March 4, 1777

1777 Button Gwinnett was elected as Georgia’s second president of the Council of Safety. This office, first filled by Archibald Bulloch, had been created by Georgia’s Provincial Congress as chief executive of the patriot government that replaced Britain’s colonial government. Subsequently, by signing the Declaration of Independence, Georgia declared itself to be a free and independent state -- making Bulloch Georgia’s first state governor. However, he died suddenly in late February 1777, and Button Gwinnett was elected to succeed him.

March 4, 1856

1856 Gov. Herschel Johnson approved legislation authorizing Georgia’s governor to call a statewide convention should Congress enact any law regulating or prohibiting slavery.

March 4, 1980

1980 Twelve year old Angel Lenair disappeared in Atlanta; her body was disocovered six days later. This crime was part of the Atlanta Child Murders case.

March 4, 1747

1747 Casimir Pulaski, a hero of the American Revolution killed during the siege of Savannah, was born in Poland.

March 4, 1939

1939 Gov. E.D. Rivers signed a joint resolution of the Georgia General Assembly adopting an official "Georgian’s Creed" for all citizens of the state.

March 4, 1883

1883 Gov. Alexander Stephens died in office.

March 4, 1861

1861 In Washington, D.C., Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as president of the United States. Meanwhile in Montgomery, Ala., the Confederate Congress hastily moved to get a new national flag for the Confederacy flying prior to Lincoln’s inauguration. So urgent was this goal that although a congressional committee approved a national flag -- which became known as the "Stars and Bars" -- the Confederate Congress overlooked actually enacting a flag statute.

March 4, 1737

1737 While James Oglethorpe was in England trying to gain government funding and an army regiment for Georgia, the Council of the Spanish King met in Madrid to consider Spain’s response to Oglethorpe’s earlier excursions to the St. Johns River in Spanish Florida.

March 4, 1789

1789 The first Congress under the new U.S. Constitution met in Congress but had to adjourn for lack of a quorum.

March 4, 1807

1807 Abraham Baldwin died in Washington, D.C. See November 22, 1754 entry for biographical information.

March 4, 1762

1762 The Georgia General Assembly passed a law requiring church attendance and prohibiting travel (except to church and a few other exceptions) on Sundays.

March 4, 1913

1913 Woodrow Wilson, the first U.S. president with substantial Georgia ties, was inaugurated. Part of Wilson’s youth was spent in Augusta. Later, Wilson lived in Atlanta, where he practiced law and married Ellen Louise Axson from Rome, Ga. in 1885.

March 4, 1953

1953 Gov. Herman Talmadge signed legislation requiring that all Georgia schools and colleges supported by public funds had to offer instruction in the history of the U.S. and Georgia, and that no student could graduate without passing a test on these subjects. The new law expanded a similar requirement already on the books requiring students to pass a test on the essentials of the U.S. and Georgia constitutions.

March 4, 1817

1817 William Rabun, president of the Georgia Senate, assumed office as governor of Georgia.

March 4, 1751

1751 In Savannah, the Filature on Reynolds Square -- a large wooden building where silkworm cocoons were transformed into spun silk -- opened. This was the first silk factory in America. Seven years later, the filature burned down -- but it was rebuilt in 1764. However, by then, rice was more important than silk in Georgia, and the building was converted to an assembly hall in 1766.

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March 4, 1935

1935 Before the Braves played in Atlanta and Milwaukee, they were based in Boston. On this day, Babe Ruth -- the Boston Braves’ newest acquisition -- reported for spring training in St. Petersburg, Fla. Unfortunately, Ruth was overweight and poorly prepared.