July 23, 1743

1743 In Savannah, Gen. James Oglethorpe boarded a ship to return to England. His trip was prompted by two reasons. Inadequate funding from the Trustees and Parliament over the years had caused Oglethorpe to borrow heavily to pay the colony’s unfunded expenses. He had used Westbrook, the Oglethorpe family home in Godalming, plus his other holdings in Surrey as security for the loans. Now, unless he could persuade Parliament to reimburse him for his huge loans, he stood to lose everything. A second reason for returning was to answer charges that an unhappy officer in his British regiment had leveled against him with Britain’s war office. Likely, Oglethorpe had no idea that he would never again return to the colony he founded. [Some sources say Oglethorpe sailed from Georgia on July 22, though the more persuasive date seems to be the 23rd.]

July 23, 1810

1810 Businessman, politician, and publisher Nelson Tift was born in Groton, Conn. At age 20, he moved to Charleston, S.C., and by 1835 he was operating a business in Augusta, Ga. The next year, he opened a warehouse on the Flint River at a site which would develop into the town of Albany, thus earning him credit as the founder of Albany. During the years 1841 to 1852, Tift represented Albany several times in the Georgia General Assembly. Prior to the Civil War, he published the Albany Patriot for eleven years and served as a railroad executive. Though he opposed secession, during the Civil War he helped supply war-time needs of the Confederacy, including constructing several Confederate ironclads. After the war, he served one term (1868-69) as a member of Congress. Thereafter, he continued to promote the economic and industrial development of southwest Georgia. The year before his 1891 death, the new town of Tifton was created and named in his honor. In 1905, the Georgia legislature also named a new county in his honor. [There is some confusion as to whether Tifton is named for Nelson Tift or his newphew Henry Harding Tift, who actually founded the town. It seems clear that he younger Tift wanted the new town named Lena. One source says that local inhabitants preferred to call the settlement, "Tift’s town," which was shortened to Tifton. Several other sources, however, say that H.H. Tift agreed to the town name of Tifton to honor his uncle.]

July 23, 1864

1864 Confederate and Union forces spent the day collecting the dead and attending to the wounded. Union artillery launched a bombardment of the city of Atlanta.

July 23, 1881

1881 Educator Robert P. Brooks was born in Milledgeville, Ga. Attending Georgia Military College for two years(1899-1900), he completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Georgia in 1904. That year he became the first Georgian to win a Rhodes Scholarship and attended Oxford University in England, where he graduated in 1907. In 1911, he entered the University of Wisconsin, where he obtained a doctorate after just over one year of study. In 1912, he accepted a faculty position with the University of Georgia, where he wrote a Georgia history textbook for use in public schools. In 1920, Brooks became dean of the University’s School of Commerce, which eventually became the College of Business Administration. For the next 32 years, he held numerous top administrative positions at the University of Georgia and authored many publications about Georgia and UGA history.

July 23, 1913

1913 In Atlanta, Jim Conley and Newt Lee were brought together by prosecutor Hugh Dorsey and staff to go over their testimonies for the Leo Frank trial, set to begin July 28.

July 23, 1982

1982 Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company introduced its new Diet Coke soft drink.

July 23, 1988

1988 In his first Major League game, pitcher John Smoltz allowed only four hits and one earned run in helping the Atlanta Braves to a 6-1 win over the New York Mets.

July 23, 1996

1996 This was the fifth day of the 1996 Summer Olympics -- and day 4 of Olympic competition.

July 23, 2003

2003 A fire started on the second floor of the University of Georgia Main Library building caused appoximately $1.5 million in damges to various books, documents, and equipment. A homeless man, Eric Nelms, was charged with starting the fire, but was not convicted. He did admit to starting it, but claimed it was an accident.