Today in History for Dec. 13, 2014

James Madison

Dec. 13, 1577 – Sir Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.

Dec. 13, 1808 – Madison County, Ala. was established on by the governor of the Mississippi Territory. It is recognized as the "birthplace" of Alabama, which was founded there on December 14, 1819. The county was named in honor of James Madison, fourth President of the United States of America, and the first to visit the state of Alabama.

Dec. 13, 1819 – Bartley Walker, James Salter, John Speir, R.L. Cotton and Robert Smyley were appointed commissioners to select a site for the Conecuh County, Ala. courthouse.

Dec. 13, 1819 – Wilcox County, Ala. established by an Act of the General Assembly of Alabama and was named in memory of Lt. Joseph Morgan Wilcox, a US Army lieutenant who was killed in Alabama during the Creek War.

Dec. 13, 1819 - Jefferson County, Ala. was established by the Alabama Legislature. It was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson.

Dec. 13, 1819 – Henry County, Ala. was established by the Alabama Territorial Legislature. The area was ceded by the Creek Indian Nation in 1814 under the Treaty of Fort Jackson. The county was named in honor of Patrick Henry (1736–1799), famous orator and Governor of Virginia.

Dec. 13, 1819 – Butler County, Ala. was formed from Conecuh County and Monroe County by an act passed by the Alabama Legislature while it was in session at Huntsville. The name of Fairfield was first proposed for the county, but it was changed on the passage of the bill to Butler, in honor of Captain William Butler, who was born in Virginia and fought in the Creek War, and who was killed in May 1818. The first Butler County election was also held on this day at the home of Jesse Womack at Fort Dale.

Dec. 13, 1819 – Alabama legislature appointed a group of commissioners “to select and fix on the most suitable site for the seat of justice, in and for the county of Clarke; having due regard to health, water and accommodations; provided such seat shall not exceed three miles from its center.”

Dec. 13, 1821 – The Navigation Steam Boat Company in Conecuh County, Ala. was incorporated.

Dec. 13, 1833 Alexander B. Puryear became postmaster at Burnt Corn, Ala.

Dec. 13, 1841 – The Burnt Corn Male Academy in Burnt Corn, Ala. was incorporated by the Alabama legislature.

Dec. 13, 1842 – Elijah Byrd Jenkins, who served aboard the CSS Selma, was born in Wilcox County, Ala. to Thomas Jenkins and wife. At the age of 19, he enlisted on Nov. 1, 1862 in Montgomery as a private with Co. K 1st Ala. Artillery. He re-enlisted on Feb. 11, 1863 at Port Hudson, La. with Co. K, 1st Ala. Artillery before joining the Confederate Navy and transferring to serve aboard the CSS Selma on March 5, 1864. He served on that ship until it was captured at the Battle of Mobile Bay. He was then imprisoned at Ship Island, Miss. for the rest of the war. He filed for his Confederate pension in Wilcox County on June 28, 1902. Elijah Jenkins is buried at New Hope Cemetery at Dottelle, Ala.

Dec. 13, 1862 – The Battle of Fredericksburg took place in Fredericksburg, Va. and General Ambrose E. Burnside's Army of the Potomac was defeated with a loss of about 12,600 men. The Confederate Army, under General Robert E. Lee, lost about 5,000 men. Burnside considered continuing the attack the next day, but was talked out of it by his subordinates.

Dec. 13, 1862 - Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest began crossing the Tennessee River en route to Lexington, Tenn. A battle with Union troops under Colonel Robert Ingersoll took place on Dec. 18.

Dec. 13, 1864 – During the Civil War, a seven-day Federal expedition from Barrancas, Fla, to Pollard, Ala. began.

Dec. 13, 1876 - A story in The West Alabamian newspaper on this date said that Henry Wells and Bill Buckhalter were suspected of robbing a store on the night the Carrollton, Ala. courtroom was burned. The story also reported that stolen merchandise from the store was found in their homes.

Dec. 13, 1914 – On this night, Jesse Underwood was killed near Sparta, Ala. when he either leapt or fell from Passenger Train No. 10, struck the ground headfirst and died instantly. Underwood and another man got on the blind baggage car at Castleberry to catch a ride to Evergreen, but when a conductor opened the door and discovered them, Underwood either jumped or fell from the train.

Dec. 13, 1920 – Jefferson Davis “Dixie” Carter died in a Selma, Ala. hospital as an “indirect result” of the bullet fired during a gunfight by outlaw train robber Rube Burrow in 1890 in Linden.

Dec. 13, 1920 – Mrs. R.L. Bates of Conecuh County, Ala. received a message on this day announcing the accidental death of her brother John Holliday in Bangor, Maine. He fell down a flight of stairs at a hotel and was killed instantly.

Dec. 13, 1936 - The Redskins played their last game in Boston. The next season the Redskins began playing in Washington, D.C.


Dec. 13, 1949 – Randy Owen, the lead singer for the country music group “Alabama,” was born in Fort Payne.

Dec. 13, 1949 - The American League rejected a revival of the spitball, which had been outlawed since 1920.

Dec. 13, 1950 – T.R. Miller’s boys basketball team beat Lyeffion, 33-19, in Brewton, Ala. Jerry Woods led Coach Hal Wyatt’s Miller team with 16 points. Hilton Dees led Coach Morris Ward’s Lyeffion team with 10 points.

Dec. 13, 1956 - Jackie Robinson of the Los Angeles Dodgers was traded to the Giants for pitcher Dick Littlefield and $35,000. Robinson retired instead of accepting the trade.

Dec. 13, 1966 - The rights to the first four Super Bowls were sold to CBS and NBC for total of $9.5 million.

Dec. 13, 1972 – Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt began the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.

Dec. 13, 1973 - Detroit became the first city to receive a franchise for the World Football League.

Dec. 13, 1975 - The Washington Redskins beat the Los Angeles Rams, 38-24, and the Redskins made the playoffs for the first time since 1945.


Dec. 13, 1986 - Dwight Gooden was arrested with four friends after police officers stopped his car in Tampa, Fla. Gooden later pleaded no contest and received three years of probation.

Dec. 13, 1998 - Marshall Faulk set a new Colts record for total yards from scrimmage in a season with 2,090. The record had been held by Eric Dickerson with 2,036.

Dec. 13, 1998 - Gary Anderson of the Minnesota Vikings kicked six field goals against Baltimore. In the game Anderson set an National Football League record for 34 straight field goals without a miss.

Dec. 13, 2001 - The two surviving members of Nirvana, Krist Novoselic and David Grohl, filed a countersuit against Courtney Love. The charge was that she had manipulated the memory and work of her dead husband, Kirk Cobain, for the benefit of her own career.

Dec. 13, 2003 – During the Iraq War’s Operation Red Dawn, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces near his home town of Tikrit. It was the culmination of months-long search following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which saw Hussein go into hiding to avoid being taken into custody. The image of the former Iraqi president, bearded, disheveled, and literally emerging from a hole in the ground, smashed the carefully crafted persona Hussein had cultivated during his reign atop the country. Held as a prisoner of war for the next three years, he went on trial for war crimes in 2006, and was subsequently executed a few weeks later following his conviction.


Dec. 13, 2010 - The New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings played at Detroit's Ford Field. The game was moved due to the collapse of the inflatable roof at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Mall of America Stadium the previous day.