March 13, 1957

1957 Gov. Marvin Griffin signed Georgia’s first water pollution control act. The legislation created a Water Quality Council to regulate wastewater treatment facilities.

March 13, 1865

1865 Pres. Jefferson Davis signed legislation approved by the Confederate Congress authorizing the recruitment of black soldiers into the Confederate army.

March 13, 1996

1996 The International Wildlife Coalition and the U.S. Humane Society charged the U.S. Navy with causing the death of five or six right whales during war games off the coast of Georgia and Florida. According to the groups, some of the whales died from concussions from gunnery practice and bomb explosions, while others died from being scrapped by naval vessels. The Navy denied responsibility for the deaths. With only 300 still living, the right whale is the most endangered species of large whale. Its calving grounds are off the coast of Georgia and northern Florida.

March 13, 1933

1933 Four major Atlanta banks reopened after a three-day "holiday" decreed by Gov. Eugene Talmadge on Mar. 6, subsequently extended by Pres. Franklin Roosevelt. All banks were directed to prevent large withdrawals without specific statements on how the money would be spent.

March 13, 1957

1957 After citizens of Calhoun and Gordon County purchased and deeded to the state 220 acres of land encompassing the original site of New Echota, the official capital of the Cherokee Nation before removal, the Georgia Assembly authorized the governor to provide $250,000 over two years to be used in the reconstruction of New Echota as a state historic site.

March 13, 1736

1736 Don Francisco de Moral Sanchez, governor of Spanish Florida, wrote James Oglethorpe complaining about English settlements and forts in lands long claimed by Spain.

March 13, 1999

1999 Before a soldout crowd in New York’s Madison Square Garden, Atlanta’s Evander Holyfield battled Britain’s Lennox Lewis to a controversial 12-round draw. At age 36, Holyfield went into the match with a record of 36 wins (25 by knockout) and 3 losses. Lewis, 33, had a record of 34 wins (27 by knockout) and 1 loss. Holyfield was world heavyweight champion of the International Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Association titles, while Lewis held the World Boxing Council title. Everyone expected one fighter to emerge holding all three titles as the first unified world boxing champion since 1992. But that was not to be. Lewis threw many more punches than Holyfield and never appeared in danger of being knocked down, but in a decision booed by the crowd, one judge gave the match to Lewis, one to Holyfield, and one had it a draw. For the fight, Holyfield won $20 million, compared to Lewis’s $10 million.

March 13, 1957

1957 Gov. Marvin Griffin signed a joint resolution in which the General Assembly "impeached" U.S. Supreme Court chief justice Earl Warren and associate justices Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, Thomas Clark, Felix Frankfurter, and Stanley Reed. The resolution further called on Georgia’s congressional delegation to institute formal impeachment charges against the justices in the U.S. House of Representatives.