 |
| Murdock McCorvey Fountain |
May 12, 1780 – During the Revolutionary War, in the largest
defeat of the Continental Army, Charleston, South Carolina was taken by British
forces. The battle ended when Major General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered to
British Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton.
May 12, 1812 – Poet and artist Edward Lear was born in
London, England.
May 12, 1820 – Nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale was born
in Florence, Italy to a wealthy English family.
May 12, 1825 – French lawyer and explorer Orélie-Antoine de
Tounens was born in Chourgnac, France.
May 12, 1828 – Artist and poet Dante
Gabriel Rossetti was born in London.
May 12, 1834 – On this Monday
morning, Mobile, Alabama’s newspapers carried this official notice from Mayor
John Stocking Jr.: MURDER – REWARD – Whereas a most atrocious murder was
committed within the city of Mobile upon the body of Nathaniel Frost; and
whereas, suspicion rests on one Charles Boyington as the perpetrator of the
horrid act; therefore, I, John Stocking Jr., Mayor of the City of Mobile, by
virtue of authority in me vested by a special resolution of the Board of
Aldermen, do hereby offer a reward of $250 in the event of the said Boyington
being convicted of said murder.
May 12, 1861 – During the Civil War, after some fighting with Southern sympathizers, Union troops under Brigadier General Benjamin Butler gained control of Baltimore.
May 12, 1862 – During the Civil War, U.S. federal troops
occupied Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
May 12, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Lewisburg, West Virginia and near Farmington, Mississippi.
May 12, 1862 - After the fall of New Orleans a couple of weeks ago, the Union had been working its way to every town on the Mississippi River. On this day, a Federal flotilla with Admiral David Farragut in command made its way to the docks of Natchez, Mississippi. As the city was not in possession of weaponry or military manpower to do anything else, Farragut was presented with the surrender of the town by its mayor.
May 12, 1863 – During the Civil War at the Battle of Raymond, two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps turned the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign. A Confederate brigade under John Gregg attacked a Union division under Major General John Logan in the town of Raymond, between Vicksburg and Jackson.
May 12, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Bloomfield, Missouri and near Linden, Tennessee.
May 12, 1863 - In a rally intended to be a reaction to Federal General Ambrose Burnside's General Order 38, Clement Vallandigham criticized Abraham Lincoln for not ending the Civil War, which he characterized as "wicked and cruel."
May 12, 1864 – During the Civil War, at the Battle of
Spotsylvania Court House, thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers died in
"the Bloody Angle." Troops under Union General Winfield Scott Hancock
overran Rebel trenches at Spotsylvania, taking nearly 3,000 prisoners and more
than a dozen cannons. The action around Spotsylvania shocked even the grizzled
veterans of the two great armies. Said one officer, “I never expect to be fully
believed when I tell what I saw of the horrors of Spotsylvania.”
May 12, 1864 – During the Civil War, Confederate Cavalry
General J.E.B. Stuart died after having been wounded the previous day at the
Battle of Yellow Tavern.
May 12, 1864 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought
at Jackson's Ferry, Ala.
May 12, 1864 – During the Civil War, engagements began at Proctor's Creek and Drewry's Bluff, Va., and continued until May 16. Combats occurred at Meadow Bridges, Strawberry Hill and Mechanicsville, Virginia; and an affair took place at Strasburg, Virginia.
May 12, 1865 – During the Civil War, at the Battle of
Palmito Ranch, the first day of the last major land action to take place during
the Civil War occurred, resulting in a Confederate victory.
May 12, 1880 – American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth was born
in Chicago, Ill. He was a polar explorer from the United States and a major
benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History.
May 12, 1888 – The U.S. Army moved Apache prisoners,
including Geronimo, from Fort Pickens near Pensacola, Fla. to Mount Vernon
Barracks near Mobile, Ala.
May 12, 1894 – Wanted outlaw Wyatt Tate, who’d already
killed constable William Ikner on March 24 and Monroe County Sheriff J.D.
Foster on April 3, was tracked to the “Marshall place” near Finchburg, Ala. and
was killed by Murdoch M. Fountain.
May 12, 1903 - President Theodore
Roosevelt’s trip to San Francisco was captured on moving-picture film, making
him the first president to have an official activity recorded in that medium.
May 12, 1909 – Around 1:30 p.m., fire was discovered at the
residence of J.M. Cook in Evergreen, Ala. Cook’s wife was sick and in bed, so
the fire was almost beyond control before any alarm was sounded. The Methodist
parsonage across the street also caught fire during the incident, but was
quickly extinguished.
May 12, 1915 - Author Joe David Brown was born in
Birmingham, Ala.
May 12, 1915 – The Evergreen Courant reported that one of
the road crew convicts had escaped and one of the county’s best tracking dogs
went missing while trying to find him. It was not known if the convict killed
the dog or if the dog got lost. Either way, both were still missing as of press
time.
May 12, 1916 - Author Albert Murray was born in Nokomis,
Ala.
May 12, 1921 – Canadian author and conservationist Farley
Mowat was born in Belleville, Ontario.
May 12, 1922 – Dr. Ernest Stanley Crawford, a heart surgeon
pioneer, was born in Evergreen, Ala.
May 12, 1922 - A large meteor struck the Earth near
Blackstone, Virginia.
May 12, 1925 – National Baseball Hall of Fame catcher,
manager and coach Yogi Berra was born in St. Louis, Mo. He went on to play for
and manage the New York Yankees and the New York Mets.He was inducted into the
Hall of Fame in 1972.
May 12, 1926 – The Italian-built airship Norge became
the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.
May 12, 1935 - American jazz double-bassist Gary Peacock was
born in Burley, Idaho.
May 12, 1935 – Hobson Mason died on this Sunday around 3
p.m., two days after being fatally shot by Mrs. Ely Bradley and her 12-year-old
son, Ely Bradley Jr. after he allegedly tried to force open the door to their
house on the Lawrence farm on the “old Castleberry road” in Conecuh County,
Ala.
May 12, 1937 - The remains of an unidentified man who was
buried in Evergreen, Ala. on New Year’s Day was exhumed on this Wednesday at
the request of relatives of W.I. Bozeman of near Chapman in the hopes that the
body might prove to be that of W.I. Bozeman, who had been missing from home
since Dec. 16, 1936. Relatives, including his wife and several children, viewed
the body, examined the clothing and were convinced that it was not that of the
husband and father of whom they have been searching. The body exhumed was found
on the L&N Railroad track near Wilcox by a train crew. It was brought to
Evergreen and every effort was made to identify the body. Failing in this,
officers ordered it interred in the “old cemetery.” The man apparently had been
killed by a train several hours before he was found. Bozeman’s relatives
hearing about the occurrence and knowing that it happened shortly after he had
disappeared from home, began an investigation. As a result, they secured
permission to exhume the body for examination. The missing man was said to have
left home to hunt work and told his people that he was going to Evergreen to
see if he might not secure a job with the crew engaged in building the overhead
bridge. He had not been heard from since he left home.
May 12, 1938 – The Evergreen Courant reported that the
Evergreen Greenies baseball team beat the Union Springs Red Birds by the
“overwhelming score” of 13-5. Will Walls and Skipper Rice hit a home run each
for Evergreen, and Evergreen’s Lefty Goetz struck out eight.
May 12, 1942 – During World War II, the U.S. tanker SS Virginia
was torpedoed in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German
submarine U-507.
May 12, 1944 - Author Michael Bradley was born in Talladega,
Ala.
May 12, 1944 – PFC Raymond N. Bradley of Castleberry, Ala.
was wounded in Italy. A member of the 17th Field Artillery, he’d already fought
in North Africa and Sicily before getting wounded. After his release from the
hospital, he would go on to fight in Austria, Germany and France. He would
arrive home safely in October 1945.
May 12, 1945 - Less than a week
after the war in Europe was declared over, Alabama native Robert Posey arrived
in Alt Aussee, Austria, in search of art work stolen by the Nazis. On May 13,
he found hidden in a salt mine more than 6,500 paintings and many more
drawings, prints, sculptures, and other objets d'art, including Michelangelo's
Bruges Madonna, Vermeer's The Astronomer, and Van Eyck's The Adoration of the
Mystic Lamb. Posey was part of a military unit known as "Monuments Men," who during World War II were charged
with protecting historic buildings, landmarks, and monuments in Europe. He grew
up in Jefferson and earned degrees in engineering and architecture at Alabama
Polytechnic Institute (present-day Auburn University).
May 12, 1952 – The first ever Monroeville Little League
season opened in Monroeville, Ala. The season began with 48 uniforms for four
teams – the Yankees, Indians, White Sox and Dodgers. The boys were divided into
the majors and minors. The boys in minors were given caps but no uniforms.
May 12, 1953 - Alabama author Carolyn Haines was born in
Hattiesburg, Miss.
May 12, 1953 – In their season finale, Evergreen High School
improved to 8-1 on the season as pitcher Hugh Ellington pitched a no-hitter
against Monroe County County High School on this Tuesday afternoon in
Monroeville, Ala. Evergreen won, 11-0. This game was Ellington’s second shutout
of the season, and he gave up only one hit in the previous game.
May 12, 1956 - The movie “Good-bye,
My Lady,” story by Alabama author James H. Street, was released.
May 12, 1962 – The Lyeffion Quarterback Club was scheduled
to give away a 1954 Chevrolet car during a fish supper fundraiser with proceeds
to go toward the construction of a new football stadium at the school in
Lyeffion, Ala.
May 12, 1963 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy sent federal
troops into Birmingham, Ala., following riots.
May 12, 1966 - The St. Louis Cardinals played their first
game at Busch Memorial Stadium. They won the game, 4-3, over the Atlanta
Braves.
May 12, 1966
– Russian-German SS officer Felix Steiner died at the age of 69 in Munich, Bavaria,
West Germany.
May 12, 1967 - Pink Floyd debuted its custom-made
quadraphonic speaker system, amazing concert-goers with surround sound.
May 12, 1968
– During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attacked Australian
troops defending Fire Support Base Coral, east of Lai Khe in South Vietnam on
the night of May 12-13, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides and
beginning the Battle of Coral–Balmora.
May 12, 1969 – Army Sgt. William Michael Fields of
Evergreen, Ala. and Army SPC5 James Rayford Gohagin of Atmore, Ala. were killed
in action in Vietnam.
May 12, 1970 - Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs hit his 500th
home run.
May 12, 1971 – National Baseball Hall of Fame leftfielder
Heinie Manush, who was born in Tuscumbia, Ala., passed away from cancer at the
age of 69 in Sarasota, Fla. During his career, he played for the Detroit
Tigers, the St. Louis Browns, the Washington Senators, the Boston Red Sox, the
Brooklyn Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was inducted into the Hall of
Fame in 1964.
May 12, 1971 - The first major battle of Operation Lam Son 720 took place as North Vietnamese forces hit the same South Vietnamese 500-man marine battalion twice in one day. Each time, the communists were pushed back after heavy fighting. Earlier, the South Vietnamese reportedly destroyed a North Vietnamese base camp and arms production facility in the A Shau Valley.
May 12, 1972 - The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins,
4-3, in 22 innings. The game was actually completed on May 13.
May 12, 1976 – The Old Abrams Place in Greenville, Ala. and
the Bartram Trail near Greenville, Ala. were added to the Alabama Register of
Landmarks and Heritage.
May 12, 1982 - The final episode of "The Incredible
Hulk" aired.
May 12, 1982 - The United States Football League (USFL) was
formed.
May 12, 1983 - Jack Booker Weaver, a student at Jefferson
Davis State Junior College in Brewton, Ala., was formally honored as a
participant in the ‘Most Outstanding Student Competition,” which was sponsored
by the Deans of Students Association and was held during the annual Alabama
Junior/Community College Association Convention.
May 12, 1985 - An honorary Doctor of Music degree was given
to Lionel Richie from his alma mater Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
May 12, 1986 – NBC debuted the current well-known peacock as
seen in the NBC 60th Anniversary Celebration.
May 12, 1987 - The final episode of "Hill Street
Blues" aired.
May 12, 1989 – Evergreen (Ala.) Mayor Lee F. Smith and
Evergreen City Councilman Larry Fluker cut the ribbon at the street dedication
following an open house at the Evergreen Housing Authority’s Crestview Manor.
The street dedication involved Frazier Circle, which was named after longtime
Conecuh County educator and principal, O.F. Frazier.
May 12, 1998 - The Atlanta Braves tied a National League
record when they hit a home run in their 24th consecutive game.
May 12, 1998 - Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit a
527-foot home run at Busch Stadium. It was the longest home run in the history
of the stadium.
May 12, 1998 - St. Louis Cardinal manager Tony LaRussa
recorded his 1,500th victory.
May 12, 2000 - Alabama author Julia Truitt Yenni died in
Cambridge, Mass.
May 12, 2002 - The 200th episode of the "X-Files"
aired on FOX.
May 12, 2002
– Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel
Castro, becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office,
to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
May 12, 2003 – The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by
al-Qaeda, killed 26 people.
May 12, 2006 – The Kansas City Royals selected right-handed
pitcher Christopher Scottie Booker of Monroeville, Ala. off waivers.
May 12, 2007 – In connection with the disappearance of
Natalee Holloway of Mountain Brook, Ala., the Kalpoe family home was subject to
an "inspection." The two brothers were detained for about
an hour upon objecting to the entry by police and Dutch investigators, but were
released when the authorities left.
No comments:
Post a Comment