1853
Hart County created.

December 15, 1853
Dougherty County created.

December 16, 1853
Webster County created.

December 20, 1853
Fulton and Worth Counties create.

January 21, 1854
Fannin County created.

February 9, 1854
Coffee County created.

February 13, 1854
Chattahooche County created.

February 18, 1854
Charlton County created.

February 20, 1854
Calhoun County created.

February 28, 1854
Republican party organized at Ripon, Wisconsin by former Whigs and disaffected Democrats opposed to the extension of slavery.

1854
Wisconsin Supreme Court rules Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is unconstitutional.

January 26, 1856
Haralson County created.

February 16, 1856
Terrell County created.

February 25, 1856
Berrien and Colquit Counties created.

February 26, 1856
Miller County created.

March 6, 1856
Towns County created.

March 6, 1857
Dred Scott decision rules Missouri Compromise of 1820 unconstitutional.

November 6, 1857
Joseph E. Brown, governor.

December 3, 1857
Dawson County created

December 18, 1857
Milton and Pierce Counties created

December 19, 1857
Glascock County created.

December 21, 1857
Mitchell County created.

December 22, 1857
Schley, White and Wilcox Counties created.

November 30, 1858
Clayton County created.

December 10, 1858
Quitman County created.

December 11, 1858
Banks, Brooks and Johnson Counties created.

December 13, 1858
Echols County created.

March 7, 1859
U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Ableman v. Booth reversing the Wisconsin court decision of 1854

1859
Georgia prohibits the post-mortum manumission of slaves by last will and testament. The state legislature votes to permit free blacks to be sold into slavery if they have been indicted as vagrants.

1856
J.C. Fremont, born in Savannah, Georgia, is the first Republican candidate for president of the United States. He is defeated by James Buchanan. Fremont will be one of two native born Georgian's to serve as Generals in the United States army during the War Between the States.

December 3, 1860
President Buchanan in his message to congress denies the right of secession but asserted that the constitution gave him no right to attempt coercion.

January 2, 1861
Georgia seizes Fort Pulaski.

January 9, 1861 Star of the West attempts to resupply Fort Sumter but veers off when fired upon. Bishop Stevens claims first shot. G. E. Haynsworth fired first shot across her bow and Cadet Horlbeck fires second shot at her..

January 10, 1861

North Carolina irregulars seize Fort Johnson and Fort Caswell.

January 14, 1861
Forts Johnson and Caswell returned to United States forces.

January 19, 1861
Georgia rescinds the January 2, 1788 ratification of the United States Constitution.. The motion is introduced by Judge Eugenius Nisbet and the vote is 208 to 89. All members sign but six do so under protest.

January 24, 1861
Georgia forces occupy the Augusta Arsenal.

March 4, 1861
Lincoln inaugurated.

Lincoln informs Governor Pickens of South Carolina of his intentions to declare war if federal troops are fired upon.

Pickens informs Montgomery and Davis orders Beauregard to reduce Fort Sumter.

April 12, 1861
Bombardment of Fort Sumter begins at 4:30 A.M. The bombardment lasts 33 hours and the Confederates fire 3,000 shells. No one on either side is killed and only one injured at Ford Sumter. Edmund Ruffin is credited with first shot. Captain James fired the signal shell from a ten inch mortar on Johnson's Island but the first gun from the iron clad battery on Morris Island is generally considered the first shot. Roger A. Pryor declined the honor of firing the signal shell. Ruffin later wraps himself in the Confederate Flag and commits suicide.

April 13, 1861
Fort Sumter surrenders at 2:30 PM on Saturday. Anderson is allowed to fire a 100 gun salute to the United States Flag. only 50 guns are fired. One of the guns explodes and Private Daniel Hough is killed and five are injured killed. Some authors say two were killed. Perhaps one died of wounds. Lt. R. K. Meade joins the Confederate Army.

April 14, 1861
Fort Sumter is evacuated at noon. The commanding officer at Fort Sumter is Major Anderson the artillery officer is Abner Doubleday. Doubleday will be credited, erroneously, with the invention of baseball in 1839 in Cooperstown N.Y. by the 1908 Spalding Commission . War Between the States begins.

April 15, 1861
Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers for three months service.

April 16, 1861
Forts Johnson and Caswell occupied by North Carolina forces.

April 19, 1861
Riots in Baltimore when the 6th Massachusetts Infantry passes through to Washington.

Rail communications between Washington and the North are cut off for three weeks.

Troops to reinforce Washington are landed at Annapolis

September 11, 1861
Joe Brown elected to a third term as governor.

November 8, 1861
Joe Brown inaugurated as governor.

February 10, 1862
General Robert E. Lee requests permission from Governor Joseph E. Brown to dismantle the batteries on Jekyll Island as the inhabitants of the island and Brunswick had removed inland. Major Edward C. Anderson removes the guns and sends them to Savannah.

March 9, 1862
United States forces occupy Jekyll Island.

April, 1862
Conscription Act passed by the Confederate States.

April 12, 1862
The Great Locomotive Chase

July, 1862
The Griswold Cotton Gin Company produces their first revolving pistols for the Confederate Army.

March 3, 1863
Conscription Act passed by the United States.

April 11, 1863
Fort Pulaski, Georgia captured by United States forces.

July 13-16, 1863
Draft Riots in New York City

September 19&20, 1863
Battle of Chicamauga.

May 8, 1864
Battle of Dug Gap.

May 14-15, 1864
Battle of Resaca, Georgia.

May 16, 1864
Battle of Rome Cross Roads.

June 3, 1864
Capture of the USS Water Witch

June 4, 1864
Battle of New Hope Church, Georgia

June 27, 1864
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

July, 1864
Stoneman Raid.

July 4, 1864
Battle of Ruff's Mill.

July 19, 1864
Battle of Moore's Mill

July 20, 1864
Battle of Peachtree Creek, Georgia.

July 22, 1864
Battle of Atlanta begins.

July 28, 1864
Battle of Ezra Church.

July 30, 1864
Battle of Dunlap Farm.

July 31, 1864
Battle of Sunshine Church. Maj. Gen. George Stoneman, U.S.A. and 600 men surrenders to Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson, Jr. P.A.C.S.

August 2, 1864
Stoneman's Raiders repulsed at Barbers Creek outside Athens by Lumpkin's Artillery.

August 3, 1864
Battle of Jug Tavern or Kings Tanyard.

August, 31 & September 1, 1864
Battle of Jonesboro.

September 1, 1864
Confederates evacuate Atlanta, Georgia

September 2, 1864
Atlanta occupied by United States troops.

October 5, 1864
Battle of Allatoona, Georgia

October 12, 1864
Battle of Narrows.

November 15, 1864
Sherman's begins march to the sea.

November 19, 1864
United States forces occupy Buckhead and burn buildings and supplies.

November 22, 1864
Battle of Griswoldville.

United States troops hold mock session of the legislature and repeal ordnance of succession.

November 23, 1864
United States troops enter Milledgeville.

Secretary of State Nathan C. Barnett hides the Great seal of State under his house and the legislature minutes in a hog pen .

November 28, 1864
Cavalry action at Buckhead Church.

December 12, 1864
Battle between Confederate Gunboats on the Savannah River and United States field artillery.

December 13, 1864
United States troops capture Fort McAllister, Georgia.

December 19, 1864
Savannah evacuated.

December 21, 1864
United States troops occupy Savannah.

April 8, 1865
Lee surrenders.

April 14, 1865
Lincoln shot by John Wilks Booth at Fords Theater on Good Friday.

April 14, 1865
General Anderson raises the same flag over Fort Sumter that he lowered 4 years ago. S3 p81.

1865
President Johnson vetoes civil rights bill. Congress passes the bill over the veto.

April 16, 1865
Battle of Columbus. Last major land battle during the War Between the States.

April 16, 1865
Battle of West Point. Fort Tyler falls after an 8 hour siege.

April 17, 1865
United States forces burn Haiman's Sword Factory. The factory also produced Colt Navy Pistols.

May 10, 1865
Jefferson Davis captured by United States troops at Irwinsville, Georgia.

May 11, 1865
Governor Joe Brown arrested by United States troops.

May 12, 1865
Surrender of some 3,000 to 4,000 Confederate troops, mostly Georgians, at Kingston.

June 17, 1865
First Reconstruction. James Johnson appointed Provisional Governor by President Johnson

June 29, 1865
Governor Joe Brown resigns..

November, 1865
Legislature and other officials elected.

November 10, 1865
Commandant of Confederate prisoner of war camp at Andersonville, Georgia is hanged in Washington's Old Capitol Prison in Washington D.C.

December 9, 1865
Legislature ratifies 13th amendment.

December 14, 1865
Charles J. Jenkins, governor.

1866
Kentucky sends Georgia a 100,000 bushels of corn.

April 26, 1866
First Confederate Memorial Day.

April 30, 1866
Joint Committee sends 14th amendment to Congress.

November, 1866
Georgia rejects 14th amendment.

June 8, 1866
Congress passes 14th amendment.

1867
Atlanta University is founded. It will become a leading institution of higher learning for blacks.

March 2, 1867
Second Reconstruction. Georgia placed under the 3rd Military district by the Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867.

March 30, 1867/April 1, 1867
General John Pope arrives in Georgia or appointed to take command of the 3rd military district.

May, 1867
General Pope closes the University of Georgia.

August 5, 1867
President Johnson fires Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

December 9, 1867
Constitutional Convention meets in Atlanta. 169 total delegates. 37 Negro delegates.

1868
The model for RFD mail begins in Norwood.

January, 1868
General Meade succeeds General Pope.

January 13, 1868
Brig. Gen. Thomas H. Ruger, Military Governor.

JANUARY 30, 1868
General George Meade removes Governor Jenkins from office. Jenkins takes $400,000 in State money, deposits it in a New York bank, hides the State Seal and flees to Nova Scotia.

March 11, 1868
Constitutional Convention adjourns.

March 13, 1868
President Johnson impeached. Acquitted by one vote on May 26.

April 20-24/21-23, 1868
Voting on new constitution.

May 11, 1868
First convicts leased in Georgia.

General Thomas Ruger USA Provisional Governor of Georgia leases 100 able-bodied and healthy Negro convicts to William A. Fort.

July 3, 1868
Second group of 100 convicts leased to William A. Fort and Joseph J. Printup.

July 4, 1868
New legislature meets.

July 4, 1868
Rufus B. Bullock, Provisional Governor.

July 13, 1868
General Thomas Kruger appointed military governor of Georgia. Last governor to live in Milledgevile.

July 21, 1868
The 14th amendment ratified.

July 22, 1868
Rufus B. Bullock, governor.

July 25, 1868d
Congress approves Georgia's re admission to the United States but adjourns before Georgia's Senators could be seated.

September, 1868
Legislature expels 28 Negro members. Four are so light skinned that it is not possible to determine if they meet the 1/8 requirement and they are left along.

1868
Georgia's Representatives seated.

June 28, 1869
Rufus B. Bullock, leases Grant, Alexander and Co. all convicts in the Georgia penitentiary for two years.

March, 1869
Georgia's Representatives barred from their seats in congress. Georgia's Senators were never seated.

December, 1869
Third Reconstruction. United States army reoccupies Georgia. General Alfred H. Terry military governor.

January, 1870
Terry's Purge. Negroes returned to legislature and 29 whites removed.

February, 1870
Fifteenth amendment ratified.

July 15, 1870
Georgia readmitted to the United States.

October, 1870
Bullock secretly resigns and flees Georgia.

October 17, 1870
Douglas County created.

October 18, 1870
McDuffie and Rockdale Counties created.

October 26, 1870
Dodge County created.

February, 1871
Georgia represented in both houses of congress.
Jefferson Long of Macon was the lone Negro congressman.

October 30, 1871
Benjamin Conley, President of Senate and acting governor.

November 1, 1871
Democrat controlled legislature takes office.

December 14, 1871
Governor authorized to farm convicts out for not less than one year or more than two years. The lease to Grant, Alexander and Co. which had expired on June 28, 1871 is extended until April 1, 1871.

December, 1871
Special election called to replace Bullock.

1872
United States forces evacuate Georgia.

January 12, 1872
James M. Smith, governor.

March 7, 1872
Governor James M. Smith leases and farms out all convicts of the state to Grant, Alexander and Co. for two years at $50 per capita per year. Contract expired April 1, 1872.

March 3, 1874
Governor authorized to farm out convicts for not less than one year or more than five years. All convicts available leased out and as leases expired new leases were made.

1875
Tennessee enacts Jim Crow law.

February 25, 1875
Oconee County created.

February 25, 1875
Governor allowed to lease convicts for twenty years. As the leases made under the 1874 act expire the convicts are leased to Penitentiary Companies Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

1876
Rufus Bullock arrested in New York City and returned to Georgia for trial. He is acquitted.

January 12, 1877
Alfred H. Colquitt governor.

December 5, 1877
Atlanta becomes capital of Georgia. Vote is 99,147 to 55,201.

1879
Federal Circuit Court finds Tennessee's Jim Crow law unconstitutional.

1881
Tennessee passes second Jim Crow law.

The M. Rich Dry Goods Store is opened on Whitehall Street in Atlanta by Moris Rich. It will become Rich's of Atlanta.

November 4, 1882
Alexander H. Stephens governor.

1883
New Capitol approved. It will be constructed of Indiana limestone rather than Georgia marble and completed in 1889.

March 5, 1883
James S. Boynton, President of Senate and acting governor.

May 10, 1883
Henry D. McDaniel, governor.

October 13, 1885
The Georgia Institute of Technology is established by Act of the General Assembly.

May 8, 1886
Coca Cola goes on sale at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia.

November 9, 1886
John B. Gordon, governor.

1887
Jim Crow law passed by Florida

November 8, 1887
John Henry “Doc” Holiday, Atlanta dentist and gunfighter dies at Glenwood Springs, Colorado from tuberculosis at the ripe old age of 35. Doc. Holiday had went west in 1873 after being given two years to live. Just before dying he downed a large glass of whiskey, glanced at his bootless feet and exclaimed “I'll be dammed” He had always expected to die with his boots on.

November 8, 1890
William J. Northern, governor.

1891
Jim Crow laws enacted in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee.

1891
First Garden Club founded In Athens.

1893
Public hangings abolished.

1894
Georgia sends food to assist farmers in the midwest. Two trainloads of flour, corn meat and cattle food to Nebraska.

October 27, 1894
William Y. Atkinson, governor.

May 18, 1896
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson..

December 2, 1896
Fitzgerald incorporated.

October 29, 1898
Allen D. Candler, governor.

1899
The boll weevil crosses the Rio Grande from Mexico.

October 25, 1902
Joseph M. Terrell governor.

1905
Royal Crown Cola is bottled in Columbus, Georgia by Claude A. Hatcher, a local grocery wholesaler

August 17, 1905
Crisp, Grady, Jenkins and Tift Counties created.

August 18, 1905
Jeff Davis, Stephens, Toombs and Turner Counties created.

July 31, 1906
Ben Hill County created.

April 24, 1907
Rufus Bullock dies in New York City.

June 29, 1907
Hoke Smith, governor.

1908
Convict lease system abolished. Replaced by the notorious “Chain Gangs.”

June 26, 1909
Joseph M. Brown, governor.

July 4, 1910
Three blacks killed at Uvalda, Georgia over James Jeffries loss to Jack Johnson in boxing match. Riots in Boston, Cincinnati, Houston, New York and Norfolk.

July 1, 1911
Hoke Smith, governor.

November 16, 1911
John M. Slaton, President of Senate and acting governor.

November 29, 1911
Augusta winter quarters for Signal Corps Aviation School.

1912
White residents of Forsyth County drive the Black population out.

January 25, 1912
Joseph M. Brown, governor.

March 12, 1912
Girl Scouts founded in Savannah.

June 28, 1913
John M. Slayton, governor

July 30, 1912
Bleckley County created.

August 14, 1912
Wheeler County created

1914
New Georgia Seal. Date is changed from 1799 to 1776.

July 7, 1914
Barrow County created.

July 14 1914
Candler County created.

July 27, 1914
Bacon County created.

August 11, 1914
Evans County created.

June 26, 1915
Nathaniel E. Harris, governor.

November 18, 1915
A new Ku Klux Klan is started November 25, Thanksgiving night, on Stone Mountain by William Joseph Simmons.

1916
Boll weevil reaches Atlantic coast.

June 30, 1917
Hugh M. Dorsey, governor.

August 5, 1917
Atkinson County created.

August 21, 1917
Treutlen County created.

July 30, 1918
Cook County created.

November 9, 1918
Moina Michael is inspired to use the Flanders Field Poppy as a memorial emblem for the W.W.I dead.

July 8, 1920
Seminole County created.

August 7, 1920
Lanier County created.

August 14, 1920
Brantley and Long Counties created.

August 17, 1920
Lamar County created.

1921
Boll weevil cuts Georgia and South Carolina Cotton production in half.

June 25, 1921
Thomas W. Hardwick, governor.

September 22, 1922
Rebecca Latimer Felton appointed first female U.S. Senator to fill the vacancy left by her deceased husband pending a special election.

June 30, 1923
Clifford M. Walker, governor.

George Washington Carver testifies before House Ways and Means Committee on the value of peanuts which are being planted in greater quantities by Georgia and South Carolina farmers.

July 18, 1924
Peach County created.

1927
The Georgia Warm Springs Foundation treatment for suffers of poliomyelitis is founded by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The center will be operated by the National Foundation March of Dimes.

June, 25, 1927
Lamartine G. Hardman, governor.

June 27, 1931
Richard B. Russell, Jr., governor.

1933
West Georgia College founded at Carrollton

January 10, 1933
Eugene Talmadge, governor.

1934
The Masters golf tournament for professionals begins at Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club.

June 30, 1936
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell published.

April 12, 1945
President Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs, Georgia.

January 12, 1937
Eurith D. Rivers, governor.

January 14, 1941
Eugene Talmadge, governor.

January 28, 1942
The Eight Air Force is activated in Savannah.

January 12, 1943
Ellis G. Arnall, governor. Wins Supreme Court Case to equalize freight rates.

January 20, 1947
Melvin E. Thompson, lieutenant governor and acting governor.

November 17, 1948
Herman E. Talmadge, governor.

January 11, 1955
S. Marvin Griffin, governor.

April 20, 1956
First Midas Muffler shop opens at Macon, Georgia.

May 13, 1957
The first commercial jet airliner, a French Caravelle, lands at Atlanta.

January 13, 1959
S. Ernest Vandiver, Jr. , governor.

January 10, 1961
he University of Georgia enrolls two Black students, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, under federal court order.

September 18, 1961
Georgia Tech admits three Black students.

January 15, 1963
Carl E. Sanders, governor.

January 10, 1966
Black legislators seated for the first time in 58 years.

January 11, 1967
Lester G. Maddox becomes governor.

April 4, 1968
Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

Riots in Albany, Fort valley, Macon and Savannah.

1969
The U.S. declares a Georgia anti pornography law unconstitutional and says, "If the First Amendment means anything it means that a state has no business telling a man, setting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch."

January 14, 1975
George D. Busbee becomes governor.

July 2, 1976
The United States Supreme Court upholds Georgia's death penalty.

January 11, 1983
Joe Frank Harris, governor.

April 23, 1985
Coca Cola introduces New Coke.

July 10, 1985
Coca Cola reintroduces Old Coke as Coca Cola Classic.

January 24, 1987
Approximately 20,000 protesters march through Cummings, Georgia in all White Forsyth County.

1991
Zell Miller, governor.

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