Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Today in History for March 3, 2015

Boston Red Sox pitcher Ed Morris.
March 3, 1753 – George Washington was passed to the degree of fellowcraft after being initiated a Mason on Nov. 4, 1752 at Masonic Lodge No. 4 in Fredericksburg, Va. He would be raised to Master Mason on Aug. 4, 1753. In 1788, shortly before becoming the first president of the United States, Washington was elected the first Worshipful Master of Alexandria Lodge No. 22.

March 3, 1776 - Silas Deane, a Connecticut delegate to the Continental Congress, left for France on a secret mission. Deane managed to negotiate unofficial assistance from France.

March 3, 1776 – During the American Revolutionary War, the first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps began the Battle of Nassau.

March 3, 1776 - Colonel Lachlan McIntosh successfully defended Savannah from a British attack in the Battle of the Rice Boats. (March 2-3)

March 3, 1779 – During the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Army was routed at the Battle of Brier Creek near Savannah, Georgia.

March 3, 1791 - The U.S. Congress passed a resolution that created the U.S. Mint.


March 3, 1800 – Eldridge Swepson Greening was born in Sumter, S.C.

March 3, 1802 – Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata was published. Its real name is the slightly less evocative "Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Sharp Minor, Opus 27, No. 2.”

March 3, 1805 – Some months before the convention of Washington, the U.S. Congress established a post road from Washington City, by Athens in Georgia, Montgomery in Alabama, to New Orleans. The post riders followed the Indian trails and passed through Burnt Corn Creek.

March 3, 1817 – With St. Stephens as its capital, the Alabama Territory was created when Congress passed the enabling act allowing the division of the Mississippi Territory and the admission of Mississippi into the union as a state. Alabama would remain a territory for over two years before becoming the 22nd state in December 1819.

March 3, 1835 – John Murphy of Monroe County ended his two-year term as U.S. Representative for Alabama’s 5th Congressional District.

March 3, 1836 – At the Alamo, William Barrett Travis received a letter from his friend Major Robert M. “Three-Legged Willy” Williamson carried in by James B. Bonham that detailed efforts to send aid to the Alamo. In the letter, Williamson asked Travis to hold out a little longer until help arrives. Santa Anna receives 1,100 reinforcements. Travis sent out his last known appeals for assistance, stating, “I am determined to perish in the defense of this place, and may my bones reproach my country for her neglect.”

March 3, 1845 - Florida became the 27th U.S. state.

March 3, 1849 - The U.S. Congress created the territory of Minnesota.

March 3, 1863 - During the Civil War, the U.S. Congress passed a conscription act that produced the first wartime draft of U.S. citizens in American history. The act called for registration of all males between the ages of 20 and 45, including aliens with the intention of becoming citizens, by April 1. Exemptions from the draft could be bought for $300 or by finding a substitute draftee. This clause led to bloody draft riots in New York City, where protesters were outraged that exemptions were effectively granted only to the wealthiest U.S. citizens.

March 3, 1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill that created the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. The federal agency, known as the Freedmen's Bureau, oversaw the transition of blacks from slavery to freedom.

March 3, 1865 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred at Decatur, Ala.

March 3, 1875 – The opera “Carmen” appeared on stage for the first time at the Opéra-Comique in France.

March 3, 1879 - Congress establishes the United States Geological Survey, an organization that played a pivotal role in the exploration and development of the West.

March 3, 1887 - Anne Sullivan began teaching six-year-old Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing after a severe illness at the age of 19 months. Under Sullivan’s tutelage, including her pioneering “touch teaching” techniques, the previously uncontrollable Keller flourished, eventually graduating from college and becoming an international lecturer and activist. Sullivan, later dubbed “the miracle worker,” remained Keller’s interpreter and constant companion until the older woman’s death in 1936.

March 3, 1915 - Director D.W. Griffith’s controversial Civil War epic “The Birth of a Nation” opened in New York City, a few weeks after its West Coast premiere in Los Angeles. A 40-piece orchestra accompanied the silent film. The movie, at 2 hours and 40 minutes, was unusually long for its day and used revolutionary–for the time–filmmaking techniques, including editing, multiple camera angles and close-ups.

March 3, 1919 – During World War I, Army Pvt. Mack M. Stallworth of Buena Vista “died from disease.”

March 3, 1923 – Robert L. Mosley was appointed to another term as postmaster at Burnt Corn, Ala.

March 3, 1923 - The first issue of Time magazine was published. On the cover of the first issue was retired Speaker of the House Joseph G. Gannon.

March 3, 1924 – H.P. Lovecraft married Sonia Haft Greene.

March 3, 1926 – Poet James Merril was born in New York City. His several collections of poetry include “The Changing Light at Sandover” (1982), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

March 3, 1931 - The "Star Spangled Banner" was adopted as the American national anthem. The song was originally known as "Defense of Fort McHenry."

March 3, 1932 – Ed Morris, Boston Red Sox pitcher, was killed by a knife during a fight at a fish fry in Brewton.

March 3, 1938 – Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia.

March 3, 1945 - Superman encountered Batman and Robin for the first time on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

March 3, 1959 - The San Francisco Giants had their new stadium officially named Candlestick Park.

March 3, 1959 - "This American Life" host Ira Glass was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

March 3, 1960 – The first organizational meeting was held by the Monroe County Rescue Squad with about 15 men attending at the Vocational Agriculture Building at Frisco City High School in Frisco City, Ala.

March 3, 1967 – Joe Green allegedly shot Jack Manual to death with a pistol near Castleberry. Green was charged with second-degree murder and went to trial on Sept. 25, 1967.

March 3, 1969 - Sirhan Sirhan testified in a Los Angeles court that he killed Robert Kennedy.

March 3, 1978 - The remains of Charles Chaplin were stolen from his grave in Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. The body was recovered 11 weeks later near Lake Geneva.

March 3, 1980 - The submarine Nautilus was decommissioned. The vessel’s final voyage had ended on May 26, 1979.

March 3, 1982 - Alabama author Lella Warren died in Washington, D.C.

March 3, 1984 – NFL wide receiver and punt returner Santonio Holmes was born in Belle Glade, Fla. He went on to play for Ohio State, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the New York Jets and the Chicago Bears.

March 3, 1993 – Walter “Johnny D” McMillian was released from Alabama death row, where he was sent after being convicted of the 1986 murder of Rhonda Morrison in Monroeville, Ala.

March 3, 1994 - Kurt Cobain of Nirvana lapsed into a coma in Italy after taking a combination of Valium and champagne.

March 3, 2001 - Author E. B. Sledge died in Montevallo, Ala.

March 3, 2005 - Author Pauline Boyd died in Huntsville, Ala.

March 3, 2005 - Steve Fossett became the first person to fly a non-stop solo flight around the world, without refueling. Sadly, he would later go missing in 2007 during a solo flight in the Nevada desert.

March 3, 2006 - In Tokyo, Japan, the opener of the World Baseball Classic took place.

March 3, 2009 – The New Hope Church Cemetery in Covington County, Ala. was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register.
  
March 3, 2013 – Alabama native Bo Jackson won ESPN's Sport Science "Greatest Athlete of All Time" bracket, defeating Roger Federer, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan in the semifinal, and Jim Brown to claim the title.

March 3, 2014 – Sparta Academy named Justin Chandler as head football coach, replacing Buck Quarles. 

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