Today in History for June 28, 2017

June 28, 1635 - The French colony of Guadeloupe was established in the Caribbean.

June 28, 1703 – John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England.

June 28, 1712 – Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva.

June 28, 1768 – Early Wilcox County pioneer, planter and Freemason Thomas Bivin Creagh was born in Albemarle County, Va. He founded the historic Creagh-Glover Family Cemetery near Catherine and also served as Grand Master of the Alabama Grand Lodge for three consecutive terms.

June 28, 1773 - Off the coast of South Carolina, British Commodore Sir Peter Parker, aboard the HMS Bristol opened fire on the Patriot fortification at Sullivan's Island. The Patriots only suffered minor casualties while the cost to the British was 261 injured or dead.

June 28, 1775 – Outstanding American Revolutionary soldier Marinus Willett of New York was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel. He would go on to become the 48th Mayor of New York City.

June 28, 1776 – The Battle of Sullivan's Island ended with the first decisive American victory in the American Revolutionary War as American colonists repulsed a British sea attack on Charleston, S.C. and leading to the commemoration of Carolina Day.

June 28, 1776 - A draft of the formal Declaration of Independence, known as the “Lee Resolution,” was presented to the Continental Congress.

June 28, 1776 – Thomas Hickey, Continental Army private and bodyguard to General George Washington, was hanged for mutiny and sedition.

June 28, 1778 – The American Continentals engaged the British in the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse, resulting in a standstill and British withdrawal under cover of darkness. Mary "Molly Pitcher" Hays McCauley, wife of an American artilleryman, carried water to the soldiers during the Battle of Monmouth and, supposedly, took her husband's place at his gun after he was overcome with heat.

June 28, 1813 – General Flournoy ordered Brigadier General Ferdinand L. Claiborne, with his 600 Mississippi volunteers, to march from Baton Rouge to Mount Vernon, in order to be ready there “to repel any attack that may be made on any part of the frontier of the Mississippi Territory, either from Indians, Spaniards or English.” Leaving Baton Rouge on June 28, the brigade reached Mount Vernon on July 30. The defense of Mobile, Ala. was to be Claiborne’s primary concern.

June 28, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette crossed into Vermont at the Cornish Bridge early in the morning. He traveled north, passing through Woodstock at 11a.m., taking a stagecoach through the mountains to Barnard and Royalton. He passed through Randolph; where he is said to have met a young Justin S. Morrill and eventual Senator Dudley Chase. He was escorted with Governor Cornelius P. Van Ness and others through Barre to large festivities in Montpelier that included speeches by supreme Court Judge Elijah Paine and others. He spent the night in Montpelier at The Pavilion, an historic and politically important structure.

June 28, 1836 – The last of the Founding Fathers, James Madison, the fourth President of the United States, died at the age of 85 on his tobacco plantation in Orange, Va. and was buried in the Madison Family Cemetery at Montpelier. He was a drafter of the Constitution, recorder of the Constitutional Convention and author of the "Federalist Papers.”

June 28, 1838 – The coronation of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom took place.

June 28, 1857 - Emerson Hough, one of the most successful writers of adventure novels of the romantic western genre, was born in Newton, Iowa.

June 28, 1862 - Confederates captured the commercial vessel St. Nicholas on Chesapeake Bay. The plan was the brainchild of George Hollins and Richard Thomas Zarvona, who hatched a plan to capture the St. Nicholas and use it to marshal other Yankee ships into Confederate service.

June 28, 1862 – During the Civil War, Farragut’s fleet successfully ran the batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the first attempt to take the city. This action proved two points: A fleet could pass powerful land batteries without suffering excessive damage and it was going to take more than naval power to take Vicksburg.

June 28, 1862 – During the Civil War, fighting continued between Union and Confederate forces during the Seven Days' campaign.

June 28, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Blackland, Miss. and at Sparta, Tenn.

June 28, 1862 – During the Civil War, a two-day Federal operation began in Johnson County, Missouri.

June 28, 1862 – During the Civil War, Federals evacuated James Island, South Carolina.

June 28, 1863 - U.S. President Lincoln appointed General George G. Meade as commander of the Army of the Potomac. Meade, who replaced General Hooker, was the fifth man to command the Army in less than a year. Meade received the orders at 7:00 in the morning at Frederick, Md.

June 28, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Russellville, Kentucky; at Donaldsville, Louisiana; near Seneca and another at Rockville Maryland; at Plymouth and Nichol’s Mills, North Carolina; at Fountain Dale, Oyster Point, Columbia, and Wrightsville, Pennsylvania; at Rover, Tennessee; and on the Little River Turnpike, Virginia.

June 28, 1863 – During the Civil War, the siege at Vicksburg, Miss. entered Day 41.

June 28, 1863 – During the Civil War, Robert E Lee learned the Federals were north of the Potomac. He ordered Longstreet, Hill and Ewell to march toward Gettysburg and Cashtown. Early entered York, Pennsylvania.

June 28, 1863 – During the Civil War, in Georgia, Joe Johnston’s men prepared new defensive positions along the Chattahoochee River, to the rear of the Kennesaw line.

June 28, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Tunnel Hill, Georgia and at Howlett’s Bluff, Virginia.

June 28, 1865 – During the Civil War, the CSS Shenandoah stopped taking Federal whalers in the Bering Sea.

June 28, 1865 – The Army of the Potomac was disbanded.

June 28, 1874 - The Freedmen's Bank, created to assist former slaves in the United States, closed. Customers of the bank lost $3 million.

June 28, 1888 – Robert Louis Stevenson set sail for the South Seas about the schooner yacht Casco.

June 28, 1902 – Elijah Byrd Jenkins, who was aboard the CSS Selma when it was captured at the Battle of Mobile Bay, filed for his Confederate pension in Wilcox County. Jenkins was born in Wilcox County on Dec. 13, 1842 to Thomas Jenkins and wife. At the age of 19, he enlisted on Nov. 1, 1862 in Montgomery as a private with Co. K 1st Ala. Artillery. He re-enlisted on Feb. 11, 1863 at Port Hudson, La. with Co. K, 1st Ala. Artillery before joining the Confederate Navy and transferring to serve aboard the CSS Selma on March 5, 1864, served on that ship until it was captured at the Battle of Mobile Bay. He was then imprisoned at Ship Island, Miss. for the rest of the war. Elijah Jenkins is buried at New Hope Cemetery at Dottelle.

June 28, 1902 – The U.S. Congress passed the Spooner Act, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from Colombia for the Panama Canal.

June 28, 1902 – Composer and lyricist Richard Rodgers was born in Queens. His collaborations with Oscar Hammerstein and Lorenz Hart revolutionized American musical theater and resulted in the classic musicals Pal Joey (1940), Oklahoma! (1943), South Pacific (1949), and The Sound of Music (1959).

June 28, 1904 - John S. McDuffie of River Ridge in Monroe County, Ala. was shot and killed during an argument with Edward English. McDuffie was one of the captures of famous train robber, Rube Burrow.

June 28, 1906 – The Monroe Journal reported that Miss Callie Faulk was teaching a “flourishing” school at Franklin, Ala.

June 28, 1906 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from the Activity community, that the smallpox was “raging” near Simpkinsville, and that it had been reported that Mr. Willie Chatman had lost his wife to the disease.

June 28, 1906 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from the Excel community, that Marvin E. Rooks of Orange Hill, Fla. and Miss Corrie King of Mexia, had been elected to teach the school there that fall.

June 28, 1909 – Eric Ambler, the first author to write stories about international espionage that were based on real life, was born in London.

June 28, 1914 – In an event that is widely regarded as sparking the outbreak of World War I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, was shot to death with his wife by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

June 28, 1915 – On this Monday morning, Judge Gamble came to Evergreen, Ala. and arranged for a special term of the Conecuh County Circuit Court to try John Salter and Robert Watkins who made a full confession to the brutal murder of Martha Lassiter, the attempted murder of Wiley House and the robbery and burning of House’s residence near Burnt Corn on June 23, 2015.

June 28, 1916 - A storm passed through H.H. Watkins’ place at Pineapple on this Wednesday, “blowing lights out of his front hall and felling some timber,” according to The Monroe Journal.

June 28, 1919 – The Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending the state of war between Germany and the Allies of World War I.

June 28, 1928 – Repton’s baseball team beat Castleberry, 6-2, in Castleberry, Ala. on this Thursday. Warren Kelly, Bradley, Andrews and B. Kelly pitched for Repton, and Loris Hyde and Voline pitched for Castleberry. Haskew Page and Holland led Repton at the plate.

June 28, 1928 – Louis Armstrong and his band, the Hot Five, recorded “West End Blues.”

June 28, 1928 – The Evergreen Courant reported that at a recent meeting of the Conecuh Lodge No. 733 of the Masonic Order at Belleville, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: J.E. Tate, worshipful master; A.L. Riggs, senior warden; J.D. Skinner, junior warden; J.T. Livingston, treasurer; H.S. Barlow, secretary; J.P. Bradley, senior deacon; H.F. Skinner, junior deacon; S.P. Lindsey, chaplain; J.E. Baggett, senior steward; J.M. Conner, junior steward; J.A. Reid, marshal; W.R. Burt, tyler.

June 28, 1928 – The Monroe Journal reported that, competing with 450 boys of the Alabama Industrial School, Robert Baggett, son of Mr. and Mrs. L.C. Baggett of Monroeville, was recently awarded a medal for being the second-best commander in a military drill and review staged in honor of Governor Bibb Graves. About 2,000 people from different parts of the state were present. The medal was awarded by John S. Tilley, secretary to the governor and member of his staff.

June 28, 1928 – The Monroe Journal reported that Lucian Jones had returned from Birmingham where he spent several days with his mother who had been quite sick.

June 28, 1936 – Monroeville’s baseball team beat the Flomaton-Century team, 12-10, on this Sunday in Century, Fla.

June 28, 1942 – During World War II, Nazi Germany started its strategic summer offensive against the Soviet Union, codenamed Case Blue.

June 28, 1945 – The Monroe Journal reported, under the headline “HORNADY LOSES FINE MILK COW,” that during the previous week, George Hornady lost a good milk cow under peculiar circumstances. The cow had been treated by a veterinarian for some time but no sign of improvement was apparent. Hornady killed the cow and on examination he found a piece of hay wire embedded in her heart.

June 28, 1945 – The Monroe Journal reported that Pfc. Thomas D. Frye was at home on furlough after spending 15 months in a German prison. He enlisted in the Army in 1940. Following his furlough period, he was to go to a redistribution center for further assignment.

June 28, 1946 – Actress and comedian Gilda Radner was born in Detroit.

June 28, 1947 - Four Army officers at Maxwell airfield in Montgomery, Ala. claimed that they saw “an unusual circular object perform inconceivable midair maneuvers for more than 20 minutes.” That same day, an Army F-51 Mustang pilot near Lake Meade, Nevada claimed to have seen five circular objects pass him off his right wing. In Wisconsin on that same day, two farmers said that they saw 10 “saucer-shaped objects” fly over at high speed.

June 28, 1951 – Monroeville’s baseball team suffered a 7-4 loss to Thomasville on this Thursday night in Monroeville.

June 28, 1953 – The Evergreen Greenies baseball team was scheduled to play the Brewton Millers at Brooks Field on this Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.

June 28, 1958 - A movie version of Alabama author Joe David Brown's book “Kings Go Forth” was released.

June 28, 1960 – Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway was born in Port Angeles, Washington. He went on to play for Stanford and the Denver Broncos. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004.

June 28, 1962 – National Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane passed away at the age of 59 in Lake Forest, Ill. During his career, he played for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Detroit Tigers and managed the Tigers from 1934 to 1938. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1947.

June 28, 1962 - The Indians gained their first victory of the season on this Thursday night as the Tigers fell, 4-3, in Evergreen. The loss cost the Tigers their hold on first place. The Indians scored twice in the first on two errors, a hit batsman and a single by Jimmy Weaver. Mike Fields and Joe Sasser led off the Tiger second with singles. An error allowed Sasser’s hit to roll to the fence and two runs scored on the play. Jimmy Warren rapped an inside-the-park homer with one on as the Indians made it 4-2 in their half of the second. Singles by Sid Lambert and ‘Bubba’ Faulkner and an error got one more run for the losers in the third. Paul Deason went the distance for the win. Faulkner pitched a three-hitter and all four Indian runs were unearned as he also went all the way.

June 28, 1962 - The Braves regained first place in the Evergreen Senior League on this Thursday night as they edged the Pirates, 3-2. The Braves tied in the second on singles by Ronnie Jackson, Johnny Brown, a passed ball, an error and won it in the third on a walk, two errors and a single by Terry Coleman.

June 28, 1965 - In the first major offensive ordered for U.S. forces, 3,000 troops of the 173rd Airborne Brigade – in conjunction with 800 Australian soldiers and a Vietnamese airborne unit – assaulted a jungle area known as Viet Cong Zone D, 20 miles northeast of Saigon.

June 28, 1970 - Author Ace Atkins was born in Troy, Ala.

June 28, 1971 – Austrian SS officer Franz Stangl died of heart failure at the age of 63 in Düsseldorf, West Germany.

June 28, 1972 - President Nixon announced that no more draftees would be sent to Vietnam unless they volunteered for such duty. He also announced that a force of 10,000 troops would be withdrawn by September 1, which would leave a total of 39,000 in Vietnam.

June 28, 1973 – The Evergreen Rotary Club installed its new slate of officers during a meeting at noon on this Thursday at the Evergreen United Methodist Church in Evergreen, Ala. The officers were Treasurer James Ansley, Secretary David Hyde, Past President Emmett Dale, President Fred Stevens and Vice President Luther Gowder.

June 28, 1974 – Dr. Hugh Clingman Fountain, 94, passed away in the Evergreen Nursing Home in Evergreen, Ala. An active Freemason, he practiced dentistry for over 60 years, including over 50 years in Evergreen after moving to Evergreen from Burnt Corn.

June 28, 1975 - More than 300 members of Detachment 1, 778^th Maintenance Co. of the Alabama National Guard, including men from Monroeville, Evergreen and Jackson, were scheduled to leave this Saturday for summer camp at Camp Shelby, Miss. One officer, two warrant officers and 78 enlisted men from Monroeville will be in the group, which was to return on July 12.

June 28, 1984 – The Monroe Journal reported that Excel High’s head football coach Keith Holley had decided that after nine years of “both the good and bad” of coaching, it was time to make a change. Holley officially resigned from Excel June 8. Holley came to Excel in April of 1982 from Gallman, Miss., where he served Copiah Academy as head football coach. Holley succeeded head football coach Lee Holladay, who had held the helm for 14 years.

June 28, 1987 – For the first time in military history, a civilian population was targeted for chemical attack when Iraqi warplanes bombed the Iranian town of Sardasht.

June 28, 1990 - Alabama author Carter Crocker won a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Animated Program for his work as story editor for the television series “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.”

June 28, 1990 – The Monroe Journal reported that Uriah had collected its first Babe Ruth Baseball championship since 1975 during the past week when the team defeated Beatrice, Frisco City and Excel in South Monroe Babe Ruth Baseball League action in Frisco City. The members of the 1990 championship team were Wontwyn Montgomery, Kevin Colbert, Jackie Ray Brown, Patrick Redditt, Rusty Lilley, John Murray Ikner, John Jay, Jonathan Conway, J.D. Maples, Brad McKinley, Shane Qualls, Jesse Wiggins, Ted Bradley, Travis Flowers, Brian Johnson and Eric Byrd. Coaches included Mike Qualls and Paul Akins.

June 28, 1990 – The Monroe Journal reported that the Monroeville City Council during the past week had elected a new mayor pro tempore. Anne H. Farish, a real estate broker who had served as a council member since 1984, was elected to replace Jim Davis. Davis was to remain as a councilman, but he said his schedule as an employee of Alabama River Newsprint Co. made it difficult to perform the additional duties of mayor pro tem.

  

June 28, 1993 – This Monday saw the end of an era and the beginning of a new one as Carter Hardware officially became Home Center Plus in Evergreen. Twenty-two years after he purchased what was then Persons Hardware, Alvin Carter sold his business to Gerald Salter.

June 28, 1996 - Darryl Strawberry hit his 300th home run.

June 28, 1997 – The Evergreen Little League All Stars were scheduled to open play in the district tournament against the Opp All Stars on this Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. in Brewton, Ala. The members of Evergreen’s team included Jeremy Anderson, Josh Bates, Jonathan Booth, Bryan Boykin, Wiley Cobb, Christopher Garner, Anthony Maxwell, Thomas Nielsen, Matt Robinson, Jonathan Rodgers, Eric Taylor, Josh Watson and Joe Windham.

June 28, 2000 - Jeff Cirillo of the Colorado Rockies hit three home runs and a double against San Francisco.

June 28, 2004 – Sovereign power was handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation.