Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Today in History for March 7, 2018

U.S. President Grover Cleveland

March 7, 1774 - King George III gave a speech in which he charged that the American colonists with attempting to injure British commerce and subvert the Constitution. The British also closed the port of Boston to all commerce.


March 7, 1776 - British General William Howe decided to leave Boston upon the realization that it was indefensible because of the American positions around the city. The eight-year British occupation ended 10 days later.

March 7, 1777 - Continental Congressman John Adams wrote three letters to and received two letters from his wife, Abigail. He was with Congress in Philadelphia, while she maintained their farm in Braintree, Massachusetts.

March 7, 1857 – The National Association of Baseball Players wisely decided that a baseball game would be made up of nine innings instead of 21 “aces” or runs.

March 7, 1861 – During the Civil War, Camp Verde and Ringgold Barracks, Texas was abandoned by Federal forces.

March 7, 1862 – During the Civil War, Union General Samuel Curtis defeated Confederate General Earl Van Dorn at the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern) in northwestern Arkansas. Confederate General Ben McCulloch and his immediate successor (General James McIntosh) were both killed in the battle. The Confederates retreated minutes after the deaths of their leaders. The Yankees suffered some 1,380 men killed, wounded, or captured out of 10,000 engaged; the Confederates suffered a loss of about 2,000 out of 14,000 engaged.

March 7, 1862 – During the Civil War, Federal reconnaissance up the Savannah River and to Elba Island in Georgia was conducted.

March 7, 1863 – During the Civil War, Federal operations in and around Port Hudson, La. began. A seven-day Federal operation in the vicinity of New Berne, N.C. began. A three-day Federal operation between Newport Barracks and Cedar Point in North Carolina began.

March 7, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Green Spring Run, West Virginia and near Windsor, Va. A two-day Federal operation encompassing Isle of Wright Courthouse, Smithfield, Benn’s Church, Chuckatuck and Windsor in Virginia began.

March 7, 1863 – During the Civil War, Admiral S. P. Lee, commander of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, had a problem necessitating writing his boss. His difficulty? The blockade ships were capturing blockade runners at a tremendous pace. Every time a blockade runner was captured, an officer from the capturing ship had to be put aboard in command of the confiscated vessel until legalities could be worked out. Lee was running out of officers and had to write for more.

March 7, 1864 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred at Decatur, Ala. Two days of skirmishing began at Brownville, Miss.

March 7, 1865 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred at Elyton in present-day Jefferson County, Ala.

March 7, 1865 – During the Civil War, a five-day Federal operation from Jacksonville into Marion County in Florida began. Skirmishes were also fought with Indians 80 miles west of Fort Larned, Kansas; and near Flint Hill and near Mount Jackson in Virginia. An 18-day Federal operation from Glasgow to the Perche Hills in Missouri began.

March 7, 1866 – German entomologist and explorer Hans Fruhstorfer was born in Passau, Germany.

March 7, 1876 - Scottish-born teacher and inventor Alexander Graham Bell, age 29, received a patent for what became known as "the telephone," a device that would allow two people to speak over wires from separate locations.

March 7, 1885 - The Kansas legislature passed a law barring Texas cattle from the state between March 1 and December 1, the latest action reflecting the love-hate relationship between Kansas and the cattle industry.

March 7, 1893 – Greenville, Ala. attorney and former U.S. Representative Hilary Abner Herbert began serving as the 33rd Secretary of the Navy after being appointed to the position by President Grover Cleveland. He would serve as Secretary of the Navy until March 4, 1897.

March 7, 1895 – Dr. William Wallace McMillan, a native of Old Scotland, passed away in Monroeville, Ala. He attended Tulane University and Mobile Medical College and practiced medicine at Claiborne, Stockton, Mobile, Old Scotland and Monroeville. A prominent Freemason, he also served as a captain in Co. H of the 17th Alabama Regiment during the Civil War. He is buried in the Old Scotland Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

March 7, 1896 – Railroad Bill (aka Bill McCoy, Morris Slater) was shot to death by Constable J.L. McGowin near the Tidmore & Ward Store on Ashley Street in Atmore, Ala.

March 7, 1896 - Prof. J.N. Ivey, principal of the Perdue Hill High School, was in Monroeville on this Saturday, attending a meeting of the Board of Education.

March 7, 1896 – The Hon. Perry C. Walker of Evergreen, ex-Probate Judge of Conecuh County, was in Monroeville on this Saturday on professional business.

March 7, 1899 - Alabama author Lucile Vernon Stevens was born in St. Paul, Minn.

March 7, 1904 – German SS officer Reinhard Heydrich was born in Halle an der Saale, German Empire.

March 7, 1905 – The “Tucker old homestead,” two miles west of Monroeville, Ala. burned down along with all outbuildings and a nearby gin house. The house had been “for some years unoccupied,” but had “been a familiar landmark for more than half a century.”

March 7, 1912 – Roald Amundsen announced that his expedition had reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911.

March 7, 1916 – The Conecuh County Commission was in session in Evergreen, Ala. on this Tuesday.

March 7, 1916 - F.N. Amos of the Amos Mercantile Co. at Brooklyn was a business visitor to Evergreen, Ala. on this Tuesday.

March 7, 1916 - Bankers in the states of Alabama, Florida and Louisiana closed on this Tuesday in observance of Mardi Gras which was being held in the three states mentioned.

March 7, 1918 - Four days after Russia signed a humiliating peace treaty with the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk, the newly declared independent state of Finland reached a formal peace settlement with Germany.

March 7, 1923 – Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” was first published in The New Republic magazine.

March 7, 1929 – Heavy rains on this day caused Vredenburgh, Ala. to flood.

March 7, 1930 – A “Stunt Night” was scheduled to be presented by Agricultural School students at the Evergreen (Ala.) City School auditorium on this Friday night. Proceeds from the event were to be used to help finance the publishing of the school’s first annual, “The Broadcaster.”

March 7, 1933 - The game of Monopoly was invented.

March 7, 1941 – A tornado on this Friday night damaged two homes near Brooklyn, Ala. No one was injured. The homes said to have been damaged were those of Mr. D. Cary and his son. Mr. Cary’s house was lifted from its foundation and the one under construction by his son was damaged to some extent.

March 7, 1944 – Townes Van Zandt, one of the great Texas troubadours and a legend in songwriting circles, was born in Fort Worth, Texas.

March 7, 1944 – English soldier and explorer Ranulph Fiennes was born in Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom.

March 7, 1950 – Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback Franco Harris was born in Fort Dix, N.J. He would go on to play for Penn State, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.

March 7, 1951 - Alabama author Lillian Hellman's play “The Autumn Leaves” opened on Broadway.

March 7, 1952 – Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Lynn Swann was born in Alcoa, Tenn. He would go on to play for Southern Cal and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001.

March 7, 1952 – Army Sgt. Vivian Don Bryant, 19, of Escambia County, Ala. was killed in action in Korea while serving in the 14th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He is buried in the Union Cemetery in Brewton, Ala.

March 7, 1953 – Canadian mountaineer and explorer Bernard Voyer was born in Rimouski, Quebec.

March 7, 1955 – Major League Baseball commissioner Ford Frick said that he was in favor of legalizing the spitball.

March 7, 1957 – Novelist Robert Harris was born in Nottingham, England. He is best known for his 1991 novel, “Fatherland.”

March 7, 1959 - Melvin C. Garlow became the first pilot to fly more than a million miles in a jet.

March 7, 1965 – Six hundred demonstrators made the first of three attempts to march from Selma, Ala. to the capitol in Montgomery to demand removal of voting restrictions on black Americans. Attacked by state and local law enforcement officers as they crossed Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge, the marchers fled back into the city. The dramatic scene was captured on camera and broadcast across the nation later that Sunday, causing a surge of support for the protestors.

March 7, 1966 - In the heaviest air raids since the bombing began in February 1965, U.S. Air Force and Navy planes flew an estimated 200 sorties against North Vietnam.

March 7, 1967 - The largest South Korean operation to date started, forming a link-up of two Korean division areas of operations along the central coastal area of South Vietnam.

March 7, 1968 – Major League Baseball second baseman Jeff Kent was born in Bellflower, Calif. He would go on to play for the Toronto Blue Jays, the New York Mets, the Cleveland Indians, the San Francisco Giants, the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

March 7, 1968 – During the Vietnam War, the United States and South Vietnamese military began Operation Truong Cong Dinh to root out Viet Cong forces from the area surrounding Mỹ Tho.

March 7, 1972 - In the biggest air battle in Southeast Asia in three years, U.S. jets battled five North Vietnamese MiGs and shot one down 170 miles north of the Demilitarized Zone.

March 7, 1978 – The Evergreen (Ala.) City Council approved a new lease with the U.S. Navy for use of Middleton Field Municipal Airport. Under the new lease, the city assumed maintenance of the field, and the Navy was to pay the city $15,000 per year to use the field. In the past, the Navy maintained the field and paid the city $1 per year.

March 7, 1980 – The Conecuh County Rescue Squad was scheduled to sponsor a championship wrestling fundraiser event on this Friday night at 8 p.m. at Evergreen (Ala.) High School’s Memorial Gymnasium. The card was to give local fans a chance to see some of the wrestlers that competed on Channel 5 TV’s Saturday “Championship Wrestling” program. The feature event was to be a special, six-man tag team match with Ron (Tennessee Stud) Fuller, Robert Fuller and Georgia Jaw Cracker vs. Jimmy Golden, Norvel Austin and Big “C.” Joe Leduc was to meet Charlie Cook in a big challenge match.

March 7, 1983 - ESPN televised the first live professional football game on cable. The game was between the USFL's Birmingham Stallions and the Michigan Panthers.

March 7, 1985 – The Hawthorne House (also known as the Col. J.R. Hawthorne House) in Pine Apple in Wilcox County, Ala. was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

March 7, 1987 – During what is now known as the “Lieyu Massacre,” Taiwanese military massacred 19 unarmed Vietnamese refugees at Donggang, Lieyu, Kinmen.

March 7, 1989 – Iran and the United Kingdom broke diplomatic relations after a row over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel, “The Satanic Verses.”

March 7, 1991 – National Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder James Thomas “Cool Papa” Bell died at the age of 87 in St. Louis, Mo. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974.

March 7, 1993 – Rodney Lanier, 18, of Brewton, Ala. was shot to death in the parking lot of a “local nightclub” in Conecuh County between 1:30 a.m. and 1:45 a.m. He was shot in the left arm and left side and was pronounced dead at the scene.

March 7, 1993 - Mrs. J.C. (Anna Worlund) Hamilton died on this Sunday at the age of 101 in an Evergreen hospital. She was born in Pollard, Escambia County on Dec. 19, 1891 to Anders Worlund and Leacy Newberry Worlund. She was educated in the public schools of Escambia County, attended Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa and briefly attended Troy Normal, Troy, Ala. She taught school for many years in Conecuh County, first at Hampden Ridge, and then at Belleville. She was married to Jackson C. Hamilton on March 22, 1921. They lived in Evergreen almost all of their married life. Mr. Hamilton owned a dry-cleaning and tailoring business where Mrs. Hamilton assisted him during the latter years of her working career.

March 7, 1994 – The Supreme Court ruled that parody could be protected by the fair-use clause of the Copyright Act of 1976. The ruling came about when the rap group 2 Live Crew used elements from "Oh Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison in their song "Pretty Woman."

March 7, 1995 – French ethnologist and explorer Paul-Émile Victor died at the age of 87 in Bora Bora.

March 7, 1996 - The first surface photos of Pluto are taken by Hubble Space Telescope.

On March 7, 1999 - American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick died in Hertfordshire, England, at the age of 70. One of the most acclaimed film directors of the 20th century, Kubrick’s 13 feature films explored the dark side of human nature.

March 7, 2002 – The Julian and Betty McGowin House near Georgiana, Ala. was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.

March 7, 2008 – Hillcrest High School opened the 2008 baseball season with a double header against Escambia County High School in Atmore, Ala. Escambia County won the first game, 15-2, and won the second game, 8-1. Standout Hillcrest players in those games included Marc Barlow, Quinton Nettles, Alexander Nevlous and Neil Presley. Brandon Armstrong was Hillcrest’s head coach.

March 7, 2015 – President Barak Obama celebrated the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” by leading a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

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