May 1, 1738

1738 In London, the Trustees received a committee report that a total of ??908 had been raised for building churches in Georgia. They then directed that an engineer make an estimate of the cost for building a church at Savannah.

May 1, 1748

1748 John Percival, Earl of Egmont and chronicler (through a journal and private diary) of the Georgia Trustees, died.

May 1, 1863

1863 Confederate general Edward Dorr Tracy was killed in the Battle of Port Gibson, Miss. Born Nov. 5, 1833 in Macon, Ga., Tracy became a lawyer. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the 4th Alabama as a captain and was present at the Battle of First Manassas. In Oct. 1861, he was appointed a lieutenant colonel is the 19th Alabama and served at the Battle of Shiloh and in the defense of eastern Tennessee. In Aug. 1862, Tracy was promoted to brigadier general.

May 1, 1863

1863 Georgia got a new national flag as the Confederate Congress adopted legislation changing the Confederate national flag from the Stars and Bars to the Second National Flag -- which employed a small Confederate battle flag as a canton on a field of white and was popularly known in the South as the Stainless Banner.

May 1, 1886

1886 Jefferson Davis attended the unveiling of a monument to Ben Hill in downtown Atlanta. Hill had served in the Confederate Senate and had been an ally and supporter of Davis. During his journey from his home on the Mississippi coast to Atlanta, Davis had been greeted by crowds eager to see and cheer the former president of the Confederacy. In Atlanta, a crowd of 100,000 -- including much of the city’s white population -- turned out for the unveiling of the Hill monument, which was located at the intersection of Peachtree and West Peachtree streets. Later, Hill’s monument was moved to the interior of Georgia’s state capitol, where it remains today.

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May 1, 1903

1903 Politician and educator Melvin Thompson was born in Millen, Georgia. Thompson began his career in Georgia’s public school system, working as a teacher and administrator from 1926-1937. He then worked for the State Department of Education for seven years, where he became knowledgeable of the political process through his attempts to secure passage of educational legislation. Thompson was a major organizer of Gov. Ellis Arnall’s 1942 campaign, and Arnall rewarded him with an appointment as his executive secretary before appointing him state revenue commissioner in 1945. Thompson was elected lieutenant governor in 1946, the first to hold this newly created position. But a storm of controversy soon followed this election, as Thompson became embroiled in Georgia’s infamous Three Governors Controversy after election winner Eugene Talmadge’s death before he could be inaugurated. Three different men claimed to be Georgia’s rightful governor, but eventually Thompson was declared governor by the Georgia Supreme Court. Thompson served for less than two years before losing to Herman Talmadge in a special election in 1948. Two other attempts at running for governor were unsuccessful, before Thompson retired to Valdosta to operate a successful real estate business. He died in Valdosta October 3, 1980. His major accomplishments as governor were an increase in teachers’ salaries and the purchase of Jekyll Island, but he will always be noted for his unanticipated and unwilling role in the 1946 gubernatorial election controversy.

May 1, 1913

1913 In Atlanta, John Gantt and Arthur Mullinax, no longer suspects in the murder of Mary Phagan, were released from custody. Newt Lee and Leo Frank were still being held in the Fulton County jail. Although the local media apparently did not know it (or at least didn’t report it) a third man was arrested around 2:00 p.m. on May 1. Jim Conley, a sweeper at the factory, was discovered trying to rinse out a soiled shirt. Upon further investigation the stains on his shirt proved to be blood.

May 1, 1928

1928 Pitcairn Aviation began regular air mail flights between Atlanta to New York.

May 1, 1930

1930 - Frankin D. Roosevelt arrived in Warm Springs, Ga. for his nineteenth visit to his "second home."

May 1, 1975

1975 Playing for the Milwaukee Brewers, former Atlanta Brave Hank Aaron broke another record of Babe Ruth. Driving in two runs, Aaron broke Ruth’s career RBI record of 2,209. Aaron would go on to knock in a total of 2,297 career runs.

May 1, 1982

1982 The city of Kennesaw, Georgia passed a law requiring each household to keep a firearm and ammunition.

May 1, 1997

1997 Gov. Zell Miller signed legislation designating the Georgia Tartan the official tartan of Georgia.

May 1, 1999

1999 University of Georgia female track star Debbie Ferguson was presented the Jackie Joiner-Kersee Award for 1999. This recognition, bestowed on the top female in college track and field in the nation, is considered the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.