Today in History for Aug. 6, 2014

John Hollis Bankhead II

Aug. 6, 1809 – Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born in Lincolnshire, England.

Aug. 6, 1862 – During the Civil War, the C.S.S. Arkansas, the most feared Confederate ironclad on the Mississippi River, was blown up by her crew after suffering mechanical problems and running around during a battle with the U.S.S. Essex near Baton Rouge, La. The crew blew up the Arkansas to keep it from falling into Yankee hands.

Aug. 6, 1863 – During the Civil War, the Union vessel, Sea Bride, was captured in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Cape of Good Hope, by the Confederate raider, CSS Alabama.

Aug. 6, 1864 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred on the Somerville Road near Decatur, Ala.

Aug. 6, 1890 - At New York's Auburn Prison, axe murderer William Kemmler became the first person to be executed by electric chair.

Aug. 6, 1930 – John Hollis Bankhead Jr. spoke to an overflow crowd at the Old Monroe County Courthouse during Senate campaign.

Aug. 6, 1945 - The United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. It was the first time that a nuclear weapon was ever used in warfare, and only the second time that a nuclear weapon had ever been exploded. It was dropped over Hiroshima at 8:15 in the morning. It exploded 1,900 feet above the ground. Capt. Robert Lewis watched the explosion from his cockpit and wrote in his journal, "My God, what have we done?"

Aug. 6, 1996 - “A Game of Thrones,” an epic fantasy novel by George R.R. Martin, was released for the first time. The book was the first in Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series.