July 18, 1864

1864 Relieved of command of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, General Joseph E. Johnston spent most of the day updating new commanding general John Bell Hood on location of units defending Atlanta. Johnston then caught an evening train to Macon, leaving Hood alone to plan a new strategy to stop Sherman’s advancing Union Army. The replacement of Johnston with Hood was met with disbelief in Confederate ranks, but Union soldiers were excited because they know Hood would follow a much more aggressive game plan than Johnston, whose repeated retreats had led Jefferson Davis to conclude the Johnston had no strategy to stop Sherman. Officers and enlisted men on both sides now knew that fierce fighting with substantial loss of life now was only days away.

Gen. Sherman issued orders to his generals for the next day’s plan of action. Beginning at 5 a.m., Thomas would advance on Peachtree Creek, Schofield on Decatur, and McPherson would follow Schofield tearing up railroad and downing telegraph lines. Sherman’s order also included the recipe for what would be known as "Sherman’s Neckties": McPherson was directed to "keep every man of his command at work in destroying the railroad by tearing up track, burning the ties and iron, and twisting the bars when hot. Officers should be instructed that bars simply bent may be used again, but if when red hot they are twisted out of line they cannot be used again. Pile the ties into shape for a bonfire, put the rails across and when red hot in the middle, let a man at each end twist the bar so that its surface becomes spiral."

By 7 p.m., five miles of Georgia Railroad track had been destroyed, and McPherson’s troops were within four miles of Stone Mountain.

July 18, 1924

1924 Gov. Clifford Walker signed a joint resolution of the General Assembly proposing a constitutional amendment to create Peach County. [The amendments were necessary because of a constitutional limit of 145 counties, meaning any additional counties had to be authorized through constitutional amendment.] The proposed new county was to be created from portions of Houston and Macon counties, and was named for the area’s most famous crop. On Nov. 4, 1924, Georgia voters ratified the amendment creating Georgia’s 161st -- and last new -- county. (In 1932, Campbell and Milton counties would merge with Fulton, leaving Georgia with 159 counties -- the maximum allowed by the state constitution since 1945.)

July 18, 1927

1927 Ty Cobb got his 4,000th hit, setting a Major League baseball record. Before his 23-year-long professional baseball career would end the following year, Cobb obtains an additional 191 hits.

July 18, 1929

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated by acts approved by the governor on July 18:

1929 Oak Park (Emanuel County)

July 18, 1951

1951 Georgia-born Ezzard Charles lost his world heavyweight boxing championship to "Jersey" Joe Walcott in a bout in Pittsburgh, Penn.

July 18, 1970

1970 At age 65, tightrope artist Karl Wallenda successfully walked across Tallulah Gorge on a 1000-foot cable suspended 700 feet above the gorge’s floor.

July 18, 1996

1996 Olymphilex 96 -- the 1996 Centennial Olympic Philatelic Exhibition -- opened in downtown Atlanta the night before opening of the Summer Olympics with special ceremonies attended by IOC president Juan Samaranch, Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell, and many other dignitaries. As an official part of the Olympics, Olymphilex featured an international exhibition of stamps, coins, medals, and other collectibles related to the Olympics and sports in general. Additionally featured were museum-type exhibits from every Olympics since the games were revived in 1896.

July 18, 2000

2000 At age 61, Georgia U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell died unexpectedly from a cerebral hemorrhage in Atlanta. A long-time Republican and former director of the U.S. Peace Corps, Coverdell was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992.