Today in History for Feb. 18, 2015

James Dellet of Claiborne, Ala.

Feb. 18, 1776 - In Norfolk, Va., Royal Governor John Murray sent a note to William Legge and expressed his "inexpressible mortification" that British Major General Sir Henry Clinton had been ordered to the "insignificant province of North Carolina to the neglect of this the richest and powerfully important province in America."

Feb. 18, 1791 – Congress passed a law admitting the state of Vermont to the Union, effective March 4, 1791. Prior to this, Vermont had existed for 14 years as a de-facto independent largely unrecognized state.

Feb. 18, 1788 – James Dellet was born in Camden, New Jersey. He moved to Alabama in 1818, settling in Claiborne, where he practiced of law and worked with William B. Travis, the commander of the ill-fated Alamo. In 1819, he was elected to the first Alabama House of Representatives and went on to serve two terms in the U.S. Congress.

Feb. 18, 1817 - Confederate General Lewis Armistead was born in New Bern, N.C. Armistead was mortally wounded on July 3, 1863 when he led Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Feb. 18, 1861 - After being welcomed to Montgomery with great fanfare, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America on the portico of the Alabama capitol. Davis, a former U.S. senator from Mississippi, lived in Montgomery until April, when the Confederate government was moved from Montgomery to its new capital of Richmond, Virginia.

Feb. 18, 1861 – During the Civil War, a third demand was made by Confederate authorities for the surrender of Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Fla. and was refused by U.S. Lieutenant Adam Slemmer.

Feb. 18, 1865 – During the Civil War, Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set the South Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.

Feb. 18, 1885 - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published for the first time.

Feb. 18, 1913 – Former Confederate General George Washington Custis Lee, the son of Robert E. Lee, passed away at the age of 80 in Fairfax County, Va.

Feb. 18, 1915 – Outlaw Frank James passed away at his boyhood home at the age of 71.

Feb. 18, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that A.C. Lee “spent several days in Montgomery last week undergoing examination for admission to the practice of law.”

Feb. 18-19, 1915 – A farmers institute meeting was scheduled to be held in Belleville, Ala. and was described “as one of the most important meetings for farmers that has perhaps ever been held” in Conecuh County.

Feb. 18, 1930 – While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovered the dwarf planet Pluto.

Feb. 18, 1930 – Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft. The milk was sealed in paper containers and dropped by parachute over St. Louis.

Feb. 18, 1936 - Alabama author Paul Hemphill was born in Birmingham, Ala.

Feb. 18, 1944 - Alabama author Cassandra King was born near Pinckard, Ala.

Feb. 18, 1952 - The Constitution for the Monroeville, Ala. Little League was signed and sent to the National Little League Organization in Williamsport, Pa. The first officers of Monroeville’s Little League were President Curtis Wideman of Vanity Fair; Vice President L.Reed Polk, Pastor of the Monroeville First Baptist Church; and Secretary Joe Tucker of Vanity Fair MIlls. In the league’s first session, 102 boys came to tryouts.

Feb. 18, 1965 - Frank Gifford announced his retirement from football for a career in broadcasting.

Feb. 18, 1981 – Major League Baseball outfielder Alex Rios was born in Coffee, Ala. His parents, Israel and Maritza, left when he was just a couple of months old, and he grew up in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. He went on to play for the Toronto Blue Jays, the Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers.

Feb. 18, 1983 - Alabama author Robert Payne died in Bermuda.

Feb. 18, 1994 – Episode No. 17 of “The X-Files” – entitled “E.B.E.” – aired for the first time.

Feb. 18, 2001 - NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed in a crash during the Daytona 500 race.