HOW MANY CAPS? How many capital cities can one state have?
I about that point recently when I read that the State of Georgia has had five. That could be a record, I suppose.
The first one, you might guess, was Savannah.
It was June 9, 1732 when King George II signed the charter which entrusted James Oglethrope and a group of trustees to start a new British colony special "motive" of the new charter was to benefit "the worthy poor".It was to be named "Georgia" honoring the doner. The King , and many others , thought a buffer state next to neighboring Spanish Florida would strengthen the existing colonies to the north; expand trade for "The Crown" and work toward additional navigational advancements.
Oglethorpe was aware of the fact that a treaty had been made with the native tribes if the area saying no new colonies would be started below Carolina. Even though the King had granted him the territory, Oglethorpe wanted to get the permission of the area Indian tribes, as well.
Oglethorpe landed at Yamacraw Bluff nine months later. He found only one group of Indians about a hundred Yamacraw's under Chief Timochichi about fifty miles from the landing site. The Chief greeted Oglethorpe with kindness and was pleased with the prospect of new settlers. The name Mary Musgrave, occurs during this era. She was a daughter of an Indian woman and a white trader and was hired as Oglethorpe his translator. He brought in one hundred and twenty settlers.
Complete stories of each of the states' capitals would fill a book, so we have to hurry along. In 1751,Oglethorpe left Georgia for the last time and the trustees relinquished the King's charter. This automatically made Georgia a British colony. By the start of the American Revolution Georgia had a population of 35,000 and 2,500 of them called Savannah home. When the British captured Savannah, the capital was moved, first, to Head's Fort in Wilkes County then to Augusta and back to Savannah in 1782. From 1783-1785 the General Assembly rotated between Savannah and Augusta. It unsettledness .
The third Capital was at Louisville. It was named after King Louis XIV in appreciation of French aid during the revolution. The first permanent capital building was completed there in 1796. The infamous Yazoo Land legislation was rescinded in that red-brick, two story capital building of which nothing remains today.
In 1804 the legislature moved the state capital to a more central location at Lawrenceville, on the banks of the river Oconee. It remained the capital city for sixty-one years. The legislature next gathered there for one session after the Civil Warn and then moved to its present address in Atlanta where it
seems to have settled in quite well.
Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 9-28-06 [c473wds]
