Today in History for May 7, 2016

Michael P. Murphy

May 7, 1692 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft trials, George Burroughs was returned to Salem and placed in jail.

May 7, 1718 – The city of New Orleans was founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.

May 7, 1763 - Major Henry Gladwin, British commander of Fort Detroit, foiled Ottawa Chief Pontiac’s attempt at a surprise attack. Romantic lore holds that Gladwin’s Seneca mistress informed him of the western Indians’ plans for an uprising.

May 7, 1789 - The first U.S. Presidential Inaugural Ball was held in New York City.

May 7, 1800 - The U.S. Congress divided the Northwest Territory into two parts. The western part became the Indiana Territory and the eastern section remained the Northwest Territory.

May 7, 1806 – Planter and attorney James Edmonds Saunders was born in Georgia. He and his wife would found the plantation at Rocky Hill Castle in the mid-1820s between Town Creek and Courtland. (13 Alabama Ghosts)

May 7, 1812 – Victorian poet and playwright Robert Browning was born in Camberwell, England.

May 7, 1824 – The world premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony took place in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer's supervision.

May 7, 1833 – German composer Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany.

May 7, 1837 - German geographer and explorer Karl Mauch was born in Stetten im Remstal, Württemberg. He reported on the archaeological ruins of Great Zimbabwe in 1871 during his search for the biblical land of Ophir.

May 7, 1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado struck Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.

May 7, 1840 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, Russia. He wrote symphonies, operas, and three great ballets: “Swan Lake” (1876), “The Nutcracker” (1892), and “The Sleeping Beauty” (1889).

May 7, 1846 – The Cambridge Chronicle, America's oldest surviving weekly newspaper, was published for the first time in Cambridge, Mass.

May 7, 1861 – The Conecuh Guards (Co. E of the 4th Alabama Infantry Regiment) was mustered into the Confederate States Army at Lynchburg, Va.

May 7, 1861 – The day before, the Tennessee legislature had voted to pass an Ordinance of Secession. The vote, however, was very narrow, and the split was geographic. West Tennessee sided with the Confederacy. The eastern part of the state, however, was strongly pro-Union. On this day, as Gov. Isham Harris was putting the finishing touches on an alliance with the South, a riot between the factions broke out in Knoxville. One man was killed in the fighting--which side he was on is not known--and Harris decided against submitting the issue to popular referendum.

May 7, 1862 – 4th Cpl. Joseph A. Thomas of the Conecuh Guards was wounded at Battle of Eltham’s Landing, where Confederate troops attacked Union forces.

May 7, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Crogan’s Ranch, Calif.; at Horse Creek, Mo.; at Somerville Heights, West Point and Barhamsville, Va.; and in the vicinity of Wardensville, West Virginia. A Federal operation to Mulberry Point, on the James River in Virginia was conducted.

May 7, 1863 - Confederate General Earl Van Dorn was shot dead in his headquarters tent at Spring Hill, Tenn. by a certain Dr. Peters. Van Dorn was allegedly messing with Dr. Peters’ wife.

May 7, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought in the San Andres Mountain, at Cajoude Arivaypo, in the New Mexico Territory; at Raccoon Ford and West Point, Va.; and at Cairo Station and Harrisville, West Virginia.

May 7, 1864 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought near Florence and another near Decatur, Ala.

May 7, 1864 - Union General William T. Sherman advanced toward Atlanta, Georgia.

May 7, 1864 – During the Civil War, following two days of intense fighting in Virginia’s Wilderness forest, the Army of the Potomac, under the command of Union General Ulysses S. Grant, moved south. Grant’s forces had clashed with Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in a pitched and confused two-day battle in which neither side gained a clear victory. Nonetheless, Lee could claim an advantage, since he inflicted more casualties and held off the Yankees, despite the fact that he was outnumbered.

May 7, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought near Dalton (Battle of Rocky Face Ridge,) Nickajack Gap and Varnell’s Station, Ga.; at Bayou Boeuf, La.; at Benton, Miss.; and at Turkey Island, on the James River in Virginia. The Army of the James briefly seized the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad before retiring.

May 7, 1868 – Samuel S. Cornwell was named postmaster at Burnt Corn, Ala.

May 7, 1885 – Major and Mrs. C.L. Scott of Monroeville, along with Colonel and Mrs. B.L. Hibbard and Master John Hibbard, left for Mobile. A short time before, President Grover Cleveland had appointed Major Scott to be Minister to Venezuela.

May 7, 1898 – The army museum transferred the skull of Randolph County, Ala. native and Lincoln assassination conspirator Lewis Powell to the Smithsonian, where it was stored for nearly 100 years.

May 7, 1905 – On this Sunday afternoon, preaching services were held for the first time in the recently completed new church building at Wesly Chapel, near Perdue Hill. The Rev. C.H. Motley was the preacher.

May 7, 1906 – A municipal election was scheduled to be held in Monroeville, Ala. on this day for the election of mayor and five councilmen for the ensuing year. J.W. Fore was Monroeville’s incumbent mayor.

May 7, 1912 - Columbia University approved final plans for awarding the Pulitzer Prize in several categories.

May 7-9, 1912 - The 22nd Annual Reunion of the United Confederate Veterans was held in Macon, Ga.

May 7, 1920 - Alabama author Robert O. Bowen is born in Bridgeport, Conn.

May 7, 1925 - The Philadelphia Phillies had their eighth game in a row postponed.

May 7, 1928 - Alabama author Hudson Strode's play “The Dance Below” was performed on Broadway as part of the Little Theatre Tournament.

May 7, 1928 - Alabama journalist Grover Cleveland Hall of The Montgomery Advertiser was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for his editorials on racial and religious intolerance and violence.

May 7, 1929 – National Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder, third baseman and manager Dick Williams was born in St. Louis, Mo. He went on to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians, the Kansas City Athletics and the Boston Red Sox. He also managed the Red Sox, the Oakland Athletics, the California Angels, the Montreal Expos, the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.

May 7, 1931 – The Evergreen Courant reported that the paving of the Castleberry-Brewton highway was about half complete.

May 7, 1932 - William Faulkner reported to work as a screenwriter for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

May 7, 1933 – Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. He went on to play for Louisville, the Baltimore Colts and the San Diego Chargers. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979.

May 7, 1936 – English explorer and author Robin Hanbury-Tenison was born.

May 7, 1936 – The Andalusia (Ala.) Country Club was scheduled to hold its largest invitational golf tournament ever.

May 7, 1938 – On this Saturday, the Evergreen Greenies baseball team played the Panama City Pels in Evergreen, Ala. The game was called at the end of the ninth inning due to darkness, and the score was 3-3.

May 7, 1940 – British writer Angela Carter was born Angela Olive Stalker in Eastbourne, England.

May 7-Aug. 20, 1942 – As had been the custom for the past several years, the stores and offices in Evergreen, Ala. agreed to observe a “half holiday” on Thursday afternoons during the summer.

May 7, 1945 - Baseball owner Branch Rickey announced the organization of the United States Negro Baseball League, which included six teams.

May 7, 1951 – Cleveland Indians pitcher Charles “Bubba” Harris, a native of Sulligent, Ala., appeared in his last Major League game.

May 7, 1952 – Geoffrey W.A. Dummer first presented the concept of the integrated circuit, also known as the microchip, which is the basis for all modern electronic equipment. The integrated circuit is an advanced form of the electrical circuit, which is made up of a set of components - a transistor, a resistor, a capacitor, and a diode - linked together in a variety of ways.

May 7, 1954 – During the Indochina War, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu ended in a French defeat and a Vietnamese victory (the battle began on March 13). During the siege, 1,600 French troops were killed, 4,800 were wounded, and 1,600 missing. The Viet Minh captured 8,000 French and marched them off on foot on a 500-mile trek to prison camps; fewer than half survived the march. Viet Minh casualties were estimated at approximately 7,900 killed and 15,000 wounded.

May 7, 1956 - Bill White of the New York Giants hit a home run on his first at bat.

May 7, 1957 - Indian's pitcher Herb Score was hit in the face by a line drive by Gil McDougald.

May 7, 1959 - At Los Angeles Coliseum, 93,103 people watched the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees.

May 7, 1968 – Alabama Governor Lurleen Wallace died in office of cancer at the age of 41, amid her husband George C. Wallace's ongoing second presidential campaign. On her death, she was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Albert Brewer, who had run without Republican opposition in the Wallace-Martin race.

May 7, 1968 – Veteran Southern Pine Electric Cooperative lineman Dewey Nobles, 45, of Evergreen, Ala. died from injuries he sustained when he fell from an electrical pole while working a little after noon. A lifelong resident of Evergreen, he served overseas with the U.S. Army during World War II.

May 7, 1969 – Army Spc. Roosevelt Franklin Penn of Fulton in Clarke County, Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam.

May 7, 1971 – Charles Johnson first opened his barbershop in a block building behind Mel’s Dairy Dream on South Alabama Avenue in Monroeville, Ala., where it remained until 1977 when he moved his shop to Pike Street.

May 7, 1975 - U.S. President Gerald Ford declared an end to the Vietnam War.

May 7, 1976 – NBA power forward and center Calvin Booth was born in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. He went on to play for Penn State and the Washington Wizards, the Dallas Mavericks, the Seattle Supersonics, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Sacremento Kings.

May 7, 1976 – Medal of Honor recipient Michael P. Murphy was born in Smithtown, N.Y. He went on to become a U.S. Navy SEAL officer and was killed at the age of 29 after his team was compromised and surrounded by Taliban forces near Asadabad, Afghanistan.

May 7, 1982 - A United States Federal jury ruled that the NFL violated antitrust laws by preventing the Oakland Raiders from moving to Los Angeles.

May 7, 1983 - August Hoffman performed a record 29,051 consecutive sit-ups.

May 7, 1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow became the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits.

May 7, 1991 – Anthony Evans, a former Conecuh County, Ala. resident, was scheduled to appear on the television game show “Wheel of Fortune” on this Tuesday. Evans, the son of Edgar and Adrain Evens of Freehold, N.J., was a senior at Freehold High School. He was the grandson of Lou Allen Evans and the late Ellie Evans of Rt. 1, Evergreen.

May 7, 1992 – Evergreen, Ala. weather reporter Harry Ellis reported that total rainfall for the month of April 1992 was 3.11 inches.

May 7, 1995 - The Minnesota Twins and the Cleveland Indians played 17 innings in six hours and 36 minutes. The Twins won, 10-9.

May 7, 1999 - The Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Writer was given to Alabama author Madison Jones at the Alabama Writers Symposium in Monroeville, Ala.

May 7, 2003 - U.S. President George W. Bush lifted U.S. sanctions against the old government of Iraq.

May 7, 2006 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 713th home run which brought him one home run away from tying Babe Ruth on the career list.

May 7, 2007 – Israeli archaeologists discovered the tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem.