March 12, 1734

1734 After their ship had grounded on a sand bar in the mouth of the Savannah River the previous day, the first group of German Salzburgers finally reached Savannah. The entire town turned out to watch their arrival, and several cannon were fired to salute Georgia’s newest colonists.

March 12, 1739

1739 James Oglethorpe wrote the Trustees in opposition to a petition being circulated in Savannah asking the Trustees to revoke their ban on slaves on the grounds that white men could not work in Georgia. In his letter, Oglethorpe noted: "This Assertion I can disprove by hundreds of Witnesses, all the Salzburgers, the people of Darien, many at Frederica, and Savannah and all the Industrious in the Province. The idle ones are indeed for Negroes." Oglethorpe urged fellow Trustees to remain firm on the ban, predicting the ruin of the colony if it was lifted.

March 12, 1823

1823 Educator and Confederate general William Flank Perry was born in Jackson County, Ga. He later became a teacher, school superintendent, and college professor. In 1862, Perry joined the 44th Alabama as a private. Subsequently, he was appointed major and served at the Battle of Second Manassas. By the Battle of Sharpsburg, he was a lieutenant colonel. In Sept. 1862, Perry was promoted to full colonel and served at the battles of Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. He commanded Laws’ Brigade in Field’s Division at the Battle of Petersburg. In February 1865, Perry was promoted to brigadier general and served at Appomattox. After the war, he became a planter, as well as teacher and college professor. Perry died on Dec. 18, 1901 in Bowling Green, Ky.

March 12, 1866

1866 Gov. Charles Jenkins signed legislation extending Atlanta’s city limits to everything within a mile and a half radius from the passenger depot. The 1847 act incorporating Atlanta had set the limits at a mile from the depot established at zero-point milepost on the Western & Atlantic Railroad.

March 12, 1888

1888 African-American choral director Hall Johnson was born in Athens, Ga. In 1925, he organized the Hall Johnson Choir and went on gain fame for his musical arrangements. He is probably best remembered for directing the chorus in the 1930 Broadway play, "The Green Pastures" -- repeated on film in 1936.

March 12, 1898

1898 The city of Atlanta accepted George Gress’ gift of the Cyclorama painting of the Battle of Atlanta. The gift was conditioned on city officials making repairs to the circular wooden building in which the painting was housed in Grant Park, and on the city funding repairs to the giant canvas (which was 50 feet in height and 400 feet in circumference). Repairs were made to the building, which served as the Cyclorama’s home until a new marble building was completed in 1921 (where it has been housed since).

March 12, 1912

1912 The Girl Scout movement was founded in America when 18 girls held their first meeting at the home of Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah and were organized into the first troop of Girl Guides (which the following year was renamed Girl Scouts). Low’s niece -- Daisy Gordon Lawrence -- was the first member.

March 12, 1929

1929 Cola-Cola executive and noted philanthropist Asa Griggs Candler died in Atlanta. [See Dec. 30 entry for biographical information.]

March 12, 1932

1932 Civil rights leader, politician, and diplomat Andrew Young was born in New Orleans, La. Upon graduating from Howard University and becoming a minister, Young was drawn into the civil rights movement. He was an active participant with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in leading voter registration drives, and worked closely with most of the other civil rights leaders, such as Ralph Abernathy, Jesse Jackson, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Young was with King in Memphis when King was assassinated (and is one of the persons in the famous photograph pointing to where the shot came from). Young was elected to the U.S House of Representatives from Georgia in 1972, and was subsequently reelected twice. In 1977, Pres. Jimmy Carter appointed Young as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He served with the U.N until 1979. In 1981 Young was elected mayor of Atlanta for the first of two consecutive terms - lasting through 1989. Young was influential in the drive that won for Atlanta the honor of hosting the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

March 12, 1937

1937 President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in Warm Springs, Ga. for his thirty-first visit to his "second home."

March 12, 1956

1956 Former Atlanta Braves great Dale Murphy was born in Portland, Oregon.

March 12, 1981

1981 Timothy Hill disappeared in Atlanta; later in the month his strangled body was discovered in the Chattahoochee River. He was the latest victim in the Atlanta Child Murders case.

March 12, 1990

1990 Georgia-born Clarence Thomas took the oath of office for the District of Columbia Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals.

March 12, 1993

1993 A surprise winter storm -- called by some the "storm of the century" -- struck middle Georgia. The storm produced blizzard conditions and gale force winds, forcing airports to close throughout the eastern U.S.

March 12, 1996

1996 Two Georgia swimmers qualified for the 1996 U.S. Summer Olympic team -- Angel Martino, from Americus, in the 50-meter freestyle, and Carlton Bruner, of Dunwoody, in the 1500-meter freestyle.