Today in History for Nov. 12, 2014

Union General William T. Sherman

Nov. 12, 1813 - Sam Dale, Jeremiah Austill, and James Smith become frontier heroes in a Creek War episode on the Alabama River known as The Canoe Fight. From their canoe, paddled by a black man named Caesar, the three Americans engaged a large canoe carrying nine Creek warriors. As militiamen and Indians watched from opposite sides of the river, Dale, Austill, and Smith killed the nine warriors in hand-to-hand combat. (Other sources say this event occurred on Jan. 12, 1813.)

Nov. 12-13, 1833 – In a spectacle seen across the Southeast, a fantastic meteor shower causes this night to be known as “the night stars fell on Alabama.” The shower created such great excitement across the state that it became a part of Alabama folklore and for years was used to date events. A century later it inspired a song and book, and in 2002 the state put the phrase "Stars Fell on Alabama" on its license plates.

Nov. 12, 1864 - Union General William T. Sherman ordered the business district of Atlanta destroyed before he embarked on his famous March to the Sea. He had captured Atlanta in early September 1864.

Nov. 12, 1892 - William "Pudge" Heffelfinger became the first professional football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.

Nov. 12, 1895 - Five days after a huge fire on Nov. 7, fire destroyed every business and house on the west side of the railroad tracks in Evergreen.

Nov. 12, 1912 – Dr. Woodrow Wilson Eddins born in Peterman. Went on to deliver over 9,000 babies, more than the entire population of Monroeville today.

Nov. 12, 1914 – After an illness of about two weeks, Wiley W. Pridgen, 49, passed away in Evergreen. Pridgen, who was born on July 21, 1865, moved to Evergreen from Brewton in 1896 and was a partner in the stock and livery business with Walter Lee. A native of Texas, who came to Alabama 25 years before his death, Pridgen was later elected Conecuh County Sheriff, and he was an active member of the local Knights of Pythias lodge. His remains were shipped by train to Thomaston, Texas for burial, with his stepfather A.W. Eatman and Walter Lee serving as escorts. He was buried in Thomaston Community Cemetery in Thomaston in DeWitt County, Texas.

Nov. 12, 1914 – Mrs. W.C. Brantley passed away at her home near Repton and was buried at Oak Grove Cemetery the next day.

Nov. 12, 1914 – The four-act comedy, “Hazel Adams,” was performed at Monroe County High School, starting at 8 p.m., a fundraiser for the school’s Domestic Science Department.

Nov. 12, 1920 - Judge Keneshaw Mountain Landis was elected the first commissioner of the American and National Leagues.

Nov. 12, 1921 – A fiddler’s convention was held in Paul, Ala.

Nov. 12, 1933 - In Philadelphia, the first Sunday football game was played.

Nov. 12, 1933 – Hugh Gray took the first known photos alleged to be of the Loch Ness Monster. Gray was walking along the shore of Loch Ness when he saw an "object of considerable dimensions, making a big splash with spray on the surface of the Loch."  He had his camera with him, and captured what some believe to be the first  photographic evidence of the Loch Ness Monster. Others have dismissed the image as a distortion of a dog swimming through the water.

Nov. 12, 1944 – Sportscaster Al Michaels was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Nov. 12, 1945 – Singer and musician Neil Young was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Nov. 12, 1953 - The National Football League policy of blacking out home games was upheld by Judge Allan K. Grim of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

Nov. 12, 1956 – Prof. George Singer, famous hypnotist, conducted a two-hour show on hypnotism at the Evergreen City School Auditorium. The show was sponsored by the Evergreen Jaycees.

Nov. 12, 1967 - The Detroit Lions set a National Football League record when they fumbled the ball 11 times. They only lost possession five of the eleven times.


Nov. 12, 1972 - Don Shula, coach of the Miami Dolphins, became the first NFL head coach to win 100 regular season games in 10 seasons.

Nov. 12, 1986 – Katie Sue Burt, the widow of the late Conecuh County Commission Chairman David L. Burt, who passed away on Nov. 7, 1986, took the oath of office as Chairman of the Conecuh County Commission shortly after 9 a.m. in the commission meeting room. The oath of office was administered by Circuit Judge Robert E.L. Key in the presence of the members of the commission, members of the Burt family and friends.

Nov. 12, 1993 – Episode No. 9 of “The X-Files” – entitled “Space” – aired for the first time.

Nov. 12, 2002 - Stan Lee filed a lawsuit against Marvel Entertainment Inc. that claimed the company had cheated him out of millions of dollars in movie profits related to the 2002 movie "Spider-Man." Lee was the creator of Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and Daredevil.


Nov. 12, 2003 – In Nasiriyah, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, were killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.