Today in History for May 16, 2016

Donald E. Ballard

May 16, 1718 – Maria Gaetana Agneis, one of the first well-known female mathematicians of the Western world, was born in Milan.

May 16, 1771 – The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The "Regulators," occurred in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.

May 16, 1777 - Georgia Patriot Button Gwinnet was wounded in a duel with Lachlan McIntosh over who should command an expedition to secure Georgia's border with Florida. Gwinnet died three days later from his injury. He had won election to the Second Continental Congress.

May 16, 1801 - William H. Seward was born in Florida, New York. He would go on to serve as governor of New York and as U.S. Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

May 16–17, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette attended a military parade and spoke at Transylvania University and the Lexington Female Academy in Lexington, Ky.

May 16, 1834 – A sheriff’s posse, men who had chased the steamboat James Monroe with Charles Boyington aboard up river after he fled Mobile, returned the suspect to Mobile on the steamboat Currier, arriving on this day. He was placed immediately in the Mobile city jail on charges related to the murder of Nathaniel Frost. (Boyington Oak)

May 16, 1836 – Edgar Allan Poe had a second wedding ceremony in Richmond, Va. with Virginia Clemm, this time in public.

May 16, 1843 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest set out on the Oregon Trail with 1,000 pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.

May 16, 1860 – The Republican Convention was held in Chicago, Ill. William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase and Abraham Lincoln of Illinois were the leading contenders from a field of 12 candidates for president. Lincoln won the nomination on the third ballot. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, an outspoken, long-time abolitionist was chosen for vice-president.

May 16, 1861 - The State of Tennessee was officially and ceremoniously admitted to the Confederate States of America on this day. The Confederate Congress took the action at its meeting place in Montgomery, Ala., which was the capital of the secessionist nation at this time. The first capital would not be the capital much longer. To encourage the secession of Virginia it was decided to move the Confederate seat of government to Richmond.

May 16, 1862 - U.S. General Benjamin Butler’s current assignment was as commander of the military occupation of New Orleans. The day beford he had issued his infamous “woman order,” directing that ladies who were disrespectful to Union soldiers would be treated as common prostitutes were treated. On this day he merely closed one of the city’s newspapers (the "Bee") and put the other, the "Delta" under new management, his own.

May 16, 1862 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Pollocksville, North Carolina, and an action took place at Princeton, West Virginia.

May 16, 1863 - Union General Ulysses S. Grant defeated Confederates under John C. Pemberton at the Battle of Champion's Hill, sealing the fate of Vicksburg. Union General Ulysses S. Grant had successfully run the Confederate gauntlet at Vicksburg and placed the Army of the Tennessee south of the stronghold, the Rebels’ last significant holding on the Mississippi River. But he did not move directly on Vicksburg because he knew Joseph Johnston was assembling a Confederate force in Jackson, Mississippi, 40 miles east of Vicksburg.

May 16, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Berry's Ferry and Piedmont Station, Va. and at Charlestown and Elizabeth Court House, West Virginia.

May 16, 1863 - James D. Bullock was on a mission in Europe to commission the building of warships for the Confederate government. His only problem was that he had no immediate means to pay for these vessels. Trying to get the work done completely on credit had got him laughed out of England, so he was trying his luck in France. There too, he wrote to Navy Sec. Mallory on this day, “… the French builders, like the English, wanted money, and were not willing to lay down the ships unless I could give them security in the shape of cotton certificates.” These were essentially bonds payable in bales of cotton instead of money.

May 16, 1864 – During the Civil War, an engagement was fought at Mansura, Louisiana, and an affair occurred at Spirit Lake, Minnesota.

May 16, 1869 - The Cincinnati Reds played their first baseball game.

May 16, 1882 – Reuben Chapman, who served as Alabama’s 13th governor, passed away at the age of 82 in Huntsville, Ala.

May 16, 1888 – Nikola Tesla delivered a lecture describing the equipment which would allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.

May 16, 1895 – The Monroe Journal reported that Lazarus James had been arrested for May 9 burning the Claiborne Lower Warehouse and George Agee was arrested “for complicity” in the crime. James confessed to the crime, The Journal reported, and both men were in jail at press time. The fire resulted in an estimated loss of $2,500, and it was not covered by insurance.

May 16, 1895 – The Monroe Journal reported that W.H. Louiselle and L.N. Lambert of the Bear Creek Mill Co. were ready, within the next two weeks, to begin surveying and locating the route of the company’s railroad, which was to begin at their mill at Manistee and run in the direction of Repton, Ala.

May 16, 1895 – The Monroe Journal reported that R.E. Smith of Mount Pleasant, Ala. owned “a peculiar freak of nature in the shape of a hairless calf. The little animal is entirely nude, but lively as a cricket and seemingly perfect in every respect with a single exception of the usual hirsute adornment. The calf is an object of no little curiosity and interest in the community.”

May 16, 1903 - Alabama author and librarian William Stanley Hoole was born in Darlington, S.C.

May 16, 1912 – Writer, historian and radio man Studs Terkel was born in New York City.

May 16, 1916 – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic signed the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria.

May 16, 1929 - The first Academy Awards were held in Hollywood.

May 16, 1929 – Evergreen High School’s baseball team was scheduled to depart on a three-day road trip that would take them to games in Beatrice and Camden. The team was scheduled to play Beatrice on this Thursday afternoon, spend the night there and then travel to Camden for a game on Friday and a game on Saturday.

May 16, 1932 – Jackson, Ala. native and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Stew Bolen appeared in his final major league baseball game.

May 16, 1932 - The New York Yankees got their fourth consecutive shutout. The feat tied the record with Cleveland and Boston.

May 16, 1933 - Cecil Travis became the first player to get five hits in his first game.

May 16, 1939 – Jones Archaeological Museum opened in Moundville, Ala.

May 16, 1939 - The Philadelphia Athletics and the Cleveland Indians met at Shibe Park in Philadelphia for the first baseball game to be played under the lights in the American League.

May 16, 1954 - Ted Williams got eight hits in his first game (a double-header) back after breaking his collarbone.

May 16, 1955 - Alabama author James Agee died in New York, N.Y.

May 16, 1965 - Krist Novoselic was born in Compton, Calif. He was the bassist and co-founder of the grunge band Nirvana.

May 16, 1965 - Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles made his pitching debut.

May 16, 1965 - The consecration service for the new church on the corner of Rural and Martin Streets in Evergreen, Ala. was held by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

May 16, 1965 - What is described by the United States government as “an accidental explosion of a bomb on one aircraft which spread to others” at the Bien Hoa air base left 27 U.S. servicemen and four South Vietnamese dead and some 95 Americans injured. More than 40 U.S. and South Vietnamese planes, including 10 B-57s, were destroyed.

May 16, 1966 - The Beach Boys album "Pet Sounds" was released.

May 16, 1966 – Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas was born in Houston, Texas. He went on to play for Oklahoma State, the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.

May 16, 1968 - Donald E. Ballard, Corpsman U.S. Navy, was awarded the Medal of Honor for action this date in Quang Tri Province. Ballard, from Kansas City, Missouri, was a corpsman with Company M, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. He had just finished evacuating two Marines with heatstroke when his unit was surprised by a Viet Cong ambush. Immediately racing to the aid of a casualty, Ballard applied a field dressing and was directing four Marines in the removal of the wounded man when an enemy soldier tossed a grenade into the group. With a warning shout of, “Grenade!” Ballard vaulted over the stretcher and pulled the grenade under his body. The grenade did not go off. Nevertheless, he received the Medal of Honor for his selfless act of courage. Ballard was only the second man whose valor was rewarded despite the fact that the deadly missile did not actually explode.

May 16, 1972 - Greg Luzinski hit a home run in which the ball hit the Liberty Bell monument in Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium.

May 16, 1972 - A series of air strikes over five days destroyed all of North Vietnam’s pumping stations in the southern panhandle, thereby cutting North Vietnam’s main fuel line to South Vietnam. These strikes were part of Operation Linebacker, an air offensive against North Vietnam that had been ordered by President Richard Nixon in early April in response to a massive communist offensive launched on March 30.

May 16, 1974 – The Evergreen Courant reported that, during a recent meeting, the Evergreen, Ala. City Council granted Sparta Academy a permit to construct a gym and auditorium.

May 16, 1974 – The Evergreen Courant reported that the 11th Annual Conecuh County FFA/4-H Barrow Show was “a great success” as 80 barrows were shown by FFA and 4-H Clbu members. Kenny Brown of the Evergreen FFA showed the Grand Champion barrow, a Duroc heavyweight. Steve Windham of the Evergreen FFA showed the Reserve Champion, a Hampshire barrow bred by Robert Ward of Evergreen.

May 16, 1979 - The National League approved the sale of the Astros from Ford Motors to John J. McMullen for $19 million.

May 16, 1980 – Famous Mississippi comedian Jerry Clower ate supper on this Friday night at the Town House (formerly the City Café) in Evergreen, Ala. Johnny Allred was the restaurant’s manager, and Clower was accompanied by Bill Crutchhfield, the manager of WMFC in Monroeville. Clower was on his way to a performance in Excel.

May 16, 1908 - Lisa Brock was crowned Miss Rubicon at the Miss Rubicon Pageant at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Ala.

May 16, 1981 - Craig Reynolds of the Houston Astros hit three triples against the Chicago Cubs.

May 16, 1992 - Weird Al Yankovic's "Smells Like Nirvana" hit No. 35 in the U.S.

May 16, 1996 - Sammy Sosa became the first Chicago Cub player to hit two home runs in one inning.

May 16, 1997 - Gary Gaetti of the St. Louis Cardinals recorded his 2,000th hit.

May 16, 1998 – Bear Grylls climbed to the summit of Mount Everest, 18 months after breaking three vertebrae in a parachuting accident. At 23, he was at the time among the youngest people to have achieved this feat.

May 16, 1998 - Author Viola Goode Liddell died in Camden, Ala.

May 16, 1999 - The 225th episode of "The Simpsons" was aired. The animated show had been airing since Jan. 14, 1990.

May 16, 2005 – Kuwait permited women's suffrage in a 35–23 National Assembly vote.