Today in History for Aug. 8, 2017

Charles Edward Travis

Aug. 8, 1585 – English navigator and explorer John Davis entered Cumberland Sound in search of the Northwest Passage.

Aug. 8, 1775 - Captain Daniel Morgan and his Virginia riflemen arrived in Cambridge, Mass. to serve under General George Washington, the newly appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army.

Aug. 8, 1786 – Mont Blanc on the French-Italian border was climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard.

Aug. 8, 1794 – British Naval officer Joseph Whidbey led an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage near Juneau, Alaska.

Aug. 8, 1829 – Charles Edward Travis, the first child of ill-fated Alamo commander William Barret Travis and Rosanna Cato Travis, was born in Monroe County, Ala.

Aug. 8, 1844 – The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed by Brigham Young, was reaffirmed as the leading body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After the killing of Joseph Smith on June 27, Brigham Young was chosen to lead the Mormons.

Aug. 8, 1861 – The “Monroe Rebels” were organized in Monroeville, Ala.

Aug. 8, 1861 – During the Civil War, an engagement was fought with Indians near the Great Salt Lake in the Utah Territory.

Aug. 8, 1862 – During the Civil War, because local guerrilla fighters continued firing into railroad cars, Federal forces arrested local ministers and placed them throughout each train at Huntsville, Ala. and the firing ultimately ceased.

Aug. 8, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought near Newtonia, along Panther Creek, and Stockton, in Missouri; and at Madison Courthouse, and near Slaughter’s House, in Virginia.

Aug. 8, 1863 – During the Civil War, in the aftermath of his defeat at Gettysburg, Pa., Confederate General Robert E. Lee sent a letter of resignation as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, a letter that Davis did not accept. President Davis refused the request by writing "To ask me to substitute you by someone...more fit to command, or who would possess more of the confidence of the army...is to demand an impossibility."

Aug. 8, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Rienzi, Miss.; along Clear Creek, near Ball Town, Mo.; and at Waterford, Va.

Aug. 8, 1864 – During the Civil War, Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island, Ala., unconditionally surrendered to Federal forces.

Aug. 8, 1864 – During the Civil War, a four-day Federal operation began against Indians in the Bald Mountain area of California; and a four-day Federal operation began against Indians between Salina and Mulberry Creek in Kansas.

Aug. 8, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought with Sioux Indians on the Little Missouri River in the Dakota Territory; at Salem, Ky.; at La Fayette, Tenn.; and at Fairfax Station, Va.

Aug. 8, 1866 – Explorer Matthew Henson, who along with Robert Peary and their Eskimo guide were the first people to reach the North Pole, was born in Nanjemoy, Md.

Aug. 8, 1868 – John DeLoach was commissioned for his fourth and final term as Monroe County’s Circuit Court Clerk, and John A. Simmons was commissioned as Monroe County’s Sheriff.

Aug. 8, 1884 – Poet Sara Teasdale was born in St. Louis, Mo.

Aug. 8, 1885 – More than 1.5 million people attend the funeral of Ulysses S. Grant in New York City. His body had lain in state in City Hall for two days, and thousands filed past to view the former president and Civil War hero. The line of mourners that followed his funeral procession stretched for seven miles and included three presidents, and former Confederate and Union soldiers alike.

Aug. 8, 1885 – In the vicinity of Monroe County’s Glendale community, the son of Isaac Ingram, age seven or eight, drowned while swimming with other small boys at Mosley’s Mill. None of the other boys were big enough to rescue him.

Aug. 8-14, 1895 – An “inter-county institute” for teachers was scheduled to be held in Camden, Ala. and was to be conducted by Prof. E.R. Eldridge, president of the Troy Normal School. S.C. Jenkins was the Superintendent of Education in Wilcox County at the time.

Aug. 8, 1895 – The Monroe Journal reported that “active work on Monroeville’s new Academy building has been in progress for several days past by a good force of workmen. The foundation will be laid in a few days after which the structure will rise with magical rapidity. The trustees say the building will be ready by the date of opening of the Fall term.”

Aug. 8, 1895 – The Monroe Journal reported that Wm. H. Louiselle and his brother, who lived in Manistee, Ala., had informed the paper that work on the Bear Creek Mill Co.’s railroad was “progressing satisfactorily,” and that they expected to have the “western division in operation in the course of a few weeks.”

Aug. 8, 1896 – Writer and novelist Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was born in Washington, D.C.

Aug. 8, 1899 – The first refrigerator was patented in the United States by Albert T. Marshall.

Aug. 8, 1901 – Noble Prize-winning physicist Ernest O. Lawrence was born in Canton, South Dakota.

Aug. 8, 1902 - After the death of Queen Victoria, Edward VII was crowned king of England.

Aug. 8, 1903 - Joe McGinnity of New York pitched two complete games in one day. He won, 6-1, and, 4-3, over the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Aug. 8, 1905 – The Wilcox County Masonic Conference was scheduled to meet at Gastonburg on this Tuesday. The lodges at Camden, Lower Peach Tree, Gastonburg, Pine Apple, Oak Hill, Furman and McWilliams Station were to have been fully represented.

Aug. 8, 1914 – Monroe County’s Good Roads Association was organized during a meeting in Monroeville, Ala., and the “Federal Good Road Association” was also temporarily organized. Officers of the Good Roads Association included President J.U. Blacksher of Maros, First Vice President J.K. Kyser of Burnt Corn, Second Vice President Q. Salter of Monroeville, Ala., Secretary and Treasurer.

Aug. 8, 1914 – Baseball teams from Monroeville and Brewton played the final two games of a three-game series in Monroeville, Ala. On this day, Monroeville won the second game of the series, 3-2, but dropped the final game of the series, 9-2.

Aug. 8, 1915 - Gawy Gravath of Philadelphia hit four doubles and brought in eight runs in a game against the Cincinnati Reds.

Aug. 8, 1918 – During World War I, the Battle of Amiens began a string of almost continuous Allied victories with a push through the German front lines, part of the Hundred Days Offensive.

Aug. 8, 1918 – During World War I, the Allies launched a series of offensive operations against German positions on the Western Front with a punishing attack at Amiens, on the Somme River in northwestern France.

Aug. 8, 1920 - Howard Ehmke of the Detroit Tigers set an American League record when he defeated the New York Yankees, 1-0, in one hour and 13 minutes.

Aug. 8, 1922 - Hattie Hooker Wilkins of Selma, Ala. became the first woman to win a seat in the Alabama legislature. One of three Alabama women to run for legislative office that year, Wilkins was the only successful candidate, beating out incumbent J. W. Green for a seat in the House of Representatives. Wilkins served only one term, choosing not to run for re-election in 1926.

Aug. 8, 1929 – The Monroe Journal reported that Dr. R.A. Smith was “duly installed in his new office building, which is most conveniently arranged for the comfort and accommodation of his patients.”

Aug. 8, 1931 - Bob Burke of the Washington Senators pitched a 5-0 no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox.

Aug. 8, 1934 – National Baseball Hall of Fame catcher and manager Wilbert Robinson passed away at the age of 71 in Atlanta, Ga. During his career, he played for the Philadelphia Athletics, the Baltimore Orioles and the St. Louis Cardinals and he managed the Orioles and the Brooklyn Robins. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1945.

Aug. 8, 1935 – On this day in Lovecraftian fiction, Milwaukee painter and weird fiction author Robert Harrison Blake was found dead from electrical shock in his rooms following a thunderstorm. Blake originally first appeared in “The Shambler from the Stars” by Robert Bloch.

Aug. 8, 1935 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Ulay Pitts, a young white man, age about 21 years, was being held in the Conecuh County Jail charged with the murder of Ben Smith, white man, age about 59 years, the shooting having occurred on Friday morning, Aug. 2, about eight o’clock near Smith’s home. It seems from the facts The Courant had been able to gather that Pitts, who was a brother-in-law of Smith’s, they having married sisters, was farming on Smith’s place. He and his wife, according to the story told to officers, were passing Smith’s home that morning and he called Smith and told him to figure up what he owed and he would come back by shortly and settle with him. At this point, it seems that Smith went out toward where Pitts and wife were and a fuss arose between them. According to the story told by both Pitts and his wife, and corroborated by Walt Jordan, another witness, Smith took after Pitts with a pair of knucks and chased him up the road out of sight of the house and of Jordan and Mrs. Pitts. What took place after that was not witnessed by anyone except Pitts himself. He said that he fell down and when he regained his feet, Smith was so close upon him that he had to shoot him to keep him off. Four shots were fired with a .32 caliber automatic, all of which took effect. The shot which resulted in Smith’s death passed through the abdomen. The other three took effect in his legs.

Aug. 8, 1935 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Walter B. “Bully” Hitchcock, former Auburn varsity back, and brother of the famous Jimmy Hitchcock of football fame at “The Plains,” had been hired to direct the football, baseball and basketball teams at Southwest State Agricultural School for the 1935 season, according to Prof. W.Y. Fleming, Principal. Hitchcock would officially be an assistant physical education instructor, and was to assist Coach E.L. McInnis, who became head of the newly installed standard Physical Education program at the local high school. “Bully will be the head man in football, baseball and basketball,” Coach McInnis stated following Fleming’s announcement. “Having known him for a long time, I know that Hitchcock and I can work together.” The new coach arrived in Evergreen on Tues., Aug. 6, and “signed on the dotted line” on Wed., Aug. 7, after conferences with local officials. With characteristic directness, Coach Hitchcock went to work meeting and talking with his “boys” and expressed himself as being optimistic, after looking over quite a few of his prospective pupils. Since leaving Auburn, Hitchcock coached three years each at Geneva and Florala, and had gained a reputation for putting out hard-driving, alert teams. First practice under the new “head man” was to be held around Sept. 1, Hitchcock stated, and the first scheduled game will be played on Sept. 28. A list of holdover players upon whom the new coaching regime was counting heavily to bear the brunt of the work that fall included linemen Ed Johns, Dan Johns, Rountree, Brassell, Fountain, Horn, Joyner, McCreary, Weaver and Sheffield; and backs Cargill, Heifner, Lane, Wiggins, Bargainer and Hart. Hitchcock had managed the Abbeville baseball club during the previous two seasons, finishing 1934 in second place, and holding that place in his league in 1935 when the team was disbanded.

Aug. 8, 1938 – The first bale of cotton from the 1938 cotton crop in Monroe County, Ala. was ginned on this day.

Aug. 8, 1944 – During World War II, Pfc. Burley C. Wallace, 28, was killed in action in Algiers, France. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. C.D. Wallace of the Garland-Asbury Church community. Born on Jan. 11, 1916, he was buried in the Asbury Methodist Church Cemetery in Conecuh County, Ala.

Aug. 8, 1945 – The London Charter was signed by France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States, establishing the laws and procedures for the Nuremberg trials.

Aug. 8, 1946 – Evergreen, Alabama’s first ever horse show, which was sponsored by the Evergreen Rotary Club, was scheduled to be held at the High School Athletic Stadium in Evergreen, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 8, 1950 - Conecuh County’s first 1950 bale of cotton was ginned in Evergreen on this Tuesday morning. The cotton was grown by Reuben F. Hyde, who lived just out of the city limits on the Brooklyn Highway, and was ginned by Evergreen Gin Co. According to W.T. Chapman, manager of the local gin, the bale weighed 661 pounds and graded middling, one-inch staple.

Aug. 8, 1952 – Novelist Valerie Sayers, who is best known for her 2013 novel “The Powers,” was born in Beaufort, S.C.

Aug. 8, 1954 - The Brooklyn Dodgers scored 13 runs in the eighth inning to beat the Cincinnati Reds, 20-7, at Ebbets Field.

Aug. 8, 1959 – The Evergreen Junior Baseball League was scheduled to play its 1959 All-Star Game, at the Junior League Park at 8 p.m. Byron Warren was the league’s president.

Aug. 8, 1961 – Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive tackle Bruce Matthews was born in Raleigh, N.C. He went on to play for USC and the Houston/Tennessee Oilers/Titans. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.

Aug. 8, 1967 – The first cotton bales of the 1967 crop in Conecuh County, Ala. were ginned on the same day at the Castleberry Gin Co. and the Evergreen Gin Co. W.J. Davis of Repton delivered the first bale to Castleberry, and partners Isaac Franklin and Les Crosby of Evergreen delivered the first bale to Evergreen.

Aug. 8, 1968 - Richard Nixon was nominated for president at the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach.

Aug. 8, 1969 – At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan took the photo that became the cover of the Beatles album “Abbey Road.”

Aug. 8, 1972 - The New York Yankees signed a 30-year lease with the City of New York which called for Yankee Stadium to be completely modernized in time for the 1976 season.

Aug. 8, 1973 - Boston Red Sox Orlando Cepeda hit four doubles against the Kansas City Royals.

Aug. 8, 1973 - Vice President Agnew branded reports that he took kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland as “damned lies.”

Aug. 8, 1974 – President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announced his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day.

Aug. 8, 1974 – The Monroe Journal reported that four Monroe Countians, all from Excel, were part of the winning team as the South All-Stars overpowered the North in the annual Alabama High School Athletic Association All-Star Game, 18-6. Coach Lee Holladay was one of the South coaches, working with the defensive team. Larry Hixon started at defensive cornerback, while Neal Dawson attended the game as a trainer. A manager for the game was Tray Holladay.

Aug. 8, 1975 - Hank Williams, Jr. fell 500 feet down a mountain in Montana. After, two years of surgeries he returned to music.

Aug. 8, 1976 – Singer-songwriter, dancer and actor J.C. Chasez, best known for being a member of 'N Sync, was born in Bowie, Md.

Aug. 8, 1976 – Singer and actor Drew Lachey, best known for being a member of 98 Degrees, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Aug. 8-12, 1977 - Mike Griffin, who had coached Troy State University to two straight NCAA Division II Golf Championships, was scheduled to conduct a golf clinic at Lurleen B. Wallace State Junior College. Griffin was a native of Thomasville. He was Troy State University’s No. 1 golfer for three of his four seasons and was a medalist in the 1968 and 1969 Alabama Collegiate Conference Tournaments. Griffin joined the professional tour in 1972. Prior to turning pro, he won the Montgomery Country Club Invitational, the Dothan Country Club Invitational and the Woodley Country Club Invitational tournaments. Griffin held course records at Thomasville, Luverne, Dothan’s Olympic Spa and Troy Country Club. Griffin won more than 30 amateur tournaments. Griffin was the Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year in 1975 and 1976. The 1976 TSU team coached by Griffin won the NCAA Division II National Championship by 31 strokes.

Aug. 8, 1982 - Doug DeCinces hit three home runs against the California Angels. He had hit three home runs against Minnesota five days earlier.

Aug. 8, 1985 – Alabama native Oscar Gamble made his final Major League Baseball appearance, playing for the Chicago White Sox.

Aug. 8, 1985 - Major League Baseball players returned to work after a two-day walkout.

Aug. 8, 1988 - It was announced that a cease-fire between Iraq and Iran had begun.

Aug. 8, 1988 - The Chicago Cubs hosted the first night game in the history of Wrigley Field after 74 seasons of playing only day games at home. With the Cubs playing the Phillies, the game was called due to rain with the Cubs leading 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth. Because the five innings needed for the game to be official were not completed, Wrigley’s first night game is officially recorded as a 6-4 win over the New York Mets on Aug. 9, 1988.

Aug. 8, 1989 - Danny Elfman's musical score "Batman: Motion Picture Score" was released.

Aug. 8, 1990 – Iraq occupied Kuwait and the state was annexed to Iraq. This would lead to the Gulf War shortly afterward. Also on this day, American forces began positioning in Saudi Arabia.

Aug. 8, 1995 - Saddam Hussein's two eldest daughters, their husbands and several senior army officers defected.

Aug. 8, 1996 - Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles moved into 15th place on the career home run list when he hit his 494th.

Aug. 8, 1996 - Willie McGee of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his 2,000th major league hit.

Aug. 8, 1996 – Shakela Brye, the 1996 recipient of the Wendell Hart Scholarship, spoke to the Evergreen Rotary Club during their regular meeting at Bubba’s restaurant. Carol Gordy was the chairman of the scholarship fund committee, and John Nielsen was president of the Rotary Club.

Aug. 8, 1998 - Paul Molitor of the Minnesota Twins stole his 500th career base.

Aug. 8, 1999 - Wade Boggs of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays got his 3,000th hit of his Major League Baseball career.

Aug. 8, 2000 - In Portugal, Oasis walked off stage for the second time in two weeks when drummer Alan White was hit by a rock.

Aug. 8, 2000 - The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley was raised from ocean bottom after 136 years after it sank on Feb. 17, 1864 and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence. The sub had been lost during an attack on the U.S.S. Housatonic in 1864. The Hunley was the first submarine in history to sink a warship.

Aug. 8, 2002 - Major League Baseball players and owners agreed to a $100,000 increase in baseball's minimum salary. The minimum was set at $300,000 starting in 2003.

Aug. 8, 2003 – Dutch-German SS officer Dirk Hoogendam died at the age of 81 in Ringgau, Germany.