First flag of the Confederate States of America. |
March 4, 1493 – Explorer Christopher Columbus arrived back
in Lisbon, Portugal aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what is now the
Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.
March 4, 1519 – Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico in search of
the Aztec civilization and its wealth.
March 4, 1776 – During the American Revolutionary War, the
Continental Army, under Brigadier General John Thomas, fortified Dorchester
Heights south of Boston with 2,000 troops, cannon and artillery, leading the
British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.
March 4, 1766 - The British Parliament repealed the Stamp
Act, which had caused bitter and violent opposition in the U.S. colonies.
March 4, 1778 - The Continental Congress voted to ratify the
Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance. The two treaties were
the first entered into by the U.S. government.
March 4, 1778 - New Hampshire became the seventh state to
ratify the Articles of Confederation.
March 4, 1789 – The modern United States was established
when the U.S. Constitution formally replaced the Articles of Confederation. In
New York City, the first Congress of the United States met, putting the United
States Constitution into effect. The United States Bill of Rights was written
and proposed to Congress.
March 4, 1791 - Vermont was admitted as the 14th U.S. state.
It was the first addition to the original 13 American colonies.
March 4, 1794 - The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
was passed by the U.S. Congress. The Amendment limited the jurisdiction of the
federal courts to automatically hear cases brought against a state by the
citizens of another state. Later interpretations expanded this to include
citizens of the state being sued, as well.
March 4, 1797 – John Adams was inaugurated as the second
president of the United States, succeeding George Washington in the first
peaceful transfer of power between elected officials in modern times. His rival
for the office had been Thomas Jefferson, and because Jefferson had received
the second highest number of electoral votes, the Electoral College named him
vice president.
March 4, 1811 - Alabama author Hardin E. Taliaferro was born
on a farm in Surry County, N.C.
March 4, 1826 - The first railroad in the U.S. was
chartered. It was the Granite Railway in Quincy, Mass.
March 4, 1833 – John Murphy of Monroe County, Ala. began his
term as U.S. Representative for Alabama’s 5th Congressional District.
March 4, 1836 - Santa Anna ordered his artillery batteries
moved closer to the Alamo, and the prolonged artillery attack continued.
March 4, 1839 – James Dellet, a Whig from Claiborne, Ala.,
began his first term as U.S. Representative from Alabama’s 1st Congressional
District. His term ended on March 3, 1841.
March 4, 1842 – A tornado struck Newtown, near Tuscaloosa,
destroying a courthouse, a hotel, many homes and killing a young girl.
March 4, 1843 – James Dellet, a Whig from Claiborne, Ala.,
began his second term as U.S. Representative from Alabama’s 1st Congressional
District. His term ended on March 4, 1845.
March 4, 1850 – The Orline St. John sank near Bridgeport
Landing, north of Camden. Forty passengers and crew were killed.
March 4, 1857 – James Adams Stallworth of Evergreen, Ala.
began serving in the U.S. Congress. He would withdraw with the rest of the
Alabama delegation in January 1861 when Alabama seceded from the Union at the
start of the Civil War.
March 4, 1861 - Inauguration ceremonies for 16th U.S.
President Abraham Lincoln were held in Washington.
March 4, 1861 - The first Confederate flag is raised over
the Alabama capitol at 3:30 p.m. by Letita Tyler, granddaughter of former U.S.
president John Tyler. The flag, which flew on a flagpole by the capitol clock,
was not the Confederate battle flag, but the "First National
Pattern," also known as the stars and bars.
March 4, 1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln began his
second term as the 16th President of the United States. Within six weeks, the
war was over and Lincoln had been assassinated.
March 4, 1865 – The third and final national flag of the
Confederate States of America was adopted by the Confederate Congress.
March 4, 1877 – Greenville, Ala. attorney and former
Confederate officer Hilary A. Herbert began serving the first of his eight
terms as U.S. Representative from Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. He
would serve in this position until March 3, 1893, four days before he began
serving as the 33rd Secretary of the Navy.
March 4, 1880 - Halftone engraving was used for the first
time when the "Daily Graphic" was published in New York City.
March 4, 1881 – Pulitzer Prize-winning author T. S.
Stribling was born in Clifton, Tenn.
March 4, 1886 – Former Confederate soldier W.G. Riley died
and was buried at Buena Vista Cemetery in Buena Vista, Ala. Born on July 2,
1820, he was listed as sick at Union Mills, Va. on Aug. 23, 1861 and was
discharged on a surgeon’s certificate at Sangster Crossroads near Richmond on
Sept. 17, 1861. He enlisted with Co. G, 7th Alabama Cavalry at Claiborne, Ala.
on Aug. 8, 1863.
March 4, 1888 - Knute Rockne was born in Voss, Norway. He
would go on to become one of the most successful coaches in the history of
college football, coaching Notre Dame during their golden era in the 1920s. Rockne
won three undisputed national championships with the Fighting Irish, and helped
to transform Notre Dame from an unknown program into the most popular college
football team in the United States.
March 4, 1901 – The Town of Red Level chartered by Alabama
legislature.
March 4, 1901 - A dramatic version of Alabama author Mary
Johnston's book “To Have and To Hold”
opened on Broadway.
March 4, 1913 - The New York Yankees traveled to Bermuda for
spring practice. They were the first team to leave the U.S. to train.
March 4, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that the “local
military company has been mustered out of service, having failed to measure up
to the requirements of the military department on recent inspection.”
March 4, 1918 – A 500-foot-long U.S. Navy supply ship, the
USS Cyclops, sailed from Barbados to Norfolk with 309 aboard. The ship vanished
in good weather without sending any radio messages and no wreckage was ever
found, presumably lost with all hands in the Bermuda Triangle.
March 4, 1918 - The flu pandemic (often referred to as the
Spanish flu) was first observed at Fort Riley, Kansas, when a soldier fell ill.
The pandemic, which lasted nearly a year, is estimated to have killed somewhere
between 30 to 50 million people worldwide.
March 4, 1921 - Warren G. Harding took office as the 29th
President of the United States. He was the great-grandson of Conecuh County’s
Henchie Warren, who is said to have hidden a chest of gold in Shipps Pond during the Civil War.
March 4, 1925 - Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office in
Washington, D.C. The presidential inauguration was broadcast on radio for the
first time.
March 4, 1933 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt gave his
inauguration speech in which he said "We have nothing to fear, but fear
itself." By the time of his inauguration, the country had been mired in
the Great Depression for more than three years. Roosevelt won in a landslide
over Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover.
March 4, 1935 - A movie version of Alabama author Octavus
Roy Cohen's book “The Transient Lady”
was released.
March 4, 1952 - U.S. President Harry Truman dedicated the
"Courier," the first seagoing radio broadcasting station.
March 4, 1952 - Ernest Hemingway completed his short novel
“The Old Man and the Sea.” He wrote his publisher the same day, saying he had
finished the book and that it was the best writing he had ever done. The
critics agreed: The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and became one of his
bestselling works.
March 4, 1954 - A television version of Octavus Roy Cohen's
book “Detective's Holiday” was
broadcast as part of the “Four Stars
Playhouse” series.
March 4, 1958 – A Marine flight instructor and a Naval
flight student were killed instantly in a T-28 trainer crash around 1:15 p.m.
near the west boundary of Middleton Field, near the home of Len Mitchell, about
five miles from Evergreen, Ala. The instructor was 1st Lt. David Bruce
Mahorney, 25, of Hartford City, Indiana, and the student pilot was listed as
Ensign Richard E. Cossitt of Atlanta. According to bystanders, the plane had
just left the runway, flying north, when apparently motor trouble caused it to
plunge to the ground.
March 4, 1958 – John Reid took the oath of office and began
serving on the Evergreen, Ala. City Council. He was appointed to fill a vacancy
created by the resignation of veteran councilman, O.B. Tuggle.
March 4, 1958 – Evergreen High School started spring
football practice with 45 players reporting on this first day of practice. This
was said to be “the largest number of men reporting for practice in the history
of the school.” Returning lettermen included Paul Pace, George Bolton, Byron
Warren, Wayne Peacock, Ken Tucker, Jimmy Bell, Robbie Boykin and Robert
Ellington.
March 4, 1974 – “People” magazine was published for the
first time in the United States as “People Weekly.”
March 4, 1976 - A radio version of Alabama author Ambrose
Bierce's story "The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter" was broadcast as
part of the series “The CBS Radio Mystery
Theatre.”
March 4, 1983 – Pensacola, Fla. firefighter Eddie Frank
Jackson was killed in the line of duty.
March 4, 1986 - "Today" debuted in London as
England’s newest, national, daily newspaper.
March 4, 1991 - Sheik Saad al-Jaber al-Sabah, the prime
minister of Kuwait, returned to his country for the first time since Iraq's
invasion.
March 4, 1999 - Monica Lewinsky's book about her affair with
U.S. President Bill Clinton went on sale in the U.S.
March 4, 2012 – Major League Baseball first baseman Don
Mincher passed away in Huntsville, Ala. at the age of 73. During his career, he
played for the Washington Senators, the Minnesota Twins, the California Angels,
the Seattle Pilots, the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers.
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