Today in History for March 4, 2015

First flag of the Confederate States of America.

March 4, 1493 – Explorer Christopher Columbus arrived back in Lisbon, Portugal aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what is now the Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.

March 4, 1519 – Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and its wealth.

March 4, 1776 – During the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Army, under Brigadier General John Thomas, fortified Dorchester Heights south of Boston with 2,000 troops, cannon and artillery, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.

March 4, 1766 - The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, which had caused bitter and violent opposition in the U.S. colonies.

March 4, 1778 - The Continental Congress voted to ratify the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance. The two treaties were the first entered into by the U.S. government.

March 4, 1778 - New Hampshire became the seventh state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.

March 4, 1789 – The modern United States was established when the U.S. Constitution formally replaced the Articles of Confederation. In New York City, the first Congress of the United States met, putting the United States Constitution into effect. The United States Bill of Rights was written and proposed to Congress.

March 4, 1791 - Vermont was admitted as the 14th U.S. state. It was the first addition to the original 13 American colonies.

March 4, 1794 - The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. The Amendment limited the jurisdiction of the federal courts to automatically hear cases brought against a state by the citizens of another state. Later interpretations expanded this to include citizens of the state being sued, as well.

March 4, 1797 – John Adams was inaugurated as the second president of the United States, succeeding George Washington in the first peaceful transfer of power between elected officials in modern times. His rival for the office had been Thomas Jefferson, and because Jefferson had received the second highest number of electoral votes, the Electoral College named him vice president.

March 4, 1811 - Alabama author Hardin E. Taliaferro was born on a farm in Surry County, N.C.

March 4, 1826 - The first railroad in the U.S. was chartered. It was the Granite Railway in Quincy, Mass.

March 4, 1833 – John Murphy of Monroe County, Ala. began his term as U.S. Representative for Alabama’s 5th Congressional District.

March 4, 1836 - Santa Anna ordered his artillery batteries moved closer to the Alamo, and the prolonged artillery attack continued.

March 4, 1839 – James Dellet, a Whig from Claiborne, Ala., began his first term as U.S. Representative from Alabama’s 1st Congressional District. His term ended on March 3, 1841.

March 4, 1842 – A tornado struck Newtown, near Tuscaloosa, destroying a courthouse, a hotel, many homes and killing a young girl.

March 4, 1843 – James Dellet, a Whig from Claiborne, Ala., began his second term as U.S. Representative from Alabama’s 1st Congressional District. His term ended on March 4, 1845.

March 4, 1850 – The Orline St. John sank near Bridgeport Landing, north of Camden. Forty passengers and crew were killed.

March 4, 1857 – James Adams Stallworth of Evergreen, Ala. began serving in the U.S. Congress. He would withdraw with the rest of the Alabama delegation in January 1861 when Alabama seceded from the Union at the start of the Civil War.

March 4, 1861 - Inauguration ceremonies for 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln were held in Washington.

March 4, 1861 - The first Confederate flag is raised over the Alabama capitol at 3:30 p.m. by Letita Tyler, granddaughter of former U.S. president John Tyler. The flag, which flew on a flagpole by the capitol clock, was not the Confederate battle flag, but the "First National Pattern," also known as the stars and bars.

March 4, 1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln began his second term as the 16th President of the United States. Within six weeks, the war was over and Lincoln had been assassinated.

March 4, 1865 – The third and final national flag of the Confederate States of America was adopted by the Confederate Congress.

March 4, 1877 – Greenville, Ala. attorney and former Confederate officer Hilary A. Herbert began serving the first of his eight terms as U.S. Representative from Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. He would serve in this position until March 3, 1893, four days before he began serving as the 33rd Secretary of the Navy.

March 4, 1880 - Halftone engraving was used for the first time when the "Daily Graphic" was published in New York City.

March 4, 1881 – Pulitzer Prize-winning author T. S. Stribling was born in Clifton, Tenn.

March 4, 1886 – Former Confederate soldier W.G. Riley died and was buried at Buena Vista Cemetery in Buena Vista, Ala. Born on July 2, 1820, he was listed as sick at Union Mills, Va. on Aug. 23, 1861 and was discharged on a surgeon’s certificate at Sangster Crossroads near Richmond on Sept. 17, 1861. He enlisted with Co. G, 7th Alabama Cavalry at Claiborne, Ala. on Aug. 8, 1863.

March 4, 1888 - Knute Rockne was born in Voss, Norway. He would go on to become one of the most successful coaches in the history of college football, coaching Notre Dame during their golden era in the 1920s. Rockne won three undisputed national championships with the Fighting Irish, and helped to transform Notre Dame from an unknown program into the most popular college football team in the United States.

March 4, 1901 – The Town of Red Level chartered by Alabama legislature.

March 4, 1901 - A dramatic version of Alabama author Mary Johnston's book “To Have and To Hold” opened on Broadway.

March 4, 1913 - The New York Yankees traveled to Bermuda for spring practice. They were the first team to leave the U.S. to train.

March 4, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that the “local military company has been mustered out of service, having failed to measure up to the requirements of the military department on recent inspection.”

March 4, 1918 – A 500-foot-long U.S. Navy supply ship, the USS Cyclops, sailed from Barbados to Norfolk with 309 aboard. The ship vanished in good weather without sending any radio messages and no wreckage was ever found, presumably lost with all hands in the Bermuda Triangle.

March 4, 1918 - The flu pandemic (often referred to as the Spanish flu) was first observed at Fort Riley, Kansas, when a soldier fell ill. The pandemic, which lasted nearly a year, is estimated to have killed somewhere between 30 to 50 million people worldwide.

March 4, 1921 - Warren G. Harding took office as the 29th President of the United States. He was the great-grandson of Conecuh County’s Henchie Warren, who is said to have hidden a chest of gold in Shipps Pond during the Civil War.

March 4, 1925 - Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office in Washington, D.C. The presidential inauguration was broadcast on radio for the first time.

March 4, 1933 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt gave his inauguration speech in which he said "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself." By the time of his inauguration, the country had been mired in the Great Depression for more than three years. Roosevelt won in a landslide over Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover.

March 4, 1935 - A movie version of Alabama author Octavus Roy Cohen's book “The Transient Lady” was released.

March 4, 1952 - U.S. President Harry Truman dedicated the "Courier," the first seagoing radio broadcasting station.

March 4, 1952 - Ernest Hemingway completed his short novel “The Old Man and the Sea.” He wrote his publisher the same day, saying he had finished the book and that it was the best writing he had ever done. The critics agreed: The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and became one of his bestselling works.

March 4, 1954 - A television version of Octavus Roy Cohen's book “Detective's Holiday” was broadcast as part of the “Four Stars Playhouse” series.

March 4, 1958 – A Marine flight instructor and a Naval flight student were killed instantly in a T-28 trainer crash around 1:15 p.m. near the west boundary of Middleton Field, near the home of Len Mitchell, about five miles from Evergreen, Ala. The instructor was 1st Lt. David Bruce Mahorney, 25, of Hartford City, Indiana, and the student pilot was listed as Ensign Richard E. Cossitt of Atlanta. According to bystanders, the plane had just left the runway, flying north, when apparently motor trouble caused it to plunge to the ground.

March 4, 1958 – John Reid took the oath of office and began serving on the Evergreen, Ala. City Council. He was appointed to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of veteran councilman, O.B. Tuggle.

March 4, 1958 – Evergreen High School started spring football practice with 45 players reporting on this first day of practice. This was said to be “the largest number of men reporting for practice in the history of the school.” Returning lettermen included Paul Pace, George Bolton, Byron Warren, Wayne Peacock, Ken Tucker, Jimmy Bell, Robbie Boykin and Robert Ellington.

March 4, 1974 – “People” magazine was published for the first time in the United States as “People Weekly.”

March 4, 1976 - A radio version of Alabama author Ambrose Bierce's story "The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter" was broadcast as part of the series “The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre.”

March 4, 1983 – Pensacola, Fla. firefighter Eddie Frank Jackson was killed in the line of duty.

March 4, 1986 - "Today" debuted in London as England’s newest, national, daily newspaper.

March 4, 1991 - Sheik Saad al-Jaber al-Sabah, the prime minister of Kuwait, returned to his country for the first time since Iraq's invasion.

March 4, 1999 - Monica Lewinsky's book about her affair with U.S. President Bill Clinton went on sale in the U.S.

March 4, 2012 – Major League Baseball first baseman Don Mincher passed away in Huntsville, Ala. at the age of 73. During his career, he played for the Washington Senators, the Minnesota Twins, the California Angels, the Seattle Pilots, the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers.