Today in History for June 4, 2017

Grave of E.C. Smith and M.L. Smith.

June 4, 1647 – Canonicus Grand Chief Sachem of the Narragansett Indian Tribe died. He was Chief Sachem of the Narragansett Tribe (rivals to the Wampanoag) at the time of the Pilgrims landing in Plymouth.

June 4, 1754 - Lieutenant Colonel George Washington began building Fort Necessity.

June 4, 1792 – Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain.

June 4, 1798 – Italian adventurer and author Giacomo Casanova died at the age of 73 in Dux, Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire (Czech Republic).

June 4, 1800 – Gov. Winthrop Sargent of the Mississippi Territory created all the territorial lands into one county, which he called Washington, and McIntosh Bluff, 40 miles north of Mobile on the Tombigbee River, was selected as the first county seat.

June 4, 1800 - Washington County was created as a county of the Mississippi Territory by proclamation of Governor Winthrop Sargent. It was the first county in the state of Alabama, and the county's original boundaries extended 300 miles east to west and 88 miles to the north and south. Some 26,400 square miles of Washington County's original territory were carved out to make 16 counties in Mississippi and 29 counties in Alabama.

June 4, 1812 – Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory.

June 4, 1816 – “The Washington,” the first stately, double-decker steamboat, was launched at Wheeling, W.V.

June 4, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette gave a speech at the Eagle Tavern, Lafayette Square, Buffalo. Lafayette followed part of the route of the still-uncompleted Erie Canal from Buffalo across New York.

June 4, 1855 – Major Henry C. Wayne departed New York aboard the USS Supply to procure camels to establish the U.S. Camel Corps.

June 4, 1862 - Confederate forces slipped out of Fort Pillow, Tenn., a key stronghold on the Mississippi River, and Corinth, Miss., clearing the way for the Union capture of Memphis on June 6.

June 4, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Woodville and Huntsville, Ala.

June 4, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Sweeden's Cove, Tennessee and at Osborn's Creek and Wolf's Creek, Virginia.

June 4, 1863 - Confederate General Robert E. Lee continued to mobilize his army for an invasion of Pennsylvania by sending Richard Ewell's corps out of Fredericksburg toward the Shenandoah Valley.

June 4, 1863 – During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln suggested the ban on the Chicago Times be lifted and Edwin Stanton ordered Ambrose Burnsides to do it.

June 4, 1863 – During the Civil War, an engagement was fought at Franklin, Tennessee, and an affair occurred at Lake Saint Joseph, Louisiana.

June 4, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Snow Hill and Liberty, Tennessee; at Fayetteville, Arkansas; at the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana; at Mechanicsburg, Mississippi and on Lawyer's Road and at Frying Pan, Virginia.

June 4, 1863 – During the Civil War, the siege of Vicksburg, Miss. entered Day 17.

June 4, 1864 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought near Morganza, Louisiana. Affairs also occurred at Hudson's Crossing, Oklahoma and at Harrisonburg and Port Hudson.

June 4, 1864 - Joe Johnston withdrew from the Dallas-New Hope line to Lost Mountain-Pine Mountain-Brushy Mountain.

June 4, 1868 - Benjamin Faneuil Porter, a doctor and lawyer who lived in Claiborne for about six years, before becoming a state legislator, judge and Mayor of Greenville, died of heart failure in Greenville, Ala. and was buried at Pioneer Cemetery in Greenville, Ala.

June 4, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that Col. T.C. McCorvey, Commandant of the State University, had recently been appointed by President Cleveland as a member of the board of visitors of the United States Military Academy at West Point for the present year. The faculty of the University granted Col. McCorvey a two-week leave of absence.

June 4, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that there was a move afoot to obtain a post office money order office at Monroeville.

June 4, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that the neighboring creeks and mill ponds were popular resorts for bathers and were much frequented on Sunday evenings.

June 4, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that the Rev. G.R. Upton, pastor of the Episcopal church of Evergreen, had preached a series of sermons at Perdue Hill during the past week.

June 4, 1887 – Rube Burrow, who would rob a train at Flomaton, Ala. and eventually get gunned down in Linden, Ala., and his gang committed their third train robbery at Mary’s Creek near Benbrook, Texas, robbing the eastbound Texas & Pacific train from El Paso around 7:45 p.m.

June 4, 1896 – Henry Ford completed the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gave it a successful test run in Detroit, Mich.

June 4, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from the Carlisle community, that Mr. Dennis, the “young justice of the peace,” now had a bicycle.

June 4, 1896 - A heavy rain fell in the Nero community on this Thursday, “accompanied by a pretty stiff wind blowing down a great deal of corn, some just beginning to tassel,” according to The Monroe Journal.

June 4, 1914 – W.B. Coker, who lived north of Evergreen, Ala., plucked Conecuh County’s first cotton bloom.

June 4, 1916 – During World War I, the Battle of Lutsk marked the beginning of the Brusilov Offensive, the largest and most successful Allied offensive of World War I, as Russian troops attacked the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army at the city of Lutsk (now in Ukraine) with an impressive bombardment from nearly 2,000 guns along a 200-mile-long front stretching from the Pripet marshes to the Bukovina region to the southwest, in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains.

June 4, 1917 – The first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott and Florence Hall received the first Pulitzer for biography (for “Julia Ward Howe”). Jean Jules Jusserand received the first Pulitzer for history for his work “With Americans of Past and Present Days.” Herbert B. Swope received the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the “New York World.”

June 4, 1918 - A “white boy” was killed by the train at Sparta, Ala. “His head was cut off and the body otherwise mangled.”

June 4, 1918 – During World War I, Army Pvt. Eddie C. Smith, 23, of Florala, Ala. “died from disease.” He was a member of the 167^th Regiment (4^th Alabama) Infantry. According to the June 13, 1918 edition of the Florala News-Democrat, Smith, a former employee of the J.N. McClung & Co., died in France of pneumonia. Born on April 23, 1895, he was buried in the McGee Cemetery in Coffee County, Ala. (His headstone, which he shares with a Pvt. M.L. Smith, indicates that he died on June 5, 1918.)

June 4, 1919 – The U.S. Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guaranteed suffrage to women, and sent it to the U.S. states for ratification. Women across America voted in their first national election in November of 1920.

June 4, 1919 – The Evergreen Courant reported that bad weather had interfered with the commencement exercises of the Agricultural School in Evergreen, but despite this people braved the rain and slush to attend each of the exercises. There was a large congregation at the Baptist Church on the morning of Sun., June 1, to hear the commencement sermon by Dr. Preston of Andalusia. On the night of Tues., June 3, the graduation address was delivered and diplomas were awarded to 14 girls and boys. The address was delivered by Dr. E.C. Moore.

June 4, 1919 – The Evergreen Courant reported that F.F. Feagin of Flomaton, Ala. had purchased the City Drug Store from Deming and Thigpen, and Feagin was scheduled to take charge of his new business on June 4. Feagin was also running a drug store at Flomaton at that time.

June 4, 1928 - At the annual convocation of Monroe Chapter No. 122 on this Monday evening, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: John M. Sowell, High Priest; H.A. Baggett, King; W.H. Hines, Scribe; E.M. Salter, Captain of Host; Q. Salter, Principal Sojourner; M.R. Sowell, Royal Arch Captain; E.A. Thompson, Master Third Vail; J.J. Hestle, Master Second Vail; A.L. Nettles, Master First Vail; G.L. Nettles, Sentinel; L.L. Hendrix, Secretary-Treasurer.

June 4, 1928 – Sex expert Ruth Westheimer, aka “Dr. Ruth,” was born Karola Ruth Siegel in Frankfurth, Germany.

June 4, 1931 - There was to be a baseball game at the high school ball park in Monroeville on this Thursday afternoon, with the girls playing the married men. The game was sponsored by the Monroeville Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. A game of this type had been played the previous fall at the Monroeville ball field. The married men won the first game.

June 4, 1939 – During “The Holocaust,” the MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, was denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.

June 4, 1939 – Flomaton’s baseball team beat the Evergreen Greenies, 6-2, on this Sunday. Watson pitched for Evergreen and gave up seven hits, including to Turberville, Flomaton’s centerfielder, who hit a home run in the first at-bat of the game and added a triple later. Hanna scored for the Greenies in the fourth and tied up the ball game but Flomaton came back in the sixth and scored five runs off of two hits, a walk, a bean ball and two errors. Murphy brought in the only other score of the game in the seventh frame. However, the game was played under protest by Evergreen.

June 4, 1940 – During World War II, the Dunkirk evacuation ended as British forces completed the evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivered his famous "We shall fight on the beaches" speech.

June 4, 1940 - Forbes Field hosted its first night game. The Pirates beat the Braves, 14-2.

June 4, 1940 - Sportsman's Park hosted its first night game. It was the first National League game to be played at night. The Dodgers beat the Cardinals, 10-1.

June 4, 1940 – Carson McCuller’s novel, “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” first appeared.

June 4, 1941 – The “first rain in nearly two months” fell on this Wednesday in Evergreen, Ala., the “few glittering drops” providing a “slight break in the drought.” It was the first significant rain in Evergreen since April 15.

June 4, 1942 – During World War II, the Battle of Midway began when Japanese Admiral Chūichi Nagumo ordered a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

June 4, 1942 – German SS officer and politician Reinhard Heydrich died at the age of 38 in Prague-Libeň, Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia (now Prague, Czech Republic) after he was attacked in Prague on May 27, 1942 by a British-trained team of Czech and Slovak soldiers who had been sent by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile to kill him in Operation Anthropoid.

June 4, 1958 - Six vacancies existed at this time on the faculties at Monroe County, Ala. schools, H.G. Greer, Superintendent of Education, said on this Wednesday in listing a number of replacements for other positions. Greer also announced that Miss Ida Shomo, a teacher in Monroe County schools for over 50 years, had retired as history and mathematics instructor at Monroe County High School. She had been at MCHS for 35 years.

June 4, 1961 - President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union, meeting in Vienna, struck a bargain to support a neutral and independent Laos.

June 4, 1962 – William Faulkner’s novel, “The Reivers,” was published, the last novel he published before his death.

June 4, 1964 - Sandy Koufax threw his third career no-hitter.

June 4, 1964 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Fitzhugh Ellington, minister of the Evergreen Church of Christ, that month began the 13^th year of his ministry in Evergreen, Ala. During the 12 years of his service, the church had made much progress in every way. Payment for the sanctuary had been completed, additional lots purchased and an educational building constructed and paid for, as well as heating and air conditioning the church plant.

June 4, 1965 - Maj. Gen. Lewis Walt took command of the 3rd Marine Division from Maj. Gen. William Collins. Walt was concurrently named Commander of the III Amphibious Force (III MAF), the first corps-level Marine Corps headquarters in history. As such, Walt was in command of two Marine divisions and responsible for I Corps Tactical Zone, the northernmost region of South Vietnam, which bordered the Demilitarized Zone. His command also included serving as Chief of Naval Forces Vietnam, as well as being Senior Adviser to the commander of South Vietnam’s I Corps, who was responsible for the security of the northern portion of South Vietnam.

June 4, 1968 - Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched his sixth consecutive shutout.

June 4, 1969 – Army Private First Class Charles L. Johnson Jr., 20, of Evergreen, Ala. was assigned to the Army’s 1st Logistical Command in Vietnam.

June 4, 1971 - The Oakland A's beat the Washington Senators, 5-3. The game took 21 innings.

June 4, 1971 – For one day only, a “valuable collection of authentic Western relics” was put on display at the Conecuh County Library in Evergreen, Ala., courtesy of C.L. Rogers.

June 4, 1972 – Horror writer Joe Hill was born Joseph Hillstrom King in Hermon, Maine.

June 4, 1973 - Alabama author Arna Bontemps died in Nashville, Tenn.

June 4, 1974 - A radio version of Alabama author Ambrose Bierce's story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" was broadcast as part of the series “The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre.”

June 4, 1974 - The Cleveland Indians had "Ten Cent Beer Night." Due to the drunken and unruly fans, the Indians forfeited to the Texas Rangers.

June 4, 1974 - The NFL granted the Seattle Seahawks franchise.

June 4, 1974 - Hank Aaron set a National League record when he hit his 16th career grand slam.

June 4, 1984 - Bruce Springsteen released his "Born in the U.S.A." album.

June 4, 1985 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling striking down an Alabama law that provided for a daily minute of silence in public schools.

June 4, 1989 – New York Yankee Deion Sanders hit his first Major League home run. Batting leadoff for the first time because Rickey Henderson took the day off, Sanders – known more for his speed – ripped a 1-0 pitch down the right-field line in Milwaukee for his first MLB homer. The 21-year-old phenom, just months shy of making his pro football debut that fall, helped the Yankees to a 12-9 win with the blast.

June 4, 1989 – Chinese troops stormed Beijing’s Tianamen Square to crack down on students conducting pro-democracy demonstrations.

June 4, 1994 - In Kuwait, six men were sentenced to death for plotting to assassinate former U.S. President George Bush.

June 4, 1996 - Eddie Murray hit his 535th double. He moved into 18th on the all-time list by passing Lou Gehrig.

June 4, 1997 - Michael Irvin of the Dallas Cowboys announced that he was putting his NFL career on hold. Irvin later retracted his announcement and returned to the game.

June 4, 1998 – Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

June 4, 2000 - Fred McGriff of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays got his 2,000th career hit.