Today in History for Sept. 19, 2014

Sept. 19, 1692 – Giles Corey was pressed to death after refusing to plead in the Salem witch trials.

Sept. 19, 1827 - After a duel turned into an all-out brawl on this day in 1827, Jim Bowie, who is said to have once lived in Monroe County, Ala., disemboweled a banker in Alexandria, La. with an early version of his famous Bowie knife.

Sept. 19, 1862 - Union troops under General William Rosecrans defeated a Confederate force commanded by General Sterling Price at the Battle of Iuka, Miss.

Sept. 19, 1863 - Union troops under Union General William Rosecrans collided with troops under Confederate General Braxton Bragg at the Battle of Chickamauga in northwestern, Ga. It was the bloodiest two-day battle of the Civil War and the only significant Confederate victory in the war’s Western Theater. The following day, the Confederates routed the Yankees and sent them in retreat to Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Conecuh Guards fought at the Battle of Chickamauga and four of the unit’s members lost their lives, including 2nd Sgt. George Downs, 1st Cpl. Thomas Briley, James Dubose and John D. Shaver. Frank Kirk, a former member of the Conecuh Guards, was also killed at Chickamauga while serving as a part of the 38th Alabama Regiment.

Members of the Conecuh Guards who were wounded at Chickamauga included 1st Sgt. Andrew J. Mosley, Gil R. Boulware (Color Sgt. of Fort Ala. Regiment, wounded in side and arm, and left arm was amputated at Chickamauga, survived war and returned to Conecuh County), Sgt. John Q. Dunham (died in Madison County, Fla. in 1878), W.B. Booker (wounded at Chickamauga and disabled for life, returned to Conecuh County) and John D. Hyde (also wounded at Gaines’s Farm and in 1864 skirmish near Richmond, Va., returned to Conecuh County after war).

Also at Chickamauga, Isadore Goldstein of the Conecuh Guards was taken prisoner and remained in prison until the end of the war. He moved to Pennsylvania after the war.

Lewis Lavon Peacock and his older brother, Noah Dallas Peacock, both fought at the Battle of Chickamauga. Lewis Lavon Peacock served with Hilliard’s Legion, which lost more than half its number in that battle. (The flag of the Second Battalion, for example, had 81 bullet holes.) Noah Dallas Peacock fought with Co. F, 15th Ala. Inf., which had been transferred from the Army of Northern Va. to the Army of Tennessee earlier that fall.

Sept. 19, 1864 - Union General Philip Sheridan defeated Confederate troops under General Jubal Early at the Third Battle of Winchester (Opequon Creek), Va. With over 50,000 troops engaged it was the largest battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley and was not only militarily decisive in that region of Virginia but also played a role in securing Abraham Lincoln's election in 1864.

Sept. 19, 1901 - All major league baseball games were canceled for the funeral of U.S. President William McKinley.

Sept. 19, 1915 – Paul Kardow, who would grow up to pitch for the Cleveland Indians and manage the Evergreen Greenies baseball team, was born in Humble, Texas.

Sept. 19, 1917 – During World War I, Army Pvt. Hillery H. Jernigan of Brewton “died from disease.”

Sept. 19, 1949 - Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates became the first National League player to hit 50 home runs in two different seasons.

Sept. 19, 1950 – During the Korean War, Army 2LT Stewart M. Baker Jr. of Covington County was killed in action.

Sept. 19, 1953 - More than 30 years after it became law, the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote, is ratified by the Alabama legislature. Although Alabama complied with the provisions of the amendment as soon as it went into effect in 1920, the 1953 legislature wanted "to record its approval of extending the right of suffrage to women."

Sept. 19, 1959 - In a surreal moment of the Cold War, Nikita Khruschev, the Soviet leader, exploded with anger after being told for security reasons he would not be allowed to visit Disneyland.

Sept. 19-20, 1961 – The Hill Abduction Incident, which was the first widely publicized modern report of alien abduction, was said to have occurred on this date in rural New Hampshire.

Sept. 19, 1967 – Baseball pitcher Jim Abbott was born in Flint, Mich.

Sept. 19, 1976 – Two Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom II jets flew out to investigate an unidentified flying object when both independently lost instrumentation and communications as they approached, only to have them restored upon withdrawal.

Sept. 19, 1984 - Pete Rose reached the 100-hit plateau for the 22nd consecutive year. He also tied the National League record for doubles with 725.

Sept. 19, 1991 - The "Iceman" also known as Otsi, the mummy of an ancient human stone age wanderer, was found in a glacier in the Alps.

Sept. 19, 1995 - The Unabomber's 35,000-word manifesto was published by The Washington Post and the New York Times.

Sept. 19, 1998 – Cal Ripken Jr. ended his streak of consecutive games played at 2,632 games in a row by voluntarily removing himself from a game against the New York Yankees on this day.

Sept. 19, 1997 - Mark McGwire became the first major league player to hit 20 or more home runs for two teams in the same season. It was his 54th home run of the year.

Sept. 19, 1999 - Sammy Sosa was became the first major league player to hit 60 home runs twice.

Sept. 19, 2011 – Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees surpassed Trevor Hoffman to become Major League Baseball's all time saves leader with 602.