Ken Clark at Nebraska in 1989. |
June 17, 1462
– Vlad III the Impaler attempted to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack)
forcing him to retreat from Wallachia.
June 17, 1579 – Sir Francis Drake claimed a land he called
Nova Albion (modern California) for England.
June 17, 1596 – The Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz
discovered the Arctic archipelago of Spitsbergen.
June 17, 1631 – Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth. Her
husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, spent the next 17 years building her
mausoleum, the Taj Mahal in Agra.
June 17, 1673 – French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis
Jolliet reached the Mississippi River and became the first Europeans to make a
detailed account of its course.
June 17, 1692 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft
trials, Chris Anzivino landed in Massachusetts, bringing with him Italian ideas
on witchcraft.
June 17, 1703 – Preacher and religious leader John Wesley,
who is considered to be the founder of Methodism, was born in Epworth, England.
June 17, 1775 – During the American Revolutionary War, the
Battle of Bunker Hill began outside of Boston, and the colonists inflicted
heavy casualties on British forces. The British suffered nearly 1,000 casualties
and the Patriots suffered 370. Dr. Joseph Warren, an early American Revolution
leader was killed in the battle.
June 17, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the
Marquis de Lafayette laid the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument during the
celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill at Charlestown
near Boston, Mass. He was accompanied by Daniel Webster, who gave a rousing
speech.
June 17, 1837 - Union Colonel Strong Vincent was born in
Waterford, Pa. At the age of 26, he was mortally wounded at the Battle of
Gettysburg while defending Little Round Top on July 2, 1863. He died from his
wounds on July 7, and he was posthumously promoted to brigadier general. Before
that, he’d fought at Yorktown, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
June 17, 1856 - The Republican Party opened its first
national convention in Philadelphia, Pa.
June 17, 1861 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln witnessed Dr.
Thaddeus Lowe demonstrate the use of a hydrogen balloon.
June 17, 1861 – During the Civil War, the Battle of Vienna
occurred in Fairfax County, Va.
June 17, 1861 – During the Civil
War, a skirmish was fought at Boonville, Mo. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon had been
chasing Gov. Claiborne Jackson across his state of Missouri for some time prior
to this. He had chased him out of the capital of Jefferson City without a shot
being fired. On this day, he did the same, albeit with some minor use of
weaponry, in Boonville. Boonville, Mo. is not one of those great place-names
like Sharpsburg or Manassas, but its effect was larger than its population. The
town gave the Union control of the Missouri River, and thereby most of the
north and east of the state.
June 17, 1861 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Conrad's Ferry, Maryland and at Vienna, Virginia.
June 17, 1862 – During the Civil
War, Congress freed all slaves in territories of the United States.
June 17, 1862 – During the Civil
War, the commands of U.S. General John C. Fremont and U.S. General Nathanael
Banks were consolidated under U.S. General John Pope. Fremont resigned.
June 17, 1862 – During the Civil
War, an engagement was fought at St. Charles, Arkansas. Skirmishes were also
fought at Eminence, Missouri and at Pass Manchac, Louisiana.
June 17, 1862 – During the Civil
War, General John Pope was ordered to head East on this day to command a new
entity called the Army of Virginia. This was a consolidation of the armies of
Fremont and Banks. Fremont was so vexed at having to serve under Pope that he
resigned. His replacement was Major General Franz Sigel, who was not, alas, a
great commander either. He was, however, utterly beloved by the German
immigrants who made up such a large part of the Union armies. Elsewhere,
Braxton Bragg was named to command the Confederate forces previously under
P.G.T. Beauregard, who was ill.
June 17, 1863 – During the Civil War, the Battle of Aldie,
part of the Gettysburg Campaign, was fought in Loudon County, Va.
June 17, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Wartburg, Tenn.; at Thoroughfare Gap, Va.; near
Wellington, Mo.; and at Catoctin Creek and Point of Rocks, Md. On the way to
Gettysburg, Union and Confederate forces also skirmished at Point of Rocks and
Catoctin Creek in Maryland.
June 17, 1863 – During the Civil
War, the CSS Atlanta, an ironclad in Warsaw Inlet, engaged the USS Weehawken
and USS Nahant before surrendering.
June 17, 1863 – During the Civil
War, the siege at Vicksburg, Miss. entered Day 30.
June 17, 1864 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Newport Cross Roads, Louisiana.
June 17, 1864 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Lynchburg, Bermuda Hundred and Diamond Hill, Va.
After three days of heavy fighting, some of the surprise factor was wearing off
the Union army's attempt to capture Petersburg. Robert E. Lee was at last
convinced that Grant was attacking there instead of Richmond, and sent the rest
of the Army of Northern Virginia to its defense. The command of the Second
Corps went to David Birney after Hancock was incapacitated by a reopening of the
wound he had received a year earlier at Gettysburg. The attacks failed anyway.
June 17, 1865 – During the Civil
War, a skirmish was fought at Dead Man's Fork, Nevada.
June 17, 1865 – During the Civil
War, fire-eater Edmund Ruffin died of his own hand at his plantation Redmoor,
Amelia County, Virginia.
June 17, 1882 – Avant-garde
composer Igor Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum, near St. Petersburg, Russia.
June 17, 1885 - The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France to
the people of the United States, arrived in New York City's harbor on this day
in 1885. The dismantled 151-foot-tall statue was enclosed in more than 200
packing cases.
June 17, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that Mr. T.W.
and Miss Ida Russell and Arthur Sowell went to Evergreen during the previous
week to attend the commencement exercises of the Evergreen Academy.
June 17, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that the
following were the Masonic officers recently elected for Monroe Chapter No. 4
and Alabama Lodge No. 3, Perdue Hill, for the ensuing year: Monroe Chapter No.
4: N.A. Agee, H.P.; H.J. Savage, K.; J.W. Cotter, S.; T.L. Sowell, C.H.; J.A.
Savage, P.S.; J.F. Gaillard, R.A.C.; J.B. Williams, W.C. Sowell, P. Bradley, M.
of V.; J.W. Slaughter, Treas.; I.D. Roberts, Sec’y.; Wm. Tomlinson, Sentinel.
Alabama Lodge No. 3: N.A. Agee, Worshipful Master; J.F. Gaillard, Senior
Warden; A. Shiff, Junior Warden; J.A. Savage, Senior Deacon; Philip Bradley,
Junior Deacon; I.D. Roberts, Secretary; S.S. Gaillard, Treasurer; J.D. Frye,
Tyler.
June 17, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that E.J. Cloud
had purchased the “celebrated” trotter, “Flying Cloud of Membrino,” during the
week for $350.
June 17, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that Dr. L.H.
Henley of Burnt Corn was in Monroeville during the previous week, “engaged in
the practice of his profession.”
June 17, 1897 – George Bradley assaulted 65-year-old Confederate
veteran Richard Henry Rumbley in his store near Pleasant Ridge in Monroe County,
Ala. on this night, and Rumbley died from his injuries a few hours later.
Bradley was tried on Aug. 9 and sentenced to death. He was executed on Sept.
17, and this was the second hanging in Monroe County, Ala. since the Civil War.
Rumbley had served as a private in Co. H of the 17th Alabama
Infantry in the Confederate Army. Born on April 11, 1832, he is buried in the
Rumbley Cemetery.
June 17, 1901 – The College Board introduced its first
standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT.
June 17, 1912 – Greening Masonic Lodge in Evergreen, Ala.
elected officers for the ensuing year and selected Dr. W.F. Betts as Worshipful
Master. Other elected officers included H.L. Tucker, Senior Warden; Dr. J.W.
Hagood, Junior Warden; H.H. Floyd, Treasurer; F.J. Dean, Secretary; W.B. James,
Senior Deacon; Dr. T.B. McDonald, Junior Deacon; J.H. Stamps, Tiler; W.S.
Oliver and A.A. Williams, Stewards; and Rev. D.J. Wrights, Chaplain.
June 17, 1914 - LaSalle "Sallie" Corbell Pickett,
the 71-year-old widow of Confederate Gen. George Edward Pickett, who led
Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg, delivered a lecture on the Battle of Gettysburg
in Greenville, Ala. The lecture was sponsored by the Father Ryan Chapter of the
U.D.C. in Greenville, and all Confederate veterans received complimentary
tickets.
June 17, 1915 – Baseball teams from Evergreen and Andalusia
played a doubleheader in Evergreen, Ala. Evergreen won the first game, 3-1, but
Andalusia won the second, 5-4.
June 17, 1917 - The Corpo Expedicionario Portugues (CEP), or Portuguese Expeditionary Corps, went into action for the first time in World War I, on the battlefields of Flanders on the Western Front.
June 17, 1923 – Pro Football Hall of Fame halfback and end
Elroy Hirsch was born in Wausau, Wisc. He went on to play for Wisconsin,
Michigan, the Chicago Rockets and the Los Angeles Rams. He was inducted into
the Hall of Fame in 1968.
June 17, 1927 - At the regular annual meeting of the members
of Castleberry’s Downing Lodge No. 580, A.F.&A.M., held on this Friday at 2
p.m., the following new officers were elected: Robert H. Meachan, Worshipful
Master; Allen T. Weaver, Senior Warden; Ernest B. Brewton, Junior Warden;
Coleman T. Kirkland, Treasurer; Edward A. White, Secretary; Joseph R. Glass,
Senior Deacon; Edward L. Conner, Junior Deacon; Martin L. Conner, Tyler.
June 17, 1928 - Amelia Earhart began the flight that made
her the first woman to successfully fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
June 17, 1932
– In what is now referred to as the “Bonus Army,” around a thousand World War I
veterans amassed at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considered a
bill that would give them certain benefits.
June 17, 1936 – Stage and film actor Henry Brazeale
Walthall, a native of Shelby County, Ala., passed away at the age of 55 in
Monrovia, Calif. He is best known for his role of the “Little Colonel” in D.W.
Griffith’s 1915 film, “The Birth of a Nation.”
June 17, 1937 – Evergreen’s baseball team suffered an 11-3
loss to Century in Century, Fla. Bob Kendall and Mack Binion pitched for
Evergreen.
June 17, 1940 - Artist Frank
Fleming was born in the community of Bear Creek in Marion County, Ala. He is
internationally known for his fanciful sculptures in ceramic and bronze. Before
pursuing a career as an artist, Fleming worked as a technical illustrator and
produced engineering drawings related to the Saturn V rocket program. In
recognition of his work, he was chosen as a Distinguished Artist in 1999 by the
Alabama State Council on the Arts.
June 17, 1940 – Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker and
defensive end Bobby Bell was born in Shelby, N.C. He went on to play for
Minnesota and the Kansas City Chiefs. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in
1983.
June 17, 1942 – Avant-garde poet, essayist and translator
Ron Padgett was born in Tulsa, Okla.
June 17, 1943 - Joe Cronin of the Boston Red Sox pinch hit a
home run in both games of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia A's.
June 17, 1946 – The USS Eldridge was placed out of
commission in reserve.
June 17, 1948 – The Monroe Journal reported that the
downstairs offices of the Monroe County Court House were receiving a completely
new re-sanding job. Probate Judge E.T. Millsap said the contract for the work
had been awarded to Dennis Casey of Mexia.
June 17, 1951 – On this Sunday
afternoon in Conecuh Amateur League play, the Centerville Rookies beat the
Loree Dollies, 25-4, at Loree. Loree sent Bernard Powell and Roger Kearlee to
the mound in an attempt to slack the powerful hitting of the Rookies, but
neither of them could get the Centerville team out.
June 17, 1951 – On this Sunday
afternoon in Conecuh Amateur League play, the Paul Aces beat the Shreve Eagles,
6-5, at Paul. The Aces came through with a clutch run in the last of the ninth
inning to win their game with the Eagles. The Eagles had tied the score at 5-5
with two runs in their half of the eighth. J.W. Windham was the winning
pitcher. He relieved Harold Godwin in the seventh inning. Joe McClain did the
catching for Paul. The Shreve battery was composed of Ray Yancy and Russel.
Yancy was the losing pitcher. For Paul, J.W. Windham was the leading hitter
with three hits in four trips including a third inning double. Wilton Sanford
rapped out two hits in four trips to pace the Eagles.
June 17, 1951 - Mr. and Mrs. Lauris Jones arrived in
Evergreen, Ala. on this Sunday from Cambridge, Mass., where he attended Harvard
University receiving his Masters Degree in Public Health Engineering. They
planned to spend this week with his mother, Mrs. Ralph McCreary.
June 17, 1955 - The Town of Excel began organization of its
first fire department on this Friday with the arrival of a new 700-gallon
capacity fire truck. A specially designed Ford firefighting vehicle, the truck
was purchased several months before from Chambers-Lazenby in Monroeville and
since that time had had the necessary equipment added by the L.P. Harless firm
of Birmingham. Excel Mayor Walter C. Nicholas stated the town’s voluntary fire
department was to be organized at a meeting on the following Monday night, June
27.
June 17, 1960 - Ted Williams hit his 500th career home run.
June 17, 1961 – John O. Leu, 22, of Nashville, Tenn. and
Gene McGill, 18, of Mobile, Ala. died in a Cessna 182 crash at Uriah, Ala. The
wreckage was not discovered until Dec. 30, 1964.
June 17, 1963
– A day after South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm announced the Joint
Communiqué to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people
broke out. One person was killed.
June 17, 1964 - A floating trade fair from Japan docked in
London, featuring such futuristic products as a telephone booth that
transmitted pictures.
June 17, 1965 – Pro Football Hall of Fame center Dermontti
Dawson was born in Lexington, Ky. He went on to play for Kentucky and the
Pittsburgh Steelers. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.
June 17, 1966 – NFL running back Kenneth R. “Ken” Clark was
born in Evergreen, Ala. He went on to play for the University of Nebraska and
then played three seasons for the Indianapolis Colts. The son of Carolyn Clark,
he was an all-state player at Omaha Bryan High School. Clark passed away at the
age of 46 on Feb. 16, 2013 in Minneapolis, following a massive heart attack.
June 17, 1969 - U.S. intelligence
reported that an estimated 1,000 North Vietnamese troops had reoccupied Ap Bia
Mountain (Hill 937), one mile east of the Laotian border.
June 17, 1971 - Don Kessinger of the Chicago Cubs went
6-for-6 against St. Louis.
June 17, 1972 – In connection with the Watergate scandal,
five White House operatives were arrested for burgling the offices of the
Democratic National Committee in an attempt by some members of the Republican
party to illegally wiretap the opposition.
June 17, 1976 – The 17th Annual Evergreen Rotary Club
Wildlife Camp was scheduled to end on this day at Tal Stuart’s Pond near
Belleville, Ala. Over 40 Conecuh County boys participated in the camp, and
James Ansley was the camp director.
June 17, 1976 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Conecuh
County Deputy Leroy Ferrell destroyed approximately 30 marijuana plants found
growing off the Brooklyn Road in Conecuh County, Ala.
June 17, 1983 – Evergreen, Ala. received 1.33 inches of rain
and 1.11 inches of rain the next day.
June 17, 1993 – The Monroe Journal reported that Monroe and
Conecuh counties had agreed together to pave and maintain about five miles of
Old Stage Road, south of U.S. Highway 84. The agreement called for Monroe
County to do the paving and then for Conecuh County to maintain the paved area
for 10 years, beginning the day after paving was completed. The Monroe County Commission
approved the agreement June 8. The Conecuh County Commission approved it on
Mon., June 14, according to its clerk, Mildred Brown.
June 17, 1993 – The Monroe Journal reported that 15
outstanding high school baseball players and Monroe County High School (MCHS)
coach Randy Allison had been named to The Monroe Journal’s All-Monroe County
Team. Allison was selected Coach of the Year for the second straight year after
leading the Tigers to the semifinals of the 5A state tournament. Players on the
all-county team included Tony Bayles, Joey Downs, Jeff Howard, Hudson Williams
and Chris Williams, all of MCHS; Excel’s Tracy Barlow and Gene Ryals;
Shenandoah McLaurin, Johnny Pickens and Brent Terry, all of Monroe Academy;
Tony Gibbs, Shannon Richardson and Eric Williams, all of Frisco City High
School; Shane Qualls of J.U. Blacksher High School; and Jerry Calhoun of J.F.
Shields High School. Honorable mentions included Brent Enzor, FCHS; Bryson
Dawson, MCHS; Rob Hudson, MA; Steven Pharr, Excel; Chris Lint, Excel; Jerry
Pharr, Excel; Wes Kelly, MCHS; Patrick Redditt, Blacksher; Jesse Wiggins,
Blacksher; Jason Sanders, Shields; David Jones, Shields; Sam Ulmer, MA; Chris
Ard, MCHS; Rusty Lilly, Blacksher; Zach Stacey, MCHS; and FCHS coach Larry
Snowden.
June 17, 1994
– Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson was arrested for
the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
June 17, 2005 – Police arrested a fourth person, later
identified as disc jockey Steve Gregory Croes, in connection with the
disappearance of Natalee Holloway, 18, of Mountain Brook, Ala. He was later
released on June 26, 2005.
June 17, 2006 – Evergreen’s professional Minor League
football team, the Jaguars, was scheduled to start preseason play against the
Port City Monarchs at 7:30 p.m. at Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb Complex in
Mobile, Ala. The Jaguars, under head coach Victor Calhoun, was part of the
North American Football League.
June 17, 2008 - A handful of concerned residents in the
Uriah community organized the Uriah Area Development Association (UADA) and
began preparing to build a memorial to veterans from the Uriah area. During its
monthly meeting on this Tuesday evening at Uriah Methodist Church’s Fellowship
Hall, the group agreed to proceed with the first stage, which was to pour the
concrete foundation and erect the six flag poles with flags.
June 17, 2013 – Evergreen, Ala. received 2.18 inches of
rain.
June 17, 2015
– Nine people were killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist
Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
June 17, 2016 – A UFO was reported to have been seen around
11:45 p.m. in Gadsden, in Etowah County, in northeast Alabama. The witness in
this case went out onto his back deck to smoke a cigarette, looked up and saw a
“blue blur” out of the corner of his eye. At first, he thought a transformer
box had blown up, but there was no sound. He rubbed his eyes, thinking that he
was seeing things, but quickly changed his mind when he saw blue and red lights
rising up from the trees. The witness thought he was seeing a plane crash, but
instead he watched as “it” kept traveling toward him. “I couldn't actually see
a craft, only the lights, but the lights were large, maybe larger than a
basketball,” the witness said. “And there was no point of light, such as an
element, but more like a glass ball filled with glowing gas. I was excited and
scared and called for my kids to come look, but by the time they got to me, it
had gone.” The witness then got his keys, hopped in his car and began driving
around, looking for the strange object in the sky, but was unable to spot it.
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