ga history Flashcards
For whom was Georgia named?
King George II of the Hanoverian line of British monarchs.
- Of which nation was Georgia a colony?
Great Britain.
- In what year was the Georgia colony founded?
1732 was the date its government charter was issued; 1733 was the date it was settled by colonists.
- Where was the original settlement of the Georgia colony located?
On Yamacraw Bluff, which is today part of downtown Savannah.
- What group of immigrants settled the Ebenezer community in Effingham County?
The Salzburgers, who came as Protestants fleeing persecution by the Catholic government of Austria in 1734-1735.
- Which nation did the Georgia colonists fight for control of the coast in the 1700s?
Spain, which owned and controlled Florida and wanted control of the coast all the way up to Carolina.
- Name the major Christian leader who spent time in colonial Georgia during the Great Awakening.
John Wesley, who spent time about 2 years in Savannah and St. Simon’s Island combined.
- Which Christian church denomination did John Wesley leader found?
The Methodist Church.
- Who was the Native American Indian chief whose tribe lived at Yamacraw Bluff?
Tomochichi of the Yamacraw tribe, a subset of the Creek Indians.
- Who is considered the founder of the Georgia colony?
General James Oglethorpe, member of the House of Commons, British Parliament.
- For what purposes was the colony founded?
To empty out British jails of debtors and give them a fresh start in life, to experiment with growing crops that were not being grown in other British colonies in North America, and to serve as a southern coastal military defense for the Carolina colony to the north.
- Name a product that was grown in the Georgia colony experimentally.
Silk was the most famous one, which required importing mulberry trees and silkworms from the Far East, but wine was a lesser one, which required experimentation with a variety of grapes.
- What institution was outlawed in the Georgia colony initially?
Slavery—specifically African chattel slavery as practiced in Carolina and other colonies.
- Name the colonial Georgia fort located on St. Simon’s Island.
Fort Frederica, established in 1736, and named for the Prince of Wales, Frederick Louis.
- Name one battle fought on the colonial Georgia coast to prevent a Spanish invasion.
The Battle of Bloody Marsh in 1742 on St. Simon’s Island.
- What year did Georgia become a state in the United States?
In 1776 at the creation of the United States of America.
- Name the Georgian(s) who signed the Declaration of Independence.
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, and George Walton
- Name the Georgian(s) who signed the U.S. Constitution.
William Few and Abraham Baldwin
- Name the capital cities in Georgia’s history.
Savannah, Augusta, Louisville, Milledgeville, and Atlanta
- What major textile industry invention was made in Georgia in 1792?
The Cotton Gin (short for Cotton Engine)
- Who got the U.S. patent for inventing the cotton gin?
Eli Whitney, a Connecticut educator who was visiting a plantation in Georgia.
- What major U.S. General from the Revolutionary War owned the plantation where the cotton gin was invented?
General Nathaniel Greene, originally of Rhode Island, was granted the land as compensation for his Revolutionary War service.
- What was the name of Gen Nathan Greene’s plantation?
Mulberry Grove
- Where was Gen Nathan Greene’s plantation located?
In Chatham County, northwest of Savannah.
- Who was the first governor of the State of Georgia?
Archibald Bulloch, who was also the great-great grandfather of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, the great-great-great grandfather of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and the namesake for Bulloch County where Statesboro is located.
- What land claims issue did Georgia get involved in that required settlement by the U.S. Supreme Court?
The Yazoo Land Claims fraud (or dispute), a complicated case in which the state government sold land along the Mississippi River to political insiders at a ridiculous discount only to have the sales repealed by a new state government the following year; the repeal was challenged by purchasers of the land and overturned in Fletcher v. Peck (1810) by the Marshall court which held that the contracts were binding even though the deal was unethical and unpopular.
- What U.S. fort guarded the entrance to Savannah by river in the War of 1812?
Fort (James) Jackson, also called Old Fort Jackson.
- What military fort guarded the entrance to the Savannah River in the Civil War?
Fort Pulaski.
- What Confederate fort guarded the entrance to the Ogeechee River in the Civil War?
Fort McAllister.
- What was the most important Confederate prisoner of war camp located in west Georgia?
Camp Sumter, also called Andersonville Prison, located at the town of Andersonville in Sumter and Macon Counties, where some 13,000 Union soldiers met their deaths.
- What was the most important Confederate prisoner of war camp located in east Georgia?
Camp Lawton in Jenkins County, which held more than 10,000 Union soldiers for about 6 weeks in 1864.
- Who was the Confederate general who defended the Chattanooga to Atlanta corridor?
General Joseph Johnston, who had lost his command in Virginia to Robert E. Lee upon being wounded there in 1862, then lost his command in Georgia due to his reluctance to go on the offensive.
- What Civil War battle was fought just below Chattanooga across the state line in Georgia?
The Battle of Chickamauga, which was fought in September 1863 and resulted in the largest number of casualties of any Civil War battle other than Gettysburg.
- What “mountain” served as a Civil War battle site just north of Atlanta?
Kennesaw Mountain.
- Which Confederate general was defeated in the Battle of Atlanta?
General John Bell Hood, who upon replacing Joseph Johnston, went on the offensive and suffered decisive defeat.
- What was U.S. General Sherman’s overland campaign to get from Atlanta to Savannah called?
The March to the Sea, also known as the Savannah Campaign, which lasted from November 15 to December 21, 1864.
- What historic home in Savannah served as U.S. General Sherman’s headquarters in early 1865?
The Green-Meldrim House at Madison Square on Macon Street.
- What historic document did U.S. General Sherman issue in Savannah pertaining to confiscation and redistribution of property in coastal Georgia in 1865?
Special Field Order No. 15, which authorized 400,000 acres of land in Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, be given to former slaves in 40 acre plots, and which led to the expression “40 acres and a mule.”
- At what creek in Effingham County did hundreds of slaves drown in 1864 while following Sherman’s army?
Ebenezer Creek, which flows into the Savannah River at the site of the Salzburger settlement of Ebenezer just northwest of Savannah.
- Name the Georgian who served as Vice President of the Confederate States of America.
Alexander H. Stephens of Crawfordville.
