July 12, 1682

1682 John Percival was born in County Cork, Ireland. Percival was three when his father died, and the family went to live with his father’s uncle in England. At age 16, Percival entered Magdalen College at Oxford, where he studied for 18 months before leaving without a degree. In 1704, Percival returned to Ireland, where he was elected to the House of Commons in the Irish Parliament. Later that year, he was appointed to the British Privy Council, a seat he would hold for almost a half century. After a two-year tour of Europe, Percival moved to Charlton, his country estate near London. When King George I ascended to the British throne in 1714, Percival’s ties to the royal court increased. The next year, Percival was offered an Irish barony, which allowed him to set in the House of Lords. In 1722, Baron Percival became Viscount Percival. In Aug. 1727, he was elected to the House of Commons, where two years later served on the Gaols Committee, chaired by James Oglethorpe. The next year, Oglethorpe shared with Percival his proposal for sending London’s poor to a new settlement on the southern frontier of Britain’s colonies in America. Next to Oglethorpe, Percival became the most important advocate for the creation of the colony of Georgia. He was named in the colony’s charter as a member of the Georgia Trustees, in which capacity he kept both a journal of Trustee proceedings and a private diary that detail much information about the Georgia experiment. In Aug. 1733, Percival was awarded with an Irish earldom -- the first Earl of Egmont. Through most of the first decade of Georgia’s existence, Egmont was the most important and faithful member of the Trustees. However, his health declined, and he attended his last board meeting on Feb. 13, 1748. Less than three months later -- on May 1 -- he died.

July 12, 1742

1742 James Oglethorpe decided to launch a surprise night attack on the much larger Spanish force camped out on the south end of St. Simons Island. He marched a large force of soldiers, rangers, Indian allies, and volunteers from Frederica to within a mile and a half of the Spanish quarters. There, they waited while he went ahead to scout the situation. In his absence, a Frenchman in the group of volunteers fired his gun and deserted to the Spanish side. Knowing they had been discovered, Oglethorpe had to make a quick decision. His much smaller force would have no chance if the Spanish decided to take the initiative and launch an attack. So he took a gamble. Since it was dark and the Spanish sentries couldn’t see the size or location of his force, Oglethorpe divided his drummers up and positioned them at different locations around the northern perimeter of the camp. For a half hour, he then had them beat the grenadiers’ march so that it would appear that a large British force was about to attack. The ruse worked. The Spanish units were disorganized and decided to defend themselves rather than take the offense. Once he saw that the gamble worked, Oglethorpe signaled the drummers to stop. Under cover of darkness, they retreated in silence back to Fort Frederica. Although they suffered no casualties, Oglethorpe begins to worry. By now, the French deserter surely had told Spanish officers about the size and composition of the island’s defense force. Would Gov. Manuel de Montiano now decide to marshal his infantry and naval flotilla for an all-out land and river attack on Fort Frederica?

July 12, 1864

1864 Union Army forces completed the rebuilding of a 650-foot wagon bridge over the Chattahoochee River at Roswell. The 16th Corps crossed the river and set up defensive fortifications to protect the bridge.

July 12, 1888

1888 Ex-Confederate artillery commander, civil engineer, and railroad manager Bushrod W. Frobel died while on business in Monticello, Georgia. Never heard of B.W. Frobel? Little is known about his early life, but at some point prior to the Civil War he moved to Georgia. With the outbreak of the war, he enlisted in the Confederate Army, where he became an artillery major in Hood’s Division, ultimately rising to the rank of colonel and serving as chief engineer in the Army of Tennessee. In the summer of 1864, Frobel helped plan additional defensive fortifications for Atlanta. After the war, Frobel served as Georgia’s superintendent of public works and was responsible for the rehabilitation of Georgia’s capitol and other important state buildings. Later, he served as a U.S. civil engineer with responsibility for improving Georgia’s rivers and harbors. At the time of his death, he was general manager of the Covington and Macon Railroad.

July 12, 1930

1930 Playing in Minneapolis, Bobby Jones won his fourth U.S. Open golf tournament. More importantly, this followed victories in the British Amateur and British Open. Later that year, he would win the U.S. Amateur championship--becoming the first and so far only golfer to win the four major golfing tournaments (or Grand Slam) in a single year.