Today in History for Aug. 15, 2015

Charles Albert Comiskey

Aug. 15, 1754 – Federal Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins was born in Warren County, N.C.

Aug. 15, 1780 - American Lieutenant Colonel Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox,” and his irregular cavalry force of 250 routed a party of Loyalists commanded by Major Micajah Gainey at Port’s Ferry, S.C. Meanwhile, General Horatio Gates’ men consumed half-baked bread, which sickened them overnight and contributed to their disastrous performance at the Battle of Camden, also in South Carolina, the following day.

Aug. 15, 1785 – Essayist Thomas de Quincey was born in Manchester, England.

Aug. 15, 1799 - The Rev. Isaac Hadden was born in Abbeville County, S.C. Hadden was one of Alabama’s first Presbyterian ministers and he was ordained an evangelist in Montgomery on March 24, 1825. Hadden eventually passed away at the age of 50 in Sumter County, Ala., and he’s buried Bethel Presbyterian Cemetery in Sumterville in Sumter County, Ala.

Aug. 15, 1814 – During the War of 1812, at the Siege of Fort Erie, Edmund P. Gaines, who arrested former Vice President Aaron Burr near Fort Stoddert in Alabama, was in command on the fortifications at Fort Erie when a British assault was bloodily repulsed.

Aug. 15, 1824 – Marquis de Lafayette, the last surviving French general of the American Revolutionary War, arrived in Staten Island, N.Y., beginning his historic tour of the 24 United States.

Aug. 15, 1841 - Julia Tutwiler was born in Tuscaloosa. Tutwiler, president of what later became the University of West Alabama, worked to secure the admittance of women to the University of Alabama, to reform Alabama's prisons, and to expand educational opportunities for women.

Aug. 15, 1842 – Gillchrist R. Boulware was born near Conecuh County’s Brooklyn community. He first entered Confederate service as a private on April 1, 1861 at Sparta in Co. E of the 4th Ala. Inf. and continued as a private until Dec. 13, 1862, when he was elected 1st Lt. and served until Jan. 11, 1864. He served in the secret service department from Jan. 11, 1864 until the end of the war in 1865.

Aug. 15, 1859 – National Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman, manager and owner Charles Albert Comiskey, namesake of Chicago’s famous Comiskey Park, was born in Chicago, Illinois. During his career, he played for the St. Louis Brown Stockings/Browns, the Chicago Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds and managed the Browns, the Pirates and Reds. He owned the Chicago White Sox from 1901 to 1931 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1939.

Aug. 15, 1861 - Union and Confederate forces clashed near Fredericktown and Kirkville, Mo.

Aug. 15, 1861 - General George McClellan assumed command of the Army of the Potomac.

Aug. 15, 1889 – The Lower Warehouse at Claiborne, Ala. shipped two bales of new cotton on this day, the first of the season. The bales, which weighed 540 pounds and 610 pounds, were raised by W.S. Moore.

Aug. 15, 1911 - W.O. Hudson, who lived near Evergreen, Ala., brought in the first bale of cotton raised in Conecuh County that season. The bale weighed 371 pounds and brought $40.00 or about 11 cents per pound. The J.H. Farnham Mercantile Co. purchased to cotton.

Aug. 15, 1914 – On the final day of the Monroe County Masonic Conference at Franklin, a new Masonic lodge hall was formally dedicated and a “very large crowd” watched the cornerstone and dedication ceremonies, which were conducted by the Rev. D.B. Dismukes, F.S. Dailey, J.J. Dunn, G.A. Harris, W.G. McCorvey, W.S. Nash, Reuben Perry, Robert McCants, P.S. McKinley, J.J. McMillan, J.J. Sessions and A.C. Lee.

Aug. 15, 1914 - The Panama Canal was officially opened to commercial traffic as an American ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The first vessel to pass through the canal was the American cargo and passenger ship SS Ancon.

Aug. 15, 1914 – Baseball teams from the Franklin and Chance communities played a doubleheader at Franklin, and Franklin won both games, 6-3 and 8-7.

Aug. 15, 1918 - Alabama author Edward Kimbrough was born in Meridian, Miss.

Aug. 15, 1920 - The only fatality to occur in Major League Baseball history occurred when Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was hit in the head with a fastball from Carl Mays of the New York Yankees.

Aug. 15-30, 1925 – The Alabama National Guard’s Troop C of the 55th Machine Gun Squadron (in Evergreen) was scheduled to go to camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.

Aug. 15, 1935 - A movie version of Alabama author Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews' “The Perfect Tribute” was released.

Aug. 15, 1935 – Humorist Will Rogers and pilot Wiley Post were killed in a plane crash while flying from Fairbanks, Alaska to Point Barrow. The two men were world famous: Post for being the first pilot to fly solo around the world, and Rogers for his rope tricks and his pithy newspaper column.

Aug. 15, 1936 – Construction of the new Conecuh County High School building in Castleberry, Ala., which began on Feb. 11, was finished at a total cost of $48,500. Designed by Dittmar and Roberts of Montgomery and Mobile and built by contractor Henry I. Flynn of Montgomery, final inspection was completed on Aug. 19. Marvin Hanks, the County Superintendent of Education, served as county supervisor of the building during its construction.

Aug. 15, 1939 - "The Wizard of Oz" premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Calif. Judy Garland became famous for the movie's song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Aug. 15, 1945 - The Allies proclaimed V-J Day a day after Japan agreed to surrender unconditionally.

Aug. 15, 1948 – Novelist Denise Chavez was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a town just 40 miles from the Mexican border.

Aug. 15, 1950 – Army Sgt. N.L. Rickard of Monroe County, Ala. was killed in action in Korea.

Aug. 15, 1952 – Hank Williams performed two concerts at Greenville Stadium in Greenville, Ala., one starting at 3 p.m. with the second following at 8 p.m.

Aug. 15, 1961 – Permanent construction began on the Berlin Wall.

Aug. 15, 1963 – Leroy native Emanuel King was born. He would go on to star in football at Leroy High School, the University of Alabama and with the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Raiders after being selected in the first round of the 1985 NFL Draft.

Aug. 15, 1965 - The Beatles set a record for having the largest single crowd at a concert at Shea Stadium in New York. Attendance was 56,000.

Aug. 15, 1966 – Preseason football practice began at Evergreen High School and Atmore High School. The two teams were scheduled to open the season against one another on Thurs., Sept. 8, at Brooks Stadium in Evergreen. Morris Ward was Evergreen’s principal.

Aug. 15, 1966 – George E. Weems, 49, of Piedmont, who was believed to have been a “hobo,” was killed during a train derailment around 7:30 a.m. near Owassa, Ala. Over 30 cars of the long freight train derailed and overturned in a curve on the L&N Railroad tracks, and Weems was found dead in the wreckage. It was believed that Weems and two other men were hitchng a ride on the train, but no trace of the other two men was found.

Aug. 15, 1969 - The Woodstock Music and Art Fair began in Bethel, N.Y. A half million concertgoers descended upon Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in rural Bethel, New York to listen to performing artists that included Joan Baez, Santana, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix.

Aug. 15, 1970 - Mrs. Pat Palinkas became the first woman to ‘play’ in a pro football game when she held the ball for the Orlando, Panthers.

Aug. 15, 1973 – Dr. Sam Granade’s resignation as pastor at Evergreen Baptist Church was scheduled to take effect. Granade had been pastor at the church for 25 years before he announced his resignation on July 1.

Aug. 15, 1977 – Jerry R. Ehman detected the “Wow! Signal,” a strong narrowband radio signal that bore the expected hallmarks of non-terrestrial and non-Solar System origin. At the time, Ehman was working on a SETI project at the Big Ear radio telescope of Ohio State University, then located at Ohio Wesleyan University's Perkins Observatory in Delaware, Ohio. The “Wow! Signal” lasted for the full 72-second window that Big Ear was able to observe it, but has not been detected again.

Aug. 15, 1984 - Pete Rose returned to become player and manager of the Cincinnati Reds. He had been away from his hometown for six years. Rose had been in Philadelphia and Montreal.

Aug. 15, 1990 – Preseason football practice began at Monroe County High School and Excel, Frisco City, J.U. Blacksher and J.F. Shields high schools.

Aug. 15, 1990 - Mark McGwire hit a grand slam in the tenth inning to become the first major league player to hit 30 or more homers in his first four seasons. The Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-2.

Aug. 15, 1993 - Nolan Ryan got his 324th and final victory. The Texas Rangers beat the Indians, 4-1.

Aug. 15, 1993 - Author Sara Elizabeth Mason died in Homewood, Ala.

Aug. 15, 1994 – Belleville native Don D. Crum, an Air Force veteran of World War II and the Korean War, passed away at the age of 74 at the Keesler Air Force Base Hospital in Mississippi. He was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Evergreen.

Aug. 15, 1995 – The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-3, at Camden Yards. Attendance was 46,346, including me.

Aug. 15, 1996 – The Evergreen Courant reported that James “Grease” Gross recently competed in a Tough Man Contest in Monroeville. After defeating his first two opponents with first round knockouts, he then went to the championship fight, which turned out to be the highlight of the night for the Lightweight Division (110 pounds to 160 pounds). The fight was scheduled for three rounds, but it turned into an eight-round battle to the end. The decision was a draw, and Gross and his opponent split the prize winnings and received a trophy.

Aug. 15, 1996 – The Evergreen Courant reported that city electrical crews were working to upgrade another portion of the city’s electrical system from 4KV to 12KV to “take some of the strain off the system.”

Aug. 15, 1997 - The U.S. Justice Department decided not to prosecute FBI officials in connection with the deadly 1992 Ruby Ridge siege in Idaho. The investigation dealt with an alleged cover-up.

Aug. 15, 1997 - Dan Wilson hit the 3,000th Seattle Mariners homerun.

Aug. 15, 1997 - The Los Angeles Dodgers retired Tommy Lasorda's No. 2 jersey

Aug. 15, 1999 - Alabama author Celestine Sibley died in Dog Island, Fla.

Aug. 15, 2001 - Chandra Levy's parents appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live." They discussed Levy's disappearance on April 30, 2001.