Today in History for Jan. 21, 2015

Thomas Jonathan 'Stonewall' Jackson

Jan. 21, 1789 – The first American novel, “The Power of Sympathy” or the “Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth,” was printed in Boston.

  

Jan. 21, 1824 – Civil War general Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson was born in Clarksburg, Va.

Jan. 21, 1846 – The Alabama legislature selected Montgomery as the state’s new capital and later began its first session there on Dec. 6, 1847.

Jan. 21, 1846 - The first issue of the "Daily News," edited by Charles Dickens, was published.

Jan. 21, 1861 – James Adams Stallworth of Evergreen, who began serving in the U.S. Congress in March 1857, withdrew with the rest of the Alabama delegation when Alabama seceded from the Union at the start of the Civil War.

Jan. 21, 1861 – Former U.S. Secretary of War and the future president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, resigned from the U.S. Senate. Four other Southerners also resigned, including C. Clay  Jr. and Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama and Stephen R. Mallory and David L Yulee of Florida.

Jan. 21, 1863 - Rebels recaptured Sabine Pass, Texas. Two Confederate ships, the Bell and Uncle Ben, drove away two Union ships, the Morning Light and Velocity. The event is known as the First Battle of Sabine Pass.

Jan. 21, 1869 – Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin was born in Pokrovskoye, Siberia.

Jan. 21, 1895 – A man and a woman were killed by lightning near Suggsville on this Monday. They were among 10 people who had “taken shelter from the rain in a small house, and it was said that “electricity came down the chimney and passed out at the door knocking” all of them down and killing two.

Jan. 21, 1915 – The Monroe Journal carried a story about Judge T.L. Sowell’s gold watch, which the judge’s father bought in New York City in 1847. During Wilson’s raid through Alabama in 1865, Judge Sowell’s father hid the watch in a glass jar with other valuables and buried them in the woods near his home in Monroe County, where they remained safe for three months. Judge Sowell received the watch, which was made in Liverpool, England, for his 21st birthday.

Jan. 21, 1940 – The Gloria Colita (Colite?), a 125-foot schooner, sailed from Mobile on this day, loaded with a cargo of lumber bound for Guantanamo, Cuba. On Sun., Feb. 4, 1940, the Coast Guard cutter Cartigan found the Gloria Colita “adrift, crippled and unmanned” with everything in order about 150 to 200 miles south of Mobile in the Gulf of Mexico.

Jan. 21, 1954 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, USS NAUTILUS, was launched by First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, who broke the traditional bottle of champagne across the ship's bow.

Jan. 21, 1968 – The Battle of Khe Sanh, one of the most publicized and controversial battles of the Vietnam War, began. Luther Upton was there with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Jan. 21, 1973 - The AFC beat the NFC, 35-31, in the NFL Pro Bowl in Dallas. The game had been played in Los Angeles since 1942.

Jan. 21, 1979 - The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 35-31, in Super Bowl XIII. The Steelers became the first team to win three Super Bowls.

Jan. 21, 1983 - In his second D.B. Cooper copycat incident, Glenn K. Tripp, while still on probation, hijacked Northwest Flight 608 en route and demanded to be flown to Afghanistan. When the plane landed in Portland he was shot and killed by FBI agents.

Jan. 21, 1983 – The Evergreen Chamber of Commerce held its annual “Promotion Banquet” at 7 p.m. at the Old L&N Depot in Evergreen. Escambia County native Dr. Stanley Wilson, Vice President for Agriculture, Home Economics and Veterinary Science at Auburn University, was the guest speaker.

Jan. 21-22, 1983 – Missy Price, Conecuh County’s Junior Miss, represented Conecuh County in the 1983 Alabama Junior Miss Pageant at Lee High School in Montgomery.

Jan. 21, 1986 - Former major-league player, Randy Bass, became the highest-paid baseball player in Japanese history. Bass signed a three-year contract for $3.25 million. He played for the Hanshin Tigers.

Jan. 21, 1994 – Episode No. 14 of “The X-Files” – entitled “Gender Bender” – aired for the first time.

Jan. 21, 1994 – New Evergreen Commercial Historic District was placed on National Register of Historic Places.

Jan. 21, 1997 - Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees officially announced his retirement.

Jan. 21, 2012 - The 1964 Miller-Meteor Cadillac hearse that carried President Kennedy’s body from Parkland Memorial Hospital to Love Field for the flight to Washington, D.C. was sold at auction. Stephen Tebo paid $176,000 at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event in Scottsdale, AZ.