Today in History for Aug. 10, 2016

Laurence Binyon

Aug. 10, 991 – During the Battle of Maldon, the English, led by Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex, were defeated by a band of inland-raiding Vikings near Maldon, Essex.

Aug. 10, 1519 – Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second-in-command Juan Sebastián Elcano would complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines. They arrived back in Seville — down to one ship and 18 men — on Sept. 8, 1522.

Aug. 10, 1675 – The foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, England was laid.

Aug. 10, 1770 – British Lt. Col. Peter Chester, age 49, became the governor of British West Florida.

Aug. 10, 1776 – During the American Revolutionary War, news reached London that the Americans had drafted the Declaration of Independence.

Aug. 10, 1793 - After more than two centuries as a royal palace, the Louvre was opened as a public museum in Paris by the French revolutionary government. Today, the Louvre’s collection is one of the richest in the world, with artwork and artifacts representative of 11,000 years of human civilization and culture.

Aug. 10, 1809 – American ornithologist and explorer John Kirk Townsend was born in Philadelphia, Pa.

Aug. 10, 1814 - Confederate and ardent secessionist William Lowndes Yancey was born in Warren County, Ga. The main author of Alabama's ordinance of secession, which removed Alabama from the Union, Yancey was one of the leading "fire-eaters" who influenced southern states to secede. Yancey was also said to have been among the early businessmen of Greenville, Ala.

Aug. 10, 1821 – Missouri was admitted as the 24th U.S. state.

Aug. 10, 1846 – The Smithsonian Institution was chartered by the United States Congress and President James K. Polk signed the act creating the “Nation’s Attic,” after James Smithson donated $500,000.

Aug. 10, 1861 – J.N. Coker was commissioned as Monroe County, Alabama’s Sheriff.

Aug. 10, 1861 – According to the Aug. 16, 1861 edition of The Claiborne Southerner, the Monroeville Infantry Co., nicknamed the “Monroe Rebels,” was organized. Elected officers included Capt. G.G. Mathews, 1st Lt. H.M. Graham, 2nd Lt. W.A. Duke, Brevet 2nd Lt. F.M. Jones and Orderly Sgt. John M. Parker. (Other sources say this unit was organized on Aug. 8, 1861.)

Aug. 10, 1861 – During the Civil War, at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, the war entered Missouri when a band of raw Confederate troops led by Generals Sterlin Price and Ben McCulloch defeated Union forces under General Nathaniel Lyon in the southwestern part of the state. Losses were heavy, with both sides suffering about 1,200 casualties, including Lyon, who was fatally wounded.

Aug. 10, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Potosi, Missouri.

Aug. 10, 1862 – During the Civil War, the Confederate steamer, General Lee, was captured in the Savannah River near Fort Pulaski, Ga.

Aug. 10, 1862 – During the Civil War, Federal reconnaissance was conducted along the Hatchie River, Mississippi and in the Brownsville, Tennessee area.

Aug. 10, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Bayou Sara, Louisiana; on the Neuces River, near Fort Clark, Texas; and at Lin Creek and Switzer’s Mill, Missouri.

Aug. 10, 1863 - U.S. President Lincoln met with abolitionist Frederick Douglass who was pushing for full equality for Union 'Negro troops.'

Aug. 10, 1863 – During the Civil War, Federal operations were conducted from Helena toward Little Rock, Arkansas.

Aug. 10, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Bayou Tensas, Louisiana and at Dayton, Missouri.

Aug. 10, 1863 – During the Civil War, a 13-day Federal expedition that had two departure points began. One force left La Grange, Tennessee and the other from the Big Black River, in Mississippi with both aimed at Grenada, Mississippi. Another Federal operation directed against the Mississippi Central Railroad began from Big Black River, Mississippi toward Memphis, Tennessee.

Aug. 10, 1863 – During the Civil War, a three-day mutiny by Confederate troops at Galveston, Texas, began because of inadequate food and supplies.

Aug. 10, 1864 - Union General Philip Sheridan began marching his force toward Winchester, Va. Confederate General Jubal Early pulled out of the city in advance of Sheridan's arrival.

Aug. 10, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Augusta, Arkansas; at Baldwin, Florida; three miles south of Williamsport, Louisiana; near Stone Chapel, Virginia; at Port Isabel, Texas; and along the Tallahatchie River, in Northern Mississippi, with Brig. Gen Joseph A. Mower’s Federal expedition from La Grange, Tennessee, on Oxford, Mississippi.

Aug. 10, 1864 – During the Civil War, Confederate cavalry operations began in North Georgia and East Tennessee to disrupt the Union supply and communication lines of Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman.

Aug. 10, 1864 – During the Civil War, three days of Federal operations began in the vicinity of Morganza, Louisiana.

Aug. 10, 1869 – Poet and playwright Laurence Binyon was born in Lancaster, England.

Aug. 10, 1871 – Albert Brown allegedly stabbed Levi Brown in the chest near the railroad tracks in downtown Evergreen, Ala., and Levi Brown died three days later. Albert Brown fled and remained a fugitive for 31 years until Conecuh County Sheriff W.W. Pridgen arrested him at a saw mill in Stockton in June 1902 on murder charges. Albert Brown claimed that he’d stabbed Levi Brown in self defense.

Aug. 10, 1874 - Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st President of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa.

Aug. 10, 1884 – Aviation pioneer Robert G. Fowler was born in San Francisco, Calif. He would land in Evergreen, Ala. on Jan. 15, 1912 during the first ever flight from west to east across the United States.

Aug. 10, 1885 – Commissioners Court was scheduled to convene in Monroeville, Ala.

Aug. 10, 1889 - A 36 foot long and 15 foot high mammoth skeleton was found in St. James, Nebraska.

Aug. 10, 1905 – The Monroe Journal reported that the following sentences had been handed down during the recent term of the Monroe County (Ala.) Circuit Court: Andrew Rogers, murder in the first degree, sentenced to life imprisonment; Ira Anderson, murder, life sentence; Jim McNiel and – Fails, murder, not guilty; D.L. Neville, murder, nol pros by the State; Ira Anderson, assault to murder, nol pros by the State; Jim Fryer, murder in second degree, 15 years in penitentiary.

Aug. 10, 1912 – Virginia Stephen, 30, married Leonard Woolf, 31, at London’s St. Pancras Registry Office. Together, the couple founded the Hogarth Press in their dining room and published Virginia Woolf’s novels, a collection of Freud’s papers, and the works of writers like Katherine Mansfield, T.S. Eliot and E.M. Forster.

Aug. 10, 1912 – Brazilian novelist Jorge Amado was born near Ilheus, Brazil.

Aug. 10, 1914 – The Conecuh County Commission donated $200 to furnish the Domestic Science and Manual Training Departments at the new Conecuh County High School in Castleberry, Ala., which opened for the first time on Sept. 21, 1914. The donation was made upon the request of the school principal, Miss Sarah E. Luther, and building committee members Elisha Downing and Dr. R.T. Holland.

Aug. 10, 1915 – Alabama Gov. Henderson appointed Atmore, Ala. mayor W.E. Rushing to serve as Escambia County Probate Judge, a position that was left vacant by the death of M.F. Brooks.

Aug. 10, 1927 - Mount Rushmore was formally dedicated. The individual faces of the presidents were dedicated later.

Aug. 10, 1939 – J.P. Busey, who lived between Monroeville and Monroe Station, killed a 5-1/2 foot rattlesnake with eight rattles.

Aug. 10, 1945 - The day after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced they would surrender. The only condition was that the status of Emperor Hirohito would remain unchanged.

Aug. 10, 1946 – Hank Williams, then just 22 years old, performed at The Spotlight, which was about halfway between Monroeville and Peterman.

Aug. 10, 1949 – Mystery novelist Ellen Hart was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Aug. 10, 1949 – Poet Joyce Sutphen was born in St. Joseph, Minnesota. She was named the poet laureate of Minnesota in 2011.

Aug. 10, 1951 - The Evergreen American Legion Pee Wee baseball team shut out the Brewton juniors, 4-0, on this Friday morning. Players on Evergreen’s team included Jerry Kendrick, pitcher; Mike Kendrick, centerfield; Wayne Frazier, third base; Robert Mason, catcher; Bill Ivey, first base; Leon McKenzie, right field; Douglas Thames, left field; James Nelson, second base; Robert King, shortstop; Paul Pace, Murray Johnson, Bill Ansley, John Finklea and Billy Grace. Wendell Hart was head coach.

Aug. 10, 1952 – The Centerville Rookies baseball team beat Castleberry, 10-9, at Brooks Stadium in Evergreen, Ala. Also that day, the Shreve Eagles baseball team beat Skinnerton, 7-4.

Aug. 10, 1953 – During the First Indochina War, the French Union withdrew its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central Vietnam.

Aug. 10, 1955 - Declaring that South Vietnam was “the only legal state,” Ngo Dinh Diem, Premier of the State of Vietnam, announced that he would not enter into negotiations with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) on elections as long as the Communist government remained in power in Hanoi. The elections had been scheduled for 1956 under the provisions of the Geneva Peace Accords of 1954 that brought an end to the First Indochina War. Diem reaffirmed the position laid down in his broadcast of July 6 in which he stated that South Vietnam was not bound by the Geneva Accords.

Aug. 10, 1956 – American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer Charlie Peacock was born in Yuba City, Calif.

Aug. 10, 1961 – First use in Vietnam War of the Agent Orange by the U.S. Army.

Aug. 10, 1962 – Novelist Suzanne Collins was born in Hartford, Conn. She is best known for her 2008 novel, “The Hunger Games.”

Aug. 10, 1966 - A daylight meteor was seen in the sky from Utah to Canada. It's said to be the only known case of a meteor entering the Earth's atmosphere and leaving it again.

Aug. 10, 1966 - Troops of the First Battalion, Fifth Marines fought a bitter battle against NVA forces in Quang Tin province, 60 miles west of Tam Ky. In Thailand, a U.S.-built air base was opened in Sattahib. Ultimately, there would be five major airbases and over 49,000 U.S. military personnel in Thailand. The bases would be turned over to the Thais and the U.S. troops withdrawn in 1973.

Aug. 10, 1967 – The Evergreen Courant reported that U.S. Air Force Major Samuel W. Hanks, a former Conecuh County resident and graduate of Evergreen High School, received the Bronze Star Medal at Bien Hoa Air Base in Vietnam for “meritorious service while engaged in military operations against Viet Cong.” Hanks, a member of the Pacific Air Forces, was cited for his performance as an air operations officer at Bien Hoa.

Aug. 10, 1969 – A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

Aug. 10, 1970 - Jim Morrison's trial for allegedly exposing himself onstage in Miami, Fla. began.

Aug. 10, 1971 – The Society for American Baseball Research was founded in Cooperstown, New York.

Aug. 10, 1971 - Harmon Kilebrew became the tenth Major League Baseball player to hit 500 career home runs.

Aug. 10, 1972 - North Vietnamese forces blocked Routes 1, 4, and 13, all major South Vietnamese ground supply routes to Saigon. For the next two months, Communist forces repeatedly interdicted these and other key supply routes critical to Saigon’s survival in an attempt to strangle the city. This was all part of the Nguyen Hue Offensive, which had been launched in late March.

Aug. 10, 1975 – Evergreen weather observer Earl Windham predicted that the year 1975 could be a record setting year for rainfall in the area. As of Aug. 10, the area had received 76.4 inches of rain since Jan. 1. Normal annual rainfall in Conecuh County was 55 to 60 inches, Windham said.

Aug. 10, 1975 – A large crowd attended a memorial service held in honor of the late Dr. Cecil Eugene Price, who died on April 29, 1974, was held at 2:30 p.m. at the Conecuh County Hospital in Evergreen, Ala. Speakers included Evergreen Mayor Wm. Henry Sessions, Conecuh County Commission Chairman John M. Fleming, State Rep. James E. Warren, former state representative and senator William D. Melton and the Rev. O.B. Tuggle Jr. As part of the event, a portrait of Price was unveiled and placed on the wall in the lobby of the hospital.

Aug. 10, 1976 – Municipal election was held in Evergreen, Ala., and Mayor O.B. “Bert” Tuggle was elected to a full term in office. Councilmen elected included Pat Poole, Alex Johnson and Lomax Cassady. Two council seats went to a runoff on Sept. 14, 1976 with Walter B. Hudson Jr. and O.F. Frazier vying for Place 2, and incumbent Knud Nielsen facing Aubrey Dean Padgett for Place 5.

Aug. 10, 1977 – In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") was arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over the period of one year.

Aug. 10, 1981 - Pete Rose of the Philadelphia Phillies got the 3,631st hit of his baseball career, breaking Stan Musial's record for most hits by a National Leaguer. The record-breaking hit came in a game at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia against the St. Louis Cardinals, the team with whom Musial had spent his entire career, and the former hits king was on hand to congratulate Rose. Amazingly, it was only Rose’s 2,886th game; it had taken Musial 3,026 games to set the mark.

Aug. 10, 1982 - Annie Roan Price, 87, of Evergreen, Ala. passed away in a local hospital. Price was the widow of the late L.W. Price Sr., former Judge of Probate of Conecuh County. She was born in 1894 in Thomasville, and she and Judge Price moved to Conecuh County in 1920, living in Sparta for a few years and the rest of the time in Evergreen.

Aug. 10, 1982 - Alabama author Thomas McAfee died in Columbia, Mo.

Aug. 10, 1990 – The Alabama High School Athletic Association was scheduled to hold a football rules clinic at Hillcrest High School in Evergreen, Ala. at 7 p.m.

Aug. 10, 1994 – Alabama native Bo Jackson made his final Major League Baseball appearance, taking the field for the California Angels.

April 10, 1995 - Jimmy Buffett led a birthday celebration for U.S. President Bill Clinton's birthday at the White House.

April 10, 1995 – In relation to the “Oklahoma City Bombing,” Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were indicted on 11 counts connected with the bombing. Michael Fortier pleaded guilty in a plea-bargain for his testimony.

Aug. 10, 1996 – Billy Joe Freeman of Covington, Ga. was found dead on this Saturday afternoon about two miles west of the Mixonville community on Conecuh County Road 106. Freeman, who died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, was wanted in connection with a homicide and aggravated battery in Newton County, Ga.

Aug. 10, 1998 - Cornelia Nettles Jackson was to celebrate her 105^th birthday. She was a resident at Englewood Nursing Home. Jackson was a life-long resident of Monroe County, spending her first 49 years in the Tunnel Springs area and the last 56 years in Monroeville.

Aug. 10, 1999 - It was announced that Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs was leaving Oasis.

Aug. 10, 2001 – National Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop and manager Lou Boudreau passed away at the age of 84 in Olympia Fields, Ill. During his career, he played for the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox and managed the Indians, the Red Sox, the Kansas City Athletics and the Chicago Cubs. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1970.

Aug. 10, 2004 – According to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, a Bigfoot-type incident occurred on this day on a dirt road off U.S. Highway 84 close to the Sepulga River. The witness in this case reported seeing a black, hairy man-like creature, six to seven feet tall, who ran out in the road in front of his truck. The creature just kept running and disappeared into the woods, but not before leaving large footprints near the road.

Aug. 10, 2005 – Conecuh County public schools officially opened with the first day of classes for students.