Georgia, State of (U.S.A.)
Substate | Active
1778 CE to 2265 CE
Georgia is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina; to the northeast by South Carolina; to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean; to the south by Florida; and to the west by Alabama.
Founded in 1732 as the Province of Georgia and becoming a royal colony in 1752, Georgia was the last and southernmost of the original Thirteen Colonies to be established.
Named after King George II of Great Britain, the Colony of Georgia covered the area from South Carolina south to Spanish Florida and west to French Louisiana at the Mississippi River.
On January 2, 1788, Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
From 1802 to 1804, western Georgia is split to form the Mississippi Territory, which later wis admitted as the U.S. states of Alabama and Mississippi.
Georgia declares its secession from the Union on January 19, 1861, and is one of the original seven Confederate States.
Following the Civil War, it is the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15, 1870.
In the post-Reconstruction era, Georgia's economy is transformed as a group of prominent politicians, businessmen, and journalists, led by Henry W. Grady, espouse the "New South" philosophy of sectional reconciliation, industrialization, and white supremacy.
During the twentieth century, several Georgians, most notably Martin Luther King Jr., are prominent leaders during the civil rights movement.
Since 1945, Georgia has seen substantial population growth as part of the broader Sun Belt phenomenon.
From 2007 to 2008, fourteen of Georgia's counties rank among the nation's hundred fastest-growing. \\\
Georgia is defined by a diversity of landscapes, flora, and fauna.
The state's northernmost regions include the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the larger Appalachian Mountain system.
The Piedmont plateau extends from the foothills of the Blue Ridge south to the Fall Line, an escarpment to the Coastal Plain defining the state's southern region.
Georgia's highest point is Brasstown Bald at 4,784 feet (1,458 m) above sea level; the lowest is the Atlantic Ocean.
With the exception of some high-altitude areas in the Blue Ridge, the entirety of the state has a humid subtropical climate.
Of the states entirely east of the Mississippi River, Georgia is the largest in land area.
Georgia is the 24th-largest in area and 8th-most populous of the fifty United States.
Its 2020 population was 10,711,908, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.[5] Atlanta, a "beta(+)" global city, is both the state's capital and its largest city.
The Atlanta metropolitan area, with a population of more than 6 million people in 2020, is the 9th most populous metropolitan area in the United States and contains about 57% of Georgia's entire population.
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Smallpox ravages the populations of escaped slaves who flee to the British lines in the South during the American Revolutionary War.
Prominent Loyalists with great influence in London have persuaded the British that Loyalist support is high in the South, and that a campaign there will inspire a popular Loyalist uprising.
The British center their strategy upon this thinking.
A southern campaign also has the advantage of keeping the Royal Navy closer to the Caribbean, where it will be needed to defend lucrative colonies against the Franco-Spanish fleets.
On December 29, 1778, an expeditionary corps from New York captured Savannah.
British troops now move inland to recruit Loyalist support.
A joint Franco-American besieges Savannah from September 16, 1779 to October 18, 1779.
A major assault against the British siege works fails on October 9, 1779.
General Casimir Pułaski, probing for a weak point in the British lines during a cavalry charge, is wounded in the groin by grapeshot on October 9, 1779.
Carried from the field by several comrades, including Colonel John C. Cooper, he is taken aboard the privateer merchant brigantine Wasp, where two days later, without having regained consciousness, he dies of his wounds.
Pulaski, a Polish noble, had fought as a military commander for the Bar Confederation against Russian domination of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
When this uprising failed, he had emigrated to North America, where he had become a General in the Continental Army, fighting in the American Revolutionary War for the independence of the United States.
A noted cavalryman, Pułaski has played a large role in training Revolutionary troops, with Congress naming him "Commander of the Horse".
He is, however, infamous for his arrogance, and had demanded that his only superior be the commanding general.
Undoubtedly brave, his imperious personality and lack of English had caused him to resign his general command, but late in 1778, through Washington's intervention, he had been allowed by the Continental Congress to organize an independent corps, Pulaski's Legion, one of the few cavalry regiments in the Continental Army.
He had taken part in the Battle of Brandywine.
Known to posterity as the Father of the American Cavalry, Pułaski had demanded much of his men and trained them in tested cavalry tactics.
He used his own personal finances, when money from Congress was scarce, in order to assure his forces of the finest equipment and personal safety.
The Battle of Savannah is much remembered in Haitian history; the Fontages Legion, consisting of over five hundred gens de couleur—free men of color from Saint-Domingue—fight on the French side.
The British are to remain in control of Georgia until July 1782, close to the end of the war.
A significant victory at the Battle of Camden means that royal forces soon control most of Georgia and South Carolina.
The British set up a network of forts inland, hoping that the Loyalists will rally to the flag.
Not enough Loyalists turn out, however, and the British have to fight their way north into North Carolina and Virginia, with a severely weakened army.
Behind them, much of the territory that they have already captured dissolves into a chaotic guerrilla war, fought predominantly between bands of Loyalist and American militia, which negate many of the gains that the British had previously made.
Soon after arriving, Gates suffers a major defeat at Camden on August 16, setting the stage for Cornwallis to invade North Carolina.
While Patriot militia continue to interfere in attempts to pacify the countryside, Cornwallis dispatches troops to raise Loyalist forces to cover his left flank as he moves north.
This wing of Cornwallis' army is virtually destroyed on October 7, irreversibly breaking Loyalist support in the Carolinas.
Cornwallis subsequently aborts his advance and retreats back into South Carolina.
In the interim, Washington replaces Gates with his trusted subordinate, Nathanael Greene.
With few losses of their own, the British take five thousand two hundred and sixty-six prisoners, effectively destroying the Continental Army in the south.
Organized American resistance in the region collapses when Banastre Tarleton defeats the withdrawing Americans at Waxhaws on May 29.
In the interim, the war is carried on by Patriot militias, whom effectively suppress Loyalists by winning victories in Fairfield County, Lincolnton, York County, Stanly County, and Lancaster County.
In the waning months of the war, the British evacuate more than three thousand freedmen to Nova Scotia, with others going to London and Jamaica.
Northern slaves escape to the British lines in occupied cities such as New York.
Morgan now defeats the cream of the British army under Tarleton on January 17, 1781, at Cowpens.
As after the defeat of the Loyalists at King's Mountain, Lieutenant General Cornwallis is criticized for his decision to detach a substantial part of his army without adequate support.
Despite the setbacks, Cornwallis proceeds to advance into North Carolina, gambling that he will receive substantial Loyalist support.
Greene evades combat with Cornwallis, instead wearing his army down through a protracted war of attrition.
By March, Greene's army has grown enough that he feels confident in facing Cornwallis.
The two armies engage at Guilford Courthouse on March 15, and, though Greene is beaten, Cornwallis' army has suffered irreplaceable casualties.
Compounding this, far fewer Loyalists are joining as expected due to effective Patriot suppression.
Cornwallis' casualties are such that he is compelled to retreat to Wilmington for reinforcement, leaving the interior of the Carolinas, and Georgia, wide open to Greene.
In Cornwallis' absence, Greene proceeds to reconquer the South.
Despite suffering a reversal at Hobkirk's Hill on April 25, American troops continue to dislodge strategic British posts in the area, capturing Fort Watson, and Fort Motte.
Augusta, the last major British outpost in the South outside of Charleston and Savannah, falls on June 6.
In an effort to stop Greene, a British force clashes with American troops at Eutaw Springs on September 8.
Despite inflicting a tactical defeat on Greene's army, the casualties suffered by the British are such that they withdraw to Charleston.
While minor skirmishes in the Carolinas continue till the end of the war, British troops are effectively confined to Charleston and Savannah for the remainder of the conflict.
The fleet shows up, but so does a larger French fleet: the British fleet returns to New York for reinforcements after the Battle of the Chesapeake, leaving Cornwallis trapped.
In October 1781, the British surrender their second invading army of the war, under a siege by the combined French and Continental armies commanded by George Washington.