A number of significant historical events have occurred in Georgia during the month of April.
1700-1749
1732
King George II of England signed a charter establishing the trustee colony of Georgia.
1750-1799
1752
The Georgia Trustees ceded control of the colony to the British crown, after twenty years of rule.
1758
Much of Fort Frederica, established by James Oglethorpe on St. Simons Island, burned down.
1788
The first annual conference of Methodists in Georgia was held near Elberton.
1800-1849
1825
Creek leader William McIntosh was killed by fellow Creeks at his plantation, Lockchau Talofau, in present-day Carroll County. This occurred after he negotiated the Treaty of Indian Springs, which ceded remaining Creek lands to the state of Georgia.
Image from Alabama Department of Archives and History
1838
The first coins were issued from the Branch Mint at Dahlonega.
1850-1899
1862
During the Civil War, Fort Pulaski fell to Union forces, and Union spy James Andrews incited a seven-hour locomotive chase, later known as the Andrews Raid.
Susie King Taylor and other African Americans fled to St. Simons Island, which was under the control of Union troops. There, Taylor organized the state’s first freely operating freedmen’s school.
1863
Women in Columbus, desperate for food as a result of wartime shortages, looted several stores in what became known as a “bread riot.”
1865
Wilson’s Raid, near the end of the war, resulted in the surrender of both Columbus and Macon to Union troops. That same month, a female military unit called the Nancy Harts surrendered LaGrange to Union troops.
From Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper
1881
Spelman College was founded in the basement of Atlanta’s Friendship Baptist Church.
1898
The federal government requested that Georgia supply 3,000 troops for military campaigns during the Spanish-American War.
1900-1949
1903
Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois was published.
1912
Georgia native Archibald Butt, a military aide to U.S. president William Howard Taft, died aboard the Titanic after delivering a message from the president to Catholic pope Pius X at the Vatican in Rome, Italy.
Courtesy of Georgia Archives.
1913
The Georgia Old Time Fiddlers’ Convention was held in Atlanta each April from 1913 to 1935.
Leo Frank was arrested in Atlanta for the murder of Mary Phagan. Frank was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to death, but he was later lynched by a mob after Governor John M. Slaton commuted his sentence to life imprisonment.
1918
During World War I, more than 500 German prisoners of war were interned at camps near Fort McPherson.
1926
The country music string band Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers recorded eight songs in Atlanta for Columbia Records.
1934
The first Masters Tournament was held in Augusta.
1936
One of the most destructive tornadoes in the nation’s history hit Gainesville.
1937
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down an insurrection statute used to convict Angelo Herndon, a member of the Communist Party who was arrested in Fulton County after participating in a labor demonstration.
From Let Me Live, by Angelo Herndon
1942
During World War II, the German U-boat U-123 sank three tankers off the Georgia coast.
1945
U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt died at the Little White House in Warm Springs on April 12.
Courtesy of Georgia Info, Digital Library of Georgia.
1946
Ed Dodd’s comic strip Mark Trail debuted.
1947
The Brooklyn Dodgers bought Jackie Robinson’s contract, and a few days later Robinson became the first African American to play in a major-league baseball game on April 15.
1950-1999
1954
Hank Aaron, playing for the Milwaukee (later Atlanta) Braves, hit his first major-league home run.
1957
Twelve-year-old Brenda Lee made her debut on the country music charts with the song “One Step at a Time.”
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries.
1959
The second location for the Naval Air Station Atlanta was completed in Marietta.
1965
The Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium was completed.
1966
The Atlanta Braves played their first home game at the Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium on April 12.
1968
On April 7 Spelman College hosted a public viewing of the body of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4. King’s funeral took place on April 9 at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he had shared the pastorate with his father since 1960.
Students at the University of Georgia staged a sit-in to protest the dress and curfew rules for women on campus, which were stricter than those for men.
1974
Hank Aaron, playing in his final season with the Atlanta Braves, broke Babe Ruth’s home run record.
1979
The Georgia legislature declared Ray Charles’s version of “Georgia on My Mind” to be the official state song.
1983
Alice Walker received both the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for her novel The Color Purple.
1987
Alfred Uhry’s play Driving Miss Daisy premiered at an off-Broadway theater.
1989
The Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame, located at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, was created.
1990
The 40 Watt Club in Athens opened at its current location.
1995
The state legislature declared April 19 to be “Johnny Mercer Day,” in honor of the songwriter Johnny Mercer, from Savannah.
Courtesy of Library of Congress, Music Division
1996
The mayor of Savannah named April 26 as “John Berendt Day,” in honor of the author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
1999
The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame opened in Macon.
2000-Present
2000
The Georgia Writers Hall of Fame was inaugurated.
2004
Talk-show host Oprah Winfrey selected Carson McCullers’s The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940) for her book club, spiking sales of the novel.
April Birthdays
April 12, 1724 Lyman Hall, Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence
April [?], 1735 Button Gwinnett, Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence
April 9, 1739 William Bartram, botanist and explorer
April 8, 1771 William Rabun, Georgia governor
April 11, 1790 George R. Gilmer, Georgia governor
April 20, 1800 Mark Anthony Cooper, industrialist
April 1, 1812 Tunis Campbell, politician
April 2, 1814 Henry L. Benning, Georgia Supreme Court justice
April 15, 1821 Joseph E. Brown, politician
April 10, 1823 Thomas R. R. Cobb, Confederate officer
April 26, 1826 Ambrose Wright, Confederate officer
April 2, 1833 Thomas Ruger, Georgia governor
April 13, 1854 Lucy Craft Laney, educator
April 14, 1856 Lamartine Hardman, Georgia governor
April 27, 1861 Richard B. Russell Sr., politician
April 11, 1862 Henry Rutherford Butler, pharmacist
April 20, 1863 Helen Dortch Longstreet, Progressive-era reformer
April 5, 1871 Glenn “Pop” Warner, football coach
April 22, 1872 Henrietta Dozier, architect
April 12, 1885 A. T. Walden, civil rights leader
April 29, 1885 Wallingford Riegger, musician
April 26, 1886 Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, musician
April 27, 1892 Louie D. Newton, religious Leader
April 23, 1897 Lucius D. Clay, military logistics expert
April 5, 1901 Melvyn Douglas, actor
April 4, 1902 A. Thomas Bradbury, architect
April 6, 1905 Andrée Ruellan, artist
April 2, 1907 Luke Appling, baseball player
April 9, 1907 Peyton Anderson, newspaper publisher
April 12, 1908 Robert Scott, aviator
April 5, 1916 William Ragsdale Cannon, religious Leader
April 30, 1916 Robert Shaw, musician
April 1, 1921 Beau Jack, athlete
April 20, 1924 Alfred H. Colquitt, Confederate officer
April 12, 1926 Jane Withers, actress
April 27, 1927 Coretta Scott King, civil rights leader
April 9, 1930 Jim Fowler, naturalist
April 23, 1937 Coleman Barks, poet
April 1, 1939 Phil Niekro, athlete
April 10, 1948 Mel Blount, athlete
April 28, 1952 Chuck Leavell, musician
April 12, 1964 Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, musician
April 13, 1964 Davis Love III, golfer
April 26, 1966 Natasha Trethewey, poet
April 18, 1983 Cheryl Haworth, weight lifter
