Today in History for June 13 2016

Red Grange in 1925.

June 13, 1415 - Henry the Navigator, the prince of Portugal, embarked on an expedition to Africa.

June 13, 1740 – Georgia provincial governor James Oglethorpe began an unsuccessful attempt to take Spanish Florida during the Siege of St. Augustine.

June 13, 1752 – English novelist and diarist Frances (Fanny) Burney was born in King’s Lynn, Norfolk.

June 13, 1774 – Rhode Island became the first of Britain's North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves.

June 13, 1777 – During the American Revolutionary War, 19-year-old French aristocrat, Marie-Joseph Paul Roch Yves Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, landed off the coast of Georgetown, near Charleston, S.C. with the intent to serve as General George Washington's second-in-command and to help the Continental Congress train its army. He would visit Claiborne in Monroe County, Ala. on April 6, 1825.

June 13, 1786 - Winfield Scott was born near Petersburg, Virginia. He was a hero in the Mexican-American War and was the commander of the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the Civil War.

June 13, 1789 - Ice cream was served to General George Washington by Mrs. Alexander Hamilton.

June 13, 1805 – During the Lewis and Clark Expedition, scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sighted the Great Falls of the Missouri River.

June 13, 1807 - President Thomas Jefferson received a subpoena to testify in the treason trial of his former vice president, Aaron Burr. In the subpoena, Burr asked Jefferson to produce documents that might exonerate him.

June 13, 1862 – During the Civil War, an affair occurred at White House, South Carolina. Skirmishes were fought at Old Church, Haw's Shop, Garlick's Landing, and New Market, Virginia.

June 13, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Howard's Mill and near Mud Lick Springs, Ky.; at Bunker Hill, West Virginia; and at White Post, and Berryville, Virginia.

June 13, 1863 – During the Civil War, an engagement was fought at Winchester, Virginia. Ordered to withdraw because of the approach of the Army of Northern Virginia, Union Major General Robert Milroy tried to hold his position in Winchester. By afternoon on the 14th, he realized his mistake and decided to withdraw that evening. Confederate Dick Ewell ordered a division to camp north of the town to prevent such a move and Milroy found himself trapped. Confederates captured or killed the 6,000 men in the city.

June 13, 1863 – During the Civil War, the siege at Vicksburg, Miss. entered Day 26.

June 13, 1863 – During the Civil War, draft riots occurred in New York City.

June 13, 1864 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee sent Confederate General Jubal Early north from Petersburg, Va. to clear the Shenandoah of Union troops and relieve pressure on his own beleaguered force. Union General U.S. Grant's Army of the Potomac also began moving toward Petersburg, precipitating a siege that lasted more than nine months.

June 13, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought near Buchanan, Riddell's Shop, and White Oak Swamp in Virginia and in the vicinity of Collierville, Tennessee.

June 13, 1865 – Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet William Butler Yeats, who was interested in mysticism, mythology, folklore and the occult, was born in the Dublin suburb of Sandymount.

June 13, 1866 - The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. It was ratified on July 9, 1868. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. It did this by prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

June 13, 1881 – The USS Jeannette was crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack.

June 13, 1893 – British mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers was born in Oxford.

June 13, 1903 – Pro Football Hall of Fame halfback Harold Edward "Red" Grange, nicknamed “The Galloping Ghost,” was born in Forksville, Pa. He went on to play for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears and the New York Yankees. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1963.

June 13, 1905 - Pitcher Christy Matthewson of the New York Giants threw the second no-hitter of his career to lead his Giants to a 1-0 win over the powerful Chicago Cubs.

June 13, 1909 – The baseball teams from Owassa and Brownville played a doubleheader at Owassa, and Owassa won both games.

June 13, 1912 - Christy Mathewson got his 300th career pitching win.

June 13, 1912 – Capt. Albert Berry made the first successful parachute jump from an airplane in Jefferson, Miss.

June 13-14, 1916 – The chancery court was in session in Evergreen, Ala. on this Tuesday and Wednesday and a “quite a large crowd was in attendance,” according to The Conecuh Record.

June 13, 1917 – A detached company of troops that had been stationed at Evergreen, Ala. “for some time” was ordered to Montgomery and left on this Wednesday morning “on a hike for that city.” From there, they were to move on to Charleston, S.C. During their time in Evergreen, the troops “made friends and were popular” and “their departure was regretted by many.”

June 13, 1917 – During a severe thunderstorm in Evergreen, Ala. on this Wednesday night, lightning killed two valuable milk cows belonging to the Hon. C.S. Rabb.

June 13, 1919 – An ice cream supper at the Methodist Church at Roy (Frisco City) was scheduled to be held on this Friday night for the benefit of the church.

June 13, 1932 – The death sentence imposed against Clarence Crenshaw was commuted to life in prison by Alabama Gov. Benjamin M. Miller after members of the State Board of Pardons unanimously recommended commutation. Crenshaw was 17 years old when he was convicted of murdering John D. Barnes in May 1931 near Castleberry, Ala. Crensaw claimed he fatally stabbed Barnes in self-defense and he was sentenced to be executed on July 29.

June 13, 1940 - The Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox became the first teams to play at Cooperstown's Doubleday Field.

June 13, 1941 – C.C. Hagood was installed as Worshipful Master of Greening Lodge No. 53 during a regular meeting held at the Masonic Hall in Evergreen. Other officers included A.B. Hansen, Senior Warden; Haywood Hanna, Junior Warden; W.S. Dreaden, Treasurer; W.G. Jones, Secretary; A.K. Williams Jr., Senior Deacon; W.W. Overby, Junior Deacon; J.H. Stamps, Tyler; T.J. Mills, Senior Steward; M.A. Hansen, Junior Steward; T.L. Jackson, Marshal; and J.T. Peak, Chaplain.

June 13, 1944 – During World War II, German combat elements - reinforced by the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division - launched a counterattack on American forces near Carentan.

June 13, 1948 – A uniformed Babe Ruth appeared at Yankee Stadium one last time as the Yankees retired his No. 3. The Yankees sent his uniform to the Hall of Fame, and Ruth died from throat cancer a few weeks later on Aug. 16, 1948.

June 13, 1960 – Roy Riley, a farmer on Highway 31 South, brought the first cotton bloom of the season by The Courant office in Evergreen, Ala.

June 13, 1961 – In American League youth baseball action in Evergreen, Ala., the Giants beat the Yankees, 2-0. Harold Wright pitched for the Giants, and Jack White pitched for the Yankees.

June 13, 1966 – The United States Supreme Court ruled in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.

June 13, 1967 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

June 13, 1971 – During the Vietnam War, The New York Times began publication of the Pentagon Papers. The articles were a secret study of America's involvement in Vietnam.

June 13, 1973 - Representatives of the original signers of the January 27 cease-fire signed a new 14-point agreement calling for an end to all cease-fire violations in South Vietnam. Coming at the end of month-long negotiations between Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, the settlement included an end to all military activities at noon on June 15; an end to U.S. reconnaissance flights over North Vietnam and the resumption of U.S. minesweeping operations in North Vietnamese waters; the resumption of U.S. talks on aid to North Vietnam; and the meeting of commanders of opposing forces in South Vietnam to prevent outbreaks of hostilities. Fighting had erupted almost immediately after the original cease-fire that had been initiated as part of the Paris Peace Accords.

June 13, 1977 – Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray was recaptured after escaping from prison three days before.

June 13, 1980 - Pat Benatar opened a home game for the Philadelphia Phillies by playing a brief set.

June 13, 1986 – Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile, Ala. was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

June 13, 1996 - Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles tied Sachio Kinugasa's record of 2,215 consecutive games played.

June 13, 1997 – A Denver jury sentenced Timothy McVeigh to death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

June 13, 2002 - The National Archives briefly displayed artifacts from the Watergate burglary that led to U.S. President Nixon's resignation.

June 13, 2006 - U.S. President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq, where he met with the Iraqi Prime Minister and U.S. troops.

June 13, 2011 – Hall of Fame Alabama high school football coach and former Livingston College coach Morris Higginbotham passed away at the age of 86 in McCalla, Ala.

June 13, 2012 – A series of bombings across Iraq, including Baghdad, Hillah and Kirkuk, killed at least 93 people and wounded over 300 others.

June 13, 2014 – Pro Football Hall of Fame guard and linebacker Chuck Noll died at the age of 82 in Sewickley, Pa. During his career, he played for Dayton and the Cleveland Browns, and he coached for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1993.