June 14, 1736

1736 James Oglethorpe directed Trustees’ surveyor Noble Jones to draw a plan for a new town at the head of navigation of the Savannah River to be named Augusta -- in honor of the new wife of Frederick, son of King George II. According to the journal of Trustee proceedings maintained by the Earl of Egmont the new town was created "for the convenience principally of the Indian Traders." Also:

"He [Oglethorpe] order’d it should consist of 40 House Lotts each of an Acre, the largest Streets not narrower than 25 years; a Square in the Center, & Lotts for Publick Buildings on each Side the Square. All the Publick Lotts together not to consist of less than 4 acres. the Common to consist of 600 acres, and the Lotts next the Town to be 50 acres, but only to each of those who have 500 acres. That a house in town and a 500 acre Lot Should be mark’d out to the following Indian Traders -- Saml. Brown, George Currie, Cornelius Doehorty, Gregory Haines, Lochlane Macbane, Kenedy Obryen, Joseph Pavey

"50 acre Lotts were at the Same time order’d to such persons as Mr. Roger lacy should think proper: the whole under the Same conditions as the rest of the Colony of Georgia were."

June 14, 1777

1777 Georgia patriots got a new national flag on this day as the Continental Congress adopted the first U.S. National Flag (soon known as the "Stars and Stripes") to replace the Grand Union Flag.

June 14, 1864

1864 While observing Union positions from atop Pine Mountain during Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, Confederate General Leonidas Polk was killed instantly when a Union cannon projectile struck him directly. Also an Episcopal bishop, Polk was born in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 10, 1806.

June 14, 1883

1883 Former Georgia governor Charles Jones Jenkins died at his home in Augusta, Ga. See January 6 (1805) entry for biographical information on Jenkins.

June 14, 1923

1923 Ralph Peer of Okeh Records recorded Georgia’s Fiddlin’ John Carson playing "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane"--which was released as the first country music record.

June 14, 1934

1934 Ocmulgee National Monument was created at the site of the complex of Mississippian Indian mounds near the eastern banks of the Ocmulgee River in Macon, Ga.

June 14, 1943

1943 Martin Luther King, Sr. chaired a meeting of the Atlanta Citizens’ Committee on the Equalization of Teachers’ Salaries.

June 14, 1952

1952 Boston Braves scout Dewey Griggs signed 18-year-old Hank Aaron to a contract for $350 a month. At the time, Aaron was playing for the Negro League’s Indianapolis Clowns for $200 a month. Watching Aaron play as a Clowns shortstop, Griggs signed him the middle of the game. Aaron would play two years in the minor leagues before getting to play major league baseball. By this time, the Braves had moved to Milwaukee. In spring training for the 1954 season, Braves outfielder Bobby Thomson broke his ankle and on March 14, Hank Aaron replaced Thomson as a starting outfielder and went on to history.

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MAY
25

Today in History

1976 Six presidential primaries were held on this day. Jimmy Carter won three -- Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky -- giving him 103 delegates and 848 of the 1505 needed to … read more