Today in History for July 18, 2014

Police Det. Sean Klaetsch inspects Gibbons' tombstone.

July 18, 1863 - Union Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and 272 of his troops are killed at the Assault of Battery Wagner, in an assault on Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina.

July 18, 1864 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred near Auburn, Ala.

July 18, 1918 - Three days after a German offensive near the Marne River in the Champagne region of France meets with failure, Allied forces launched a major counterattack, ending the Second Battle of the Marne and decisively turning the tide of the war toward an Allied victory.

July 18, 1923 – Lillie Irene Gibbons passed away and was buried in the Old Evergreen Cemetery in Evergreen, Ala. Years later, starting in 2008, a local mystery involving multiple tombstones for her in Conecuh and Butler counties would baffle police and historians alike.

July 18, 1925 - Adolf Hitler published his personal manifesto “Mein Kampf.”

July 18, 1929 - Pioneer of "gonzo" journalism, Hunter S. Thompson was born in Louisville, Ky.

July 18, 1969 – Army Sgt. Rodney John Evans of Florala was killed in action in Vietnam.

July 18, 1995 – City of Evergreen workers were up all night after severe weather knocked the power out to a large portion of Evergreen when the lines from the substation located in the Industrial Park were torn down when a large tree fell across the lines. It left much of the northwest part of the city without lights for almost 11 hours.

July 18, 1999 - New York Yankee David Cone pitched the 16th perfect game in major league history and 14th in the modern era with a no-hit, no-walk victory over the Montreal Expos.

July 18, 2008 – “The Dark Knight,” the fifth film in the big-screen “Batman” series, opened in theaters around the United States, six months after the death of one of its stars, Heath Ledger, who played the Joker.