Today in History for July 16, 2014

Hernando de Soto

July 16, 1540 – The DeSoto Expedition arrived at the ancient Indian town of Coosa (Cosa, Coca), located on the east bank of Talladega Creek, about 1-1/2 miles northeast of Childersburg in Talladega County. They departed on Aug. 20, 1540.

July 16, 1790 - Congress declared Washington, D.C. the nation's new capital.

July 16, 1849 – Benjamin Franklin Riley, author of “History of Conecuh County, Alabama,” was born at Pineville in Monroe County.

July 16, 1863 - During the Civil War, draft riots entered their fourth day in New York City in response to the Enrollment Act, which was enacted on March 3, 1863.

July 16, 1889 – Rube Burrow shot and killed Jewel, Ala. postmaster Moses J. Graves, 41, during a dispute over a package from a Chicago firm that made false beards and wigs. This incident launched Burrow into the national limelight as it was reported in The New York Sun, The New York Tribune and The Boston Daily Globe.

July 16, 1914 – The Monroe Journal reported that the steamboat connected with Henry Goldsmith was stranded in the “mid reaches” of the Alabama River with “no prospect of being floated until a much higher stage of water is available. The river is lower now than at any time within the last seven years.”

July 16, 1918 – Army Pvt. Bryant W. Price of McKenzie and Army soldier Joshua Lowe of Repton died from wounds during World War I.

July 16, 1918 - In Yekaterinburg, Russia, Czar Nicholas II and his family are executed by the Bolsheviks, bringing an end to the three-century-old Romanov dynasty.

July 16, 1945 - At 5:29:45 a.m., the Manhattan Project comes to an explosive end as the first atom bomb is successfully tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

July 16, 1948 – Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher announced that he would be joining the New York Giants, the Dodgers’ archrival.

July 16, 1950 – Army PFC James C. Stanford of Wilcox County was killed in action in Korea.

July 16, 1950 – The Paul Aces baseball team picked up their eighth win in a row by beating the Flat Rock Rockets, 8-3, behind the pitching of Bertie Hassel and Harold Godwin.

July 16, 1951 - J.D. Salinger's only novel, “The Catcher in the Rye,” is published by Little, Brown.

July 16, 1984 - U.S. Senator Jeremiah Denton of Mobile spoke at the Conecuh County Courthouse.

July 16, 1994 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter, with impacts continuing until July 22.