1. In 1865, the American Civil War came to an end in Georgia with the surrender of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston to Union General William T. Sherman in Durham, North Carolina. This surrender negotiated on April 15, 1865, gave the Union control of five Southern states: Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee.
2. On April 15, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage while vacationing in Warm Springs, Georgia. Roosevelt had been serving as President since 1933 and had led the United States through two terms of tumultuous times, including the Great Depression and World War II.
3. The first-ever official Masters golf tournament was held at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia on April 15, 1934. The tournament was won by Horton Smith, a professional golfer from Missouri. Since then, the Masters has become one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world and is eagerly awaited by golf enthusiasts worldwide.
4. In 1983, a bomb exploded at the U.S. Army barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing more than 200 Marines and other service members. Fourteen of the soldiers were from Georgia, and their sacrifice was recognized by the state with a memorial in Milledgeville, Georgia. Every year on April 15, Georgian soldiers who died in Lebanon are remembered with a patriotic ceremony at the memorial.
5. On April 15, 1870, the Georgia State Capitol Building was completed in Atlanta. The stunning structure, designed in a classical architectural style, is made of granite and boasts a 272-foot tall gold dome. The Capitol Building has been the venue for numerous political and social events over the past decades and is a popular tourist destination today.