Today in History for May 14, 2016

Robert F. Hoke

May 14, 1607 - The London Company explorers from England landed in what would become Jamestown, Va., the first English settlement in the New World. The colony lay on the banks of the James River, 60 miles from the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.

May 14, 1692 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft trials, the Reverend Increase Mather and Sir William Phips, the newly appointed governor of the colony, arrived in Boston. They brought with them a new charter establishing the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

May 14, 1787 – In Philadelphia, delegates convened a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States. George Washington presided. The meetings were pushed back to May 25 when a suffecient number participants had arrived.

May 14, 1796 – Doctor Edward Jenner inoculated an eight-year-old boy with a vaccine for smallpox, the first safe vaccine ever developed.

May 14, 1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition departed from Camp Dubois and began its historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.

May 14, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette attended dinner and a ball in Frankfort, Ky.

May 14, 1849 - A black rain fell in Ireland upon an area of 400 square miles. It was the color of ink and "of a fetid odor and disagreeable taste," according to the Annals of Scientific Discovery.

May 14, 1861 - At the outbreak of the Civil War, William Tecumseh Sherman was a schoolmaster. A West Point graduate, he had resigned from the Army as many did in search of a better income. What’s more, the school he headed was in Baton Rouge, La (later to be Louisiana State University.) Living in the South did not alter his allegiance, though. On this day, he reenlisted and was commissioned as the commander of the 13th Regular Infantry.

May 14, 1862 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Lamb's Ferry, Ala.

May 14, 1862 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Fayetteville, Tennessee.

May 14, 1863 – During the Civil War, the Battle of Jackson took place as two Union corps under William T. Sherman and James McPherson drove Confederates under Joseph Johnston out of Jackson, Miss. As Grant had considerably more men, Johnston concentrated his efforts on evacuating all possible supplies, leaving a mere two brigades behind to delay the Yankee advance. They held out until mid-afternoon. After a sharp, but brief, battle; McPherson and Sherman's corps took Jackson.

May 14, 1863 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory.

May 14, 1864 – The Battle of Resaca, Ga. began. This was one of the first fights in Union General William T. Sherman's campaign to capture Atlanta. The battle was considered a tactical victory for the Rebels because they had maintained their position and thwarted the Union offense.

May 14, 1864 – The Second Battle of Drewry’s Bluff (or the Proctor’s Creek engagement) began when part of Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler's Army of the James feigned an attack toward Richmond from Bermuda Hundred. After two days of skirmishing, Federals led by Maj. Gen. William F. Smith and Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore captured the outer Confederate earthworks here. At dawn on May 16, however, the Confederates under Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke and Maj. Gen. Robert Ransom Jr., launched several assaults from the inner defenses just north. By midmorning the Federals began retreating south to the Half-Way House. The 59th Alabama Infantry Regiment was there as well, and it’s possible Lewis Lavon Peacock was there too.

May 14, 1865 – During the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson issued a conditional amnesty to all persons engaged in the late Rebellion.

May 14, 1870 – James McLaughlin purchased The Monroe Journal newspaper.

May 14, 1874 - McGill University and Harvard met at Cambridge, Mass. for the first college football game to charge admission.

May 14, 1875 - Alabama author Garrard Harris was born in Columbus, Ga.

May 14, 1878 – National Baseball Hall of Fame owner J.L. Wilkinson was born in Algona, Iowa. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.

May 14, 1881 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Ed Walsh was born in Plains Township, Pa. He went on to play for the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Braves and managed the White Sox in 1924. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1946.

May 14, 1881 - Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon bemoaning the high price of gas.

May 14, 1885 - John L. Stallworth of Pineville, Ala. passed through Monroeville on this Thursday evening en route to Pensacola, Fla. with a drove of sheep.

May 14, 1890 - Rosa J. Young was born in the community of Rosebud in Wilcox County, Ala. The educator and advocate for rural education in Alabama established the Rosebud Literary and Industrial School in 1912. She also founded Lutheran-affiliated schools in Buena Vista, Tilden, Tinela and Midway in 1916 and Ingomar in 1919. Young was influential in the founding of Alabama Lutheran Academy and College (later Concordia College) in Selma, where she served as a faculty member from 1946 to 1961.

May 14, 1897 - "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Phillip Sousa was performed for the first time. It was at a ceremony where a statue of George Washington was unveiled near Willow Grove Park, Pa.

May 14, 1899 – National Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder Earle Combs was born in Pebworth, Ky. He played his entire career (1924-1935) for the New York Yankees. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1970.

May 14, 1900 – Nature writer Hal Borland was born in Sterling, Nebraska (1900).

May 14, 1906 - The flagpole at the White Sox ballpark broke during the pennant-raising.

May 14, 1913 - Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators ended his scoreless streak of 56 innings.

May 14, 1918 - Stan Coveleski of the Cleveland Indians set a club record when he pitched 19 innings.

May 14, 1918 - Sunday baseball games were made legal in Washington, D.C.

May 14, 1920 - Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators won his 300th game against Detroit.

May 14, 1931 – On this Thursday afternoon, the first afternoon that stores were to close for a half holiday, also marked the time when another novel and eagerly anticipated event was to transpire: Baseball fans in Evergreen and surrounding areas were to have the rare opportunity of witnessing a baseball game between teams composed of the best talent among the Evergreen ladies. The game was being sponsored by the Library Committee for the benefit of the Library. The teams to play were dubbed the “Down Town Giants” and “Up Town Cubs,” the one being composed of players living in the northern part of town and the other of those living in the southern part. The line-up for the teams is as follows: Down Town Giants: Stallworth, shortstop; C. McReynolds, first base; McMillan, catcher; Binion, third base; Nash, center field; Phillips, left field; Northcutt, second base; Wild, right field; Shannon, pitcher; McNair, pitcher; M.H. Jones, pitcher; Binion, captain; Prof. W.P. McMillan, manager. Up Town Cubs: Mills, shortstop; Suddith, third base; P. McReynolds, catcher; L. Kelly, right field; Williams, first base; Webster, left field; E. Cunningham, second base; Lane, center field; Wright, pitcher; M.W. Jones, pitcher; I. Kelley, pitcher; Williams, captain; Coach McInnis, manager. J.O. Stapp was to serve as umpire. The price of admission to this game was to be 15 and 25 cents. The game was to be played at Gantt Field in Evergreen.

May 14, 1942 – National Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman and third baseman Tony Perez was born in Ciego de Ávila, Cuba. He went on to play for the Cincinnati Reds, the Montreal Expos, the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Philles. He also managed the Reds and the Florida Marlins. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.

May 14, 1944 - The first episode of the radio program “The World and America,” written by Frank Callan Norris, John McNulty and Alabama author Carl Carmer, was broadcast.

May 14, 1947 – Travel writer and novelist Mary Morris was born in Chicago.

May 14, 1953 – The Evergreen Greenies, managed by Zell Murphy, were scheduled to play Brewton “under the lights” at Liles Park in Brewton, Ala.

May 14, 1953 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Evergreen High School had to say so long to popular assistant coach Ralph Law, who had been called into service in the Air Force. Law served two years in the Navy during WWII and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force when he graduated from Auburn.

May 14, 1953 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Conecuh Representative R.G. Kendall Jr. of Evergreen, Ala. had been elected Speaker Pro-Tem of the Alabama House of Representatives by a vote of 69-0. Kendall was serving his first term in the state legislature. He was elected in 1950 after serving a four-year term as Senator from the 17th District.

May 14, 1953 – The first group reading of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’s radio play “Under Milk Wood” (1953) was staged at the Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.

May 14, 1961 – The Freedom Riders bus was fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama, and the civil rights protesters were beaten by an angry mob.

May 14, 1963 – Kuwait joined the United Nations.

May 14, 1967 - Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees hit his 500th career home run.

May 14, 1967 – An open house was scheduled to be held at the Conecuh County Hospital this Sunday afternoon from 2 p.m. until 4:30 p.m., according to Milston Sullivan, administrator. The board of trustees and the entire staff of Conecuh County Hospital invited the public to come and inspect the hospital during this time. Of special interest was the recently completed new seven private rooms.

May 14, 1969 – Army Sgt. Willie James Chapman of Jackson, Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam.

May 14, 1969 - In his first full-length report to the American people concerning the Vietnam War, President Nixon responed to the 10-point plan offered by the National Liberation Front at the 16th plenary session of the Paris talks on May 8. The NLF’s 10-point program for an “overall solution” to the war included an unconditional withdrawal of United States and Allied troops from Vietnam; the establishment of a coalition government and the holding of free elections; the demand that the South Vietnamese settle their own affairs “without foreign interference”; and the eventual reunification of North and South Vietnam.

May 14, 1970 - Allied military officials announced that 863 South Vietnamese were killed from May 3 to 9. This was the second highest weekly death toll of the war to date for the South Vietnamese forces. These numbers reflected the changing nature of the war as U.S. forces continued to withdraw and the burden of the fighting was shifted to the South Vietnamese as part of Nixon’s “Vietnamization” of the war effort.

May 14, 1972 - Willie Mays hit a home run in his first game as a New York Met.

May 14, 1973 – Scott Matthews’ Duroc hog was the grand champion of the 10^th annual Conecuh County FFA and 4-H Boys Barrow Show held on this Monday at Conecuh Cooperative Stockyard in Evergreen, Ala. The champion was owned by Matthews of the Evergreen FFA who could not show the barrow because of a broken leg. Danny Harper accepted the award for Scott from Marvin Johnston, president of the Evergreen Kiwanis Club, who were show sponsors. Moor-man Feed Co. bought the champ for 60.5 cents per pound.

May 14, 1973 – Skylab, the United States' first space station, was launched.

May 14, 1976 – Major League Baseball pitcher and coach Brian Lawrence was born in Fort Collins, Colo. He went on to play for the San Diego Padres and the New York Mets.

May 14, 1984 – German SS officer Walter Rauff died at the age of 77 in Santiago, Chile.

May 14, 1986 - Reggie Jackson hit his 537th home run. He passed Mickey Mantle to move into sixth place on the all-time list.

May 14, 1989 - Kirby Pucket hit his sixth consecutive double.

May 14, 1989 - Charlotte Deer Cassady, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lomax Cassady of Evergreen, Ala., graduated cum laude from Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans.

May 14, 1992 – The Monroe Journal reported that Matthew “Matt” Redditt of Uriah, Ala. had been named honorary king of the fifth annual Shrine Classic All-Star High School Football Game to be played June 20 in Mobile. Redditt, the 12-year-old son of Wayne and Laura Redditt, was to sit on this year’s throne along with honorary queen Courtney Harris, a five-year-old from Mobile. Matt, a sixth-grader at J.U. Blacksher High School at Uriah, was currently playing outfield and first base for the Uriah Braves Little League Baseball team in the South Monroe Little League.

  

May 14, 1994 - Alabama journalist Hazel Brannon Smith died in Cleveland, Tenn.

May 14, 1995 - Eddie Murray hit his 463rd career home run to tie for 18th on the all-time list.

May 14, 1996 – Dwight “Doc” Gooden pitched a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners.

May 14, 1997 - The Baseball Executive Council suspended New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

May 14, 2000 - Alabama author C. Eric Lincoln died in Durham, N.C.

May 14, 2014 – Evergreen, Ala. received 4.91 inches of rain.