Today in History for March 19, 2017

Evergreen, Alabama's Ed Williams.

March 19, 1590 - William Bradford, the founder and governor of the Plymouth Colony, was born in Austerfield, Yorkshire, England.

March 19, 1628 - The Massachusetts colony was founded by Englishmen.

March 19, 1687 – French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, was murdered by his own men near present-day Huntsville, Texas. He was 43 years old.

March 19, 1692 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft trials, Abigail Williams denounced Rebecca Nurse as a witch.

March 19, 1734 - Thomas McKean was born in Chester County, Pa. He served as president of the state of Delaware, president of the U.S. Congress under the Articles of Confederation and chief justice of Pennsylvania's Supreme Court.

March 19, 1809 – Russian writer Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was born in Great Sorochintsy, Ukraine.

March 19, 1813 – Scottish explorer and medical missionary David Livingston was born in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Scotland.

March 19, 1819 – The Selma Land Company was formed by George Caleb Tate.

March 19, 1821 – Sir Richard Francis Burton was born at 9:30 p.m. to Captain Joseph Netterville Burton and Martha Baker Burton in Torquay, Devon, England. He would grow up to be an English geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier and all-around adventurer. His books include “A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah” (1855), and he wrote the definitive English translation of “A Thousand Nights and a Night,” which is mostly commonly referred to as “The Arabian Nights.”

March 19, 1822 - The city of Boston, Mass. was incorporated.

March 19, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette arrived in Savannah, Georgia.

March 19, 1831 - The first reported bank robbery in U.S. history occurred at the City Bank at 52 Wall Street in New York City. Using a set of duplicate keys, shoe salesman Edward Smith committed the robbery and stole $245,000 in bank notes and Spanish doubloons.

March 19, 1842 – Honore de Balzac’s play “Les Ressources de Quinola” opened at the Odeon Theater in Paris.

March 19, 1848 - Wyatt Earp was born in Monmouth, Warren County, Illinois. He would grow up to become a gambler, sheriff and Deputy Town Marshal of Tombstone, Az., where he took part in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

March 19, 1860 – U.S. politician William Jennings Bryan was born in Salem, Ill. On April 8, 1918, Bryan, a famed orator, congressman, three-time Democratic Presidential nominee, spoke at the Old Monroe County Courthouse in Monroeville, Ala. in favor of national prohibition.

March 19, 1861 – During the Civil War, Fort Clark, Fort Inge and Fort Lancaster, all in Texas, were abandoned by Federal forces.

March 19, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought with Indians in Owen’s River Valley, Calif.; at Carthage, Mo.; at Strasburg, Va.; at Elk’s Mountain, West Va. A five-day Federal operation began in Johnson County, Mo., and Federal reconnaissance took place on May River in South Carolina.

March 19, 1862 - The mission to take back the Mississippi River and thus divide the Confederacy had two naval leaders: Flag Officer Andrew Foote was working down from the north. He was currently hung up at Island No. 10, downriver from New Madrid. Mo. His opposite number was Flag Officer David Farragut, moving up from the South. He stopped in Biloxi today for newspapers. “They speak volumes of discontent...” he wrote in his report. “The cord is pulling tighter. God alone decides the contest, but we must put our shoulders to the wheel.”

March 19, 1863 – The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, was destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.

March 19, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought along Frog Bayou, Ark.; at Hazel Green, Ky.; at Liberty, Spring Hill and Richland Station, Tenn.; and in the vicinity of Winchester, Va. Federal reconnaissance to False River, La. was conducted, and a five-day Federal reconnaissance toward Doniphan, Mo. took place.

March 19, 1863 – During the Civil War, the USS Hartford and the USS Monongahela successfully passed the Grand Gulf, Miss. batteries on the Mississippi River. A year later and Flag Officer David Farragut, although Admiral Farragut by this time, was not much further up the Mississippi. Admittedly he did not have a great deal of help in the matter. He had started the week with seven ships, but the others had been damaged or destroyed in battling Port Hudson. He contented himself today with going ashore towards Natchez to tear down telegraph lines.

March 19, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought with Indians on the Eel River in California; along the Cumberland River in Kentucky; at Black Bayou, La.; at Beersheba Springs, Tenn.; and at Laredo, Texas. A Federal operation between Rolling Prairie and Batesville, Ark. took place, and a five-day Federal operation between Lexington and Jackson, Mo. began. A Federal operation took place between Salem and Orleans, Va.

March 19, 1865 – During the Civil War, the Battle of Bentonville began in Johnston County, N.C. Union General William T. Sherman defeated Confederate General Joseph Johnston in the battle, and by the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina. The Union lost 194 men killed, 1,112 wounded, and 221 missing, while the Confederates lost some 240 killed, 1,700 wounded, and 1,500 missing.

March 19, 1865 – Lt. Col. Andrew B. Spurling led his forces out of Fort Barrancas in Florida and moved them to the east side of Blackwater Bay, completing the move by March 21 thanks to help from the steamer, Metamoras. Advanced elements of Spurling’s troops reached Milton, Fla. on March 19.

March 19, 1865 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Welaka and Saunders, Fla.; at the Neuse River Bridge, close to Goldsborough, N.C.; and at Celina, Tenn. A five-day Federal operation between Warrensburg and Columbus, Mo. began.

March 19, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that “the Hibbard place” had been bought by the Monroeville Methodist Church and was to be repaired and converted into a parsonage.

March 19, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that a number of young gentlemen and ladies of Monroeville had called for a meeting to organize a temperance society. “They succeeding in obtaining a sufficient number of names and after adopting a constitution, a petition was filed in the probate court authorizing them to proceed with the work reformation.”

March 19, 1894 – Comedian Jackie “Moms” Mabley was born in Brevard, N.C.

March 19, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported that W.H. Louiselle of the Bear Creek Mill, was in Monroeville a few days before.

March 19, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported that Dr. S.W. Yarbrough of Monroeville had been awarded the contracts for carrying the U.S. mail on the star routes from Monroeville to Pine Apple and from Evergreen to Perdue Hill for the term of four years, beginning on July 1.

March 19, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from the Burnt Corn community, that Dr. W.F. Betts had just completed a “handsome residence opposite Mr. Kysers.”

Marh 19, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported that John Chunn had the misfortune to lose a barn containing a quantity of cotton seed, oats and farming implements by fire at Tinela.

March 19, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from the Manistee community, that farmers were quite busy planting corn and preparing their lands for cotton.

March 19, 1896 – Jno. McLeod, who lived just over the Monroe County line in Wilcox County, committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol, while intoxicated, at Bell’s Landing. He was a close relative of the Hon. E.R. Morrissette.

March 19, 1900 - Archeologist Arthur John Evans began the excavation of Knossos Palace in Greece.

March 19, 1905 - French explorer S. de Segonzac was taken prisoner by Moroccans.

March 18, 1906 – German SS officer Adolf Eichmann was born in Solingen, Rhine Province, Germany.

March 19, 1914 - Editor and author Thomas Cooper De Leon died in Mobile, Ala.

March 19, 1916 – The Rev. J.E. McCann of Andalusia occupied the pulpit at the Methodist church in Monroeville, Ala. on this Sunday morning and evening. Dr. McCann made a special appeal at the morning service on behalf of Emory University.

March 19, 1916 – On this day, the First Aero Squadron, organized in 1914 after the outbreak of World War I, flew a support mission for the 7,000 U.S. troops who, six days earlier, had invaded Mexico on President Woodrow Wilson’s orders to capture Mexican revolutionary Francisco Pancho Villa dead or alive.

March 19, 1918 – The U.S. Congress established time zones and approved daylight saving time.

March 19, 1919 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Ralph McCreary had reached home during the past week from France, where he’d landed in October, but too late to see active service at the front. McCreary said that “the Huns knew his outfit was about to get in the mix-up, and they were anxious for the armistice before that happened.”

March 19, 1927 – National Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder Richie Ashburn was born in Tilden, Neb. He went on to play for the Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995.

March 19, 1933 – Novelist Philip Roth was born in Newark, New Jersey. His first book, “Goodbye Columbus,” won the National Book Award, and his book “Portnoy’s Complaint” was the best-selling book of 1969.

March 19, 1935 – Lester and Bob Atkinson of Andalusia, Ala. unearthed 113 rare, old coins, including a $5 gold piece, in an old corn field near River Falls. Some of the coins dated from as far back as 1600.

March 19, 1936 – The Monroe Journal reported that the work on the new school building in Monroeville, Ala. had gone forward rapidly during the favorable weather of the past few weeks. The brick walls had been built to the second story and in a short time the roof was expected to be reached. The building was rapidly taking shape and many favorable comments on the beauty of the new building were being heard from those who have viewed it up to that date.

March 19, 1936 – The Monroe Journal reported that two murder cases were scheduled for trial the following week before Circuit Judge F.W. Hare at the regular criminal week for Monroe County’s circuit court. Both these cases were for murder in the second degree. Otis Pines was to be tried on Tues., March 24, in connection with the death of another man. On Wed., March 25, Cleveland Andress was to go on trial for the killing of a Montgomery man near Beatrice several months before. The two men were said to have become involved in a quarrel and Andress killed Montgomery by hitting him over the head with a large stick.

March 19, 1944 – During World War II, Nazi forces occupied Hungary.

March 19, 1945 – During World War II, Adolf Hitler issued his "Nero Decree," ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed before they could fall into Allied hands as German forces were retreating.

March 19, 1945 - The commander of the German Home Army, Gen. Friedrich Fromm, was shot by a firing squad for his part in the July plot to assassinate the Fuhrer. The fact that Fromm’s participation was half-hearted did not save him.

March 19, 1950 - Author James Redfield was born near Birmingham, Ala.

March 19, 1953 – Army PFC James P. Westry of Wilcox County, Ala. was killed in action in Korea. Westry was a member of the 461st Infantry Battalion, Heavy Mortars. Some sources say he was wounded while fighting the enemy in North Korea on March 19, 1953 and was evacuated to the United States where he died on April 14, 1953. Westry was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

March 19, 1953 - Tennessee Williams' "Camino Real" premiered in New York City.

March 19, 1954 - A judge issued an injunction calling for Wilhelm Reich’s orgone energy accumulators to be destroyed and the banning of Reich's books containing statements about this energy. Reich was a psychiatrist and scientist who believed he'd discovered a form of energy, which he called "orgone."

March 19, 1962 – Highly influential artist, Bob Dylan released his first album, “Bob Dylan,” on Columbia Records label.

March 19, 1964 – The Evergreen Courant reported that John Nielsen had been named Evergreen’s Outstanding Young Man of the Year by the Evergreen Jaycees. Nielsen was an executive at Knud Nielsen Co. and was extremely active in civic and church affairs. He was also the vice-president and president-elect of the Rotary Club, Republican Chairman of Conecuh County and deacon of Evergreen Baptist Church.

March 19, 1964 - Sean Connery began shooting his role in the James Bond movie "Goldfinger."

March 19, 1965 – The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, was discovered by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction.

March 19, 1966 - Steve Sloan and Paul Crane, All-American football players while playing with the National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide in 1965, were to be the guest speakers at the First Baptist Church in Monroeville, Ala. on this Saturday night during Youth Week activities. Rev. L. Reed Polk, pastor, said the service was open to the public.

March 19, 1970 - The National Assembly granted “full power” to Premier Lon Nol, declared a state of emergency, and suspended four articles of the constitution, permitting arbitrary arrest and banning public assembly.

March 19, 1976 - Actress Rachel Blanchard was born in Toronto, Canada.

March 19, 1976 – NBA point guard Andre Miller was born in Los Angeles, Calif. He went on to play for the University of Utah, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Denver Nuggets, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Portland Trailblazers, the Washington Wizards, the Sacramento Kings, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the San Antonio Spurs.

March 19, 1983 - Sue Hawsey killed a 16.5-pound gobbler on this Saturday morning, according to The Evergreen Courant. The turkey had a six-inch beard and the spurs measured 13/16 of an inch.

March 19, 1986 – Weather reporter Earl Windham reported 2.41 inches of rain in Evergreen, Ala.

March 19, 1991 - NFL owners voted to take the 1993 Super Bowl away from the city of Phoenix because Arizona didn't recognize Martin Luther King Day.

March 19, 1992 – The Evergreen Courant reported that journalism professor Ed Williams, a Conecuh County, Ala. native, had been named Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year in the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts. Williams was recognized at the Student Government Association’s annual Honors Day Banquet. A 1971 graduate of Evergreen High School, Williams was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edsel Williams of Owassa. He attended Jefferson Davis State Junior College in Brewton from 1971-72 and received his B.S. and M.A. degrees at the University of Alabama.

March 19, 1992 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Hillcrest High School’s baseball team were “on a record-setting pace with an early 5-2 record and three consecutive wins.” The Jags were scheduled to play at Excel High School on this day and were set to avenge an earlier loss against Andalusia High School on Fri., March 20, in Evergreen, Ala.

March 19, 1992 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Sparta Academy’s baseball team returned eight starters from the previous year’s 12-8 team. Mike Bledsoe was Sparta’s head coach.

March 19, 1993 – Hillcrest High School’s baseball team was scheduled to begin area play against Charles Henderson of Troy in Evergreen.

March 19, 1998 – The Alabama House of Representatives passed a resolution that designated Conecuh County as the Collard Green Capital of Alabama.

March 19, 2003 - U.S. President George W. Bush announced that U.S. forces had launched a strike against "targets of military opportunity" in Iraq. The attack, using cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs, were aimed at Iraqi leaders thought to be near Baghdad.

March 19, 2010 – The Wiley Estis Cemetery and the Willis Estis Cemetery in Clarke County, Ala. were added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register.

March 19, 2013 – The Bear Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Wilcox County, Ala. was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register.

March 19, 2013 – A series of bombings and shootings killed at least 98 people and injures 240 others across Iraq.