Today in History for July 13, 2015

Barbara Ann Allen Rainey

July 13, 1585 - A group of 108 English colonists, led by Sir Richard Grenville, reached Roanoke Island, N.C.

July 13, 1787 – The Continental Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, enacted the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also established procedures for the admission of new states and limited the expansion of slavery.

July 13, 1793 – English poet John Clare was born in Helpston, Northamptonshire.

July 13, 1798 – English Romantic poet William Wordsworth first saw the ruins of Tintern Abbey while on a walking tour of Wales with his sister, Dorothy. This experience inspired his poem “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798.” Wordsworth claimed the 1,200 lines came to him with the greatest of ease, entirely in his head.

July 13, 1824 - Marquis de Lafayette left France on the American merchant vessel Cadmus, headed to America for his extended tour of the United States.

July 13, 1832 - Henry Schoolcraft discovered the source of the Mississippi River in Minnesota.

July 13, 1861 - Union General George B. McClellan distinguished himself by routing Confederates under General Robert Garnett at the Battle of Corrick's Ford in western Virginia. The battle ensured Yankee control of the region, secured the Union's east-west railroad connections, and set in motion the events that would lead to the creation of West Virginia. The battle resulted in 70 Confederate casualties (including the death of Garnett, the first general officer to die in the war) and 10 Union casualties.

July 13, 1863 - A nine-day Federal military operation began in and about Huntsville, Ala.

July 13, 1863 – In what is now known as the “New York City Draft Riots, opponents of conscription began three days of rioting in New York City, which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history. Order was not restored until Union soldiers returned from Gettysburg, and the riots resulted in more than 1,000 casualties.

July 13, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes occurred near Greenpoint, Ten Islands and near the Coosa River at Stone’s Ferry, Ala.

July 13, 1865 – In the aftermath of the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson named William Marvin as provisional governor of Florida.

July 13, 1868 - The Alabama legislature ratified the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution, thereby meeting one of the requirements for readmission to the Union. In part, the amendment guaranteed that states could not abridge citizenship rights of "persons born or naturalized in the United States," which included freedmen.

July 13, 1896 - Philadelphia’s Ed Delahanty became the second major league player to hit four home runs in a single game.

July 13, 1909 – The Nashville Americans played Greenville’s baseball team in Greenville, Ala.

July 13, 1915 – The Evergreen City School’s board of trustees elected the following teachers, all female, for the coming school year – Ethel King, principal; Willie Cunningham, Sue Stallworth and Mae Simmons, teachers; and Mary McCreary, assistant.

July 13, 1919 – The British airship R34 landed in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight.

July 13, 1923 – The Hollywood Sign was officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It originally reads "Hollywoodland " but the four last letters are dropped after renovation in 1949. Originally built as an advertisement for the "Hollywoodland" housing community, the landmark has since become an icon of the entertainment industry. Over the years, the sign was subject to a conspiracy to steal its letters, the deterioration and loss of the "H" and two "O's", and, ultimately, adoption by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which dropped the "land" portion of the sign.

July 13, 1939 – Evergreen’s baseball team was scheduled to play a double header against Atmore in Atmore, Ala. on this Thursday afternoon.

July 13, 1940 - Author Dorothy Baughman was born in Prattville, Ala.

July 13, 1942 - Harrison Ford, who played Indiana Jones and Han Solo, was born in Chicago, Ill.

July 13, 1944 - Erno Rubik, the creator of Rubik's Cube puzzle, was born in Budapest, Hungary.

July 13, 1960 - John F. Kennedy won the Democratic nomination to run for president of the United States. He beat Senator Lyndon Johnson.

July 13, 1969 - Former Alabama Governor George Wallace criticized President Richard Nixon for his handling of the Vietnam War and said he favored an all-out military victory if the Paris talks failed to produce peace soon. Wallace had run unsuccessfully against Nixon as a third party candidate in the 1968 presidential election.

July 13, 1972 - Carroll Rosenbloom, owner of the Baltimore Colts, and Robert Irsay, owner of the Los Angeles Rams, traded teams.

July 13, 1973 – Alexander Butterfield revealed the existence of the "Nixon tapes" to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in.

July 13, 1977 - Lightning struck three times on this night, hitting Con Edison substations and shutting down the power grid and causing a massive, 25-hour blackout in New York City. The city went dark at about 9:30 p.m. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports had to be shut down for eight hours, tunnels in and out of the city were closed, and thousands of people had to be evacuated from the subways.

July 13, 1979 – Castleberry, Ala. Mayor Forrest Moore Castleberry passed away at the age of 76 in a Monroeville hospital. A native of Castleberry and the town’s mayor continuously since 1963, he attended the University of Alabama and worked as a journalist from 1923 to 1963, working at newspapers in Alabama and Florida. During his career, he worked for The Evergreen Courant, The Birmingham News, The Montgomery Advertiser-Journal, The Mobile Press Register and as the Montgomery bureau chief for United Press International. He also, at one time, represented Conecuh County in the state legislature.

July 13, 1979 – Circuit Judge Robert E.L. Key administered the oaths of office to Conecuh County Tax Collector J. Marvin Johnston and Tax Assessor Delma E. Bowers. Johnston was entering his third term in office, having first been elected in 1966, re-elected in 1972 and in 1978. Bowers was entering his fourth term in office, having first been elected in 1960 and re-elected in 1966, 1972 and 1978.

July 13, 1980 – Local weather reporter Earl Windham reported a high temperature of 102 degrees in Evergreen, Ala.

July 13, 1982 – Barbara Ann Allen Rainey, the first female pilot in the history of the U.S. Armed Forces, was killed in a plane crash at Middleton Field in Evergreen. Allen, who was a flight instructor, along with her trainee Ensign Donald Bruce Knowlton were practicing touch-and-go landings at Middleton Field, when the aircraft banked sharply, lost altitude, and crashed. Allen, who was 33 years old, and Knowlton were both killed in the crash.

July 13, 1982 – Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game was played outside the United States for the first time when it was played in Montreal, Canada.

July 13, 1984 - Sportscaster Howard Cosell asked to be released from his duties on "Monday Night Football." He said that he was "tired of being tied to the football mentality."

July 13, 1985 – Vice President George Bush became the Acting President for the day when President Ronald Reagan underwent surgery to remove polyps from his colon.

July 13, 1995 - Geddy Lee of Rush sang "Oh Canada" before the All-Star Game at Baltimore's Camden Yards.

July 13, 1998 - "Image of an Assassination" went on sale. The video documentary is of Abraham Zapruder's home video of U.S. President Kennedy's assassination in Dallas.

July 13, 2004 - Author Catherine Rodgers died in Auburn, Ala.

July 13, 2009 - President Barack Obama nominated Dr. Regina M. Benjamin to be Surgeon General of the United States. A graduate of Morehouse College and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Benjamin specialized in Family Medicine at the Medical Center of Central Georgia. Founder and CEO of the BayouClinic in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, Benjamin since 1990 has been providing health care to the low income community.

July 13, 2010 - George Steinbrenner, the larger-than-life, longtime owner of the New York Yankees, who re-established the team as one of baseball’s most successful franchises, died of a heart attack at age 80 in Tampa, Florida. Under Steinbrenner, who owned the team from 1973 until his death, the Yankees won seven World Series championships and 11 American League pennants. Nicknamed “the Boss,” the influential, demanding and controversial owner also built the Yankees into baseball’s first billion-dollar team.