September 29, 1526

1526 Lucas V??squez de Ayll??n and 600 Spanish colonists (including African slaves and perhaps freemen) landed on the Georgia mainland opposite Sapelo Sound and founded the settlement of San Miguel de Gualdape. This was the first European settlement in North America since the Vikings’ exploration around year 1000 A.D. The colonists had sailed from the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in July aboard six ships. In August, they had landed at Winyah Bay on the Carolina coast, but failing to find an Indian settlement (which would be necessary for food until crops could be planted and harvested) they sailed southward. On the Georgia coast, Ayll??n found Guale Indians. Although physical remains of their settlement have not been found, historians and geographers have utilized surviving navigation logs and other records to reconstruct the 1526 voyage. Based on the latest research, the San Miguel de Gualdape settlement probably was situated on the mainland of what today is McIntosh County opposite Sapelo Sound. One source feels the most likely location was within the present-day Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, which is located near the mouth of the Newport River facing St. Catherines Island.

September 29, 1746

1746 In London, the court martial trial of Maj. Gen. James Oglethorpe began. Oglethorpe was suspected of having Jacobite loyalties for his tactics in the campaign against Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745, and he was charged with neglecting or disobeying orders in allowing the Jacobites to escape. However, the board of general officers hearing the case acquitted the general of any wrong-doing.

September 29, 1863

1863 Confederate Gen. Howell Cobb was appointed to command the Georgia State Troops, with his headquarters to be in Atlanta. One of his first orders that day was to command all volunteer companies and battalions not yet formed into regiments to do so by Nov. 1.

View Sources from the GHS Collection

September 29, 1891

Georgia cities and towns incorporated by acts approved on Sept. 29:

1891 Alapaha (Berrien County), Groveton (Columbia County), and Sycamore (Irwin County)

September 29, 1914

1914 The Boston Braves beat the Chicago Cubs to win the National League pennant. What made the feat so significant is that on July 15, the Braves had been in last place. In the course of 11 weeks, the "Miracle Braves" had gone from last to first.

September 29, 1934

1934 U.S. Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes, who also served as Pres. Franklin Roosevelt’s public works administrator, arrived by an early Saturday morning train in Atlanta to inaugurate the Techwood and University Homes public housing projects. Proceeding to the Atlanta University area, Ickes threw the switch igniting dynamite that blew up two shanties. Later that morning, he took a similar action to level some slum housing in the Techwood area. Between the two detonations, Ickes told a national NBC-radio audience that the two Atlanta slum-clearing projects -- which would be followed by the first federally supported public housing in the nation -- represented "a milestone in the social history of America." And, indeed, similar New Deal public housing projects were launched in 36 other cities across the country.

September 29, 1948

1948 Owners of Atlanta’s WSB radio station launched WSB-TV -- Georgia’s first television station. Earlier that year, station WTVR in Richmond, Va. went on the air on April 22, become the first television station in the South.

September 29, 1956

1956 Hundreds of members of the Ku Klux Klan gathered near the base of Stone Mountain. Three large crosses were burned, and organizers proclaimed that the Klan was "as Solid as Stone Mountain." Based on the car tags of those attending the event, the majority were from Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

September 29, 1967

1967 Author Carson Smith McCullers died in Nyack, New York. Born in Columbus, Georgia on February 19, 1917. After graduating from Columbus High School in 1933, she moved to New York City. She attended Columbia University in 1934, followed by two years at New York University. In 1937, Smith married Reeves McCullers. The next year, they moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where she wrote her most famous work, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. In 1997, the Carson McCullers Society was created to promote scholarship in her life and works.

September 29, 1992

1992 For the second consecutive year, the Atlanta Braves clinched the eastern division title -- a feat they would repeat in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999, then continue the amazing streak from 2000-2005.

September 29, 2004

2004 The Atlanta Braves defeated the New York Mets, giving Braves’ manager Bobby Cox his 2000th win as a manager. This made Cox only the ninth man in major league baseball history to reach this milestone.