Today in History for Sept. 8, 2015

Wernher von Braun

Sept. 8, 1565 - A Spanish expedition established the first permanent European settlement in North America at present-day St. Augustine, Fla.

Sept. 8, 1781 – During the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Eutaw Springs in South Carolina, the war's last significant battle in the Southern theater, ended in a narrow British tactical victory. The battle began when Major General Nathanael Greene's Continental Army (about 2,200 men) began an offensive against British forces (less than 2,000) under Lt. Col. Alexander Stewart at Eutaw Springs on the banks of the Santee River. This battle resulted in the highest casualties of the entire war as more than 500 Americans were killed or wounded in the action and 700 British were either killed, wounded or missing.

Sept. 8, 1810 – The Tonquin set sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor's men established the fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon.

Sept. 8, 1812 – Louisa Frances Garland, the wife of University of Alabama President Landon Garland, was born. Tradition states that Louisa Garland convinced Union soldiers not to burn the President’s Mansion when they attacked the University’s campus on April 4, 1865.

Sept. 8, 1822 – German geologist and explorer Karl von Ditmar was born in Vändra, Pärnu County, Livonia. He is best known for travelling in and contributing to the scientific understanding of Kamchatka.

Sept. 8, 1840 – Confederate veteran Henry Smith Skinner was born in Carrol County, Mo. During the Civil War, he served in Co. E of the 15th Confederate Cavalry and served on the staff of Col. Henry “Harry” Maury. After the war, he practiced dentistry in Belleville, Ala. He passed away on Dec. 26, 1922 and is buried in the Methodist Cemetery at Belleville.

Sept. 8, 1861 – During the Civil War, an engagement was fought at Lucas Bend, Mo.

Sept. 8, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Lovetsville, Va.

Sept. 8, 1863 - At the Second Battle of Sabine Pass, a small Confederate force thwarted a Federal invasion of Texas at the mouth of the Sabine River on the Texas-Louisiana border. While the Confederates did not lose a single man, 28 Yankees were killed, 75 were wounded, and 315 were captured. The loss was humiliating for the Union.

Sept. 8, 1863 - Union General William Rosecrans approached Chattanooga, Tenn. from the west and began crossing Lookout Mountain. The next day Union troops captured the city with only minor skirmishing.

Sept. 8, 1864 - Destruction of over 50 Confederate boats at Salt House Point, Mobile Bay, Ala. Beginning of a three day Federal expedition from Mobile Bay to Bon Secour and Fish River, Ala., and the destruction of the immense salt works at Bon Secour and barracks at Camp Anderson.

Sept. 8, 1883 – The Northern Pacific Railway (reporting mark NP) was completed in a ceremony at Gold Creek, Montana. Former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in an event attended by rail and political luminaries.

Sept. 8, 1888 – “Jack the Ripper” claimed his second victim, Annie Chapman.

Sept. 8, 1900 - The powerful “Hurricane of 1900” hit the city of Galveston, Texas, causing an estimated 8,000 deaths.

Sept. 8, 1909 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Dr. and Mrs. J.V. Carsewell and Mrs. Costello had arrived in Evergreen from McWilliams to take charge of the Evergreen Hotel on Sept. 9.

Sept. 8, 1909 – The Evergreen Courant reported that one case of pellagra had been reported in Conecuh County. About three weeks prior, a child died about 12 miles southeast of Evergreen from the disease. The child was from Mississippi, where it had contracted the disease before being sent to relatives in Conecuh County.

Sept. 8, 1912 – Steve Blackwell, his son, J.T. Blackwell, Gus Baggett, G.E. Bradley and Jas. Ryals were placed in the Conecuh County Jail on charges of murdering John Lowrey earlier that day near Repton, Ala.

Sept. 8, 1914 – William A. Burnett, “a former well known citizen of Evergreen and Castleberry,” died at his home in Pollard, Ala. after a “lingering illness.”

Sept. 8, 1915 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Prof. L.H. Lewis, a member of the Agricultural school faculty, had arrived from his home in Blocton, in preparation for the opening of the school year.

Sept. 8, 1920 - The first transcontinental U.S. airmail service began, from New York to San Francisco. As part of the system, there were 15 airfields in all, beginning with New York and including Cleveland, Chicago, Omaha, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Reno, and finally San Francisco.

Sept. 8, 1924 – Novelist Grace Metalious was born in Manchester, New Hampshire. She is best known for her 1956 novel, “Peyton Place.”

Sept. 8, 1924 – Evergreen, Alabama’s Agricultural and Grammar schools opened with a joint program at the Grammar school auditorium on this Monday morning at 10 a.m. Prof. J.B. Hobdy, the state director of vocational education, was the keynote speaker. W.B. Sexton was principal of the Agriculatural school, and R. Gaston Bozeman was the principal of the City School.

Sept. 8, 1927 - The State Secondary Agricultural School in Evergreen, Ala. was scheduled to open its 30th annual session on this Thursday at 9 a.m. in the auditorium of the Evergreen City School.

Sept. 8, 1939 – Alabama State Highway Director Chris J. Sherlock announced that an agreement between the State Highway Department and Monroe County officials had been signed for the paving of 12-1/2 miles of State Highway 47 between Tunnel Springs and Midway, the last unpaved section of the highway between Greenville and Monroeville.

Sept. 8, 1947 – Short story writer and novelist Ann Beattie was born in Washington, D.C.

Sept. 8, 1952 – “The Old Man and the Sea,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Ernest Hemingway, was first published.

Sept. 8, 1955 – Evergreen High School opened for the 1955-56 school year.

Sept. 8, 1960 - NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., which grew out of the Army's Redstone Arsenal, was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Among many contributions to the U.S. space program, center director Wernher von Braun and his team developed the Saturn rockets that launched American astronauts to the moon in 1969. Gov. John Patterson and Werner von Braun, director of the space flight center, were in attendance as was Mrs. Marshall who unveiled a bust in honor of her husband.

Sept. 8, 1961 – Evergreen opened the 1961 football season with a 21-0 loss to Escambia County High School in Atmore, Ala.

Sept. 8, 1961 – Three Thomasville, Ala. women died from injuries in an afternoon accident at the intersection of Highway 31 and Highway 84 North. The accident occurred when a 1961 Dodge car driven by Mrs. Gene L. Doyle of Thomasville collided with a loaded dump truck. Passengers in the car included Mrs. Russell B. Smith and Mrs. Bessie M. Hayes. All three were transported to the Conecuh County Hospital, but none survived.

Sept. 8, 1964 – Monroe County, Ala. schools opened for their first full day of classes for the 1964-65 school year.

Sept. 8, 1965 - Bert Campaneris became the first Major League Baseball player to play all nine positions in one game.

Sept. 8, 1966 - NBC-TV aired the first episode of "Star Trek," entitled "The Man Trap." The show was canceled on September 2, 1969.

Sept. 8, 1969 – Belgian-French explorer and activist Alexandra David-Néel passed away at the age of 100 in Digne, France. She is most known for her 1924 visit to Lhasa, Tibet when it was forbidden to foreigners. David-Néel wrote over 30 books about Eastern religion, philosophy, and her travels, and her teachings influenced the beat writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, the populariser of Eastern philosophy Alan Watts, and the esotericist Benjamin Creme.

Sept. 8, 1969 – A Conecuh County, Ala. trial jury awarded Eloise Traweek $45,000, the largest judgement up to that point in Conecuh County history, in a lawsuit against Southern Bell Telephone Co. Circuit Judge Robert E.L. Key presided over the case, which arose when Traweek was injured in a fall after she tripped over a Southern Bell wire. She was represented by attorneys Frank Tipler Jr. and William D. Melton.

Sept. 8, 1973 - Hank Aaron hit his 709th home run.

Sept. 8, 1974 - Evel Knievel attempted (unsuccessfully) to vault across the mile-wide Snake River Canyon in a rocket-like contraption he called the "Sky Cycle."

Sept. 8, 1974 – In relation to the Watergate Scandal, US President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.

Sept. 8, 1985 – Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds tied Ty Cobb’s 57-year-old record for career hits (4,191) with two hits against the Chicago Cubs.

Sept. 8, 1986 - Herschel Walker made his start in the National Football League (NFL) after leaving the New Jersey Generals of the USFL.

Sept. 8, 1997 - The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of Timothy McVeigh for his role in the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Sept. 8, 1998 - St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire hits his 62nd home run of the year, breaking Roger Maris’ record for most home runs in a single season.

Sept. 8, 1998 – Major League Baseball second baseman Marlon Anderson made his major league debut for the Philadelphia Phillies. He entered that game as a pinch hitter, hitting a home run off Mel Rojas of the New York Mets.

Sept. 8, 1999 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno named former U.S. Senator John Danforth to head an independent investigation into the 1993 fire at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

Sept. 8, 2002 - The NFL's Houston Texans played their first regular season game. They beat the Dallas Cowboys, 19-10.

Sept. 8, 2008 – American explorer Ralph Plaisted passed away at the age of 80 in Wyoming, Minn. Plaisted and his three companions, Walt Pederson, Gerry Pitzl and Jean-Luc Bombardier, are regarded by most polar authorities to be the first to succeed in a surface traverse across the ice to the North Pole on April 19, 1968, making the first confirmed surface conquest of the Pole.

Sept. 8, 2015 - British researchers announced that evidence of a larger version of Stonehenge had been located about 2 miles from the Stonehenge location. There were 90 buried stones that had been found by ground penetrating radar.