February 14, 1779

1779 In the backcountry northwest of Augusta, Lt. Col. Elijah Clarke led a force of Georgia patriots and South Carolinians in a victory against British loyalists in the Battle of Kettle Creek. Although it was not a major battle of the American Revolution, it was an important one in securing the support of Georgians who had been undecided on whether to support the patriot or loyalist cause.

February 14, 1829

1829 Confederate general Alfred Iverson Jr. was born in Clinton, Ga. He served in the Mexican War, then practiced law. In 1855, he was commissioned as an officer in the 1st U.S. Cavalry. After Georgia’s secession, Iverson resigned from the U.S. Army and became a captain in the Confederate Army in Wilmington, N.C., where he recruited the 20th North Carolina. In Aug. 1861, he was promoted to colonel and served in the battles of Seven Days, South Mountain, and Sharpsburg. In Nov. 1862, Iverson was promoted to brigadier general in command of his own brigade in Rodes’ Division. He served at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, but in the latter battle he reportedly performed poorly and was reassigned to command state troops in Georgia. During Sherman’s Georgia campaign in 1864, Iverson commanded a brigade in Wheelers’ brigade. After the war, he served as a businessman and farmer. He died March 31, 1911 in Atlanta.

February 14, 1850

1850 Gov. George Towns signed legislation creating Clinch County as Georgia’s 95th county. Created from Lowndes and Ware counties, the county was named for Gen. Duncan L. Clinch, who defeated Osceola in the Second Seminole War and who also represented Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives (1844-45).

February 14, 1858

1858 A group of Atlanta Presbyterians met across the street from the combination Atlanta City Hall/Fulton County Courthouse and established the Central Presbyterian Church. After the Civil War, the city hall/county courthouse was torn down and Georgia’s state capitol built on the spot. The church has remained active and today is one of Atlanta’s oldest standing structures.

February 14, 1867

1867 William Jefferson White and former slave Richard C. Coulter opened the Augusta Baptist Institute. In 1879, the school moved to Atlanta, where it name was changed to Atlanta Baptist Seminary, then Atlanta Baptist College (1897), and finally Morehouse College (1913).

February 14, 1891

1891 Twenty-seven years after beginning his march through Georgia, former Union general William Sherman died in New York City.

February 14, 1954

1954 Television station WTOC first went on the air as Savannah’s CBS affiliate.

February 14, 1956

1956 On the day after S.B. 98 (which changed Georgia’s state flag) was signed into law, three of its authors -- senators Willis Harden, Jefferson Lee Davis, and Nelson Coffin --were joined by Sen. James Dykes of Cochran in introducing S.R. 48, a joint resolution calling on protection of the Confederate flags of Georgia regiments in the state capitol, and specifically directing the secretary of state to have the flags cleaned, insect proofed, and placed in protective display cases. The resolution would be approved by both houses and signed into law on Feb. 27.

February 14, 1957

1957 The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was organized in Atlanta, with Martin Luther King Jr. as its first president.

February 14, 1958

1958 Gov. Marvin Griffin signed a joint resolution of the Georgia General Assembly censuring Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower for calling out the National Guard to enforce integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark.