Today in History for Oct. 15, 2016

Harry Talbird grave in Marion, Ala. 

Oct. 15, 70 B.C. – Roman poet Virgil, who is best known for his epic poem “The Aeneid,” was born Publius Vergilius Maro near Mantua, Italy.

Oct. 15, 1764 – Edward Gibbon observed a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspired him to begin work on “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”

Oct. 15, 1780 – A combined force of 1,000 British regulars, Hessians, Loyalists and Indians, led by Loyalist Sir John Johnson and Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant, attempted an unsuccessful attack upon Middleburgh (or Middle Fort), New York. Only 200 Continental soldiers under Major Melanchthon Woolsey were defending the fort, and unknown to the British, the Continentals were low on ammunition. In their ignorance of the Patriots’ weakness, the Loyalist forces retreated in the direction of the Schoharie Valley, contenting themselves with destroying everything in their path and continuing the civil war raging in upstate New York.

Oct. 15, 1824 – During his tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette spent the entire evening at Arlington House in Arlington, Va., although he returned to his hotel in Washington D.C. at night.

Oct. 15, 1827 – Charles W. Locklin was born in Claiborne, Ala. He owned and piloted the steamer “St. Nicholas,” which snagged at a sandbar near Sunflower, Ala. in February 1866 and was lost. Locklin and his wife also claimed to have seen 12 phantom horsemen at McConnico Cemetery in the autumn of 1865.

Oct. 15, 1830 – Author and novelist Helen Hunt Jackson was born in Amherst, Mass.

Oct. 15, 1843 – Joseph A. Adams was born in Oak Bowery in Chambers County, Ala. He would go on to serve the Confederacy during the Civil War, and he founded The Southern Star newspaper in Dale County, Ala. in 1867.

Oct. 15, 1844 – Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was born in the Prussian village of Rocken. His most famous book, “Thus Spake Zarathustra,” was published in 1883.

Oct. 15, 1845 – British explorer Richard Francis Burton passed the regimental language exam for Persian.

Oct. 15, 1854 – “Harry,” the 23-year-old servant of Howard College president Henry Talbird, lost his life while awakening sleeping students after their dormitory caught fire in the middle of the night. The incident happened in Marion, Ala.

Oct. 15, 1860 - Eleven-year old Grace Bedell wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard.

Oct. 15, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought near Blackwell Station, Mo. Federal operations about Ironton and Fredericktown, Mo. began.

Oct. 15, 1861 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought on the Little River Turnpike in Virginia.

Oct. 15, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory; along the Apalachicola River in Florida; at Crab Orchard and Barren Mound, Kentucky; at Neely’s Bend on the Cumberland River in Tennessee; and near Carrsville, Virginia. A five-day Federal operation also began in Henry, Owen and Gallatin Counties in Kentucky.

Oct. 15, 1863 – During the Civil War in Charleston Harbor, the CSS H.L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sank for a second time, during a test, killing eight of her crew, including its inventor, Horace Lawson Hunley.

Oct. 15, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at the Creek Agency in the Indian Territory; at Brownsville, Mississippi; on the Canton Road, near Brownsville, Mississippi; at Cross Timbers, Missouri; at Bristol and Philadelphia, Tennessee; at McLean’s, Blackburn’s Ford, Mitchell’s Ford, Manassas, and Oak Hill, Virginia; and near Hedgesville, West Virgina.

Oct. 15, 1864 – During the Civil War, the Battle of Glasgow was fought, resulting in the surrender of Glasgow, Missouri, and its Union garrison, to the Confederacy.

Oct. 15, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Snake Creek Cap, Georgia; at Bayou Liddell, Louisiana; at Hernando, Mississippi; at Sedalia and Paris, Missouri; and at Mossy Creek, Tennessee. A three-day Federal expedition from Bernard’s Mills to Murfree Station, Virginia also began.

Oct. 15, 1881 – English novelist and humorist P.G. Wodehouse (pronounced Wood-house) was born Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.

Oct. 15, 1888 – The "From Hell" letter sent by Jack the Ripper was received by investigators.

Oct. 15, 1889 – The South Alabama Fair opened in Greenville, Ala.

Oct. 15, 1889 - Confederate General Edward Aylesworth Perry passed away at the age of 58 in Kerrville, Texas.

Oct. 15, 1903 - Alabama author James H. Street was born in Lumberton, Miss.

Oct. 15, 1904 – Hugh M. King of Evergreen became a member of Greening Masonic Lodge in Evergreen, Ala. A native of Georgia, he was a distinguished Confederate officer, a former newspaper man, an attorney, and was mayor of Evergreen and Bainbridge, Ga. He died on June 5, 1914 in Evergreen.

Oct. 15, 1909 – Reporter Bob Trout, who was known as the “Iron Man of radio,” was born Robert Blondheim in Wake County, N.C.

Oct. 15, 1914 – The Conecuh Record reported that the Evergreen Oil & Fertizler factory had opened under the management of C.A. Jones.

Oct. 15, 1917 – The Dutch dancer and archetypal seductive female spy, Mata Hari, was executed by a French firing squad for spying for Germany.

Oct. 15, 1917 – Pulitzer Prize-winning author Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. was born in Columbus, Ohio.

Oct. 15, 1918 – During World War I, Army PFC Allen T. Pryor of Andalusia, Ala.; Army Cpl. James H. Mancil of Brewton, Ala.; and Army Pvt. Comer C. Cain of Georgiana, Ala. were killed in action. Army Pvt. Herbert Bradley of River Falls, Ala. “died from disease.”

Oct. 15, 1923 – Italian writer Italo Calvino was born in Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba.

Oct. 15, 1924 – The Evergreen Courant reported that the new, two-story brick structure being erected by W.M. Newton on West Front Street, between the post office and Wild Brothers Hardware Co., in Evergreen, Ala. was “rapidly nearing completion.”

Oct. 15, 1932 – Evergreen High School beat Georgiana High School, 6-0, during the 10th Annual Fair at McKenzie, Ala.

Oct. 15, 1932 – Mr. and Mrs. R.C. Riley and family left Evergreen, Ala. on this Saturday for Greensboro, where they planned to take charge of the management of the Greensboro hotel.

Oct. 15, 1937 - "To Have and Have Not" by Ernest Hemingway was published for the first time.

Oct. 15, 1942 – The Monroe Journal reported that construction of a 120-foot steel forest lookout tower near Belleville, Ala. had been completed. Due to its location, fires more than 12 miles distant could be detected and crews dispatched to extinguish them.

Oct. 15, 1944 – The Arrow Cross Party (very similar to Hitler's NSDAP (Nazi party)) took power in Hungary.

Oct. 15, 1945 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer in New York City. He played his entire career, 1965 to 1984, for the Baltimore Orioles. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.

Oct. 15, 1946 - Hermann Goering, a Nazi war criminal and founder of the Gestapo, poisoned himself just hours before his scheduled execution.

Oct. 15, 1954 – On this morning, fire completely destroyed the home of Elmer Gaskey near Annex in Conecuh County, Ala. No one was home at the time, and the house, clothing and furniture was a total loss.

Oct. 15, 1954 – In one of the greatest football games ever played in Conecuh County, Evergreen beat Greenville, 6-0, before a homecoming crowd of over 3,000 at Brooks Stadium in Evergreen, Ala. Greenville entered the game on an 18-game winning streak, and Evergreen quarterback Jimmy Frazier scored the game’s only touchdown on a one-yard run.

Oct. 15, 1954 – Albert Arnold’s Repton Bulldogs beat J.U. Blacksher, 31-6, in Repton, Ala. Players scoring touchdowns for Repton included Floyd Morgan, Eddie Kelly and Ray Blackwell. Nelson Smith scored on a 50-yard screen pass for Blacksher’s only touchdown.

Oct. 15, 1960 - Michael Lewis, the author of such nonfiction best-sellers as 2003’s “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” and 2006’s “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game,” was born in New Orleans.

Oct. 15, 1965 – During the Vietnam War, the Catholic Worker Movement staged an anti-war rally in Manhattan including a public burning of a draft card; the first such act to result in arrest under a new amendment to the Selective Service Act.

Oct. 16, 1966 – The Black Panther Party was created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.

Oct. 15, 1966 – The Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Ala. was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Oct. 15, 1966 - U.S. troops moved into Tay Ninh Province near the Cambodian border, about 50 miles north of Saigon, and swept the area in search of Viet Cong as part of Operation Attleboro, which had begun in September.

Oct. 15 1969 – During the Vietnam War, the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was held in Washington D.C. and across the US. Over two million demonstrated nationally; about 250,000 in Washington D.C.

Oct. 15, 1971 – Repton High School center Hilton Ryland accepted the school’s Mr. Football award during halftime of the school’s homecoming game.

Oct. 15, 1971 – Repton High School, under head coach Victor Norris, was scheduled to play their homecoming football game against McKenzie High School in Repton, Ala. Ten seniors were to be playing in their last homecoming game: Butch Hanks, Wayne Burch, L.J. Burch, Rickey Waters, Lee Brown, Steve Baggett, Randy Hanks, George Lint, James Bell and Hilton Ryland.

Oct. 15, 1984 – Around noon, a tornado passed through the Range and Lenox communities in Conecuh County, Ala., causing extensive damage, but no injuries. The tornado was first spotted at 12:30 p.m. near the Bill Mayo residence near Range and it ripped a roof off a barn and turned the barn on its foundation. Several other barns and houses were damaged as the tornado traveled east and hit Lenox before subsiding.

Oct. 15, 1984 - The Freedom of Information Act was passed.

Oct. 15, 1993 – Sparta Academy defeated Cathedral Christian of Birmingham, 56-28, during Sparta’s homecoming football game at Stuart-McGehee Field in Evergreen, Ala.

Oct. 15, 2000 – Philadelphia Baptist Church at Tunnel Springs, Ala. celebrated its 160th anniversary.

Oct. 15, 2001 - The 0-4 Dallas Cowboys and the 0-4 Washington Redskins played on Monday Night Football. It was the only time in the 31-year history of Monday Night Football that two 0-4 teams played. The Cowboys won the game 9-7.

Oct. 15, 2012 – The Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery in Wilcox County, Ala. was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register.