April 4, 1581 – Francis Drake was knighted for completing a
circumnavigation of the world.
April 4, 1776 - General George Washington began marching his
unpaid soldiers from their headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. They headed toward
New York in anticipation of a British invasion.
April 4, 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivered his first
paleontological lecture at École Centrale du Pantheon of the National Museum of
Natural History on living and fossil remains of elephants and related species,
founding the science of Paleontology.
April 4, 1812 - The territory of Orleans became the 18th
U.S. state and would become known as Louisiana.
April 4, 1818 – The United States Congress adopted the flag
of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state
(then 20). It was agreed that a new star would be added for the each new state.
April 4–6, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the
Marquis de Lafayette's party boarded two boats, the Balize and the Henderson,
and made its way over the Alabama River through Selma, Ala., through the
ill-fated, newly platted capital city of Cahaba and then met with members of
the French Vine and Olive refugee colony (from near present day Demopolis). The
Party made a brief stop in Claiborne on April 6.
April 4, 1826 – Young M. Rabb was born at Old Town in
Conecuh County, Ala. He would go on to become an Evergreen Baptist Church
deacon, planter, businessman, county commissioner, timber man and author of
“The Early History of What is Known as the Evergreen Beat.”
April 4, 1840 – The dispensation (organizational meeting)
for Greening Lodge No. 53 was held and would lead to the lodge’s charter being
granted on Dec. 9, 1841.
April 4, 1841 – William Henry Harrison, 68, died of
pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office
and with the shortest term served. Vice President John Tyler became President
upon Harrison's death. Harrison had been sworn in only a month before he died
in Washington, D.C.
April 4, 1850 – El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los
Angeles del Río de Porciúncula, better known today as Los Angeles, was
incorporated as a city.
April 4, 1859 - Daniel Emmett and Bryant’s Minstrels
introduced the song "I Wish I was in Dixie’s Land,” which is also known as
“Dixie,” in the finale of a show in New York City. About two years later the
song became the Civil War song of the Confederacy.
April 4, 1862 - In the U.S., the Battle of Yorktown began as
Union General George B. McClellan closed in on Richmond, Va.
April 4, 1865 - According to the recollection of one of his
friends, Ward Hill Lamon, President Abraham Lincoln dreamed on this night in
1865 of “the subdued sobs of mourners” and a corpse lying on a catafalque in
the White House East Room. In the dream, Lincoln asked a soldier standing guard
“Who is dead in the White House?” to which the soldier replied, “the
President.he was killed by an assassin.” Lincoln woke up at that point. On
April 11, he told Lamon that the dream had “strangely annoyed” him ever since.
Ten days after having the dream, Lincoln was shot dead by an assassin while
attending the theater.
April 4, 1865 – Union troops occupied Tuscaloosa, Ala. and
raided the University of Alabama campus.
April 4, 1865 – During the Civil War, a day after Union
forces captured Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visited the
Confederate capital. During a stop at the Confederate White House, he sat for a
few moments at the desk of Jefferson Davis.
April 4, 1875 – German explorer and geographer of Africa
Karl Mauch passed away at the age of 37 at Stuttgart in modern-day Germany. He
reported on the archaeological ruins of Great Zimbabwe in 1871 during his
search for the biblical land of Ophir.
April 4, 1884 – James M. Robertson, who served in Co. E, 4th
Ala. Infantry during the Civil War, died. He is buried in Robertson Family
Cemetery in Conecuh County, Ala.
April 4, 1888 – Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder and
manager Tris Speaker was born in Hubbard, Texas. He would go on to play for the
Boston Americans/Red Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Washington Senators and
the Philadelphia Athletics and manage the Indians from 1916 to 1926. He was
inducted into the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.
April 4, 1911 – A big storm, one of the worst in years,
struck Evergreen on this night with high winds and over six inches of rain. No
damage of any importance was done, except that many farmers reported that their
land was badly washed and crops damaged to some extent.
April 4, 1914 – “The Perils of Pauline,” the first known
serialized moving picture, opened in New York City.
April 4, 1914 – Writer Marguerite Duras was born in a small
village in French Indochina near what is now Saigon, Vietnam. Her most famous
works include 1984’s “The Lover.”
April 4, 1915 – Blues legend Muddy Waters was born in
Rolling Fork, Miss.
April 4, 1915 – Gerald D. Salter, who was born and raised in
Evergreen, Ala., passed away in Montgomery after a brief illness. He was a
longtime employee of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.
April 4, 1924 – Major League Baseball first baseman Gil
Hodges was born in Princeton, Indiana. He would go on to play for the
Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets. He later managed the
Washington Senators and the Mets.
April 4, 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) was founded in
Germany. It grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the largest and
most powerful organizations in the Third Reich. The SS, along with the Nazi
Party, was declared a criminal organization by the International Military
Tribunal, and was banned in Germany after 1945.
April 4, 1930 – In Conecuh County, Ala., around noon, Mrs.
Will Bolden found the body of her 16-year-old sister-in-law Emma Lizzie Bolden
suspended from a rafter by a short piece of rope at the home of her brother,
Will Bolden. When found, she wasn’t dead, but lived only about 20 minutes after
she was found. Funeral services were held the following day at Mt. Zion and she
was buried in that church’s cemetery.
April 4, 1942 – Major League Baseball shortstop and manager
Jim Fregosi was born in San Francisco, Calif. He went on to play for the Los
Angeles/California Angels, the New York Mets, the Texas Rangers and the Pittsburgh
Pirates. He would later manage the Angels, the Chicago White Sox, the
Philadelphia Phillies and the Toronto Blue Jays.
April 4, 1943 – Major League Baseball first baseman Mike
Epstein was born in the Bronx, N.Y. He would go on to play for the Baltimore
Orioles, the Washington Senators, the Oakland Athletics, the Texas Rangers and
the California Angels.
April 4, 1943 – During World War II, 1st Lt. Laula M.
Middleton of Evergreen, Ala. was declared missing in action over North Africa
while serving with the 310 Bomber Group Allied Air Force. He was declared MIA
when the bombing plane of which he was crew member was lost in combat over the
Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and Tunisia. A marker was erected in his
memory in the Belleville United Methodist Church Cemetery and Evergreen’s
airport was later named Middleton Field in his honor.
April 4, 1945 - Sgt. Harmon Rabren of Evergreen received a
citation for “heroic” actions on this night at Wildergovern, Germany when a
five-man reconnaissance patrol became lost and failed to return. Rabren, a
member of Co. B, 309th Infantry Regiment, volunteered to go out alone and
locate the lost patrol despite extreme darkness and heavy enemy artillery and
mortar fire. He found them after several hours, risking capture by the enemy,
and guided them to safety without any losses and with important information
about enemy defensive positions and possible crossing sites on the Sieg River.
April 4, 1947 – Major League Baseball catcher Ray Fosse was
born in Marion, Ill. He would go on to play for the Cleveland Indians, the
Oakland Athletics, the Seattle Mariners and the Milwaukee Brewers.
April 4, 1947 – NFL guard Ed White was born in La Mesa,
Calif. He would go on to play for UC-Berkeley, the Minnesota Vikings and the
San Diego Chargers.
April 4, 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his
"Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's
Riverside Church.
April 4, 1968 – At 6:01 p.m., Martin Luther King Jr., 39,
was assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel motel in Memphis,
Tennessee. King was standing on the balcony of his room on the second floor.
April 4, 1970 – Thomas Charles Littles of Brooklyn, Ala.,
who had suffered a gunshot wound to the head in Vietnam, was transferred to the
Veterans Administration Hospital in Montgomery.
April 4, 1971 - Veterans stadium in Philadelphia, Pa. was
dedicated.
April 4, 1973 – The World Trade Center in New York was
officially dedicated.
April 4, 1974 – Alabama native Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's
Major League Baseball home run record with his 714th home run.
April 4, 1975 – Major League Baseball third baseman Scott
Rolen was born in Evansville, Ind. He would go on to play for the Philadelphia
Phillies, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Cincinnati
Reds.
April 4, 1975 – A high school spring football jamboree was
held at Conecuh County High School in Castleberry, Ala. that included CCHS,
Repton High School, Lyeffion High School and McKenzie High School. In the first
quarter, McKenzie beat CCHS, 6-0, and Repton beat Lyeffion, 7-6, in the second
quarter. In the third quarter, Lyeffion beat CCHS, 14-0, and Repton beat
McKenzie, 14-8, in the fourth quarter.
April 4, 1979 – Local weather reporter Earl Windham reported
that Evergreen, Ala. received 4.05 inches of rain on this day.
April 4, 1983 – Space Shuttle Challenger made its maiden
voyage into space.
April 4, 1984 – The fictional character Winston Smith began
his 'Down with Big Brother' diary in George Orwell's famed novel “1984.”
April 4, 1986 - The final episode of "Knight
Rider" aired.
April 4, 1990 – Early on this Wednesday morning, William
James Furger of Wisconsin and Terry Johnson, aka Terry Smith, of Virginia City,
Ala. escaped from the Conecuh County, Ala. Jail. They were captured later that
same day on the Old Sparta Road.
April 4, 1994 - Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes of the Chicago
Cubs became the first player in the National League to hit three home runs on Opening
Day.
April 4, 1998 - Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals
became the second National League player to hit a home run in the first four games
of a season. Willie Mays of the San Francisco had hit home runs in the first
four games of the 1971 season.
April 4, 1999 - The Colorado Rockies and the San Diego
Padres played the first Major League season opener to be held in Mexico. The
Rockies beat the Padres 8-2. The game was also the first season opener to be
held in a country other than the United States or Canada.
April 4, 1999 – Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Early Wynn, a
native of Hartford, Ala., passed away in Venice, Fla. at the age of 79. During
his career, he played for the Washington Senators, the Cleveland Indians and
the Chicago White Sox. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972.
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