Today in History for Aug. 13, 2015

H.G. Wells

Aug. 13, 1422 – William Caxton, the first man ever to print a book in English, was born in Kent, England. His first book was “The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye,” printed in 1475.

Aug. 13, 1521 – After an extended siege, forces led by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés captured Tlatoani Cuauhtémoc and conquered the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, present day Mexico City.

Aug. 13, 1777 - George Weedon acceded to Hugh Mercer's command as colonel of the 3rd Virginia Regiment.

Aug. 13, 1779 – During the American Revolutionary War, the Royal Navy defeated the Penobscot Expedition with the most significant loss of United States naval forces prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Aug. 13, 1781 - Patriot forces led by Colonel William Harden and Brigadier General Francis Marion, known as the “Swamp Fox,” lured British commander Major Thomas Fraser and his 450 soldiers into an ambush at Parker's Ferry, 30 miles northwest of Charleston, South Carolina.

Aug. 13, 1784 - The United States Legislature met for the final time in Annapolis, Md.

Aug. 13, 1790 – Australian journalist, explorer, and politician William Wentworth was born on Norfolk Island. He was one of the leading figures of early colonial New South Wales. He was the first native-born Australian to achieve a reputation overseas, and a leading advocate for self-government for the Australian colonies.

Aug. 13, 1813 – By order of General Ferdinand Claiborne, about 50 of Major Daniel Beasley’s men were sent to Mount Vernon, a cantonment on the Mobile River, a few miles west of Fort Mims.

Aug. 13, 1831 – Nat Turner saw a solar eclipse, which he believed was a sign from God. Eight days later, he and 70 other slaves kill approximately 55 whites in Southampton County, Virginia.

Aug. 13, 1846 - The American Flag was raised for the first time in Los Angeles, CA.

Aug. 13, 1849 – Daniel McCool was commissioned for his second term as Monroe County, Alabama’s Circuit Court Clerk, and William W. McCool was commissioned as Monroe County’s Sheriff.

Aug. 13, 1858 – R.B. Witter Sr., head of Evergreen Academy in Evergreen, Ala, is believed to have died in a fire at the school around 11 p.m. that destroyed the school and its library. Witter occupied a bedroom in the building.

Aug. 13, 1860 – Sharpshooter Annie Oakley was born Phoebe Ann Mosey in Woodland, Ohio.

Aug. 13, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought near Grafton, West Virginia.

Aug. 13, 1864 – The Deep Bottom Run campaign began as Union General Ulysses S. Grant, sensing a weakness in the Confederate defenses around Richmond and Petersburg, Va., sought to break the siege of Petersburg by concentrating his force against one section of the Rebel trenches. However, Grant miscalculated, and the week-long operation at Deep Bottom Run that began on August 13 failed to penetrate the Confederate defenses. The campaign cost 3,000 Union casualties and about 1,500 for the Confederates.

Aug. 13, 1899 – Director Alfred Hithcock was born in London, England.

Aug. 13, 1905 – On this Sunday evening near the Local community, G.K. Fountain, who was attempting to arrest Jas. Reese, who had escaped from a Williams McLauchlin Co. turpentine camp, was shot at by Columbus Donnelly with a .44-caliber, double action, 6.5-inch barrel pistol. Fountain shot Donnelly in the neck and throat, “causing a very serious wound,” and Donnelly died on Tues., Aug. 15. The incident was examined in a preliminary trial before B.L. Hixon and W.Y. Gordon, and Fountain was discharged after evidence showed he acted in self defense.

Aug. 13, 1906 – Former Union Army General, Andrew Barclay Spurling, of “Spurling’s Raid” passed away in Chicago, Ill. at the age of 73. He is buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Chicago. The height of his military career occurred at Evergreen, Alabama when, in 1865, the company of scouts he was commanding captured three Confederate soldiers who were attempting to call reinforcements, a feat for which he received a Congressional Medal of Honor in 1897. According to a newspaper at the time: “On that day he captured three Johnnie Rebs single handed, wounding two of them and bringing all three into the Union camp. He was at that time in command of a cavalry expedition and, while visiting his pickets, heard men approaching. Leaving his outpost he advanced in the dark and came upon the three rebels. He fired at them and the fire was returned. Gen. Spurling wounded two of the rebels and proceeded to take the trio back into the Union lines. The official endorsements on his papers in the War Department state that this capture prevented the rebels from obtaining information concerning the movements of Union troops and was of great value to the Union cause.”

Aug. 13, 1911 – Lt. Gov. Walter D. Seed delivered a speech at the Masonic Conference at Burnt Corn, Ala.

Aug. 13-15, 1914 – The Monroe County Masonic Conference was held at Monroe Lodge No. 485 at Franklin, Ala.

Aug. 13, 1919 – Noah Dallas Peacock, who was Lewis Lavon Peacock’s older brother, passed away on this day at the age of 80. According to family, he died from blood poisoning in his leg, where he’d been wounded in the Civil War more than 50 years before. He is buried in Pilgrims Rest Baptist Church in Baker, Fla.

Aug. 13, 1928 - WRNY in Coytesville, N.J. became the first standard radio station to transmit a television image.

Aug. 13, 1930 – Major League Baseball pitcher Wilmer Mizell was born in Vinegar Bend in Washington County, Ala. He would go on to play for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Mets. He would later serve three terms as a Republican U.S. congressman from North Carolina between 1969 and 1975.

Aug. 13, 1931 – Dr. Michael Shadid established the first cooperatively owned and operated hospital in the United States in Elk City, Okla.

Aug. 13, 1932 - Adolf Hitler refused to take the post of vice-chancellor of Germany. He said he was going to hold out "for all or nothing."

Aug. 13, 1939 – Early on this Sunday morning, heavy rains that accompanied a “gale” that struck Monroe County, Ala. did heavy damage to cotton, corn and other crops over a wide area. Roads were also widely damaged in Monroe and surrounding counties.

Aug. 13, 1946 - H.G. Wells, often called 'the Father of Science-Fiction,' passed away at the age of 79 in Regent's Park, London, England.

Aug. 13, 1961 - A barbed-wire barrier was strung between East and West Berlin. Within days, workers cemented the concrete blocks that became the Berlin Wall.  East Germany closed the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants' attempts to escape to the West.

Aug. 13, 1964 – Evergreen High School basketball player Ronnie Jackson, 17, was scheduled to play in the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s A-AA All Star Basketball Game at the University of Alabama. The 6-foot-3, 165-pound Jackson, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Orman Jackson of Evergreen, Ala. was selected as a member of the South A-AA All Star team in July 1964. He played guard and forward.

Aug. 13, 1976 - The Greensboro Historic District in Hale County, Ala. was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This historic district is centered on Main Street and runs from Hobson Street on the western side of the city to 1st Street on the eastern side. It features examples of Federal, Greek Revival and regional vernacular architecture.

Aug. 13, 1979 - Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals got his 3,000th career hit.

Aug. 13, 1982 - Alabama author Lonnie Coleman died in Savannah, Ga.

Aug. 13, 1986 - United States Football League standout Herschel Walker signed to play with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League.

Aug. 13, 1990 - Iraq transferred $3-4 billion in bullion, currency and other goods seized from Kuwait to Baghdad.

Aug. 13, 1995 – National Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder Mickey Mantle died of liver cancer at the age of 63 just after 2 a.m. at the Baylor University Cancer Center in Dallas, Texas. He played his entire career for the New York Yankees. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974.

Aug. 13, 1997 - Comedy Central aired the first episode of "South Park."

Aug. 13, 2007 – National Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto passed away at the age of 89 in West Orange, New Jersey. He played his entire career for the New York Yankees. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.