Alabama's Milt Bolling |
Aug. 9, 1173 – Construction of the campanile of the
Cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) began. It would take
two centuries to complete.
Aug. 9, 1593 – Biographer Izaak Walton was born in Stafford,
England. He is best remembered for his 1683 book, “The Compleat Angler.”
Aug. 9, 1776 - On Staten Island, Guy Johnson, British
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, returned from England and shared his belief
that the Iroquois would choose to ally themselves with the British. Johnson
reassured British Secretary of State for the American Colonies Lord George
Germain that the Iroquois Six Nations would cooperate with the royal troops as
soon as Generals William Howe and John Burgoyne initiated the “grand operation”
to quell the American rebellion. The Patriots, he felt, could depend only on
those Indians who came under the influence of New England missionaries, which
was a small fraction of the total number of Indians in the northern provinces.
Aug. 9, 1790 - The Columbia returned to Boston Harbor after
a three-year voyage. It was the first ship to carry the American flag around
the world.
Aug. 9, 1809 - The first sale of public lands in Madison
County, Ala. was held on this day. Georgia planter Leroy Pope purchased acreage
around Big Spring and succeeded in having it selected as the county seat on
July 5, 1810. White settlers had been arriving at Ditto's Landing on the
Tennessee River and in the area of present-day New Market between 1802 and
1804. John Hunt, arrived from Tennessee and settled in the area known as Big
Spring in 1805. That same year the Chickasaw ceded their rights to the area and the Cherokee ceded their lands in
January 1806, and illegal settlement began in earnest. By the time Madison
County was established by the Mississippi Territorial Legislature in December
1808, the village known as Hunt's Spring boasted a population of 300. Between
1810 and 1819, Madison County grew rapidly in both population and size with
further public land sales. By the time Alabama became a state on December 14,
1819, Huntsville was a commercial center in the heart of a rich cotton-based
agricultural region.
Aug. 9, 1814 - The Treaty of Fort Jackson was finalized
after warring Creeks, under the leadership of William Weatherford, aka “Red
Eagle,” surrendered to Gen. Andrew Jackson and ceded their lands to the federal
government. This event opened up half of the present state of Alabama to white
settlement.
Aug. 9, 1844 – James Berney Stanley, founder and longtime
editor of The Greenville Advocate, was born in Hayneville in Lowndes County. He
served with the 17th Alabama and was severely wounded at Franklin, Tenn. He established
The Advocate in November 1865.
Aug. 9, 1845 – Nicholas “Nick” Stallworth was born in
Evergreen. On April 24, 1861 at Sparta, he joined the Conecuh Guards as a
private at the age of 15, becoming the youngest member of the 4th Alabama
Infantry Regiment. He was wounded in left forearm and right thigh at Cold
Harbor (Gaines Mill) and later became adjutant of 23rd Alabama Regiment. He
became an attorney after the war, a state representative and solicitor of 11th
Judicial Circuit.
Aug. 9, 1848 - Martin Van Buren was nominated for president
by the Free-Soil Party in Buffalo, New York.
Aug. 9, 1853 – Dr. John Watkins passed away at the age of 68
at Burnt Corn. He is buried at Old Bethany Baptist Church at Burnt Corn.
Aug. 9, 1854 – “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau was first published.
It took five years to sell off the first edition of 2,000 copies, and Thoreau
did not live to see a second edition. Since then, millions of copies of “Walden” have been sold.
Aug. 9, 1862 – During the Civil War, Confederates scored a
narrow victory at the Battle of Cedar Mountain as Confederate General Thomas J.
"Stonewall" Jackson narrowly defeated a Union force led by General
John Pope at Cedar Mountain, Va. Union losses totaled 2,300 out of 8,000. The
Confederates suffered 1,300 casualties out of 18,000.
Aug. 9, 1864 – During the Civil War, now that Fort Gaines on
Dauphin Island, had surrendered and Fort Powell at Cedar Point had been
abandoned, the Federal siege of Fort Morgan, Ala. began. Major General John
Granger embarked for Navy Cove, four miles down the peninsula from Fort Morgan
on the bay side of Mobile Bay. The commander of Fort Morgan, General Richard L.
Paige, caused the gunboat Gaines to be burned, the hospital and other
outbuildings. After landing, the Federals moved forward and by nightfall,
Granger’s force was less than two miles from Fort Morgan.
Aug. 9, 1864 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred
near Pond Springs in Northern Alabama.
Aug. 9, 1867 – Rev. Fielding Straughn of Belleville, one of
Conecuh County, Alabama’s earliest settlers, passed away at the age of 83.
Aug. 9, 1877 - Paleontologist Timothy Abbott Conrad passed
away in Trenton, N.J. He studied the fossil beds at Claiborne for two years
with Charles Tait and published the first geologic map of Alabama. During his
time at Claiborne, Conrad shipped cases full of fossils back to Philadelphia
for identification.
Aug. 9, 1879 – A meeting of ex-Confederate soldiers was held
in Evergreen, Ala.
Aug. 9, 1897 – George Bradley was tried for the June 17
murder of Richard Rumbley at Rumbley’s store near Pleasant Ridge. Bradley was
found guilty and hung on Sept. 17, the second hanging in Monroe County, Alabama since
the Civil War.
Aug. 9, 1899 – Everette Howard Brown was born in Conecuh
County, Ala. During World War I, while serving with the 167th Regiment, 42nd
U.S. Division (Rainbow), he would be killed in action on July 27, 1918 in
France. He enlisted in the Alabama National Guard’s Co. G, 1st Ala. Infantry in
Bay Minette on June 17, 1917. He is buried in the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery,
Fere-en-Tardenois, in France.
Aug. 9, 1907 – The first Boy Scout encampment concluded at
Brownsea Island in southern England.
Aug. 9, 1910 – Alfred Robert “Son” Boulware Jr. was born.
Many believe Boulware was the inspiration for Harper Lee’s Boo Radley. He died
of tuberculosis on May 2, 1952 and is buried in Monroeville, Alabama’s
Pineville Cemetery.
Aug. 9, 1915 - The midsummer term of the Monroe County Law
and Equity Court convened for a two-week term in Monroeville, Ala. There were
three convictions for felonies during the term. One defendant was given a
two-year penitentiary sentence and two received sentences to hard labor for 18
months and six months, respectively. Fines imposed during the term amounted to
about $1,000.
Aug. 9, 1922 – Poet Philip Larkin was born in Coventry,
England.
Aug. 9, 1930 – Major League Baseball infielder Milton Bolling was born in Mississippi City, Miss. During his career, he played for the Boston Red Sox, the Washington Senators and the Detroit Tigers. After his playing days, Bolling spent more than 30 years with the Red Sox, first as an executive assistant to owner Tom Yawkey, and later as an area scout based in Alabama.
Aug. 9, 1934 – Evergreen’s baseball team beat Florala in
both games of a double header, 4-1 and 2-1.
Aug. 9, 1936 – During the Summer Olympic Games of the XI
Olympiad, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the games.
Aug. 9, 1938 – Franklin D. Roosevelt passed through
Evergreen, Ala. about 10 p.m. on a train bound for Washington.
Aug. 9, 1940 - A movie version of Alabama author Octavus Roy
Cohen's book “I Love You Again”
was released.
Aug. 9, 1942 – Major League Baseball center fielder Tommie
Agee was born in Magnolia in Marengo County, Ala. He would go on to play for the
Cleveland Indians, the Chicago White Sox, the New York Mets, the Houston Astros
and the St. Louis Cardinals. He is best known for making two of the greatest
catches in World Series history, both of which occurred in game three of the
1969 World Series.
Aug. 9, 1945 – H.S. Hagood baled the first bale of cotton of
the 1945 season in Conecuh County, Alabama at the gin plant of the Evergreen Mfg. Co.
Aug. 9, 1945 – During World War II, Nagasaki was devastated
when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, was dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar.
35,000 people were killed outright, including 23,200-28,200 Japanese war
workers, 2,000 Korean forced workers, and 150 Japanese soldiers. The bombing
came three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, and Japan surrendered on Aug.
14, 1945.
Aug. 9, 1945 - The first network television broadcast
occurred in Washington, D.C. The program announced the bombing of Nagasaki,
Japan.
Aug. 9, 1949 – Best-selling mystery writer Jonathan
Kellerman was born in New York City’s Lower East Side. His first novel was
1985’s “When the Bough Breaks.”
Aug. 9, 1956 - The first statewide, state-supported
educational television network went on the air in Alabama.
Aug. 9, 1960 – Kathy Jane Beasley, age six, was killed in a
two-vehicle accident on U.S. Highway 31, two miles north of McKenzie. Her
mother, Bobbie Fay Beasley; a 15-month-old named Paul; Dempsey Goodwin of
Detroit, Mich.; and Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Hanks of Akron, Ohio were also
injured in the accident. Goodwin and the Hanks couple were all in the same
vehicle and were on their way to visit Goodwin’s brother in Evergreen.
Aug. 9, 1961 – Greening Masonic Lodge No. 53 was dedicated
on Edwina Street in Evergreen, Ala. and the cornerstone of the new lodge
building was laid in a ceremony conducted by officers of the Grand Lodge. The
ceremony was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
Aug. 9, 1964 – Monroeville’s team in the Conecuh Amateur
Baseball League split a doubleheader against league leading Damascus in
Monroeville, Ala. Monroeville lost the first game, 3-0, but won the second
game, 4-3, behind the pitching of lefthander Gary Downs.
Aug. 9, 1969 – Followers led by Charles Manson murdered
pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanski), coffee heiress Abigail
Folger, Polish actor Wojciech Frykowski, men's hairstylist Jay Sebring and
recent high-school graduate Steven Parent at Tate's residence in Los Angeles,
Calif. Charles Manson and several members of his cult were later convicted of
the crime.
Aug. 9, 1973 - The U.S. Senate committee investigating the
Watergate affair filed suit against President Richard Nixon.
Aug. 9, 1974 – As a direct result of the Watergate scandal,
Richard Nixon became the first President of the United States to resign from
office. He faced three articles of impeachment. Gerald R. Ford took his place,
and became the 38th President of the United States.
Aug. 9, 1975 - The New Orleans Superdome was officially
opened when the Saints played the Houston Oilers in exhibition football. The
new Superdome cost $163 million to build.
Aug. 9, 1975 – The T.R. Miller Mill Co. of Brewton won the
Evergreen Quarterback Club’s softball tournament in Evergreen, Ala. on this
Saturday. Johnston’s Big T team won second, and a team from Slocomb finished
third in the tournament, which was organized by the Rev. Zedoc Baxter and Terry
Coleman. Other teams in the tournament, which was held to raise funds for a new
Evergreen High School football dressing room, included Flxible Southern,
Conecuh-Monroe Counties Gas District, Southern Equipment of Brewton and a team
from Selma.
Aug. 9, 1981 - Major League Baseball teams resumed play at
the conclusion of the first mid-season players’ strike.
Aug. 9, 1988 – Evergreen weather reporter Harry Ellis
reported 1.02 inches of rain in Evergreen, Ala.
Aug. 9, 1988 – Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton, who
was born in Clio, Ala., appeared in his last major league baseball game.
Aug. 9, 2010 – British explorer Ed Stafford became the first
person to walk the entire length of the Amazon River.
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