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| William Tecumseh Sherman |
Feb. 8, 1776 - General George Washington received a letter
from Cumberland, Nova Scotia. The letter requested that he invade Novia Scotia
at his earliest possible convenience.
Feb. 8, 1777 - Major Timothy Bigelow became colonel of the
15th Massachusetts Colonial Line of the Continental Army. He had been a
prisoner of war until just six months before.
Feb. 8, 1820 – Union General William Tecumseh Sherman was
born in Lancaster, Ohio.
Feb. 8, 1828 - Jules Verne, considered the “Father of
Science Fiction,” was born in Nantes, France.
Feb. 8, 1831 – West Point cadet Edgar Allan Poe was tried
for gross neglect of duty and disobedience of orders for refusing to attend
formations, classes or church. Poe tactically pled not guilty to induce
dismissal, knowing he would be found guilty.
Feb. 8, 1852 – The Brooklyn Academy in Conecuh County was
incorporated by the Alabama legislature.
Feb. 8-9, 1855 – The “Devil’s Footprints” Incident occurred
around the Exe Estuary in East Devon and South Devon, England. After a heavy
snowfall, trails of hoof-like marks appeared overnight in the snow covering a
total distance of some 40 to 100 miles. The footprints were so called because
some people believed that they were the tracks of Satan, as they were allegedly
made by a cloven hoof. Many theories have been put forward to explain the
incident, and some aspects of its veracity have also been called into question.
Feb. 8, 1861 - The Confederate States of America was formed.
Feb. 8, 1862 - Union General Ambrose Burnside captured
Roanoke Island in North Carolina. It was one of the first major Union victories
of the Civil War and gave the Yankees control of the mouth of Albemarle
Sound, allowing them to threaten the Rebel capital of Richmond,
Virginia, from the south.
Feb. 8, 1865 - The Battle of Dabney's Mill (Hatcher's Run)
ended after three days. Neither side ended with a significant advantage after
producing about 3,000 casualties.
Feb. 8, 1865 – In the United States, Delaware voters
rejected the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and voted to
continue the practice of slavery. (Delaware finally ratified the amendment on
Feb. 12, 1901.)
Feb. 8, 1896 - The Western Conference was formed by
representatives of Midwestern universities. The group later changed its name to
the Big 10 Conference.
Feb. 8, 1910 - William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts
of America.
Feb. 8, 1912 – Aviation pioneer Robert G. Fowler became the
first person to fly west to east aross the United States when he arrived in
Jacksonville, Fla. He departed San Francisco on Sept. 11, 1911 and stopped in
Evergreen, Ala. on Jan. 15, 1912.
Feb. 8, 1915 – D. W. Griffith's controversial film “The
Birth of a Nation” premiered at Clune’s Auditorium in Los Angeles. This silent
film was America's first feature-length motion picture and a box-office smash,
and during its unprecedented three hours Griffith popularized countless
filmmaking techniques that remain central to the art today. Actually titled
“The Clansman” for its first month of release, the film provided a highly
subjective history of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the rise of the Ku
Klux Klan.
Feb. 8, 1918 - "The Stars and Stripes" newspaper
was published for the first time.
Feb. 8, 1922 - United States President Warren G. Harding
introduced the first radio set in the White House.
Feb. 8, 1922 – In the fictional video game, “Call of
Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth,” private investigator Jack Walters helped
J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI raid the Marsh Gold Refinery in Innsmouth, where he
was attacked by an ancient creature known as a Shoggoth and uncovered a Cthulhu
shrine before the building is demolished.
Feb. 8, 1936 - The first National Football League draft was
held, and Jay Berwanger was the first to be selected, drafted by the
Philadelphia Eagles.
Feb. 8, 1938 – Longtime Monroe Journal publisher Q. Salter
died after he was stricken when leaving his office at The Monroe County Bank.
He died just minutes later without uttering a word. He’s buried in the old
Methodist Cemetery on Sumter Ave. in Monroeville, Ala.
Feb. 8, 1940 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Conecuh
County Superintendent of Education H.D. Weathers and Conecuh County Circuit
Court Clerk W.S. Dreaden had qualified to seek reelection in the upcoming
primary elections.
Feb. 8, 1950 - The Associated Press named Jim Thorpe and
Baby Didrikson Zaharias the greatest male and female athletes of the first half
of the 20th century.
Feb. 8, 1952 – The Manistee & Repton Railroad in Alabama ceased
operations.
Feb. 8, 1955 – Best-selling novelist John Grisham was born
in Jonesboro, Ark. His first novel, “A Time to Kill,” was published in 1989.
Feb. 8, 1959 - Alabama author William Miller was born in
Anniston, Ala.
Feb. 8, 1963 - Lamar Hunt, owner of the American Football
League franchise in Dallas, Texas, moved the operation to Kansas City. The new
team was named the Chiefs.
Feb. 8, 1963 – Travel, financial and commercial transactions
by United States citizens to Cuba were made illegal by the John F. Kennedy
administration.
Feb. 8, 1969 - The last issue of the "Saturday Evening
Post" was published. It was revived in 1971 as a quarterly publication and
later a six times a year publication.
Feb. 8, 1969 – The “Allende meteorite” fell near Pueblito de
Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico.
Feb. 8, 1977 – The Murder Creek Historical Society acquired
the title to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. Depot in Evergreen, Ala., title being transferred to the Society’s officers by I.L. Bell, L&N
Superintendent at Mobile, in a brief ceremony at the depot.
Feb. 8, 1985 – Monroe Academy beat Sparta, 67-61, in the
District Basketball Tournament in Monroeville, Ala. Al Etheridge, who was named to
the all-tournament team, led Sparta with 23 points.
Feb. 8, 1985 – Weather reporter Earl Windham reported a low
of 23 degrees in Evergreen, Ala.
Feb. 8, 1985 - "The Dukes of Hazzard" ended its
6-1/2 year run on CBS television.
Feb. 8, 1991 - Roger Clemens signed a contract with the
Boston Red Sox that paid $5,380,250 per year.
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