Today in History for Nov. 25, 2017

Keith Pugh of Evergreen, Ala.

Nov. 25, 885 – During the Siege of Paris, Viking forces sailed the Seine River with a fleet of 300 longships and laid siege to Paris.

Nov. 25, 1692 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft trials, the Massachusetts General Court established a Superior Court to pardon remaining witches.

Nov. 25, 1783 - Nearly three months after the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the American Revolution, the last British soldiers withdrew from New York City, the last British military position in the United States. After the last Redcoat departed New York, U.S. General George Washington entered the city in triumph to the cheers of New Yorkers.

Nov. 25, 1813 – The United Grand Lodge of England was organized.

Nov. 25, 1825 – John Murphy of Monroe County, Ala. was inaugurated Governor of Alabama. Born in 1786 in Robeson County, N.C., he died Sept. 21, 1841 in Clarke County.

Nov. 25, 1829 – John Murphy’s term as Alabama’s governor officially ended.

Nov. 25, 1835 – American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland.

Nov. 25, 1861 – The Confederate Rest section (originally called Soldiers Rest) was added to the New Burial Ground cemetery (now Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile, Ala.) for Confederate soldiers.

Nov. 25, 1861 – During the Civil War, Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of War, ordered captured bridge burners in East Tennessee to be tried and hanged if found guilty.

Nov. 25, 1861 – During the Civil War, the Confederate Naval Department was in the process of converting the USS Merrimack into the Confederate iron-clad, renamed the CSS Virginia. It was a race against time and the USS Monitor, and time was running out for Commander Catesby ap Roger Jones of the Confederate navy. It was well known (at least in the higher reaches of the Confederate Navy Secretary’s office) that the Federal Navy was working on a revolutionary armor-plated warship. The South needed a counterpart, and the solution had been to refloat the partially-burned hulk of a ship called Merrimack which had been sunk in Norfolk Navy Yard when the Federal forces abandoned the area. The parts of the vessel damaged by fire were mostly areas that would have had to be removed to accommodate the new design anyway. The first load of armor plate was on Nov. 25, received by Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory, and sent on to Jones to become the skin of the reborn CSS Virginia.

Nov. 25, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought near Cane Hill and Yellville in Arkansas; at Calhoun, Ky.; and at Clarksville and Henderson’s Station in Tennessee.

Nov. 25, 1862 – During the Civil War, Confederates raided Poolesville, Md., and captured the US steamer Ellis on the New River in North Carolina.

Nov. 25, 1862 – HILLIARD’S LEGION: Hilliard’s Legion arrived in Knoxville from Bridgeport, Ala. and camped in Knoxville for about three weeks.

Nov. 25, 1863 – During the Battle of Missionary Ridge at Missionary Ridge in Tennessee, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant broke the Siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg. The Confederates suffered some 6,600 men killed, wounded and missing, and the Union lost around 5,800. Grant missed an opportunity to destroy the Confederate army when he chose not to pursue the retreating Rebels, but Chattanooga was secured.

Nov. 25, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought in Crawford County, Ark.; at Camp Pratt and Vermillion Bayou in Louisiana; at Big Piney, Farmington and Waynesville in Missouri; near Greenville, N.C.; near Yankeetown, Tenn.; and between Sangster’s and Devereux Stations in Virginia.

November 25, 1863 – HILLIARD’S LEGION: Hilliard’s Legion was dissolved in order to create the 23^rd Alabama Battalion and the 59^th and the 60^th Alabama Infantry regiments. The Second and Fourth Battalions constituted the 59^th Alabama. (Elsewhere in the book, it says that the Second Battalion became the 59^th Alabama Regiment.)

Nov. 25, 1864 – A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan started fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City. Infiltrating the city from Canada, the party led by R. C. Kennedy had contracted with a chemist to manufacture incendiary grenades. These were planted at almost a dozen prominent hotels as well as, peculiarly, Barnum’s Museum. None of the hotel bombs caused any significant damage, and even the one at Barnum’s was promptly put out. Rumors swept the city, including one that implied the chemist intentionally made the bombs defective. Kennedy was eventually arrested, tried and hanged for setting the Barnum’s blaze.

Nov. 25, 1864 – The last issue of The Claiborne Herald newspaper was published in Claiborne, Ala.

Nov. 25, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought near Sandersville, Ga. and with Indians near Plum Creek Station in the Nebraska Territory. An engagement was also fought with Kiowa, Comanche, Arapahoe and Apache Indians at Adobe Forty, on the Canadian River, in the New Mexico Territory.

Nov. 25, 1864 – During the Civil War, an affair took place at Raccourci, near Williamsport, La. where U.S. Navy Lt. Thatcher, commanding the Gazelle, Gunboat, No. 50, was captured and murdered by guerrillas.

Nov. 25, 1865 – German explorer and scholar Heinrich Barth died in Berlin at the age of 44.

Nov. 25, 1881 – Pope Saint John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli in Lombardi, Italy.

Nov. 25, 1895 – Novelist Helen Hooven Santmyer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Nov. 25, 1896 – American composer Virgil Thomson was born.

Nov. 25, 1900 – German SS officer Rudolf Höss was born in Baden-Baden, Germany.

Nov. 25, 1901 – German SS officer Arthur Liebehenschel was born in Posen, German Empire.

Nov. 25, 1909 – Prominent Monroeville, Ala. lawyer Francis W. Hare married Mary Stallworth.

Nov. 25, 1913 – National Book Award-winning physician and essayist Lewis Thomas was born in Flushing, N.Y.

Nov. 25, 1914 – National Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder Joe DiMaggio was born in Martinez, California. He played his entire career for the New York Yankees. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1955.

Nov. 25, 1915 – On this Thanksgiving Thursday, “Monsieur Lecoq,” starring William Morris and Florence LaBadie, was to be shown at the Arcade Theatre in Evergreen, Ala.

Nov. 25, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that E.L. Covan, who lived in northeastern Monroe County, Ala., had killed a 17-month old shoat that dressed out at 522 pounds. The pig was of the Duroc-Bekshire-Tamworth strain. He also killed three older pigs with a combined dressed weight of 1,115 pounds.

Nov. 25, 1915 – Einstein submitted his paper “The Field Equations of Gravitation” for publication. The paper included 10 equations, which made up his Theory of General Relativity.

Nov. 25, 1917 – During World War I, German forces defeated Portuguese army of about 1,200 at Negomano on the border of modern-day Mozambique and Tanzania.

Nov. 25, 1918 - A full two weeks after an armistice ended World War I in Europe, Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck of Germany finally surrendered his forces in German East Africa.

Nov. 25, 1921 - The first play-by-play broadcast of a football game was aired in College Station, Texas via an amateur radio station. The game was between the University of Texas and Texas A&M in Austin.

Nov. 25, 1923 – Former Evergreen mayor Henry Albert “H.A.” Shields passed away at the age of 74 in Evergreen, Ala. Thirty-five years before his death, Shields first came to Evergreen as the roadmaster of the L&N Railroad. He was a leading member of the local Methodist Church and for many years was Sunday School superintendent. He served several terms as Evergreen’s mayor and also served as Evergreen’s town clerk and treasurer. He also served as Worshipful Master of the local Masonic Lodge. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery (and his tombstone says he passed away on Dec. 4, 1923).

Nov. 25, 1926 – The Monroe Journal reported that “syrup mills throughout the county are busy manufacturing sugar cane syrup. The cane crop is not quite up to normal, but is much better than for the last two or three years. Last year the cane was a practical failure, barely enough being produced to furnish seed for this year’s planting.”

Nov. 25, 1926 – Playwright Murray Schisgal was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Nov. 25, 1932 - Judgement of the Wilcox Circuit Court, awarding $10,000 damages to Mrs. Donie C. Dannelly of Camden in a suit against E.W. Berry involving the fatal injury in an automobile accident of her husband, the late Judge Pat M. Dannelly, was affirmed on this Friday by the Alabama Supreme Court. Judge Dannelly, then serving as probate judge of Wilcox County, was killed in an automobile accident on the Montgomery-Mobile highway on the afternoon of Nov. 19, 1931, while he allegedly was a “guest” in Berry’s automobile.

Nov. 25, 1937 - The movie “Nothing Sacred,” story by James H. Street, was released.

Nov. 25, 1937 – Sulestine Battee, a former resident of Evergreen, Ala., was shot to death on this Thanksgiving night in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he’d lived for several years. His body was returned to Evergreen on Nov. 28 for burial.

Nov. 25, 1938 – Playwright and screenwriter Shelagh Delaney was born in Salford, England.

Nov. 25, 1940 - Capt. W.D. Lewis, commander of the Evergreen, Alabama’s national guard unit, Battery C, 117th Field Artillery, ordered all men under his command to report to the armory on this Monday morning at 8 a.m. for “preparatory duty prior to the unit’s departure for Camp Blanding, Fla., where they will spend a year in intensive military training.” About 99 men are expected to make the trip, and the unit was expected to arrive at Blanding on or around Dec. 11, when they were to become a unit in the regular army.

Nov. 25, 1940 – Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs was born in Mocksville, N.C. He went on to serve as head coach for the Washington Redskins. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996.

Nov. 25, 1950 – The Great Appalachian Storm of November 1950, known at the time as the "Storm of the Century", struck New England with hurricane force winds resulting in massive forest blow-downs and storm surge damage along the Northeast coast including New York City. This storm also brought blizzard conditions to the Appalachian Mountains and Ohio Valley, becoming one of the worst storms of all time. The storm paralyzed the Northeast, with winds up to 100 miles per hour, sub-zero temperatures, and 57 inches of snow. Three hundred fifty-three people died in the event.

Nov. 25, 1952 – Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play “The Mousetrap” opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. It would become the longest continuously-running play in history.

Nov. 25, 1960 – John F. Kennedy Jr. was born in Washington, D.C., two weeks after his father, John F. Kennedy Sr. was elected president of the United States. His mother was Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.

Nov. 25, 1963 – NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar was born in Youngstown, Ohio. He would go on to play for the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins.

Nov. 25, 1965 - The first color broadcast of an NFL game aired on CBS. The Detroit Lions and the Baltimore Colts played to a 24-24 tie.

Nov. 25, 1965 – Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter was born in Troy, Ohio. He went on to play for Ohio State, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Minnesota Vikings and the Miami Dolphins. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013.

Nov. 25, 1967 - In the weekly magazine Ave Maria, which hit newstands on this day, the Very Reverend Edward Swanstrom, auxiliary Roman Catholic Bishop of New York and head of Catholic Relief Services, wrote that the overseas relief agency of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States provided funds for sending medical supplies and hospital equipment to North Vietnam.

Nov. 25, 1968 – American geographer and explorer Paul Siple died at the age of 59 at the Army Research Center in Arlington, Virginia.

Nov. 25, 1969 - Communist forces stepped up attacks against U.S. troops shielding Allied installations near the Cambodian border.

Nov. 25, 1971 – The Monroe Journal reported that a vestibule and steeple had been added to the Excel Baptist Church building. Other improvements at the church included new carpet and painting of the auditorium and the addition of a pulpit railing. The Rev. Ernest Thomas was the church’s pastor.

Nov. 25, 1971 – The Monroe Journal reported that construction of Monroeville’s newest office building at the intersection of South Alabama Avenue and Drewry Road had begun and was expected to be completed by Feb. 1, 1972. The complex, which was to consist of 3,000 square feet, housed five offices. The outside of the building was to be brick, featuring columns and a mansard roof design.

  

Nov. 25, 1974 – Monroe Academy football standout Keith Pugh announced that he would sign a scholarship with the University of Alabama on Dec. 14.

Nov. 25, 1976 - O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills ran for 273 yards against the Detroit Lions.

Nov. 25, 1976 – NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb was born in Chicago, Ill. He went on to play college football at Syracuse and was the No. 2 overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. During his NFL career, he played for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Redskins and the Minnesota Vikings.

Nov. 25, 1984 - The television program “The Word Processor of the Gods,” teleplay by Alabama author Robert McDowell, was broadcast as part of the “Tales from the Darkside” series.

Nov. 25, 1986 – The Monroe County Commission and Probate Judge Otha Lee Biggs agreed to appoint a committee to oversee and raise money for the renovation of the Old Monroe County Courthouse. The committee was to have 13 members, that is, two from each of the county’s four commission districts and one from each of the county’s five municipalities.

Nov. 25, 1986 – Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that proceeds from secret arms sales to Iran were illegally diverted to support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Nov. 25, 2000 – Pensacola, Fla. firefighter Marvin M. Bartholemew was killed in the line of duty.

Nov. 25, 2002 - Pete Rose and Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig met secretly to discuss Rose's lifetime ban from baseball.

Nov. 25, 2008 – Uriah, Ala. native Lambert C. Mims, who served four terms as Mobile’s mayor, passed away in Mobile, Ala. at the age of 78. Born on April 20, 1930 at Uriah, he was the mayor and public works commissioner for the City of Mobile from 1965 to 1985. He is buried in the Pine Crest Cemetery in Mobile.