Today in History for Feb. 1, 2015

U.S. General James B. McPherson

Feb. 1, 1768 – Charles Tait was born in Hanover, Va. He served as a Circuit Court Judge in Georgia, as a U.S. Senator from Georgia and as a U.S. federal judge in Alabama. He taught French, worked as an attorney and later lived at Claiborne, where he died in 1835.

Feb. 1, 1779 - Delaware became the twelfth state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.

Feb. 1, 1781 – In the Battle of Cowan’s Ford, American Brigadier General William Lee Davidson died in combat while attempting to prevent General Charles Cornwallis’ army from crossing the Catawba River in Mecklenburg County, N.C. Davidson College was named in his honor.

Feb. 1, 1788 - Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patented the steamboat.

Feb. 1, 1839 - The Alabama legislature abolished imprisonment for debt, except in cases of fraud. This action continued a modification of English common law that had begun with the Mississippi and Alabama territorial governments. The constitutions of 1868, 1875 and 1901 would prohibit imprisonment of debtors even in cases of fraud.

Feb. 1, 1856 - Auburn University in Auburn, Ala. was chartered as the East Alabama Male College.

Feb. 1, 1861 - Texas became the seventh state to secede from the Union when the state convention voted 166-8 in favor of the measure.


Feb. 1, 1862 - "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," by Julia Ward Howe was first published in the "Atlantic Monthly."

Feb. 1, 1862 - Union General James B. McPherson was transferred to General Ulysses S. Grant's command.

Feb. 1, 1863 – J.C. Johnson, who was born on March 11, 1847, enlisted as a private in the Confederate army. He served with Co. B, 3rd Alabama Cavalry and was wounded at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. He died in Conecuh County, Ala. on April 10, 1914.

Feb. 1, 1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed a Joint Resolution submitting the proposed 13th Amendment to the states.

Feb. 1, 1884 - The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.

Feb. 1, 1893 - Thomas A. Edison completed work on the world's first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, N.J.

Feb. 1, 1900 - Eastman Kodak Co. introduced the $1 Brownie box camera.

Feb. 1, 1901 - Clark Gable was born in Cadiz, Ohio. He would go on to star as Rhett Butler in the epic 1939 movie, “Gone with the Wind.”

Feb. 1, 1905 – The Evergreen Courant reported that George L. Madison of Oshkosh, Wisc., who came south every winter to hunt, was the guest of the family of J.E. Ellis.

Feb. 1, 1910 – The Marengo Democrat and The Linden Reporter, which were established in 1889, consolidated to form The Democrat-Reporter in Linden, Ala.


Feb. 1, 1911 – Caleb Johnston Snowden, 65, passed away at his home near Brooklyn, Ala. Born on Oct. 14, 1845, he enlisted in Co. H of the 15th Confederate Cavalry and served until the Confederacy surrendered in 1865.

Feb. 1, 1913 - Jim Thorpe signed a contract to play baseball with the New York Giants.

Feb. 1, 1919 – During World War I, Army Pvt. Raymond L. Seale of Repton, Ala. “died from disease.”

Feb. 1, 1920 – A disastrous fire that started around 3 a.m. occurred at the large Vredenburgh Saw Mill Co. saw mill in Vredenburgh, Ala. At the time of the fire another mill in Vredenburgh was already under construction, so construction was rushed on this second mill to get it started. In 1922, both mills were operating on double shifts. The cause of the fire was unknown.

Feb. 1, 1924 - A movie version of Alabama author T. S. Stribling's book “Birthright” was released.

Feb. 1, 1944 – Major League center fielder Paul Blair was born in Cushing, Okla. He would go on to play for the Baltimore Orioles, the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds.

Feb. 1, 1949 – NFL offensive lineman Dave Thompson was born in Langdale, Ala. He went on to play for Valley High School in Fairax, Ala.; Clemson University, the Detroit Lions, the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Feb. 1, 1956 - Autherine Lucy of Birmingham, Ala. became the first African American to enroll at the University of Alabama. Her stay at the school ended abruptly, however, as she was suspended and then expelled amid campus unrest. Permanent integration of the university would be delayed until 1963, when two black students enrolled the day of Gov. George Wallace's "stand in the schoolhouse door."

Feb. 1, 1959 – Members of the Dyatlov Expedition started to move through Dyatlov Pass. It seems they planned to get over the pass and make camp for the next night on the opposite side, but because of worsening weather conditions, snowstorms and decreasing visibility, they lost their direction and deviated west, up towards the top of Kholat Syakhyl. When they realized their mistake, the group decided to stop and set up camp there on the slope of the mountain.

Feb. 1, 1962 - The National League released its first 162-game schedule.

Feb. 1, 1964 - Flxible Southern Company of Loudonville, Ohio began operations in Evergreen, Ala. after purchasing the assets of Southern Coach & Body Co.

Feb. 1, 1965 – B.E. Lee, who’d served seven years as principal at Monroe County High School, was named the first president of the Monroeville Junior College, which became Patrick Henry Junior College a short time later.

Feb. 1, 1968 - Vince Lombardi resigned as the coach of the Green Bay Packers.

Feb. 1, 1970 – Marine Cpl. John Wesley Winter of Brewton, Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam.

Feb. 1, 1992 - Barry Bonds signed the highest single season contract, which amounted to $4.7 million.


Feb. 1, 2003 - The space shuttle Columbia broke up while reentering Earth's atmosphere. All seven crew members were killed.

Feb. 1, 2004 – Janet Jackson's breast was exposed during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, resulting in U.S. broadcasters adopting a stronger adherence to Federal Communications Commission censorship guidelines.

Feb. 1, 2007 - Alabama author W. L. Heath died in Guntersville, Ala.


Feb. 1, 2008 - The Aruban prosecutor's office reopened the case into the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, 18, of Mountain Brook, Ala. after receiving video footage of Joran van der Sloot, under the influence of marijuana, saying that Holloway died on the morning of May 30, 2005, and that he disposed of her body.