Beatrice, Ala. Train Depot |
Nov. 16, 1532 – Francisco Pizarro and his men, including
Hernando de Soto, captured Inca Emperor Atahualpa at the Battle of Cajamarca.
Nov. 16, 1643 – French-English jeweler and explorer Jean Chardin
was born in Paris, France.
Nov. 16, 1776 – During the American Revolutionary War, 5,000
British Redcoats and 3,000 Hessian mercenaries captured Fort Washington (in New
York City) from the Patriots, who were under the command of Col. Robert Magaw.
Nov. 16, 1776 – During the American Revolution, the United
Provinces (Low Countries) recognized the independence of the United States.
Nov. 16, 1777 – During the American Revolution, American
forces abandoned Fort Mifflin, Pa.
Nov. 16, 1779 – Finnish botanist and explorer Pehr Kalm died
at Turku, Finland at the age of 63.
Nov. 16, 1802 – French botanist and explorer André Michaux
died in Madagascar at the age of 56.
Nov. 16, 1813 – During the Creek War, General Ferdinand
Claiborne’s main force, which was traveling east, arrived at the Alabama River.
The next day, they ferried across, and on Weatherford’s Bluff, in the “best
part of the enemy’s country,” they built a post that the general named for
himself – Fort Claiborne. From this strategic spot, Claiborne reported, they
could “cut the savages off from the river, and from their growing crops… (and)
render their communication with Pensacola more hazardous.”
Nov. 16, 1841 – A meeting was held to reorganized and
restore the charter of Alabama Lodge No. 3 in Monroe County, Ala. after Masonry
was halted in the 1830s when the Grand Lodge of Alabama extinguished its lights
for two years due to anti-Masonic sentiment.
Nov. 16, 1855 – David Livingstone became the first European
to see the Victoria Falls in what is now present-day Zambia-Zimbabwe.
Nov. 16, 1859 – Two brothers, Irvin and Stephen Ward, robbed
and killed Allen Page, who was traveling the Federal Road in Conecuh County,
Ala. with John Wright after selling their cotton at Claiborne. A posse caught
the brothers, who confessed. They were hung two days later.
Nov. 16, 1861 – During the Civil
War, a skirmish was fought at Doolan’s Farm, Va. in the vicinity of Taylor’s
Corner and Falls Church, Va.
Nov. 16, 1862 – During the Civil
War, a six-day Federal expedition from Helena to Arkansas Post in Arkansas
began. Two days of operations around Cassville and Keetsville in Missouri also
began. Skirmishes were also fought at Chester Gap and Gloucester Point in Virginia.
Nov. 16, 1863 – During the Civil War, at the Battle of
Campbell’s Station, Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside held off
Confederates under General James Longstreet near Knoxville, Tennessee. Campbell
Station was the first engagement of Longstreet’s attempt to capture Knoxville,
an area of intense anti-Confederate sentiment. The Union lost 318 men killed
and wounded; the Confederates lost 174.
Nov. 16, 1863 – During the Civil
War, a two-day Federal expedition from Vidalia to Trinity in Louisiana began.
Nov. 16, 1863 – During the Civil
War, an engagement was fought between U.S. monitors and Sullivan's Island
Batteries in South Carolina.
Nov. 16, 1863 – During the Civil
War, Union Major General Nathaniel Banks occupied Corpus Christi, Texas.
Nov. 16, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Germantown, Edenburg, Woodstock and Mount
Jackson in Virginia; and near Burlington, W.Va.
Nov. 16, 1864 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred at
Shoal Creek, Ala.
Nov. 16, 1864 – During the Civil
War, a three-day Federal reconnaissance from Devall’s Bluff to West Point in Arkansas
began.
Nov. 16, 1864 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought with Indians in the vicinity of Fort Lyon in the
Colorado Territory; at Lovejoy Station, Cotton River Bridge, and Bear Creek
Station in Georgia; at Strawberry Plains, Tenn.; and near Lee's Mill, Va.
Nov. 16, 1864 – During the Civil
War, a two-day Federal expedition from Barrancas to Pin Barren Bridge in Florida
began.
Nov. 16, 1864 – During the Civil
War, the last of the two wings of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s army pulled
out of Atlanta on this day, leaving the city a smoking ruin behind them. In a
calculated move to, as Sherman said, bring the realities of the battlefield’s
suffering to the civilians who supported the troops, a new style of war
targeting the home front was invented. From this point forward Sherman’s troops
would carry no supplies but ammunition, and tents for those who wanted to carry
them. They would live off the land entirely, taking or destroying everything in
their path. The bitterness this “dishonorable” style of war left in the hearts
of Georgians was immense.
Nov. 16, 1864 – During the Civil
War, a 10-day Federal expedition from Brookville that included Keytesville and
Salisbury in Missouri began. A nine-day Federal operation to suppress guerilla
activity from Cape Girardeau to Patterson in Missouri began.
Nov. 16, 1873 - W. C. Handy was born in Florence, Ala.
Handy brought the sounds of African-American blues to mainstream culture when
he composed a song in 1909 that became known as “The Memphis Blues.” Handy,
known as “Father of the Blues,” had a long career that yielded many other blues
hits, such as “Beale Street Blues” and “St. Louis Blues.” Handy died in 1958.
Nov. 16, 1875 - Alabama’s Constitution of 1875 was ratified.
The Bourbon Democrats, or "Redeemers," having claimed to “redeem” the
Alabama people from the Reconstruction rule of carpetbaggers and scalawags,
wrote a new constitution to replace the one of 1868. It was a conservative
document that gave the Democrats, and especially Black Belt planters, a firm
grip on their recently reacquired control of state government.
Nov. 16, 1876 – The Pickens County Courthouse in Carrollton,
Ala., soon after its completion, caught fire. When evidence suggested arson,
Carrollton’s citizens set out on a manhunt – but they also immediately began
building a new courthouse. Former slave Henry Wells was eventually arrested for
burning the courthouse.
Nov. 16, 1889 – Playwright and director George S. Kaufman
was born in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Nov. 16, 1899 – Mary Margaret McBride, known as the "First Lady of Radio," was born
in Paris, Missouri.
Nov. 16, 1905 - More than 40 tickets were sold at the train
depot in Beatrice, Ala. to persons going to Selma to the fair.
Nov. 16, 1907 – The Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory
joined to form Oklahoma, which is admitted as the 46th U.S. state.
Nov. 16, 1910 – The first funeral service was held at Oak
Grove Baptist Church between Repton and Belleville in Conecuh County, Ala., for
church member William H. Ballard, who for years was the only grave in the
church cemetery.
Nov. 16, 1913 – The first volume of Marcel Proust’s “In
Search of Lost Time” was published.
Nov. 16, 1914 - The fall term of the Monroe County, Ala.
circuit court convened under Judge John T. Lackland with Solicitor McDuffie
representing the state. The murder trial against Torrey Puryear was set to
start on Nov. 25, and the murder trial against Jim Sampson was set for Nov. 27.
Nov. 16, 1914 - The Federal Reserve opened its doors as the
quasi-national bank in the United States, much to the chagrin of many who saw
it as a dangerous consolidation of power.
Nov. 16, 1914 - In Germany, a small group of intellectuals
led by the physician Georg Nicolai launch Bund Neues Vaterland, the New
Fatherland League.
Nov. 16, 1920 – H.P. Lovecraft completed his short story,
“From Beyond,” which was originally published in Issue No. 10 of “The Fantasy
Fan” in June 1934.
Nov. 16, 1922 – Nobel Prize-winning novelist Jose Saramago
was born in a small village northeast of Lisbon, Portugal.
Nov. 16, 1930 – Author Chinua Achebe was born in Ogidi,
Nigeria. He is best known for his 1958 novel, “Things Fall Apart.”
Nov. 16, 1940 – According to the Alabama Journal, Evergreen
and Birmingham tied for the second coldest spots in the entire state of Alabama
with a reported low temperature of 15 degrees.
Nov. 16, 1940
– During the Holocaust, in occupied Poland, the Nazis closed off the Warsaw
Ghetto from the outside world.
Nov. 16, 1945 - Project Paperclip saw the United States
"import" 88 German scientists to assist in rocket development. Many
in the parapolitical research community point to this dubious event as the
start of an infiltration of America by darker forces.
Nov. 16, 1950 – The Monroe Journal reported that
Monroeville, Ala. postmistress Emma Yarbrough had announced that 125 new post
office boxes were being installed in the Monroeville Post Office to help
alleviate the shortage of post office boxes in the city. Installation work was
expected to be completed in about 30 days. At this time, there was no mail
delivery service in Monroeville, and the rapid growth of the town had led to a
shortage in post office boxes.
Nov. 16, 1950 – The Monroe Journal reported that practically
all the private papers taken during the burglary of the W.M. Thompson general
store at Fountain, Ala. on the night of Nov. 6 had been recovered, although no
arrests had been made. The papers were recovered during the previous week in a
small creek near Greenville, Monroe Sheriff E.E. Nicholas reported. A school
boy spotted part of the papers floating down the creek and most of the papers
taken from the safe, with the exception of some bonds and stocks, were
recovered after the youth notified Butler County officers of his discovery.
Nov. 16, 1952 - In the “Peanuts” comic strip, Lucy first
held a football for Charlie Brown.
Nov. 16, 1954 – National Book Award-winning fiction author
Andrea Barrett was born in Boston, Mass.
Nov. 16, 1955 -The television program “The Final Tribute,”
teleplay by Alabama author Octavus Roy Cohen, was broadcast.
Nov. 16, 1957 - Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns set an NFL
season rushing record of 1,163 yards after only eight games.
Nov. 16, 1957 - Notre Dame beat Oklahoma, 7-0, ending the
Sooners’ 47-game, 1,512-day college football winning streak. The game also
marked the first time in more than 120 games that Oklahoma didn’t score a
single point.
Nov. 16, 1959 - The New York Times published a 300-word
account of the Clutter family murders, and this short story interested Truman
Capote so much that he decided to investigate the murders. The result was his
book, “In Cold Blood.”
Nov. 16, 1961 – Ivey T. Booker, who was the Chairman of
Conecuh County Board of Directors, allegedly attacked Clinton Brown with a
battery cable while Brown was on the picket line at Southern Coach and Body
Co., Inc. on this Thursday morning in Evergreen. The incident occurred after
Booker found a quantity of nails in the drive at his residence early that same
day. Booker was charged with assault and battery, and Brown was said to have
had severe injuries to his back and head.
Nov. 16, 1961 - President John F.
Kennedy decided to increase military aid to South Vietnam without committing
U.S. combat troops.
Nov. 16, 1964 – Major League Baseball pitcher Dwight Gooden
was born in Tampa, Fla. He would go on to play for the New York Mets, New York
Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Devils Rays.
Nov. 16, 1966 – The “Mothman” was first reported in the
Point Pleasant Register on this date under the headline “Couples See Man-Sized
Bird… Creature… Something.”
Nov. 16, 1966 – English journalist, author and explorer
Tahir Shah was born in London, England.
Nov. 16, 1969 - U.S. President Nixon became the first
president to attend a regular season National Football League game while in office.
The Dallas Cowboys beat the Washington Redskins, 41-28.
Nov. 16, 1970 – Army SFC Charles Rayford Sellers, a 42-year-old
native of Monroeville, was killed in action at Bein Hoa, Vietnam while serving
with the 125th Air Traffic Control Company, 165th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation
Brigade. It was reported that he was killed by friendly hand grenade that was
thrown into his building. His body was later recovered. Sellers, who served in
the army for 24 years, is on panel 6W, line 65 of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in
Washington D.C. Sellers was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Meritorious
Service, the Army Commendation Medal(s), the National Defense Service Medal(s),
the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Vietnamese
Gallantry Cross Unit Citation. Sellers was buried in the Fort Bragg Main Post
Cemetery at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Nov. 16, 1970 - South Vietnamese
Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky, speaking at the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point, said Cambodia would be overrun by communist forces “within 24 hours” if
South Vietnamese troops currently operating there were withdrawn.
Nov. 16, 1971 - As the fighting got
closer to Phnom Penh, the United States stepped up its air activities in
support of the Cambodian government. U.S. helicopter gunships struck at North
Vietnamese emplacements at Tuol Leap, 10 miles north of Phnom Penh.
Nov. 16, 1974 – J.U. Blacksher School at Uriah, Ala. was
scheduled to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a parade, alumni meeting,
banquet and homecoming football game. The alumni meeting was scheduled to begin
at 4 p.m. and Blacksher’s first graduating class – the Class of 1925 – was to
be recognized. Former student A.G. “Buddy” Simmons of Decatur was to be the
guest speaker. Later that night, Blacksher’s football team, led by head coach
Buddy Rhodes, defeated Pensacola Liberal Arts, 28-14.
Nov. 16, 1974 - The Fort Dale Academy Warriors downed the
Sparta Warriors, 38-28, in the Veterans Bowl at the Greenville school on this
Saturday night. Bruce Hutcheson topped the Sparta runners with a net of 86
yards. Walker Scott had 70 and Sam Skipper, 68.
Nov. 16, 1981 – NFL defensive end and outside linebacker Osi
Umenyiora was born in London England. He went on to play at Auburn High School,
Troy University, the New York Giants and the Atlanta Falcons.
Nov. 16, 1982 - An agreement was announced on the 57th day
of a strike by National Football League players.
Nov. 16, 1992 – Conecuh County (Ala.) Probate Judge Rogene
Booker delivered the oath of office to the incoming Conecuh County Board of
Education. Members of the school board included Jean Harter, Willene Whatley,
David Cook, Robert J. Floyd and Johnny F. Atkins. Floyd was chairman, and Cook
was vice-chairman.
Nov. 16, 1997 - The 100th episode of "X-Files"
aired on FOX.
Nov. 16, 1997 - Morton Anderson of the New Orleans Saints
became only the fifth player in NFL history to reach 1,600 career points when
he kicked an extra point.
Nov. 16, 1998 - Roger Clemens of the Toronto Blue Jays became
the first pitcher to win five Cy Young Awards.
Nov. 16, 2001 - The movie "Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone" opened in the U.S. and U.K.
Nov. 16, 2001 – Monroe Academy won its sixth state football
title with a 33-12 win over Bessemer Academy thanks to touchdowns touchdowns by
Karl James (K.J.) Lazenby, Jeff Wasden and Tyler Dawson.
Nov. 16, 2004 - President George W. Bush nominated National
Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to serve as Secretary of State. The
Birmingham native was the first African American woman to serve in that office.
She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 26, 2005.
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