Today in History for July 10, 2015

Nikola Tesla

July 10, 1499 – The Portuguese explorer Nicolau Coelho returned to Lisbon after discovering the sea route to India as a companion of Vasco da Gama.

July 10, 1509 – Religious leader and founder of Calvinism, John Calvin, was born in Noyon, Picardy, France.

July 10, 1625 – French adventurer Jean Herauld Gourville was born in La Rochefoucauld in southwestern France.

July 10, 1679 - The British crown claimed New Hampshire as a royal colony.

July 10, 1776 - The statue of King George III was pulled down in New York City.

July 10, 1777 - Colonel William Barton of the Rhode Island Patriot militia captured British General Richard Prescott, from his bed in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, during the early morning hours. Prescott was the only British general to suffer the ignominy of being captured twice by Patriot forces during the War for Independence. American forces first captured Prescott after Montreal fell to the Patriots in 1775.

July 10, 1778 – In support of the American Revolution, Louis XVI of France declared war on England.

July 10, 1798 - The U.S. Marine Corps was formally re-established by "An Act for Establishing a Marine Corps" passed by the U.S. Congress. The act also created the U.S. Marine Band. The Marines were first commissioned by the Continental Congress on Nov. 10, 1775.

July 10, 1813 – Peter McQueen, head of the Tallasee warriors; High-Head Jim, with the Autaugas; and Josiah Francis with the Alabamas, numbering in all 350, went to Pensacola, Fla. for the purpose of war talk.

July 10, 1813 – Alexander Travis was ordained as a minister by the Cambridge Church in South Carolina.

July 10, 1820 - Alabama’s first governor, William Wyatt Bibb, died in Elmore County, Ala. at the age of 38 as a result of injuries received in a riding accident. As specified in the 1819 constitution the president of the state senate automatically became the new governor. The new governor was Bibb’s younger brother, Thomas Bibb, who had represented Limestone County at the Constitutional Convention and in the state senate. Thomas did not stand for re-election, but later served again in the legislature and as director of the Huntsville Branch of the Bank of Alabama.

July 10, 1821 – United States troops took possession of its newly bought territory of Florida from Spain.

July 10, 1823 – William Stevenson was named postmaster at Burnt Corn Spring, Ala.

July 10, 1850 - Vice President Millard Fillmore of New York was sworn in as the 13th President of the United States. President Zachary Taylor had died the day before, five days after falling ill with a severe intestinal ailment on the Fourth of July.

July 10, 1856 - Nikola Tesla - the pioneering inventor, electrical engineer, and scientist - born in Smiljan, Austrian Empire (modern-day Croatia).

July 10, 1861 - The Confederate States of America and the Creek Indians concluded a treaty.

July 10, 1862 - Forty men from the hill country of northwest Alabama sneaked into Decatur to join the Union army, prompting Gen. Abel Streight to mount an expedition to the south to recruit more volunteers. With the help of an impassioned speech from fervent Unionist Christopher Sheats of Winston County, a center of anti-secessionist sentiment, Streight added another 150 Alabamians to his force.

July 10, 1863 – The Siege of Battery Wagner began as Union troops under Quincy Gillmore landed on Morris Island near Charleston, S.C. and prepared for a siege on Battery Wagner, a massive sand fortress on the island. On July 10, Gillmore’s troops quickly secured most of the island, and the only barrier left was Battery Wagner, an imposing fortress that guarded Charleston Harbor’s southern rim. The fort was 30 feet high, nearly 300 feet from north to south, and over 600 feet from east to west. Inside were 1,600 Confederates, 10 heavy cannons, and a mortar for hitting ships off the coast.

July 10, 1864 – Union General Lovell H. Rousseau of the Union army began his 12-day raid through Alabama at Decatur. Under orders from Gen. William T. Sherman, Rousseau's 2,200 cavalrymen raided south more than 300 miles to the West Point and Montgomery Railroad in east Alabama. By July 20 they had destroyed more than 30 miles of track between Chehaw Station and Opelika, thereby aiding Sherman's march on Atlanta by cutting a vital supply line to the city.

July 10, 1871 – French novelist Marcel Proust was born in Auteuil.

July 10, 1875 – British writer Edmund Clerihew Bentley was born in London, England.

July 10, 1890 – Wyoming was admitted as the 44th U.S. state.

July 10, 1913 – It was on this date in 1913 that the highest temperature was recorded in the United States, a sizzling 134 °F in Death Valley, California.

July 10, 1923 - Alabama author Robert Loveman died in Hot Springs, Ark.

July 10, 1931 – Short-story writer Alice Munro was born Alice Laidlaw in Wingham, Ontario.

July 10, 1949 - Four members of a family from Alabama competed in the second "Strictly Stock" race at the Daytona Beach and Road Course. It is the only time four members of one family took part in a race in NASCAR's top division. Brothers Bob, Tim, and Fonty Flock were joined on the track by their sister, Ethel Flock Mobley. In her husband's 1948 Cadillac, Ethel not only finished ahead of the other women--in 11th place--but to her eternal delight defeated both Bob and Fonty.

July 10, 1954 – National Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder and center fielder Andre Dawson was born in Miami, Fla. During his career, he played for the Montreal Expos, the Chicago Cubs, the Boston Red Sox and the Florida Marlins. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010.

July 10, 1967 – Army PFC Jimmy Earl Darby of Opp, Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam.

July 10, 1967 - Bobbie Gentry recorded “Ode to Billie Joe.”

July 10, 1969 - The National League was divided up into two baseball divisions.

July 10, 1974 – The officers of Greening Masonic Lodge No. 53 were to be installed by District Lecturer Jesse Byrd at 7:30 a.m.

July 10, 1984 - Pat Poole romped to an easy victory in voting for mayor in Evergreen, Ala. Poole had wide margins in all five council districts as he piled up 945 votes to easily defeat Mayor Lee Smith and W.B. Epperson.

July 10, 1984 - Dwight ‘Doc’ Gooden of the New York Mets became the youngest player to appear in an All-Star Game as a pitcher. He was 19 years, 7 months, and 24 days old.

July 10, 1985 - Coca-Cola resumed selling the old formula of Coke, it was renamed "Coca-Cola Classic." It was also announced that they would continue to sell "New" Coke.

July 10, 1997 – In London, scientists reported the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which supported the "out of Africa theory" of human evolution placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

July 10, 2005 – Hurricane Dennis slammed into the Florida Panhandle, causing billions of dollars in damage.