Today in History for Oct. 5, 2016

Chief Joseph

Oct. 5, 1540 – The DeSoto Expedition departed the ancient Indian town of Talisi in present-day Dallas County, Ala. and visited the ancient Indian village of Casiste, which was probably located on the site of Cahaba, Alabama’s first state capital, also in Dallas County.

Oct. 5, 1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

Oct. 5, 1774 - William Goddard laid out a plan for a Constitutional Post before the Continental Congress.

Oct. 5, 1775 - General George Washington wrote to the president of the Continental Congress, John Jay, to inform him that a letter from Dr. Benjamin Church, surgeon general of the Continental Army, to Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Gage, British commander in chief for North America, had been intercepted. Washington described how a coded letter to a British officer, Major Crane, came into Washington’s possession by a convoluted route from “a Woman who was kept by Doctor Church.” Charged with treason, Church faced an army court martial on Oct. 4, 1775 and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Oct. 5, 1813 - The Battle of the Thames, also known as the Battle of Moraviantown, took place near present-day Chatham, Ontario in Upper Canada. It was a decisive United States victory in the War of 1812 against Great Britain. It resulted in the death of the Shawnee chief Tecumseh and the destruction of the Native American coalition which he led.

Oct. 5, 1829 - Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President of the United States, was born in Fairfield, Vermont.

Oct. 5, 1852 – A county election was held in Coffee County, Ala. in which Elba was selected as the county seat, getting 58 more votes than Indigo Head (Clintonville).

Oct. 5, 1861 – Joseph Ganes Sanders, the “Turncoat of Dale County (Ala.),” had his 12-month enlistment confirmed and was assigned to the 31st Georgia Infantry.

Oct. 5, 1861 – During the Civil War, a Federal expedition went to Oak Grove and the Temecula Ranch in California to determine the presence of Confederate personnel.

Oct. 5, 1864 – After losing the city of Atlanta, Confederate General John Bell Hood attacked Union General William T. Sherman's supply line at Allatoona Pass, Ga. Hood's men could not take the Union stronghold, and they were forced to retreat into Alabama.

Oct. 5, 1869 - One of the single greatest weather predictions came true on this date. Lt. SM Saxby had predicted the year before that a hurricane would drench parts of Canada and New England. His accuracy was only slightly off, missing the center of the storm by 100 miles and the time by 12 hours.

Oct. 5, 1877 – Chief Joseph, the leader of a band of Nez Perce Indians in the Wallowa Valley in northeaster Oregon, surrendered to the U.S. Cavalry.

Oct. 5, 1878 – John Wesley Hardin, who lived in Pollard, Ala. for 18 months, was sent to prison in Huntsville, Texas. He would be released in 1894.

Oct. 5, 1888 – Jim Burrow, the brother of outlaw train robber Rube Burrow, died of typhoid in a prison in Little Rock, Ark. and was buried on the prison grounds.

Oct. 5, 1889 – The Monroe Journal reported that J.B. Downs killed an alligator that was over seven feet long.

Oct. 5, 1895 – Every member of the Monroe County Miltia Corps was ordered to appear in uniform at Monroeville, Ala. at 10 a.m. Any member failing to appear without a satisfactory excuse was subject to dishonorably discharged. T.B. Nettles was the unit’s captain.

Oct. 5, 1918 – East Brewton was officially incorporated as a municipality.

Oct. 5, 1921 - The World Series was broadcast on the radio for the first time. The game was between the New York Giants and the New York Yankees.

Oct. 5, 1923 – The Troy State Normal School (present-day Troy University) beat Greenville High School, 13-6, in a football game played in Greenville, Ala.

Oct. 5, 1925 – Conecuh County, Ala. public schools officially opened for the 1925-26 school year.

Oct. 5, 1939 - Author J. Whitfield Gibbons was born in Montgomery, Ala.

Oct. 5, 1947 – The first televised White House address was given by U.S. President Harry S. Truman and his subject was food conservation.

Oct. 5, 1949 - American baseball writer and historian George William “Bill” James was born in Holton, Kansas, in 1949.

Oct. 5, 1950 – The entire edition of The Evergreen Courant published on this day was printed in green ink to “stress the slogan of the program of green grazing and cover crops on county fields, ‘Let’s Make Conecuh County Fields Green This Winter.’”

Oct. 5, 1951 – Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Edward P. Jones was born in Washington, D.C.

Oct. 5, 1951 – In one of the “roughest” games of the season, Excel and McKenzie battled to a 6-6 tie in Monroeville, Ala. “The game ended with a McKenzie player being carried unconscious from the field, shortly before which Curtis Bowen, Excel fullback, had received a severely broken arm. Tension mounted after the final whistle when fans poured out on the field to mill around players of both teams after a final unfavored penalty against McKenzie. A potential post-game fracas was quited however.”

Oct. 5, 1952 - Clive Barker was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England.

Oct. 5, 1953 - The New York Yankees won their fifth straight World Series by defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Oct. 5, 1956 - The movie “The Ten Commandments,” partly based on the book “The Pillar of Fire” by Alabama author J. H. Ingraham, was released.

Oct. 5, 1956 – W.S. Neal High School beat Evergreen High School, 14-0, in Brewton, Ala. Neal halfback Maury Weaver scored both of Neal’s touchdowns while future NFL and Auburn standout Wayne Frazier led Evergreen’s defense and offense. Other standout Evergreen players in that game included Robbie Boykin and Robert Ellington.

Oct. 5, 1961 – The motion picture version of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” which starred Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard and was based on Truman Capote’s novella, was first released in theaters.

Oct. 5, 1962 – “Dr. No,” the first in the James Bond film series, was released in theaters.

Oct. 5, 1964 – The remnants of Hurricane Hilda knocked Monroeville, Alabama’s radio station, WMFC, off the air for the entire day. The station resumed operations at 5:30 a.m. the next day.

Oct. 5, 1972 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Navy Petty Officer Third Class Larry L. Andrews of Evergreen, Ala., had left his homeport in Alameda, Calif. for a Western Pacific deployment aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise.

Oct. 5, 1974 - American David Kunst completed the first journey around the world on foot. It took four years and 21 pairs of shoes. He crossed four continents and walked 14,450 miles.

Oct. 5, 1982 – During what’s now known as the Chicago Tylenol murders, Johnson & Johnson initiated a nationwide product recall in the United States for all products in its Tylenol brand after several bottles in Chicago are found to have been laced with cyanide, resulting in seven deaths.

Oct. 5, 1985 – Clyde Mavin Williams, 48, of Pensacola, a native of Monroe County, Ala., drowned around 11 a.m. when the boat he was fishing from overturned on the Alabama River between Mount Pleasant Landing and Dixie Landing. Monroe County Rescue Squad members recovered his body around 9 a.m. on Oct. 7.

Oct. 5, 1985 – Former Frisco City, Ala. mayor Thomas Jefferson “Jeffie” Jones passed away at the age of 85 at Mobile Infirmary. He served four terms as a Frisco City town councilman between 1944 and 1972 and was Frisco’s mayor from 1972 to 1976. He was re-elected mayor in 1980, but resigned in 1981 due to poor health. A graduate of Jones Mill High School, he worked for the Frisco Railroad for 45 years and retired as a freight agent. He was a member of the Frisco City Masonic Lodge.

Oct. 5, 2001 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants surpassed Mark McGwire’s single-season home run record when he hit his 71st and 72nd home runs in a single season.

Oct. 5, 2003 - The Chicago Cubs won their first postseason series since the 1908 World Series.

Oct. 5, 2003 - Dante Hall of the Kansas City Chiefs scored on a return in an NFL-record fourth straight game. He scored his fourth touchdown on a return in only 5 games.