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Sunday, December 18, 2011

CIVIL RIGHTS DEMONSTRATIONS END WITH AGREEMENT IN ALBANY, GEORGIA

December 18, 1961


CIVIL RIGHTS DEMONSTRATIONS END WITH AGREEMENT IN ALBANY, GEORGIA


Albany, Georgia (JFK+50) Following a month of protests & demonstrations in opposition to the city government's segregation policies, an agreement was reached today here in Albany, Georgia.


City government representatives have agreed to desegregate bus & train facilities, release all civil rights demonstrators held in jail, & set up a meeting for local African-American citizens to air their concerns.


The agreement reached today comes in the aftermath of a week of protests, demonstrations & arrests.


Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. told his followers:


"Don't get weary.  We will wear them down with our capacity to suffer."*




               Protesters in Albany, Georgia


*Shiloh Baptist Church in Albany is the birthplace of the Albany Movement.  It was there that meetings were held that organized the local civil rights movement & where Dr. King spoke to overflowing crowds.


December 18, 1862


UNION ARMY SURRENDERS AT LEXINGTON, TENNESSEE


Lexington, Tennessee (JFK+50) U.S. General Robert Ingersoll was forced to surrender his command of about 150 men today, along with 2 artillery pieces, to Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.


The surrender took place near Lexington Creek in western Tennessee.


Forrest's troops, consisting of 2100 men, quickly & easily overran Ingersoll's position & then continued on toward Jackson.


Forrest's overall objective in this campaign appears to be to interrupt the railroad supply line to General Ulysses S. Grant's army which is on the march in this part of the state.


NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST (1821-1877)


was one of the few officers on either side during the Civil War (1861-1865) to enlist as a private & be promoted to commanding general.




                 Nathan Bedford Forrest


Dr. Ruth Stevens, former professor of history at the University of Tennessee, quoted General William Tecumseh Sherman as saying there would never be peace in Tennessee 'until that devil, Forrest, is captured.'"


Forrest was finally forced to surrender in May 1865.


In a farewell address to his troops at Gainesville, Alabama, Forrest said:


"I have never...sent you where I was unwilling to go myself.  You have been good soldiers & will be good citizens.  Obey the laws, preserve your honor & the Government to which you have surrendered can afford to be, & will be, magnanimous."