Today in History for June 28, 2015

Robert Louis Stevenson

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, 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 Ceclaration 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, 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.

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

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, 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, 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 on June 23, 2015.

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, 1947 - Four Army officers at Maxwell airfield in Montgomery 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, 1958 - A movie version of Alabama author Joe David Brown's book “Kings Go Forth” was released.

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

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, 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, 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.