Today in History for July 1, 2016

Josiah Gorgas

July 1, 1751 – The first volume of Diderot’s “Encyclopedia” was issued.

July 1, 1770 – Lexell's Comet passed closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 a.u.

July 1, 1775 - Francis Salvador earned the nickname "Southern Paul Revere" when he rode 30 miles to warn of a Cherokee attack on backcountry settlements of South Carolina.

July 1, 1775 - The New England Restraining Act went into effect and required New England colonies to trade exclusively with Great Britain.

July 1, 1775 - The Continental Congress resolved to recruit Indian nations to the American side in their dispute with the British if necessary, should the British take native allies of their own.

July 1, 1804 – French novelist George Sand was born Lucile Aurore Dupin in Paris.

July 1, 1818 - Josiah Gorgas was born in Dauphin County, Pa. He would go on to serve as a Confederate general and would head the Confederate artillery. He later served as the president of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

July 1, 1822 – David Moniac of Alabama graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 6th Infantry Regiment. He was the first Native American graduate of West Point.

July 1, 1830 – Edgar Allan Poe entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as a cadet.

July 1, 1858 – A paper by Charles Darwin about his theory of evolution was first presented to a public audience.

July 1, 1859 – The first baseball game played between two colleges took place on this day when Amherst beat Pittsfield, 73-32. Only 35 feet separated the pitcher from the batter, and the bases were a mere 60 feet apart.

July 1, 1861 - John R. Baylor declared himself governor of the Confederate Territory of Arizona.

July 1, 1861 - Four members of the Baltimore, Md. Police Board were arrested by Federal authorities because of their alleged pro-Confederate activities within the city.

July 1, 1862 – During the Civil War, the Battle of Malvern Hill took place in Henrico County, Va. as Confederate General Robert E. Lee assaulted George B. McClellan’s army and where Union artillery cut down Confederate attackers on the last of the Seven Days' battles. It was the final battle in the Seven Days Campaign, part of George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. John Hodo and Emanuel Johnston, both of the Conecuh Guards were killed at Malvern Hill; Lt. William Lee was wounded there as well and G.R. Boulware was also slightly wounded.

July 1, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Booneville and Holly Springs, Mississippi; at Cherry Grove, in Schuyler County, Missouri; near Fort Furnace and Powell’s Big Fort Valley in Virginia.

July 1, 1862 - The U.S. Government approved the building of a trans-continental railroad across the west, which would become the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroad.

July 1, 1862 - The U.S. Government revised the Federal Income Tax Law with three percent on income between $600 and $10,000 and five percent on income above $10,000.

July 1, 1862 - President Lincoln announced to Northern governors he was calling for 300,000 more men to “bring this unnecessary and injurious civil war to a speedy and satisfactory end.”

July 1, 1863 – The Battle of Gettysburg, the largest military conflict in North American history, began in Adams County, Pa. The epic battle lasted three days and resulted in a retreat to Virginia by Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Noah Dallas Peacock (Lewis Lavon Peacock’s older brother) was in the thick of this climatic battle, serving with Co. F, 15th Ala. Inf., Army of Northern Virginia.

July 1, 1863 – Canadian-English captain and explorer William Grant Stairs was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He had a leading role in two of the most controversial expeditions in the history of the colonisation of Africa – the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition and the Stairs Expedition to Katanga.

July 1, 1863 – During the Civil War, in the North, discontent was mounting over the draft. In the South, discontent was growing with the Davis administration in Richmond, between general officers in the field, and with economic hardships.

July 1, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Christiansburg, Kentucky; at Cabin Creek in the Indian Territory; at Baltimore Cross Roads, Maryland; at Carlisle, Pennsylvania; at Edwards Station, Mississippi; near Bethpage Bridge on the Elk River, Tennessee, and another near Bobo’s Cross Roads, Tennessee.

July 1, 1863 – During the Civil War, the siege at Vicksburg, Miss. entered Day 45.

July 1, 1863 – During the Civil War, Tullahoma, Tennessee was occupied by Federal forces led by U.S. Major General William S. Rosecrans.

July 1, 1863 – During the Civil War, a Federal operation began between White House and South Anna River in Virginia.

July 1, 1864 – A month-long Federal operation on the west coast of Florida began.

July 1, 1864 – During the Civil War, multiple skirmishes were fought at Allatoona, Howell’s Ferry and Lost Mountain, Georgia; and another skirmish was fought in the vicinity of Fayette, Missouri.

July 1, 1864 – During the Civil War, a 10-day Federal operation began against Sioux Indians in the District of Minnesota.

July 1, 1865 – During the Civil War, New Hampshire became the 21st state to ratify the 13th amendment which would abolish slavery.

July 1, 1867 - Former Union General Thomas F. Meagher died when he mysteriously fell from the deck of a riverboat on the Missouri River. His body was never recovered. President Andrew Johnson had appointed Meagher secretary of Montana Territory after the war.

July 1, 1869 – Cornell English professor William Strunk Jr., who published “The Elements of Style” in 1918, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

July 1, 1874 – Charley Ross of Philadelphia, age four, was abducted by men in a carriage and became the primary victim of the first kidnapping for ransom in America to receive widespread attention from the media.

July 1, 1889 – Mrs. M.C. McLean began serving at Monroeville’s new postmistress, replacing Mr. Seymour, who retired after seven years of service as Monroeville’s postmaster.

July 1, 1889 – Luverne, Ala. was officially incorporated as a municipality.

July 1, 1898 – During the Spanish-America War, the Battle of San Juan Hill occurred when the U.S. Army’s Fifth Corps engaged Spanish forces at El Caney and San Juan Hill as part of their campaign to capture Spanish-held Santiago de Cuba on the southern coast of Cuba. During the battle, Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" waged a victorious assault on San Juan Hill in Cuba.

July 1, 1905 – At a picnic near Axle, Ala. Andrew Broughton shot and killed Bill Henderson. Both men were “tanked up on Peruna or some similar concoction, and the killing was the result.”

July 1, 1905 - Frank Owen of the Chicago White Sox pitched two complete games in one day.

July 1, 1909 – The Conecuh Record newspaper reported that E.C. Page resigned as Evergreen, Alabama’s mayor “owing to the press of business in law.” Councilman I.F. Goodson was appointed to serve out the rest of Page’s term. W.H. Wild was appointed to fill Goodson’s place on the council.

July 1, 1910 - White Sox Park opened, and the park's name was later changed to Comiskey Park.

July 1, 1910 – Monroeville, Alabama’s Rural Delivery Mail Route No. 2 was discontinued “because the patronage of people along the route did not justify continuance of the service.”

July 1, 1911 – A regular meeting of Camp William Lee, United Confederate Veterans, was scheduled to be held on this Saturday in Evergreen, Ala. M.B. Salter was the camp’s sergeant major.

July 1, 1912 - The annual meeting of the board of pension examiners was scheduled to be held at the Conecuh County Courthouse in Evergreen, Ala.

July 1, 1915 - Statewide prohibition went into effect in Alabama, five years before nationwide prohibition. The sale and regulation of alcohol has often been a bitter issue in Alabama politics, and the 1915 ban was first vetoed by Gov. Charles Henderson, but the legislature overrode his veto. Despite prohibition, 386 illegal stills were seized in Alabama in 1915.

July 1, 1915 – The local camp of Confederate Veterans was scheduled to meet at the Conecuh County Courthouse at 10 a.m. in Evergreen, Ala.

July 1, 1915 – Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jean Stafford was born in Covina, Calif.

July 1, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that local doctors were seeing “numerous” cases of typhoid fever in the vicinity of Monroeville, Ala., but no cases had developed within the city limits. Many citizens were taking the inoculation treatment as a preventative.

July 1, 1915 – Several young men from Jeddo attended the “baseball picnic” at Megargel on this day.

July 1, 1916 - Members of Camp Capt. Wm. Lee No. 338 were scheduled to meet at the courthouse at Evergreen, Ala. on this Saturday. G.R. Boulware was Commander, and T.A. Jones was Adjutant.

July 1, 1916 – The Battle of the Somme began at 7:30 a.m. as the British launched a massive offensive against German forces in the Somme River region of France. The battle was the first to use tanks. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 19,000 soldiers of the British Army were killed and 40,000 were wounded.

July 1, 1916 – The Brooklyn and Evergreen Chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy planned to entertain veterans at a picnic dinner on this Saturday on the lawn of the Conecuh County Courthouse in Evergreen, Ala. Every veteran in the county was cordially invited to be present.

July 1, 1916 - Beginning on this day, rural delivery mail service was to be established from the Monroeville post office to a considerable territory lying north and west of Monroeville. The communities to be served include Salem, Hamilton Hill and the Lower and Upper Ridge.

July 1, 1917 - Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds pitched two complete games in one day.

July 1, 1918 – “The Kaiser's Shadow,” a movie version of Alabama author Octavus Roy Cohen's book “The Triple Cross,” was released.

July 1, 1918 – A meeting of Camp Capt. Wm. Lee, United Confederate Veterans, was scheduled to be held in Evergreen on this Monday. J.T. Fincher was Camp Commander.

July 1, 1921 - J.I. McKinney, superintendent of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, who had been connected with the railroad in one way or another for the past 50 years, was scheduled to voluntarily retire on this date.

July 1, 1934 - The Federal Communications Commission replaced the Federal Radio Commission as the regulator of broadcasting in the United States.

July 1, 1936 – Baseball pitcher Paul Kardow, who would go on to manage the Evergreen (Ala.) Greenies, made his Major League debut with the Cleveland Indians.

July 1, 1939 – The Bureau of Vital Statistics of the State Department of Health estimated Monroe County, Alabama’s population was 31,143, compared to 31,027 on July 1, 1938.

July 1, 1941 - Joe DiMaggio extended his hitting streak to 44 games.

July 1, 1943 – A dedication and christening ceremony for Dannelly Field (now Montgomery Regional Airport) was scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. The airfield was named in honor of Evergreen native, Navy Ensign Clarence Moore Dannelly Jr., the son of former Conecuh County Superintendent of Education C.M. Dannelly, who was killed in an airplane crash in Pensacola on Dec. 17, 1940. Dannelly, who was born on Feb. 3, 1916 in Evergreen, grew up in Montgomery and is considered to be the first casualty of World War II from Montgomery.

July 1, 1943 – The Evergreen Courant published a portion of a letter from Major J.P. Walker to Miss Lyndall Middleton, the sister of Lt. Laula Middleton, an Evergreen, Ala. pilot who was killed in action during World War II. Walker was the commanding officer of Lt. Middleton’s squadron and told Miss Middleton that her brother was flying on his left wing at the time of the “accident.” An enemy fighter “hit his ship, knocking off the tail,” and it “spiraled down toward the ocean.” Three parachutes were seen coming out of the plane and they landed near an enemy convoy,” so Walker figured that Lt. Middleton had been taken prisoner.

July 1, 1944 – Knud Nielsen Jr. of Evergreen, Ala. was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s field artillery at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.

July 1, 1946 - U.S. President Harry Truman signed Public Law 476 that incorporated the Civil Air Patrol as a benevolent, nonprofit organization. The Civil Air Patrol was created on Dec. 1, 1941.

July 1, 1951 - Cleveland Indians ace Bob Feller pitched the third no-hit game of his career to lead the Indians over the Detroit Tigers, 2-1. This made him the first modern pitcher ever to throw three no-hitters.

July 1, 1951 - Alumni ticket sales for the University of Alabama’s 1951 football season were scheduled to begin on this day, according to Athletic Business Manager Jeff Coleman. Public ticket sales were to begin on July 16. Alabama’s 1951 home and away schedule was said to have been the most attractive offered to Crimson Tide followers in a number of years. Eight games were to be played within the state with Mobile, Montgomery, Birmingham and Tuscaloosa all listed as game sites. Eight conference games and an intersectional contest with Villanova highlighted the 11-game schedule. Complete ticket sale information and order blanks were to be mailed on June 20 to all alumni listed on University files. Non-alumni inquiries and requests were to be furnished full details on the public ticket sales which were to begin July 16. Priority allocations for 1951 football tickets were as follows: (1) students (2) faculty (3) alumni who are former lettermen in major varsity sports (4) alumni and (5) the public. Alumni orders received prior to July 1 were to be treated as having been received on the first sales day. No order was to be processed in more than one priority classification. All orders were to be handled according to the date received and each day’s orders will be filled by lot. Alabama’s complete 1951 schedule was as follows Sept. 21, v. Mississippi in Montgomery; Sept. 29, v. L.S.U. in Mobile; Oct. 6, v. Vanderbilt in Nashville; Oct. 12, v. Villanova (night) in Tuscaloosa; Oct. 20, v. Tennessee in Birmingham; Oct. 27, v. Mississippi State in Starkville; Nov. 3, v. Georgia in Athens; Nov. 10, v. Mississippi Southern in Tuscaloosa; Nov. 17, v. Georgia Tech in Birmingham; Nov. 24, v. Florida (homecoming) in Tuscaloosa; and Dec. 1, v. Auburn in Birmingham.

July 1, 1953 - Alabama author Harryette Mullen was born in Florence, Ala.

July 1, 1961 – Morris T. Ward began serving as principal at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Ala, a position he would hold until his resignation on June 30, 1967. Prior to becoming principal at Evergreen, Ward had been a successful coach at Lyeffion High School and Thomaston High School.

July 1, 1961 - British troops landed in Kuwait to aid against Iraqi threats.

July 1, 1963 – The U.S. Postal Service introduced ZIP codes (Zoning Improvement Plan Codes) on this day. The first three digits represent the part of the country the mail is going to, and the last two identify the post office within that region. ZIP codes start with zero in the Northeast and get bigger as one moves south and west.

July 1, 1963 – In an incident attributed to the Bermuda Triangle, Sno’ Boy, a 63-foot fishing boat with 40 aboard, sailed from Kingston, Jamaica to Northeast Cay, 80 miles to the south, but disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle with all hands.

July 1, 1964 - Army Pvt. Dennis E. Bailey Jr., whose father lived at Owassa, arrived in Germany, and was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division. Bailey, age 23, was a 1958 graduate of Evergreen High School.

July 1, 1965 - Undersecretary of State George Ball submitted a memo to President Lyndon B. Johnson titled “A Compromise Solution for South Vietnam.” It began bluntly: “The South Vietnamese are losing the war to the Viet Cong. No one can assure you that we can beat the Viet Cong, or even force them to the conference table on our terms, no matter how many hundred thousand white, foreign (U.S.) troops we deploy.” Ball advised that the United States not commit any more troops, restrict the combat role of those already in place, and seek to negotiate a way out of the war.

July 1, 1966 - U.S. Air Force and Navy jets carried out a series of raids on fuel installations in the Hanoi-Haiphong area. The Dong Nam fuel dump, 15 miles northeast of Hanoi, with nine percent of North Vietnam’s storage capacity, was struck on this day.

July 1, 1973 – During the Sunday morning service, Dr. Sam Granade submitted his resignation from the position of pastor at Evergreen Baptist Church in Evergreen, Ala., where he’d been pastor for the past 25 years. He was to preach his final sermon as pastor on July 15 and his resignation was to take effect on Aug. 15.

July 1, 1973 - In New York City, "Jesus Christ Superstar" closed after 711 shows on Broadway.

July 1, 1979 – Sony introduced the Walkman portable cassette player.

July 1, 1982 - Cal Ripken began playing shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles.

July 1, 1984 – The PG-13 rating was introduced by the MPAA.

July 1, 1985 - Robin Yount of the Milwaukee Brewers got the 1,800th hit of his career.

July 1, 1988 – Weather reporter Harry Ellis reported 1.33 inches of rain in Evergreen, Ala.

July 1, 1996 - The Milwaukee Brewers ended a 19-game home run hitting streak.

July 1, 1996 - Frank Thomas of the Chicago White Sox got his 1,000th hit.

July 1, 1997 - Randy Myers of the Baltimore Orioles got his 300th career save.

July 1, 2000 - The Confederate flag was removed from atop South Carolina's Statehouse.

July 1, 2004 – The McIntosh Cemetery in Wilcox County, Ala. was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register.

July 1, 2004 – Saturn orbit insertion of Cassini–Huygens begins at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC. Cassini-Huygens sent back the closest images yet of the planet's rings.