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| Margaret Walker |
July 7, 1520 – Spanish conquistadores defeated larger Aztec
army at the Battle of Otumba.
July 7, 1534 – During the European colonization of the
Americas, the first known exchange between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence in New Brunswick occurred.
July 7, 1777 – During the American Revolutionary War,
American forces retreating from Fort Ticonderoga were defeated by the British
in the Battle of Hubbardton, the only Revolutionary War battle to be fought in
Vermont.
July 7, 1817 – Walter H. Crenshaw was born at Abbeville
Court House, S.C., the eldest son of Judge Anderson Crenshaw, who moved with
his family to Butler County, Ala. in 1821. He served as a state representative,
Speaker of the State House, state senator, President of the State Senate,
officer in the state militia, and Butler County Criminal Court Judge.
July 7, 1834 – In New York City, four nights of rioting
against abolitionists began.
July 7, 1846 – During the Mexican–American War, American
troops occupied Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the U.S. acquisition
of California. The U.S. annexation of California was proclaimed at Monterey
after the surrender of a Mexican garrison there.
July 7, 1852 – According to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s
stories, Dr. John H. Watson, Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick, was born on this day.
July 7, 1860 – Musical conductor and composer Gustav Mahler
was born in Kaliště, Bohemia.
July 7, 1861 – Genetics pioneer Nettie Stevens was born in
Cavendish, Vermont.
July 7, 1861 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Great Falls, Virginia; and at Belington,
Glenville and Laurel Hill in West Virginia.
July 7, 1862 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Bayou Caches, Bayou de View, Round Hill and
Devall’s Bluff in Arkansas and at Inman Hollow and Newark in Missouri.
July 7, 1862 – During the Civil
War, a five-day Federal operation began in the Cumberland Gap area of
Tennessee.
July 7, 1862 – During the Civil
War, a 10-day Federal operation began in the Aransas Pass region of Texas, and
a three-day Federal reconnaissance from Yorktown, Virginia began.
July 7, 1863 – The United States began its first military
draft. Exemptions cost $300.
July 7, 1863 – Union Lt. Colonel Christopher "Kit"
Carson, perhaps the most famous trapper and guide in the West, left Santa Fe
with his troops and started his campaign against the Indians of New Mexico and
Arizona. A famed mountain man before the Civil War, Carson was responsible for
waging a destructive war against the Navajo that resulted in their removal from
the Four Corners area to southeastern New Mexico.
July 7, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought with Indians at Grand Pass in the Idaho Territory;
near Cumming’s Ferry and at Shepherdsville in Kentucky; at Funkstown and
Harper’s Ferry, Downsville in Maryland; near Baker’s Creek, Iuka, and Queen’s
Hill and at Ripley in Mississippi; and near Dry Woods, Missouri.
July 7, 1863 – During the Civil
War, the Federal reoccupation of Maryland Heights, Maryland began. President
Lincoln was upset that Union Major General George G. Meade would not strike a
blow against the retreating Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
July 7, 1863 – During the Civil
War, Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee was setting up camp
around Chattanooga, Tenn. after losing most of the state to Rosecrans’s Army of
the Cumberland.
July 7, 1864 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Van Buren, Arkansas; at Adairsville, Dark
Corners, Vining’s Station, and Summerville in Georgia; at Brownville,
Frederick, Middletown, and at Solomon’s Gap in Maryland; near Ripley,
Mississippi; at Parkville, Missouri; and on Johns’ Island, South Carolina.
July 7, 1864 – During the Civil
War, an 11-day Federal operation began between Kingston and England Cove, Tennessee.
July 7, 1864 – During the Civil
War, Federal raids took placed at Brookville and Bayport in Florida.
July 7, 1864 – During the Civil
War, the 3rd Division, 6th U.S. Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, arrived at
Baltimore, Maryland, from its positions in front of Petersburg, Virginia to aid
in the defense of Washington, D.C.
July 7, 1865 – During the American Civil War, four
conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln were hanged.
July 7, 1865 – Randolph County, Ala. native Lewis Powell,
convicted of repeatedly stabbing Secretary of State William H. Seward in a
failed attempt to kill him, was hanged alongside convicted Abraham Lincoln
assassination conspirators Mary Surratt, David Herold and George Atzerodt.
July 7, 1865 - Mary Surratt was executed by the U.S.
government for her role as a conspirator in Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.
Many expected President Andrew Johnson to pardon Surratt because the U.S.
government had never hanged a woman. Ever since her death, numerous sightings
of Mary Surratt’s ghost and other strange occurrences have been reported around
Fort McNair. A hooded figure in black, bound at the hands and feet as Surratt
had been at the time of her execution, has allegedly been seen moving about.
Several children of soldiers have reported a “lady in black” who plays with
them.
July 7, 1882 – War of 1812 veteran John Green died at the
age of 92. Born on March 8, 1790, he was buried in the John Green Cemetery near
Burnt Corn in Conecuh County.
July 7, 1887 – Artist Marc Chagall was born in Vitebsk,
Russia.
July 7, 1896 - The Knights of Pythias had a pubic
installation of officers at Tinella. The weather was so bad that only a few
people attended, according to The Monroe Journal.
July 7, 1898 – U.S. President William McKinley signed the Newlands
Resolution annexing Hawaii as a territory of the United States.
July 7, 1900 – Warren Earp, the youngest of the famous clan
of gun fighting brothers, was shot and killed by John Boyett in a gunfight at
the Headquarters Salone in Willcox, Az. Later, Boyett was tried for murder and
found innocent on the grounds that he had acted in self-defense
July 7, 1906 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Leroy
Robert “Satchel” Paige was born in Mobile, Ala. He would go on to play for the
Cleveland Indians, the St. Louis Browns and the Kansas City Athletics. He was
inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971.
July 7, 1906 - Enon Lodge planned to have a public
installation of Masonic officers on this Saturday, and all sister lodgers were
invited to attend. The Lodge planned to have Dr. R.M. Cunningham to be with
them on the occasion.
July 7, 1906 - W.H. Tucker, postmaster and merchant at Jones
Mill, visited Monroeville on this Saturday.
July 7, 1906 - Fred L. Hancock, the murderer of Prof. Jesse
Troutman, who escaped from jail in May 1906 and was recaptured in Kansas City,
committed suicide in his cell in the Brewton jail on this Saturday night by
swallowing an ounce of carbolic acid. He left a note in which he said “he was
going to a place where he would receive a just trial, where only the truth was
told and where he would not be tried by prejudiced people.”
July 7, 1907 – Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein was
born in Butler, Mo.
July 7, 1909 – An intruder entered the home of F.M. Rountree
in Conecuh County, Ala. and was shot, but the intruder got away.
July 7, 1912 – Jim Thorpe, a former two-time college
football All-American, won the pentathlon at the fifth modern Olympics in
Stockholm, Sweden.
July 7, 1915 – Author and poet Margaret Walker was born in
Birmingham, Ala. Her mother’s relatives lived in Greenville, Ala. and she set a
portion of her 1966 novel, “Jubilee,” in Greenville. Walker is best known for
her collections of poetry and her novel, “Jubilee,” which is based on her
maternal grandmother's memories of slavery. Walker taught for many years
at Jackson State University in Mississippi and she died in 1998.
July 7, 1915 – Mrs. J.G. Barrow suffered a broken collarbone
during an automobile accident on this Thursday evening on Cary Street in
Evergreen, Ala. She was in the car with her daughter, Mrs. Buford Powell, when
their vehicle’s brakes failed going up the street’s steep incline, went down
the embankment and overturned. No one else was injured, but the vehicle’s
windshield was “demolished.”
July 7, 1916 – Congressman Thomas J. Heflin was expected to
speak at a United Daughters of the Confederacy Independence Day celebration at
Perdue Hill on this day. As it was not possible for Heflin to be with them on
any other date, the UDC “gladly postponed our celebration of the Fourth three
days in order to have such a distinguished guest.” They planned to have “an
all-day picnic, a pleasing program, music, dancing, a parcel post auction and
lots of good things to eat at reasonable prices,” according to The Monroe
Journal.
July 7, 1917 - British Army Council Instruction Number 1069 formally established the British Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), authorizing female volunteers to serve alongside their male counterparts in France during World War I.
July 7, 1928 – The Evergreen Motor Car Co. was scheduled to
officially open in its new location inside “the pretty new building recently
completed on Rural Street.” All seven models of the New Ford Car were to be on
display on this day, several of which have not been shown in Evergreen, Ala.
before.
July 7, 1930 – Congress approved the funds to build the
Hoover Dam.
July 7, 1930
– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, died at the age of 71
in Crowborough, Sussex, England.
July 7, 1933 – Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author
David McCullough was born in Pittsburgh, Pa.
July 7, 1937 - During the All-Star Game, Earl Averill hit a
line drive that broke one of Dizzy Dean's toes.
July 7, 1939 – The children and relatives of John Cunningham
Sr. celebrated his 90th birthday with a barbecue at the Evergreen Country Club.
A native of Monroe County, who was born near Tunnel Springs, was the oldest
living alumnus of Mobile’s Spring Hill College in 1939.
July 7, 1939 – Perry Hudson of McKenzie, while swimming in
Pigeon Creek above Davis Dam on this Friday afternoon, got too close to the dam
and was carried over, striking on the rocks below the dam with such force that
he was instantly killed.
July 7 1939 – National Baseball Hall of Fame catcher and
third baseman Deacon White died at the age of 91 in St. Charles Township, Ill.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013.
July 7, 1940 – Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was born Richard
Starkey in Liverpool, England.
July 7, 1947 – The Roswell Incident, the (supposed) crash of
an alien spaceship, occurred near Roswell in New Mexico.
July 7, 1948 - Photos of an alleged alien, nicknamed 'Tomato
Man,' were taken at a UFO crash site in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.
July 7, 1948 – Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck bought
Satchel Paige’s contract on Paige’s 42nd birthday, and Paige made his Major
League debut two days later, entering in the fifth inning against the St. Louis
Browns with the Indians trailing, 4-1. Paige gave up two singles in two
innings, striking one man out and inducing one batter to hit into a double
play. The Indians lost the game, 5-3, in spite of Paige’s contribution.
July 7, 1948 - Officials of the Brewton Millers entry in
the professional Class D Alabama State League planned to hold an “Evergreen
Night” on this Wednesday, and planned to reserve around half of the seats for
Evergreen fans. Businessmen in Brewton and Evergreen had purchased several
hundred tickets to the game and were to distribute them in Evergreen. Half the
grandstand and half the bleachers were to be roped off for Evergreen fans and a
large attendance was expected to represent the city. The Millers were to play
the Greenville Pirates in the game that was to feature the events of “Evergreen
Night.” Game time was set for 7:30 p.m.
July 7, 1953 - The Dodgers set a major league record when
they got a home run in their 24th consecutive game.
July 7, 1955 - Officials in China
and Hanoi announced that Beijing would extend 800 million yuan (about $200 million)
in economic aid to Hanoi.
July 7, 1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed
the Alaska Statehood Act into law.
July 7, 1963 - The Evergreen National Guard unit was
scheduled to leave from Fort Dave Lewis on this Sunday morning for two weeks
annual summer camp at Fort McClellan, Anniston. A total of 46 men, 43 enlisted
men and three officers, were expected to take part in the camp. The unit was
comprised of three platoons of the 131st Quartermaster Co. (Petroleum
Distribution). The other units were located at Jackson. 1st. Lt. Elbert
Williams was company commander. Other officers were 1st Lt. Marcus O’Gwynn and
Chief Warrant Officer Hunter Hines. Williams stated that a number of other
guard units would be moving through the area on this Sunday on their way to
camp.
July 7, 1964 - Shea Stadium hosted it's first and only
All-Star game.
July 7, 1964 - Gen. Maxwell Taylor,
the new ambassador to South Vietnam, arrived in Saigon.
July 7, 1966 – The Monroe Journal reported that the “Old
Courthouse Dilemma” remained, even after a poll of the county commission. Built
in 1903, the courthouse, according to a recent survey of an engineering firm,
was still safe for use. But the question was, should the old courthouse be
allowed to remain in its present condition, detracting from the new courthouse
which was completed in September 1963 at a cost of $600,000. After all
occupants of the old courthouse were moved into the new courthouse some 50
yards away, new occupants moved into the old courthouse. A poll of the
commissioners on whether the old courthouse should be torn down, left as is, or
remodeled, showed a divided opinion of the members and still no definite plans
on the old courthouse’s fate. Two of the members, M.L. Pearce and David M.
Nettles, said they thought the courthouse should be torn down “if,” one, Fonde
Williams of Finchburg, was in favor of leaving the courthouse and remodeling
it, another, Jerry Steele of Beatrice, said he would have to know more about
the economical value either way while another board member was non-committal.
July 7, 1966 – The Monroe Journal reported that Sgt. Harry
Ikner, who served with the First Brigade, 100th Airborne Division in
Vietnam, had recently returned to the states. His wife, Sue, his daughter,
Kris, and son, Harry Jr., visited with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ira L. Ikner,
for 15 days before reporting for duty at Fort Bragg, N.C.
July 7, 1969 - A battalion of the
U.S. 9th Infantry Division left Saigon in the initial withdrawal of U.S.
troops, the first of 25,000 troops that were withdrawn in the first stage of
the U.S. disengagement from the war.
July 7, 1970 – Marine Lance Cpl. David Marshall Haveard, 22,
of Brewton, Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam. Born on April 23, 1948, he
was buried in the Green Acres Memorial Park in Brewton.
July 7, 1963 – Edgar Award-winning author Tom Franklin was
born in Clarke County, Ala. Raised in Dickinson, he won an Edgar for Best Short
Story in 1999 for “Poachers.” His novel, “Hell at the Breech,” a fictionalized
version of the Mitcham War of Clarke County, Ala., was published in 2003.
July 7, 1975 - A Milton, Fla. woman lost her life in an
accident on this Monday morning at about 11:30 on Interstate Highway 65, some
7-1/2 miles north of Evergreen, Ala. Norma H. Redmond, 42, of Rt. 5, Milton,
was killed and her husband and son were injured in the crash. The Redmonds were
traveling north in a pickup pulling a camper trailer behind them when a tire
blew out and control of the vehicle was lost. The truck and camper left the
highway and overturned in the median. State Trooper John E. Hooper investigated
the accident.
July 7, 1977 – The Evergreen Courant reported that J.W. Coburn
of Evergreen and his ‘No. 6’ had been seen regularly in the winner’s circle on
the dirt tracks of the area for several years now. J.W. drove and won often at
the Flomaton Speedway.
July 7, 1977 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Donnie
Reed, a 170-pound junior athlete, won the first Repton High School Athlete of
the Year Award recently at the Conecuh County school. The award was to be given
each year as the result of a point system each athlete was graded by. Reed had
the jump on all the other Repton athletes by competing in all five sports at
the school. He quarterbacked the varsity football team, was a guard on the
basketball B team, played shortstop on the baseball team, ran the 220 in track
and was a member of the school’s first wrestling team. Reed, son of Mr. and
Mrs. James W. Reed of Repton, directed the school’s football team to the most
successful season ever. Over the past two years, under his quarterbacking,
Repton has had a 14-2 record. Described by Repton Coach Hugh Wilson as a good
passer and runner, he accounted for over 190 yards of offense in the spring
jamboree.
July 7, 1980 – The Reeves Chapel Methodist Church and
Cemetery near Camden, Ala. was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and
Heritage.
July 7, 1981
– American mystic and activist Peace Pilgrim died at the age of 72 in Knox,
Indiana. On Jan. 26, 1956, The Evergreen Courant reported that Peace Pilgrim,
who had walked over 7,600 miles on her pilgrimage for peace, passed through
Evergreen over the weekend on her way to Montgomery. Peace Pilgrim began her
100-mile walk in Alabama at Castleberry, walking into Evergreen after dark. She
spent the night at the bus station, The Rebel, and began her long trek about 7
a.m. the next morning. On Sun., Jan. 22, about 3:30 p.m., she was seen a few
miles above Georgiana, and several people reported having seen her Mon., Jan.
23, the last in the afternoon, about two miles above the junction of the Ft.
Deposit road and the new highway, at Priester’s.
July 7, 1984 – Weather reporter Earl Windham recorded 1.11
inches of rain in Evergreen, Ala.
July 7, 1987 - Alabama author Sara Henderson Hay died in
Pittsburgh, Pa.
July 7, 1988 – The Evergreen Courant reported that new
Evergreen High School head football coach Hugh Fountain was asking all boys
interested in playing junior varsity and varsity football to meet with him
every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the field house.
July 7, 1988 – The Evergreen Courant reported that former
Executive Vice President Bill Johnson had been appointed President of Poole
Truck Line, Inc. The appointment was announced by John Bowron, President of
NEOAX’s I.U. International Truckload Group, Poole’s parent company.
July 7, 1997 – The Turkish Armed Forces withdrew from
northern Iraq after assisting the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Iraqi
Kurdish Civil War.
July 2, 2000 - Amazon.com announced that they had sold
almost 400,000 copies of "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire,"
making it the biggest selling book in e-tailing history.
July 7, 2005 – New Hope Baptist Church in Natchez, Ala. was
added to National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the
Interior.
July 7, 2009 – Evergreen UFO witness Eva “Swan Turner”
Maraman died at the age of 67 in Mobile. Born on July 10, 1941 in Butler
County, Ala., she is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Georgiana.
July 7, 2011 – National Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder,
third baseman and manager Dick Williams passed away at the age of 82 in Las
Vegas, Nev. During his career, he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the
Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians, the Kansas City Athletics and the
Boston Red Sox, and he went on to manage the Red Sox, the Oakland Athletics,
the California Angels, the Montreal Expos, the San Diego Padres and the Seattle
Mariners. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.
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