March 22, 1765

1765 In London, the Stamp Act received the approval of King George III. The legislation, which levied a new tax on a variety of paper documents, was designed to recover some of the large costs Britain had incurred protecting the American colonies during the French and Indian War. Instead, it resulted in resentment and the growth of a movement that would lead to the American Revolution.

March 22, 1796

1796 Architect and businessman Elam Alexander was born in Iredell County, North Carolina. Though he had no formal education, Alexander proved to be a talented builder and shrewd business man. He moved to Georgia in 1820, finally settling in Macon in 1826. Strongly influenced by the Greek Revival architectural style, Alexander was primarily responsible for many of Macon’s most impressive structures, some which still stand today. He built several famous homes, the Bibb County Courthouse, and the first building housing the Georgia Female College. Alexander also was a successful businessman, either owning stock in or serving on the boards of railroads, banks, a telegraph company, an iron and coal company, and a gas light company. Alexander died in Macon on March 29, 1863.

March 22, 1892

1892 Physician Enoch Callaway, Jr. was born in LaGrange, Ga. He attended the University of Georgia (1909-12), obtained an M.D. from Tulane (1916), and concluded his formal education with a B.S. from LaGrange College (1945). Assuming a general practice in LaGrange, Callaway became an early crusader against cancer after losing two children to the disease. He set up the West Georgia Cancer Clinic, helped found Georgia’s affiliate of the American Cancer Society, and fought to alert Georgians to the deadly disease. Callaway also was a proponent of curtailing medical costs and supporting proper and ethical medical treatment. He was a member of many medical boards, also serving one term as president of the Medical Association of Georgia. He died on Sept. 26, 1961 in LaGrange, Georgia.

March 22, 1916

1916 A major fire destroyed 32 city blocks in downtown Augusta, resulting in over $6 million in losses. Included in the 118 burned acres was the loss of 600 homes, six blocks of businesses, and 3,000 people left homeless. Remarkably, while there were numerous injuries, no one died as a result of the fire. Though many of the buildings eventually were replaced by new structures, many Augustans who lost their residences to the fire did not return -- instead relocating to the area known as the Hill.

March 22, 1934

1934 The first Masters golf championship began in Augusta, Georgia. Georgia’s most famous golf championship was won three days later by Horton Smith.

March 22, 1956

1956 Despite expressing concern over the National Democratic Party’s stand on civil rights, Georgia Democratic Party chairman John Sammons Bell (who had designed the newly adopted Georgia state flag) said he was "not in favor of a third party at the present time." His remarks came in response to a growing movement among southern Democrats for breaking from the national party.

March 22, 1956

1956 The Augusta Chronicle carried a large banner headline proclaiming that Camp Gordon had been redesignated Fort Gordon by the U.S. Army. During the Korean War, the facility had served as a training center, but by 1955 its training function had been deactivated and only the 95th Military Government Group was stationed at the camp. U.S. Senator Walter F. George had pushed for reactivation of the camp with a new mission (and it was he who personally called Chronicle publisher William Morris on Mar. 21 with news of the Army’s decision) In March 1957, Fort Gordon was designated as a training center for Military Police and the Signal Corps, and by August had 20,000 officers and enlisted men, plus more than 2,500 civilian workers.

March 22, 1978

1978 Famed tight-rope walker Karl Wallenda fell to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Previously, Wallenda had distinguished himself in Georgia in the 1970s by walking across cables suspended above Tallulah Gorge and Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

March 22, 1996

1996 The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) announced that 135,000 tickets to Olympic events previously thought to be sold out would go on sale by telephone and over the Internet. The 1996 Summer Olympic Games were the first in which tickets were available via the Internet.

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Today in History

1861 In North Carolina, a statewide convention adopted an Ordinance of Secession, becoming the ninth or tenth southern state to secede [depending on which date is used to mark Virginia’s … read more