Today in History for Oct. 10, 2015

Joseph Stillwell Cain

Oct. 10, 1540 – Hernando DeSoto’s expedition had its first audience with Chief Tuscaloosa on this day at the village of Athahatchee in Perry County.

Oct. 10, 1659 – Dutch merchant and explorer Abel Tasman died, around age 56, in Batavia, Dutch East Indies. He is best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company. He was the first known European explorer to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and New Zealand, and to sight the Fiji islands.

Oct. 10, 1775 - General William Howe was named the interim commander in chief of the British army in America, replacing Lieutenant General Thomas Gage. He was permanently appointed to the post in April 1776.

Oct. 10, 1813 – Musical composer Giuseppe Verdi was born in the village of Parma, Italy. Verdi wrote a total of 26 operas, most notably “Rigoletto” (1851), “La Traviata” (1853), “Aida” (1871) and “Falstaff” (1893).

Oct. 10, 1832 - Joseph Stillwell “Joe” Cain was born along Dauphin Street in Mobile, Ala. Cain is credited with reviving the city's Mardi Gras tradition. In 1866, soon after the end of the Civil War, he and a group of friends led a parade through the city's downtown. He is honored by Mardi Gras revelers every year in a ceremony held at his grave in the historic Church Street Graveyard.

Oct. 10, 1845 – In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School (later renamed the United States Naval Academy) opened with 50 midshipman students and seven professors.

Oct. 10, 1855 – New Hope Baptist Church at Natchez, Ala. was established with the purchase of two acres of land for $10 per acre.

Oct. 10, 1861 – John Buckner Little, the author of “The History of Butler County, Alabama” was born in Greenville, Ala.

Oct. 10, 1861 – Norwegian explorer and scientist Fridtjof Nansen was born in Store Frøen, Christiania (now called Oslo), Norway. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, cross-country skiing on the island, and won international fame after reaching a record northern latitude of 86°14′ during his North Pole expedition of 1893–96. Although he retired from exploration after his return to Norway, his techniques of polar travel and his innovations in equipment and clothing influenced a generation of subsequent Arctic and Antarctic expeditions.

Oct. 10, 1862 - Confederate General John Bankhead Magruder was given command of the Trans-Mississippi Department and was sent to Texas. Magruder enjoyed some success in Texas and captured Galveston in 1863. He spent the rest of the war in the West before fleeing to Mexico after the collapse of the Confederacy.

Oct. 10, 1862 - Confederate cavalry leader General J.E.B. Stuart entered Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The next day his men looted the town.

Oct. 10, 1863 - Confederate General Robert E. Lee moved his troops from their defenses along the Rapidan River and attempted to turn the Army of the Potomac's right flank.

Oct. 10, 1867 – Early Monroe County, Ala. attorney, state senator and Claiborne businessman William Perry Leslie died at Pascagoula, Miss.

Oct. 10, 1913 – United States President Woodrow Wilson triggered the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal. One of the most ambitious engineering feats of all time, the project connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Oct. 10, 1914 – Early on this morning, L&N Railroad employee Richard White of Peterman, Ala. was “crushed to death by heavy timbers while at work with the bridge crew at Berlin.”

Oct. 10, 1918 – During World War I, Army Pvt. Wly(?) Marshall of Burnt Corn, Army Pvt. Archie Hawkins of Greenville and Army Pvt. Benjamin H. Brunson of Greenville “died from disease.”

Oct. 10, 1926 – Anne Crook Hines Farish was born on this day. She would go on to become Monroeville, Alabama’s first female city council member (elected in 1985 and served eight years), and she serve 16 years as Mayor of Monroeville, after being first elected in 1992. She was also the first female president of the Monroeville Area Chamber of Commerce, which was founded in 1928.

Oct. 10, 1927 – French pilot Capt. Deudonne Coste, a 35-year-old WWI ace, and French navigator Lt. Comdr. Joseph LeBrix, another noted WWI ace, took off from Paris on their attempt to break the record for an “around the world flight.” They would pass over Monroeville, Ala. on Feb. 6 1928, traveling north toward Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery. They would eventually complete their trip on April 14, 1928 when they landed in Paris.

Oct. 10, 1930 – Playwright, screenwriter and director Harold Pinter was born in East London.

Oct. 10, 1956 – English businessman and adventurer David Hempleman-Adams was born in Swindon, Wiltshire. He is the first person in history to reach the Geographic and Magnetic North and South Poles as well as climb the highest peaks in all seven continents, the Adventurers Grand Slam.

Oct. 10, 1957 - The Milwaukee Braves, including Alabama native Hank Aaron, defeated the New York Yankees to win their first World Series since 1914.

Oct. 10, 1963 – Conecuh County (Ala.) Board of Education attorneys filed an appeal with the Alabama Supreme Court that asked the Supreme Court to set aside an order issued by the Butler County Circuit Court on Sept. 12 that ordered the Butler County Board of Education to bus children from the Beat 8 community in Conecuh County to McKenzie School in Butler County.

Oct. 10, 1967 - The Outer Space Treaty was put in force banning space-based nuclear weapons.

Oct. 10, 1969 – An “overflow crowd” watched undefeated Baldwin County High School beat Evergreen, 14-0, in Bay Minette, Ala. Jimmy Bell led Evergreen’s rushing attack with 14 carries for 70 yards. Ernest Shipp led Evergreen’s defense with eight individual tackles and a number of assists.

Oct. 10, 1969 – NFL quarterback Brett Favre was born in Gulfport, Miss.

Oct. 10, 1976 - Part 1 of “The Biscuit Eater,” a movie version of the story by Alabama author James H. Street, was broadcast as part of the “Wonderful World of Disney” television series.

Oct. 10, 1976 – Major League Baseball left fielder Pat Burrell was born in Eureka Springs, Ark. During his career, he played for the Philadelphia Phillies, the Tampa Bay Rays and the San Francisco Giants.

Oct. 10, 1977 - Joe Namath played the last game of his NFL career.

Oct. 10, 1977 – In Lovecraftian fiction, Viennese occult scholar Dr. Stanislaus Hinterstoisser passed away at the age of 81. He is most famous for his discovery of Lovecraft’s father’s ties to the freemasons, but he died shortly after he made this public and was unable to attain the prestige that he deserved. He first appeared in 1978’s “The Necronomicon: The Book of Dead Names” by George Hay.

Oct. 10, 1978 – A Bigfoot sighting in Covington County, Ala. was reported by a woman who said she saw a Bigfoot steal a baby pig from a pen near the intersection of Hwy 55 and Hwy 84 at River Falls.

Oct. 10, 1985 - The Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro was seized by hijackers.

Oct. 10, 1986 – Alabama Lt. Gov. Bill Baxley was scheduled to visit Evergreen, Ala. during his gubernatorial campaign. He planned to visit local plants, businesses and the Conecuh County Courthouse in Evergreen.

Oct. 10, 1991 – Singleton wrote about how goldenrod should be the Alabama state flower.

Oct. 10, 1994 - Iraq announced it was withdrawing its forces from the Kuwaiti border. No signs of a pullback were observed.

Oct. 10, 2002 - The U.S. Congress passed a resolution that gave U.S. President George W. Bush the authority to use military force, if necessary, against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

Oct. 10, 2004 - Actor Christopher Reeve, who became famous for his starring role in four “Superman” films, died from heart failure at the age of 52 at a hospital near his home in Westchester County, New York. Reeve, who was paralyzed in a 1995 horse-riding accident, was a leading advocate for spinal cord research.

Oct. 10, 2011 – “The Thing,” a prequel to the 1982 film “John Carpenter’s The Thing,” premiered at Universal Studios. It was released in U.S. theaters four days later.

Oct. 10, 2011 - Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers hit the first-ever postseason walk-off grand slam to give the Rangers a 7-3 win. The win gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead in the ALCS over the Detroit Tigers.