Today in History for Feb. 13, 2015

Union General John Rawlins

Feb. 13, 1741 - "The American Magazine," the first magazine in the U.S., was published in Philadelphia, Pa.

Feb. 13, 1776 - Patrick Henry was named the colonel of the First Virginia battalion.

Feb. 13, 1801 - The Federalist Congress passed the Judiciary Act.

Feb. 13, 1818 – Conecuh County, Ala. was established, formed out of what was Monroe County by an act of the legislature. Conecuh County originally included all of south Alabama east of its present Western boundary line and south of the line of Lowndes and as far east as the Chattahoochee River.

Feb. 13, 1818 – In the Alabama territorial capital of St. Stephens, a commission was formed to select a site for the future state capital.

Feb. 13, 1831 - Union General John Rawlins was born in Galena, Illinois.

Feb. 13, 1842 – Confederate soldier Hugh Ellis Courtney was born in Mississippi. He enlisted at Pineville in Monroe County on March 15, 1861 and re-enlisted on May 13, 1861. He was listed as sick at Hugunot Springs on July 15, 1861 and was wounded at Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863. He was admitted to the 2nd Div. Ala. General Hospital at Richmond on June 6, 1863 and was listed as a prisoner of war at the Wilderness on May 5, 1864 before being forwarded to Point Lookout, Md. on May 18, 1864 and to Elmira Prison, N.Y. on Aug. 15, 1864. He took the Oath of Allegiance on April 30, 1865 and stated that he desired to “return to Bells Landing, where his relatives resides.” He was paroled on June 14, 1865. He was almost 5-8 with a fair complexion, auburn hair and blue eyes. Courtney died in Montgomery on Feb. 22, 1939 and was buried in Pine Crest Cemetery in Mobile.

Feb. 13, 1854 – The Belleville Male and Female Academy in Conecuh County, Ala. was incorporated by the Alabama legislature. The original trustees were John L. Shaw, President; J.P. Robbins, J.R. Hawthorne, T.W. Simpson and William Simpson.

Feb. 13, 1861 - Robert E. Lee was ordered to return to Washington from Fort Mason to assume command of the Union Army. Instead, Lee resigned his commission and in June of 1862 assumed command of the Confederate Army.

Feb. 13, 1862 - Union Brigadier General John McClernand, one of General Ulysses S. Grant's officers, initiated the battle of Fort Donelson when he tried to capture a Rebel Battery along the outerworks of Fort Donelson. The attack was unsuccessful. Grant captured the fort on February 16.

Feb. 13, 1865 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred at Station Four, Fla. near Pensacola, Fla.

Feb. 13, 1866 - On Fat Tuesday, Confederate veteran Joe Cain paraded through the streets of federal-occupied Mobile dressed as a Chickasaw Indian chief he dubbed "Slackabamorinico." The antics of "Chief Slac" marked the first public celebration of Mardi Gras in Mobile since the start of the Civil War, and led to larger, more formalized festivities the next year. Joe Cain Day is observed annually in Mobile on the Sunday before Mardi Gras.

Feb. 13, 1885 – Brewton, Ala. officially became a town.

Feb. 13, 1915 – At Canoe, Ala., Escambia County Sheriffs captured Andrew Simmons, a Conecuh County convict, who’d escaped off a county road crew. Also arrested for helping Simmons escape were Bestor Lewis, Tom White and Laura Smith. Lewis and White helped steal a horse and buggy from R.M. Rabon in Castleberry, and Smith gave Simmons clothes to replace his “striped convict garb.”

Feb. 13, 1920 - The National Negro Baseball League was organized.

Feb. 13, 1928 - A movie version of Alabama author Octavus Roy Cohen's book “The Prince and the Papa” was released.

Feb. 13, 1937 - The NFL's Boston Redskins moved to Washington.

Feb. 13, 1947 – A fire of unknown origin broke out in the rear of the A&P Store on East Front Street about 3 a.m. and did considerable damage to the building and virtually destroyed the large stock of groceries.

Feb. 13, 1949 - An Ecuadoran mob burned down a radio station following their broadcast of “War of the Worlds.”

Feb. 13, 1953 - The Oakland Athletics changed the name of Shibe Park to Connie Mack Stadium. The change was in honor of their longtime owner and manager.

Feb. 13, 1961 – The missing Air Force T-28 training plane flown by Ecuardorian pilot Carlos R. Jalil was found by a helicopter from Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Ga. Jalil, a foreign pilot receiving Air Force flight training, was killed in the crash, and Civil Air Patrol units from Alabama (including Evergree), Georgia and Florida took part in the search for Jalil’s plane. This search was the Evergreen CAP unit’s first opportunity to use its newly assigned plane, which was piloted by 2nd Lt. G.D. McKenzie. McKenzie was accompanied by observers Capt. Lee F. Smith, 1st Lt. David E. McKenzie and 2nd Lt. R.V. McClendon.

Feb. 13, 1961 – An allegedly 500,000-year-old rock was discovered near Olancha, California that appeared to anachronistically encase a spark plug.

Feb. 13, 1970 – Lyeffion High School held its annual football banquet at the school, and Coach Baccum of Mississippi State was the guest speaker.

Feb. 13, 1976 – In their regular season finale, Sparta Academy’s varsity boys basketball team “pulled the upset of the year” by beating previously unbeaten Wilcox Academy, 46-45, in overtime in Camden. Ronnie Pugh led Sparta with 18 points, and Sparta finished the regular season with an 18-6 overall record.

Feb. 13, 1977 – NFL wide receiver Randy Moss was born in Charleston, West Virginia. He would go on to play for Marshall, the Minnesota Vikings, the Oakland Raiders, the New England Patriots, the Tennessee Titans and the San Francisco 49ers.

Feb. 13, 1989 - Alabama author Everette Maddox died in New Orleans, La.

Feb. 13, 2001 – The Sarasota County, Fla. Sheriff’s office released two remarkable photos of a mysterious creature that had been taken by an elderly woman who sighted an apelike entity in her back yard. For two nights, the large hairy monster had made strange noises, emitted a strong odor and snitched apples from her back porch. On the third night, she managed to take two photographs of the creature that her husband thought looked something like an orangutan.

Feb. 13, 2002 - In Alexandria, Va., John Walker Lindh pled innocent to a 10-count federal indictment. He was charged with conspiring to kill Americans and aiding Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.

Feb. 13, 2004 - Astronomers announced the discovery of a huge diamond-like object in the galaxy, a pulsating white dwarf star, nicknamed Lucy, after the Beatles' song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

Feb. 13, 2008 - Roger Clemens denied having taken performance-enhancing drugs in testimony before Congress.