Today in History for July 7, 2016

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

July 7, 1520 – Spanish conquistadores defeated larger Aztec army at the Battle of Otumba.

July 7, 1534 – During the European colonization of the Americas, the first known exchange between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in New Brunswick occurred.

July 7, 1777 – During the American Revolutionary War, American forces retreating from Fort Ticonderoga were defeated by the British in the Battle of Hubbardton, the only Revolutionary War battle to be fought in Vermont.

July 7, 1817 – Walter H. Crenshaw was born at Abbeville Court House, S.C., the eldest son of Judge Anderson Crenshaw, who moved with his family to Butler County, Ala. in 1821. He served as a state representative, Speaker of the State House, state senator, President of the State Senate, officer in the state militia, and Butler County Criminal Court Judge.

July 7, 1834 – In New York City, four nights of rioting against abolitionists began.

July 7, 1846 – During the Mexican–American War, American troops occupied Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the U.S. acquisition of California. The U.S. annexation of California was proclaimed at Monterey after the surrender of a Mexican garrison there.

July 7, 1852 – According to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, Dr. John H. Watson, Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick, was born on this day.

July 7, 1860 – Composer Gustav Mahler was born in Kaliště, Bohemia. He wrote 10 symphonies and served as the conductor for both the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

July 7, 1861 – Genetics pioneer Nettie Stevens was born in Cavendish, Vermont.

July 7, 1861 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Great Falls, Virginia; and at Belington, Glenville and Laurel Hill in West Virginia.

July 7, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Bayou Caches, Bayou de View, Round Hill and Devall’s Bluff in Arkansas and at Inman Hollow and Newark in Missouri.

July 7, 1862 – During the Civil War, a five-day Federal operation began in the Cumberland Gap area of Tennessee.

July 7, 1862 – During the Civil War, a 10-day Federal operation began in the Aransas Pass region of Texas, and a three-day Federal reconnaissance from Yorktown, Virginia began.

July 7, 1863 – The United States began its first military draft. Exemptions cost $300.

July 7, 1863 – Union Lt. Colonel Christopher "Kit" Carson, perhaps the most famous trapper and guide in the West, left Santa Fe with his troops and started his campaign against the Indians of New Mexico and Arizona. A famed mountain man before the Civil War, Carson was responsible for waging a destructive war against the Navajo that resulted in their removal from the Four Corners area to southeastern New Mexico.

July 7, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought with Indians at Grand Pass in the Idaho Territory; near Cumming’s Ferry and at Shepherdsville in Kentucky; at Funkstown and Harper’s Ferry, Downsville in Maryland; near Baker’s Creek, Iuka, and Queen’s Hill and at Ripley in Mississippi; and near Dry Woods, Missouri.

July 7, 1863 – During the Civil War, the Federal reoccupation of Maryland Heights, Maryland began. President Lincoln was upset that Union Major General George G. Meade would not strike a blow against the retreating Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

July 7, 1863 – During the Civil War, Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee was setting up camp around Chattanooga, Tenn. after losing most of the state to Rosecrans’s Army of the Cumberland.

July 7, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Van Buren, Arkansas; at Adairsville, Dark Corners, Vining’s Station, and Summerville in Georgia; at Brownville, Frederick, Middletown, and at Solomon’s Gap in Maryland; near Ripley, Mississippi; at Parkville, Missouri; and on Johns’ Island, South Carolina.

July 7, 1864 – During the Civil War, an 11-day Federal operation began between Kingston and England Cove, Tennessee.

July 7, 1864 – During the Civil War, Federal raids took placed at Brookville and Bayport in Florida.

July 7, 1864 – During the Civil War, the 3rd Division, 6th US Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, arrived at Baltimore, Maryland, from its positions in front of Petersburg, Virginia to aid in the defense of Washington, D.C.

July 7, 1865 – During the American Civil War, four conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln were hanged.

July 7, 1865 – Randolph County, Ala. native Lewis Powell, convicted of repeatedly stabbing Secretary of State William H. Seward in a failed attempt to kill him, was hanged alongside convicted Abraham Lincoln assassination conspirators Mary Surratt, David Herold and George Atzerodt.

July 7, 1865 - Mary Surratt was executed by the U.S. government for her role as a conspirator in Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Many expected President Andrew Johnson to pardon Surratt because the U.S. government had never hanged a woman. Ever since her death, numerous sightings of Mary Surratt’s ghost and other strange occurrences have been reported around Fort McNair. A hooded figure in black, bound at the hands and feet as Surratt had been at the time of her execution, has allegedly been seen moving about. Several children of soldiers have reported a “lady in black” who plays with them.

July 7, 1882 – War of 1812 veteran John Green died at the age of 92. He is buried in the John Green Cemetery near Burnt Corn in Conecuh County.

July 7, 1887 – Artist Marc Chagall was born in Vitebsk, Russia.

July 7, 1898 – U.S. President William McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution annexing Hawaii as a territory of the United States.

July 7, 1900 – Warren Earp, the youngest of the famous clan of gun fighting brothers, was shot and killed by John Boyett in a gunfight at the Headquarters Salone in Willcox, Az. Later, Boyett was tried for murder and found innocent on the grounds that he had acted in self-defense

July 7, 1906 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige was born in Mobile, Ala. He would go on to play for the Cleveland Indians, the St. Louis Browns and the Kansas City Athletics. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971.

July 7, 1906 - Enon Lodge planned to have a public installation of Masonic officers on this Saturday, and all sister Lodgers were invited to attend. The Lodge planned to have Dr. R.M. Cunningham to be with them on the occasion.

July 7, 1907 – Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein was born in Butler, Mo.

July 7, 1909 – An intruder entered the home of F.M. Rountree in Conecuh County, Ala. and was shot, but the intruder got away.

July 7, 1912 – Jim Thorpe, a former two-time college football All-American, won the pentathlon at the fifth modern Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.

July 7, 1915 – Author and poet Margaret Walker was born in Birmingham, Ala. Her mother’s relatives lived in Greenville and she set a portion of her 1966 novel, “Jubilee,” in Greenville. Walker is best known for her collections of poetry and her novel, “Jubilee,” which is based on her maternal grandmother's memories of slavery. Walker taught for many years at Jackson State University in Mississippi and she died in 1998.

July 7, 1915 – Mrs. J.G. Barrow suffered a broken collarbone during an automobile accident on this Thursday evening on Cary Street in Evergreen, Ala. She was in the car with her daughter, Mrs. Buford Powell, when their vehicle’s brakes failed going up the street’s steep incline, went down the embankment and overturned. No one else was injured, but the vehicle’s windshield was “demolished.”

July 7, 1916 – Congresssman Thomas J. Heflin was expected to speak at a United Daughters of the Confederacy Independence Day celebration at Perdue Hill on this day. As it was not possible for Heflin to be with them on any other date, the UDC “gladly postponed our celebration of the Fourth three days in order to have such a distinguished guest.” They planned to have “an all-day picnic, a pleasing program, music, dancing, a parcel post auction and lots of good things to eat at reasonable prices,” according to The Monroe Journal.

July 7, 1928 – The Evergreen Motor Car Co. was scheduled to officially open in its new location inside “the pretty new building recently completed on Rural Street.” All seven models of the New Ford Car were to be on display on this day, several of which have not been shown in Evergreen, Ala. before.

July 7, 1930 – Congress approved the funds to build the Hoover Dam.

July 7, 1930 – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, died at the age of 71 in Crowborough, Sussex, England.

July 7, 1933 - Author John Logue was born in Bay Minette, Ala.

July 7, 1933 – Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author David McCullough was born in Pittsburgh, Pa.

July 7, 1937 - During the All-Star Game, Earl Averill hit a line drive that broke one of Dizzy Dean's toes.

July 7, 1939 – The children and relatives of John Cunningham Sr. celebrated his 90th birthday with a barbecue at the Evergreen Country Club. A native of Monroe County, who was born near Tunnel Springs, was the oldest living alumnus of Mobile’s Spring Hill College in 1939.

July 7, 1939 – Perry Hudson of McKenzie, while swimming in Pigeon Creek above Davis Dam on this Friday afternoon, got too close to the dam and was carried over, striking on the rocks below the dam with such force that he was instantly killed.

July 7 1939 – National Baseball Hall of Fame catcher and third baseman Deacon White died at the age of 91 in St. Charles Township, Ill. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013.

July 7, 1947 – The Roswell incident, the (supposed) crash of an alien spaceship, occurred near Roswell in New Mexico.

July 7, 1948 - Photos of an alleged alien, nicknamed 'Tomato Man,' were taken at a UFO crash site in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.

July 7, 1948 – Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck bought Satchel Paige’s contract on Paige’s 42nd birthday, and Paige made his MLB debut two days later, entering in the fifth inning against the St. Louis Browns with the Indians trailing, 4-1. Paige gave up two singles in two innings, striking one man out and inducing one batter to hit into a double play. The Indians lost the game, 5-3, in spite of Paige’s contribution.

July 7, 1948 - Officials of the Brewton Millers entry in the professional Class D Alabama State League planned to hold an “Evergreen Night” on this Wednesday, and planned to reserve around half of the seats for Evergreen fans. Businessmen in Brewton and Evergreen had purchased several hundred tickets to the game and were to distribute them in Evergreen. Half the grandstand and half the bleachers were to be roped off for Evergreen fans and a large attendance was expected to represent the city. The Millers were to play the Greenville Pirates in the game that was to feature the events of “Evergreen Night.” Game time was set for 7:30 p.m.

July 7, 1953 - The Dodgers set a major league record when they got a home run in their 24th consecutive game.

July 7, 1955 - Officials in China and Hanoi announced that Beijing would extend 800 million yuan (about $200 million) in economic aid to Hanoi. This announcement followed a trip to Beijing by Ho Chi Minh and his ministers of finance, industry, agriculture, education and health.

July 7, 1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act into law.

July 7, 1964 - Shea Stadium hosted it's first and only All-Star game.

July 7, 1964 - Gen. Maxwell Taylor, the new ambassador to South Vietnam, arrived in Saigon. As a military man with considerable experience in Vietnam, he was viewed by the South Vietnamese government, the U.S. military establishment, and the Johnson administration as the ideal individual to coordinate and invigorate the war effort. Presumably because of his arrival, a bomb was thrown at the U.S. Embassy and two grenades exploded elsewhere in Saigon; no one was injured and only slight damage was caused.

July 7, 1966 – The Monroe Journal reported that the “Old Courthouse Dilemma” remained, even after a poll of the county commission. Built in 1903, the courthouse, according to a recent survey of an engineering firm, was still safe for use. But the question was, should the old courthouse be allowed to remain in its present condition, detracting from the new courthouse which was completed in September 1963 at a cost of $600,000. After all occupants of the old courthouse were moved into the new courthouse some 50 yards away, new occupants moved into the old courthouse. A poll of the commissioners on whether the old courthouse should be torn down, left as is, or remodeled, showed a divided opinion of the members and still no definite plans on the old courthouse’s fate. Two of the members, M.L. Pearce and David M. Nettles, said they thought the courthouse should be torn down “if,” one, Fonde Williams of Finchburg, was in favor of leaving the courthouse and remodeling it, another, Jerry Steele of Beatrice, said he would have to know more about the economical value either way while another board member was non-committal.

July 7, 1966 – The Monroe Journal reported that Sgt. Harry Ikner, who served with the First Brigade, 100^th Airborne Division in Vietnam, had recently returned to the states. His wife, Sue, his daughter, Kris, and son, Harry Jr., visited with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ira L. Ikner, for 15 days before reporting for duty at Fort Bragg, N.C.

July 7, 1969 - A battalion of the U.S. 9th Infantry Division left Saigon in the initial withdrawal of U.S. troops. The 814 soldiers were the first of 25,000 troops that were withdrawn in the first stage of the U.S. disengagement from the war. There would be 14 more increments in the withdrawal, but the last U.S. troops did not leave until after the Paris Peace Accords were signed in January 1973.

July 7, 1970 – Marine Lance Cpl. David Marshall Haveard of Brewton, Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam.

July 7, 1963 – Edgar Award-winning author Tom Franklin was born in Clarke County, Ala. Raised in Dickinson, he won an Edgar for Best Short Story in 1999 for “Poachers.” His novel, “Hell at the Breech,” a fictionalized version of the Mitcham War of Clarke County, Ala., was published in 2003.

July 7, 1980 – The Reeves Chapel Methodist Church and Cemetery near Camden, Ala. was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.

July 7, 1981 – American mystic and activist Peace Pilgrim died at the age of 72 in Knox, Indiana. On Jan. 26, 1956, The Evergreen Courant reported that Peace Pilgrim, who had walked over 7,600 miles on her pilgrimage for peace, passed through Evergreen over the weekend on her way to Montgomery. Peace Pilgrim began her 100-mile walk in Alabama at Castleberry, walking into Evergreen after dark. She spent the night at the bus station, The Rebel, and began her long trek about 7 a.m. the next morning. On Sun., Jan. 22, about 3:30 p.m., she was seen a few miles above Georgiana, and several people reported having seen her Mon., Jan. 23, the last in the afternoon, about two miles above the junction of the Ft. Deposit road and the new highway, at Priester’s.

July 7, 1984 – Weather reporter Earl Windham recorded 1.11 inches of rain in Evergreen, Ala.

July 7, 1987 - Alabama author Sara Henderson Hay died in Pittsburgh, Pa.

July 7, 1988 – The Evergreen Courant reported that new Evergreen High School head football coach Hugh Fountain was asking all boys interested in playing junior varsity and varsity football to meet with him every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the field house.

July 7, 1988 – The Evergreen Courant reported that former Executive Vice President Bill Johnson had been appointed President of Poole Truck Line, Inc. The appointment was announced by John Bowron, President of NEOAX’s I.U. International Truckload Group, Poole’s parent company.

July 7, 1997 – The Turkish Armed Forces withdrew from northern Iraq after assisting the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War.

July 2, 2000 - Amazon.com announced that they had sold almost 400,000 copies of "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire," making it the biggest selling book in e-tailing history.

July 7, 2005 – New Hope Baptist Church in Natchez, Ala. was added to National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

July 7, 2009 – Evergreen UFO witness Eva “Swan Turner” Maraman died at the age of 67 in Mobile. Born on July 10, 1941 in Butler County, Ala., she is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Georgiana.

July 7, 2011 – National Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder, third baseman and manager Dick Williams passed away at the age of 82 in Las Vegas, Nev. During his career, he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians, the Kansas City Athletics and the Boston Red Sox, and he went on to manage 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.