Today in History for Aug. 12, 2015

Christy Mathewson

Aug. 12, 30 B.C. – Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, committed suicide, allegedly by inducing an asp to bite her.

Aug. 12, 1739 - Timothy Bigelow was born in Worcester, Mass. He was a delegate to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, participated in the Committee of Correspondence, fought in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and served as Colonel of the 15th Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Army.

Aug. 12, 1776 - General George Washington wrote to Major General Charles Lee that the Continental Army’s situation had deteriorated due to an outbreak of smallpox and problems with desertion. Washington feared that the superior British navy might blockade New York, thus isolating the city from communications with other states.

Aug. 12, 1810 – Tecumseh with some 70 warriors visited General Harrison, then territorial governor, at Vincennes. On Aug. 20, Tecumseh delivered his celebrated speech in which he gave the white people the alternative of restoring to the Indians, whom he claimed to represent, their lands or of meeting those Indians in battle. The conference lasted until Aug. 22.

Aug. 12, 1813 – Major Daniel Beasley at Fort Mims wrote General Ferdinand Claiborne, “We are perfectly tranquil here and are progressing in our works as well as can be expected considering the want for tools. We shall probably finish the stockade tomorrow.”

Aug. 12, 1851 – Isaac Merritt Singer patented his first commercial sewing machine.

Aug. 12, 1861 – During the Civil War, the following wooden Union gunboats, which were converted riverboats, arrived at Cairo, Ill - the USS Conestoga, USS Lexington and USS Tyler. These gunboats supported all Federal river operation until the City Class Ironclad River Gunboats were built.

Aug. 12, 1862 – During the Civil War, Confederate cavalry leader and Alabama native General John Hunt Morgan captured a small Federal garrison in Gallatin, Tenn., just north of Nashville. The incident was part of a larger operation against the army of Union General Don Carlos Buell, which was threatening Chattanooga by late summer. Morgan sought to cut Buell's supply lines with his bold strike.

Aug. 12, 1863 – During the Civil War, the H.L. Hunley submarine arrived in Charleston, S.C. by rail from Mobile, Ala.

Aug. 12, 1864 – During the Civil War, on Mobile Bay, Ala., Federal forces continued moving siege equipment to the vicinity of Confederate held Fort Morgan.

Aug. 12, 1867 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him when he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

Aug. 12, 1867 – Classics scholar Edith Hamilton was born in Dresden, Germany.

Aug. 12, 1871 – Levi Brown died from a stab wound allegedly inflicted on him by Albert Brown on Aug. 10 near the railroad tracks in downtown Evergreen, Ala. Albert Brown fled and remained a fugitive for 31 years until June 1902 when Conecuh County Sheriff W.W. Pridgen arrested him at a saw mill in Stockton. Albert Brown claimed he acted in self defense.

Aug. 12, 1876 – Mystery novelist Mary Roberts Rinehart was born in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Aug. 12, 1880 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson was born in Factoryville, Pa. During his career, he played for the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Reds and also managed the Reds for three seasons. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1936.

Aug. 12, 1883 - The quagga, a type of South African zebra, went extinct.

Aug. 12, 1889 – Writer and elementary school teacher Zerna Sharp was born in Hillsburg, Ind. She is best remembered for creating the “Dick and Jane” series of books for beginning readers.

Aug. 12, 1898 – The brief and one-sided Spanish-American War ended with the signing of the peace protocol on U.S. terms: the cession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Manila in the Philippines to the United States pending a final peace treaty.

Aug. 12, 1898 – The Hawaiian flag was lowered from Iolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the flag of the United States to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawaii to the United States.

Aug. 12, 1901 – Finnish-Swedish botanist, geologist, mineralogist, and explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld passed away at the age of 68 in Dalbyö, Södermanland, Sweden. He is most remembered for the Vega expedition along the northern coast of Eurasia, which he led in 1878 and 1879. This was the first complete crossing of the Northeast Passage.

Aug. 12, 1914 – In one of the first documented car accidents in Evergreen, Ala., two cars collided at the corner of the cotton warehouse, damaging both vehicles.

Aug. 12, 1915 - "Of Human Bondage" by William Somerset Maugham was first published.

Aug. 12, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that the construction of the Gulf, Florida and Alabama railroad was progressing satisfactorily, except for an accident in which a large steam shovel overturned a few days before, “which necessitated the procuring of a wrecking outfit to right the mammoth machine.” As of Aug. 12, 1915, the laying of track had reached the “crossing of the Monroeville and Claiborne road.”

Aug. 12, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that J.D. Rawls had moved his mercantile business to the Stallworth building on “Westside, affording more commodious quarters for the display of up-to-date stock.”

Aug. 12, 1920 – Monroe County native 2nd Lt. William Calvin Maxwell of the 3rd Aero Squadron was killed in plane crash in Manila, Philippine Islands. Engine trouble forced Maxwell to attempt to land his DH-4 in a sugarcane field. Maneuvering to avoid a group of children playing below, he struck a flagpole hidden by the tall sugarcane and was killed instantly. On the recommendation of his former commanding officer, Maj. Roy C. Brown, Montgomery Air Intermediate Depot was renamed Maxwell Field in his honor on November 8, 1922. He was buried at Robinsonville Baptist Church, six miles northeast of Atmore, on Oct. 11, 1920.

Aug. 12, 1930 – NFL offensive tackle Kenneth David “Lum” Snyder was born in Cleveland, Tenn. He would go on to play for Georgia Tech and the Philadelphia Eagles. A two-time Pro Bowler, he spoke to the Evergreen Rotary Club in February 1961.

Aug. 12, 1934 – Evergreen, Alabama’s baseball team split a doubleheader against Chapman. Evergreen lost the first game, 2-1, but won the second game, 3-1.

Aug. 12, 1937 - President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Alabama senator Hugo Black to the U.S. Supreme Court. Black's nomination was soon confirmed by his Senate colleagues, but before he took his seat on the court that October he was compelled to address the nation by radio in order to respond to controversy about his membership in the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1920s. Black served on the court until 1971, retiring just a few days before his death.

Aug. 12, 1938 - Adolf Hitler instituted the Mother’s Cross, to encourage German women to have more children, to be awarded each year on August 12, Hitler’s mother’s birthday.

Aug. 12, 1939 – On this Saturday night, an unidentified hit-and-run driver hit a mule and wagon on the highway about two miles south of Monroeville, Ala. The mule was killed the wagon, which belonged to J.R. Eddins of Peterman, was almost a total wreck.

Aug. 12, 1939 - "The Wizard of Oz" premiered in Oconomowoc, Wisc. Judy Garland became famous for the movie's song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The movie premiered in Hollywood on August 15th.

Aug. 12, 1945 – Poet J.D. McClatchy was born in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Aug. 12, 1959 - An earthquake centered in Huntsville, Ala. and felt over a 25-mile radius, caused minor damage. Many Huntsville residents at first believed the shock was the result of an explosion or missile test at nearby Redstone Arsenal.

Aug. 12, 1960 – Echo 1, NASA’s first communication’s satellite, was launched.

Aug. 12, 1964 - Mickey Mantle set a Major League Baseball record when he hit home runs from both the left and ride sides of the plate in the same game.

Aug. 12, 1964 – J.T. Ward became the first Conecuh County, Ala. farmer to gin a bale of cotton in the 1964 season, ginning a bale on this day at the Evergreen Gin Co. that weighed 435 pounds.

Aug. 12, 1964 - British author and journalist Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, the world’s most famous fictional spy, died of a heart attack at age 56 in Kent, England. Fleming’s series of novels about the debonair Agent 007, based in part on their dashing author’s real-life experiences, spawned one of the most lucrative film franchises in history.

Aug. 12, 1978 - Oakland Raiders free safety Jack Tatum leveled New England Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley with a helmet-to-helmet hit in a preseason game, leaving Stingley paralyzed for life. Despite the sport’s hard hits and reputation for roughness, this was the first and only time a player was permanently paralyzed as a result of an injury sustained in a National Football League game.

Aug. 12, 1986 - Rod Carew became the first player in the history of the California Angels franchise to have his uniform (No. 29) retired.

Aug. 12, 1988 – Lillian M. Sutton, 59, of Molino, Fla. was killed in a one-car accident on Interstate Highway 65, about three miles north of the Repton-Brewton exit in Conecuh County. The mother of Major League Baseball pitcher Don Sutton, Lillian Sutton was a passenger in a car driver by her husband, Charlie H. Sutton, 62, who lost control of the car, which skidded about 45 feet before striking a guard rail and overturning several times before flipping off a bridge and into a ravine about 30 feet below the highway. The vehicle landed upside down.

Aug. 12, 1988 - "The Last Temptation of Christ" opened.

Aug. 12, 1990 - The first U.S. casualty occurred during the Persian Gulf crisis when Air Force Staff Sergeant John Campisi died after being hit by a military truck.

Aug. 12, 1990 – Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton found to date, was discovered by fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota.

Aug. 12, 1991 - Metallica's self-titled album was released. The album is referred to as "The Black Album."

Aug. 12, 1994 - Woodstock '94 opened in Saugerties, N.Y. The opening was on the 25th anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.

Aug. 12, 1994 - Major League Baseball players went on strike rather than allow team owners to limit their salaries. The strike lasted for 232 days. As a result, the World Series was wiped out for the first time in 90 years.

Aug. 12, 2002 – National Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder Enos Slaughter passed away at the age of 86 in Durham, N.C. During his career, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York Yankees, the Kansas City Athletics and the Milwaukee Braves. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985.