Today in History for May 1, 2015

Confederate General Stonewall Jackson

May 1, 1486 - Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella to fund an expedition to the West Indies.

May 1, 1707 - The Acts of Union joined the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain. They had shared a single monarch for a hundred years since Queen Elizabeth I died childless, and James VI of Scotland became James I of England. The Acts of Union combined their two parliaments into one.

May 1, 1776 - Major General John Thomas arrived at Quebec. He died on June 2 of smallpox.

May 1, 1776 – Jesuit-taught Dr. Adam Weishaupt established the secret society called the Order of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria).

May 1, 1778 – During the American Revolution, the Battle of Crooked Billet began in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.

May 1, 1786 - Mozart’s first great opera, “The Marriage of Figaro,” premiered in Vienna.

May 1, 1798 – On this day, Benjamin Stoddert began his term as the first Secretary of the U.S. Navy, and his term would end on March 31, 1801. Fort Stoddert near present-day Mount Vernon, Ala. was named in his honor in 1799.

May 1, 1805 - The state of Virginia passed a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.

May 1, 1813 – British allied forces, under General Henry Proctor and Chief Tecumseh, opened a bombardment of Fort Meigs at Perrysburg, Ohio, which had mustered 1,200 regulars and militia, and laid siege. The siege ended on May 9.

May 1, 1840 - The first official adhesive postage stamp was issued in Great Britain.

May 1, 1862 – Pinckney D. Bowles re-enlisted as a captain at Work Town, Va. in Co. E of the 4th Alabama Infantry.

May 1, 1862 – During the Civil War, the Union Army completed its capture of New Orleans.

May 1, 1862 – During the Civil War, a two-day Federal operation began in the vicinity of Athens, Mooresville, Limestone Bridge and Elk River, Ala.

May 1, 1863 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Blountsville and on the east bank of the Black Warrior River, Ala. as part of the Streight raid.

May 1, 1863 – During the Civil War, the Battle of Chancellorsville began in Virginia. General Robert E. Lee's forces began fighting with Union troops under General Joseph Hooker. Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded by his own soldiers in this battle.

  

May 1, 1867 - Reconstruction in the South began with black voter registration.

May 1, 1877 - U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.

May 1, 1883 - In Philadelphia, the first National League game was played since 1876.

May 1, 1884 – Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States.

May 1, 1895 – A meeting of Confederate veterans was scheduled to be held at the Monroe County Courthouse in Monroeville, Ala. immediately after the noon adjournment of court.

May 1, 1901 - The Detroit Tigers committed 12 errors against the Chicago White Sox.

May 1, 1901 - Herb McFarland hit the first grand slam in the American League.

May 1, 1905 – The City of Monroeville, Ala. was scheduled to hold an election for mayor and five city councilmen at the courthouse. M.R. Sowell and N.T. Stallworth were appointed election managers.

May 1, 1910 - Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt paid an unofficial visit to Amsterdam.

May 1-Sept. 1, 1912 – Following a “long established custom,” the stores in Evergreen, Ala. began closing each day at 6 p.m., except for Saturdays. This did not apply to drug stores and “soft drink places.”

May 1, 1915 - Author Robert Gibbons was born in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

May 1, 1920 - Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a New York Yankee. It was his 50th career home run.

May 1, 1920 - The Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves tied after a 26-inning game.

May 1, 1922 - Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox pitched a perfect no-hit, no-run game against the Detroit Tigers. The Sox won, 3-0. Another perfect game did not come along until 46 years later.

May 1, 1925 – Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker and center Chuck Bednarik was born in Bethlehem, Pa. He would go on to play for Penn and the Philadelphia Eagles. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1967.

May 1, 1926 - Satchel Page of Mobile, Ala. made his pitching debut in the Negro Southern League.

May 1, 1927 - Adolf Hitler held his first Nazi meeting in Berlin.

May 1, 1928 – In H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Dreams in the Witch House,” Walter Gilman, a student of mathematics from Haverhill, Mass., died in an apparent rodent attack, though some whisper the name of Brown Jenkin in relation to this tragedy.

May 1, 1930 – Pro Football Hall of Fame halfback Ollie Matson was born in Trinity, Texas. He would go on to play for the Chicago Cardinals, the Los Angeles Rams, the Detroit Lions and the Philadelphia Eagles. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972.

May 1, 1931 - All 102 stories of the Empire State Building opened to the public, 45 days ahead of schedule and $5 million under budget, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in New York City.

May 1, 1933 – The Spring Term of Conecuh County Circuit Court was scheduled to begin in Evergreen, Ala.

May 1, 1942 – The Senior Class of Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Ala. was scheduled to present its play “Goodnight Ladies” in the high school auditorium.

May 1, 1945 – During World War II, a German newsreader officially announced that Adolf Hitler had "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany." The Soviet flag was raised over the Reich Chancellery by order of Stalin.

May 1, 1945 – During World War II, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children were also killed by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths by their mother, Magda.

May 1, 1945 - Martin Bormann, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, escaped from the Fuehrerbunker as the Red Army advanced on Berlin.

May 1, 1945 - Admiral Karl Doenitz succeeded Hitler as leader of the Third Reich, one day after Hitler committed suicide.

May 1, 1947 – Magnolia Grove, the antebellum home of Admiral Richard Pearson Hobson, in Greensboro, Ala., was scheduled to be dedicated a “state shrine.”

May 1, 1951 - Mickey Mantle hit his first home run.

May 1, 1951 - Minnie Minoso became the first black player to play for the Chicago White Sox.

May 1, 1956 – The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was made available to the public.

May 1, 1958 - President Eisenhower proclaimed Law Day to honor the role of law in the creation of the United States of America. Three years later Congress passed a joint resolution that established May 1 as Law Day.

May 1, 1961 -Harper Lee of Monroeville, Ala. won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “To Kill A Mockingbird,” her first novel. The gripping tale set in 1930s Alabama became an international bestseller and was made into a major Hollywood motion picture starring Gregory Peck.

May 1, 1962 - Bo Belinsky pitched a no-hitter in only his fourth start.

May 1, 1968 – Marine Cpl. James Robert Hammonds of Evergreen, Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam.

May 1, 1969 - Leonard Tose bought the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles for $16,155,000.

May 1, 1973 – Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Curtis Martin was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. He went on to play for Pitt, the New England Patriots and the New York Jets. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.

May 1, 1986 - Bill Elliott set a stock car speed record with his Ford Thunderbird in Talladega, Ala. Elliott reached a speed of 212.229 mph.

May 1, 1991 – Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics stole his 939th base, making him the all-time leader in this category. However, his accomplishment is overshadowed later that evening by Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers, when he pitched his seventh career no-hitter, breaking his own record.

May 1, 1992 - The Los Angeles Dodgers postponed three games due to riots due to the Rodney King case.

May 1, 1992 - Rickey Henderson stole his 1,000th base.

May 1, 1998 - The Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Writer was given to Alabama author Albert Murray at the Alabama Writers Symposium in Monroeville, Ala.

May 1, 1999 – The body of British climber George Mallory was found on Mount Everest by a group of U.S. mountain climbers, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924. Mallory had died in June of 1924 while trying to become the first person to reach the summit of Everest. At the time of the discovery it was unclear whether or not Mallory had actually reached the summit.

May 1, 2003 – As part of the “Invasion of Iraq,” in what became known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".

May 1, 2005 - FOX aired the 350th and 351st episodes of "The Simpsons."

May 1, 2009 - The Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Writer was given to Alabama author Rick Bragg at the Alabama Writers Symposium in Monroeville, Ala.

May 1, 2011 – Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks had been killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2.