January 2, 1788

1788 Delegates attending a special convention in Augusta (then Georgia’s capital) voted unanimously to ratify the new U.S. Constitution approved on Sept. 17, 1787 in Philadelphia. This action made Georgia the fourth state to ratify the Constitution.

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January 2, 1865

1865 From Savannah, Sherman wrote a letter to Grant indicating his plan to send the 17th Corps to Port Royal. He also included a copy of his plans for invading South Carolina -- providing he could be supplied with grain and other stores. According to those plans, Gen. Foster and his troops would be left behind to continue the occupation of Savannah.

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January 2, 1892

1892 Former Union Army Quartermaster General Montgomery C.Meigs died in Washington, D.C. Born May 3, 1816 in Augusta, Ga., he graduated from West Point in 1836 and was assigned to engineering duty. When the Civil War broke out, Meigs was appointed colonel of the 11th U.S. Infantry, and in May 1861 was promoted to brigadier general. During the remainder of the war, Meigs served as Union Army Quartermaster General. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1882.

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January 2, 1904

1904 Former Confederate general James Longstreet died in Gainesville, Ga. [For extensive biographical information on him, see the Longstreet Chronicles web site.]

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January 2, 1904

1904 Opera tenor, recording artist, and actor James Melton was born in Moultrie Ga. He would die April 21, 1961 in New York City.

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January 2, 1916

1916 Politician and U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Joseph R. Lamar died in Washington, D.C. Born October 14, 1857 in Ruckersville, Ga., Lamar received an undergraduate degree from Bethany College and subsequently studied law at Washington and Lee University. He was admitted to the bar in 1878 and practiced law in Augusta from 1880 until 1903. Lamar also served in the Georgia General Assembly (1886-89) and in 1895 was named to codify the statutory laws of Georgia. In 1901, he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Georgia Supreme Court, though he had to resign after four years for health reasons. In 1910, Pres. William Howard Taft appointed Lamar to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. He held that office until his death in 1916.

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January 2, 1965

1965 Martin Luther King Jr. announced the launching of Project Alabama, a campaign of mass marches in Selma in an effort to push the federal government to enact federal legislation to protect black voting rights.

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January 2, 1970

1970 Benjamin Mays was selected president of the board of education for the Atlanta City School System.

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Today in History

1861 At the Provisional Confederate Congress meeting in Montgomery, Ala. Georgia delegate Augustus Wright introduced a bill "to form a Volunteer Division in the Army of the Confederate States of … read more