1. In 1836, Georgia became the first state to build a railroad since the birth of the United States, when the Georgia Railroad Company completed a 5-mile stretch of track from Augusta to the Savannah River.
2. On February 24, 1864, during the American Civil War, Confederate General Joseph Johnston was appointed commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, which he would lead in a series of battles against Union General William T. Sherman's army.
3. Georgia native and writer Carson McCullers, author of novels such as "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" and "Reflections in a Golden Eye," was born on February 24, 1917, in Columbus, Georgia.
4. In 1981, the Georgia State Senate voted unanimously to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted women the right to vote. Georgia was the first state to reject ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919.
5. On February 24, 2010, an EF-3 tornado struck downtown Atlanta, causing significant damage to skyscrapers, the Georgia Dome, and the CNN Center. Despite the intensity of the storm, there were no reported fatalities.