Today in History for Aug. 26, 2015

Charles Lindbergh

Aug. 26, 1768 – Captain James Cook set sail from England on board the HMS Endeavour.

Aug. 26, 1776 - Falsely confident that the British would not attack New York’s Manhattan Island, General George Washington poured additional reinforcements into the lines around Brooklyn Heights, then considered part of rural Long Island. Washington also ordered the dispersal of certain documents among the Hessians, about which he wrote “The papers designed for the foreign (Hessian) Troops, have been put into several Channels, in order that they may be conveyed to them, and from the Information I had yesterday, I have reason to believe many have fallen into their Hands.” The “papers” induced Hessian troops to desert the British army.

Aug. 26, 1778 – The first recorded ascent of Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia, took place.

Aug. 26, 1791 – John Fitch was granted a United States patent for the steamboat.

Aug. 26, 1804 - Following the death of Sergeant Charles Floyd on their journey of exploration to the Pacific, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark promoted Patrick Gass as his replacement. Two days later, the captains held an election among the men to determine Floyd’s replacement. Private Patrick Gass of Pennsylvania received a majority of the votes.

Aug. 26, 1858 –John Trotwood Moore, who lived in Monterey in Butler County for four years and Pine Apple in Wilcox County for two years, was born in Marion in Perry County. An author, novelist, magazine publisher, newspaper editor and columnist, teacher and State Librarian for Tennessee, he passed away in Nashville, Tenn. on May 10, 1929.

Aug. 26, 1861 – During the Civil War, Union forces were defeated at Cross Lanes, W.V.

Aug. 26, 1861 - Confederate Genearl John Floyd occupied the bluffs overlooking Carnifex Ferry on the Kanawha River in Virginia.

Aug. 26, 1861 – During the Civil War, the Federal vessels Cumberland, Fanny, Harriet Lane, Minnesota, Monticello, Pawnee, Susquehanna and the Wabash, under the command of Commodore Silas Stringham, USN, in conjunction with Major General Benjamin F Butler, USA, sailed from Hampton Roads, Va., for the North Carolina Coast at Cape Hatteras with 900 Union soldiers to attack Forts Clark and Hatteras.

Aug. 26, 1861 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Wayne Court House and Blue's Hosue, West Virginia.

Aug. 26, 1862 - Confederate troops under General Fitzhugh Lee entered Manassas Junction and captured the rail center. This event set the stage for the Second Battle of Bull Run, which began on August 29.

  

Aug. 26, 1867 – Physician and state representative from Monroe County, Dr. William Cunningham, passed away at Burnt Corn.

Aug. 26, 1883 – The Krakatoa volcano in the Dutch East Indies began erupting continuously on this day, sending a black cloud of ash 17 miles high. The next day, four enormous explosions took place, said to be the loudest in human history, heard more than 3,000 miles away. Each of these explosions was accompanied by a tsunami, believed to be over 100 feet high in places.

Aug. 26, 1904 – British novelist and playwright Christopher Isherwood was born in rural Cheshire.

Aug. 26, 1905 – A protracted meeting was scheduled to begin at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church near Manistee, Ala. on this Saturday, and each male member of the church was requested to meet on that day. A graveyard and church cleanup day was also scheduled for Aug. 24.

Aug. 26, 1906 – Walter King Wilson Jr. was born in Fort Barrancas, Fla. He went on to become a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army and is most noted for begin the Army’s Chief of Engineers during years 1961 to 1965. The state of Alabama named the “Dolly Parton Bridge” in honor of Wilson, a long-term resident of Mobile, after the completion of the bridge’s construction in 1980.

Aug. 26, 1906 – Albert Sabin, the developer of the oral polio vaccine, was born in Bialystok, Poland.

Aug. 26, 1907 - Author Louise Clarke Pyrnelle died in Birmingham, Ala.

Aug. 26, 1914 – The Louisville & Nashville Railroad announced that it would inaugurate an all-steel passenger train between New Orleans and New York, starting on Jan. 1, 1915. This train was to be the finest south of the Ohio River with electric lights, made of solid steel and fitted with all modern conveniences.

Aug. 26, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that the new steel bridge across Limestone Creek, the miles northwest of Monroeville, Ala., was complete and that the earth fills on each end of the bridge were being put in. The bridge was scheduled to be open to the public within the next week to 10 days. Preparations were also being made to begin work on the steel bridge across Flat Creek near the site of the old Graham Bridge, which collapsed several weeks before.

Aug. 26, 1914 – Monroeville and Brewton’s baseball teams played to an 11-inning scoreless tie in a game that was called due to darkness in Brewton, Ala.

Aug. 26, 1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution took effect, giving women the right to vote.

Aug. 26, 1927 – B.E. Carpenter and E.R. Carpenter was scheduled to open their new modern dry cleaning plant, the French Dry Cleaners, in Evergreen, Ala. in the former pressing shop they’d bought from T.A. Gantt. Visitors to the new business on this day were to receive free tickets to the Arcade Theatre to see “The Lost Trail,” starring Tom Mix on this night.

Aug. 26, 1939 - The first televised major league baseball games were shown on station W2XBS. The event was a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Aug. 26, 1941 – American writer Barbara Ehrenreich was born in Butte, Montana.

Aug. 26, 1942 - The Conecuh County Health Office moved from the Jones-Deming Building to the building owned by Dr. G.G. Newton, located on the north side of the courthouse square in Evergreen, Ala. Dr. E.L. Kelly, County Health Officer, said the move was made to secure more room.

Aug. 26, 1947 – Daniel Robert “Dan” Bankhead, a native of Empire, Ala., became the first black pitcher in major league baseball, when he made his major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbetts Field. In his first major league at bat, he hit a home run off Fritz Ostermueller of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He also gave up 10 hits in 3-1/3 innings pitching in relief that day.

Aug. 25, 1951 – The All-Stars from teams of the Conecuh Amateur Baseball League were scheduled to meet Bolling, the top team of the Butler County Semi-Pro League, in an exhibition game on this Sunday in McKenzie, Ala. at 3 p.m.

Aug. 25, 1974 – American pilot and explorer Charles Lindbergh passed away at the age of 72 in Kipahulu, Maui, Hawaii.

Aug. 26, 1977 – Excel opened the 1977 football season with a 6-0 win over Southern Normal in Brewton, Ala.

Aug. 26, 1982 – The First National Bank Building (also known as the Timmerman Building) in Andalusia, Ala. was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Aug. 26, 1983 – Southern Normal defeated Excel, 27-13, in Brewton, Ala.

Aug. 26, 1987 – The Robbins Hotel in Beatrice, Ala. which burned down on Oct. 12, 2012, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Aug. 26, 1989 – Excel opened the 1988 football season with a 28-0 win over A.L. Johnson at Thomaston, Ala.

Aug. 26, 1990 - The 55 Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait left Baghdad by car and headed for the Turkish border.

Aug. 26, 1992 - A "no-fly zone" was imposed on the southern third of Iraq. The move by the U.S., France and Britain was aimed at protecting Iraqi Shiite Muslims.

Aug. 26, 1996 - Barbara Jewell asked U.S. President Bill Clinton to clear her son's name in connection with the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. Richard Jewell was later cleared by the Justice Department.

Aug. 26, 1998 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno ordered a review of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Aug. 26, 2002 - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said that White House lawyers had told President Bush that he would not need congressional approval to attack Iraq.

Aug. 26, 2005 – The Kalpoe brothers were rearrested along with a new suspect, 21-year-old Freddy Arambatzis, in connection with the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway of Mountain Brook, Ala.

Aug. 26, 2011 – Excel opened the 2010 football season with a 27-8 win over J.U. Blacksher at Uriah, Ala.