Today in History for Sept. 9, 2016

Sept. 9, 1583 – English explorer Humphrey Gilbert died when the HMS Squirrel sank off the Azores. Gilbert was a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh (they had the same mother, Catherine Champernowne), and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.

Sept. 9, 1692 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft trials, Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar and Mary Bradbury were pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang.

Sept. 9, 1739 – The Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in Britain's mainland North American colonies prior to the American Revolution, erupted near Charleston, South Carolina.

Sept. 9, 1776 - The Continental Congress formally declared the name of the new nation to be the “United States” of America. This replaced the term “United Colonies,” which had been in general use.

Sept. 9, 1791 – Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, was named after President George Washington.

Sept. 9, 1813 – A burial party under the command of Major Kennedy came to the burned over site of Fort Mims and dug trenches for the dead.

Sept. 9, 1828 – Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy was born in Tula, about 120 miles south of Moscow.

Sept. 9, 1836 - Abraham Lincoln received his license to practice law.

Sept. 9, 1839 – John Herschel took the first glass plate photograph.

Sept. 9, 1846 – William Henry Hasty, believed to have been Monroe County’s last surviving Confederate veteran, was born in Marengo County. He served as Fifth Sgt. with Co. F of the 36th Alabama Regiment and would go on to become a Methodist minister. He passed away on Sept. 27, 1940 and is buried in Excel Cemetery.

Sept. 9, 1850 – California was admitted as the thirty-first U.S. state.

Sept. 9, 1855 – Croatian-American engineer and explorer Anthony Francis Lucas was born in Split, Croatia. With Pattillo Higgins, he organized the drilling of an oil well near Beaumont, Texas that became known as Spindletop. This led to the widespread exploitation of oil and the start of the petroleum age.

Sept. 9, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Lucas Bend, Mo.

Sept. 9, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Fort Mitchell (near Covington,) Log Church and Woodburn, Kentucky; at Barnesville, Poolesville, Boonsborough, Frederick, Monocacy Church, and Sugar Loaf Mountain, Maryland; at Big Creek, Missouri; with Sioux Indians at Sauk Centre in Minnesota; and at Williamsburg, Virginia.

Sept. 9, 1863 - Union General William Rosecrans completed a brilliant campaign against the army of Confederate General Braxton Bragg when his forces capture Chattanooga, Tenn.

Sept. 9, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Alpine, Georgia; at Webber's falls in Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma); at Lookout Mountain, Georgia; and at Brandy Station, Virginia.

Sept. 9, 1863 – The Battle of Sabine Pass was fought at Fort Griffin in Texas with Union Major General William B. Franklin, Navy Captain Frederick Crocker and Confederate Lt. Richard W. Dowling commanding. The Union sent a small naval expedition; the Confederate garrison was 44 men. Union losses were about 230; Confederate, unknown.

Sept. 9, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought near Glass Village, Arkansas; on the Warrenburg Road, Missouri; and at Curituck Bridge, North Carolina.

Sept. 9, 1868 – Mary Hunter Austin, an early writer of the American Southwest, was born in Carlinville, Ill.

Sept. 9, 1872 – Brooklyn, Ala. native John M. Henderson died in Mill View, Fla. He was a prominent businessman, deputy sheriff, county treasurer and probate judge and established the train depot in Castleberry. During the Civil War, he served in the 38th Alabama Regiment as a first lieutenant.

Sept. 9, 1876 – National Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman and manager Frank Chance was born in Salida, Calif. During his career, he played for the Chicago Orphans/Cubs and the New York Yankees, and he managed the Cubs, Yankees and Boston Red Sox. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1946.

Sept. 9, 1889 - The Perdue Hill High School in Monroe County, Ala. opened for the 1889-1890 school year with Prof. C.H. Florey as principal.

Sept. 9, 1889 – The Monroeville Academy in Monroe County, Ala. opened for the 1889-1890 school year with 44 pupils.

Sept. 9, 1893 - U.S. President Grover Cleveland's wife, Frances Cleveland, gave birth to a daughter, Esther. It was the first time a president's child was born in the White House.

Sept. 9, 1897 – World War I soldier Dewitt Fore was born in Monroeville, Ala. to Nelson Irving Fore and Mary Kate Falkenberry. He enlisted in the Alabama National Guard on Sept. 18, 1916 and was assigned to Co. K, 1st Infantry Rifles at Castleberry, Ala. He was inducted into the U.S. Army on Sept. 26, 1916 at a camp near Montgomery with Capt. Elisha Downing commanding. He served with Co. I, 167th Infantry, 42nd Division (Rainbow Division) and was killed in action at Chateau-Thierry, France on July 15, 1918. He was later buried in the Ridge Cemetery (Zion Baptist Cemetery) at Axle.

Sept. 9, 1898 – National Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman and manager Frankie Frisch was born in Bronx, New York. He went on to play for the New York Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals, and he managed the Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1947.

Sept. 9, 1899 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Waite Hoyt was born in Brooklyn, New York. He went on to play for the New York Giants, the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, the Detroit Tigers, the Philadelphia Athletics, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1969.

Sept. 9, 1900 – British novelist James Hilton was born in Leigh, Lancashire, England. He is best known for his novels, “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1934) and “Lost Horizon” (1933).

Sept. 9, 1911 – Novelist, social critic and psychotherapist Paul Goodman was born in New York City.

Sept. 9, 1915 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Albert Spalding passed away at the age of 66 in San Diego, Calif. During his career, he played for the Rockford Forest Citys, the Boston Red Stockings and the Chicago White Stockings. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1939.

Sept. 9, 1915 – The store of M. Katz in Monroeville, Ala. was scheduled to be closed on this day in observance of Rosh Hashanah or the Jewish New Year.

Sept. 9, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that track had been laid on the Gulf, Floriday & Alabama Railroad to Limestone Creek and that the first special passenger train had run to that point on Aug. 29. Regular passenger service would probably not be established until the G.,F. & A. made connection with the Southern Railway at Pine Hill, Ala., the newspaper reported.

Sept. 9, 1915 – The Monroe Journal assured its readers that despite the impression that Monroeville was a “hotbed of typhoid fever,” no cases of the fever had been reported in the city in two years.

Sept. 9, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that Capt. John McDuffie had returned home from the “encampment of the second regiment Alabama National Guard.”

Sept. 9, 1926 - The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was created by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).

Sept. 9, 1930 – The William Wyatt Bibb Bridge at Claiborne, Ala. was dedicated and was officially opened to traffic the following October. The bridge was renamed the “Claiborne-Murphy Bridge” in 1931.

Sept. 9, 1934 - Author Sonia Sanchez was born in Birmingham, Ala.

Sept. 9, 1936 - A movie version of Alabama author Octavus Roy Cohen's book “They Met in a Taxi” was released.

Sept. 9, 1939 - Audiences at the Fox Theater in Riverside, Calif. got a surprise showing of “Gone with the Wind,” which the theater manager showed as a second feature. Producer David O. Selznick sat in the back and observed the audience reaction to his highly anticipated film. The movie was released a few months later.

Sept. 9, 1940 – Conecuh County, Ala. schools opened for the 1940-41 school year.

Sept. 9, 1941 – Singer and songwriter Otis Redding was born in Dawson, Ga.

Sept. 9, 1946 - Alabama author Allen Wier was born in San Antonio, Texas.

Sept. 9, 1950 - Sal Maglie of the New York Giants pitched a fourth consecutive shutout. Only four other pitchers in the National League had ever accomplished this feat.

Sept. 9, 1950 – “The Hank McCune Show,” a sitcom that debuted on this day in 1950, had the distinction of being the first TV program to make use of  'canned laughter,' the noxious pre-recorded laughs often dubbed into a soundtrack.

Sept. 9, 1955 – Cheryl Adams Johnston was born.

Sept. 9, 1956 - Author Janice N. Harrington was born in Vernon, Ala.

Sept. 9, 1962 – Groundbreaking services were held for a new educational building and chapel at Monroeville Methodist Church on Pineville Road in Monroeville, Ala.

Sept. 9, 1965 – Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax pitched the eighth perfect game in major league history, leading the Dodgers to a 1-0 win over the Chicago Cubs at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles.

Sept. 9, 1965 – The Monroe Journal reported that three new head football coaches would be taking the field during season-opening football games that week in Monroe County – Lowell James at Frisco City, Britton Kelly at Excel and Ronald Dees at Monroe County High School. Benny Rhodes at J.U. Blacksher was the county’s only returning head football coach.

Sept. 9, 1965 – Hurricane Betsy made its second landfall near New Orleans, leaving 76 dead and $1.42 billion ($10–12 billion in 2005 dollars) in damages, becoming the first hurricane to cause over $1 billion in unadjusted damage.

Sept. 9, 1967 - Sergeant Duane D. Hackney was presented with the Air Force Cross for bravery in rescuing an Air Force pilot in Vietnam. He was the first living Air Force enlisted man to receive the award, the nation’s second highest award for bravery in action.

Sept. 9, 1969 - Funeral services, attended by 250,000 mourners, were held for Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh Square.

Sept. 9, 1972 – In Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park, a Cave Research Foundation exploration and mapping team discovered a link between the Mammoth and Flint Ridge cave systems, making it the longest known cave passageway in the world.

Sept. 9, 1972 - U.S. Air Force Capt. Charles B. DeBellevue (Weapons Systems Officer) flying with his pilot, Capt. John A. Madden, in a McDonnell Douglas F-4D, shot down two MiG-19s near Hanoi. These were Captain DeBellevue’s fifth and sixth victories, which made him the leading American ace (an unofficial designation awarded for having downed at least five enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat) of the war. All of his victories came in a four-month period. Captain Madden would record a third MiG kill two months later.

Sept. 9, 1976 – NBA power forward Hanno Möttölä was born in Helsinki, Finland. He played college ball at Utah and in the NBA for the Atlanta Hawks.

Sept. 9, 1981 – Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace married Lisa Taylor, a country music singer. They divorced in 1987.

Sept. 9, 1983 – Monroe Academy handed Sparta Academy its first loss of the 1983 season by beating the Warriors, 35-6, at Stuart-McGehee Field in Evergreen. Sparta’s only touchdown came on a 10-yard pass from Dewan Salter to Al Etheridge, and Connery Salter led the defense with six solo tackles, nine assists and two fumble recoveries. Other standout Sparta players in that game included Tim Brantley, Thad Ellis, Thomas Floyd, Chad Grace, Britt McNeill, Danny Reed, Jim Reed, Tom Reed, Mark Rigsby, Scott Smith, Tommy Conway and Tim Wilson.

Sept. 9, 1984 - Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears broke Jim Brown’s combined yardage record when he reached 15,517 yards.

Sept. 9, 1987 - Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros got his 4,500th strike out.

Sept. 9, 1992 - Robin Yount became the 17th major league baseball player to reach 3,000 hits.

Sept. 9, 1997 – National Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder Richie Ashburn passed away at the age of 70 in New York City. During his career, he played for the Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995.

Sept. 9, 1998 - The New York Yankees officially clinched the American League East title. It was the earliest in AL history. The Yankees ended the season 20-1/2 games ahead of second-place Boston.

Sept. 9, 1999 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Catfish Hunter passed away at the age of 53 in Hertford, N.C. During his career, he played for the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987.

Sept. 9, 2001 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit three home runs to give him 63 for the season.

Sept. 9, 2009 – The J.W. Shreve Addition Historic District in Andalusia, Ala. was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Sept. 9, 2011 – Charles Hickson, one of the two men who claimed to have been abducted by aliens in Pascagoula, Miss. in 1973, passed away at the age of 80.

Sept. 9, 2012 – A wave of attacks killed more than 100 people and injure 350 others across Iraq.