Jan. 1, 404 AD - The last gladiator battle was fought in
Rome.
Jan. 1, 605 A.D - Mayan King Aj Ne' Ohl Mat acceded to the
throne in the Mayan city-state Palenque, Mexico, and ruled until his death on
Aug. 8, 612. During his reign, his kingdom was invaded on April 4, 611 by
Scroll Serpent, ruler of the Kaan kingdom.
Jan. 1, 1698 - The Abenaki Indians and the Massachusetts colonists signed a treaty halting hostilities
between the two groups.
Jan. 1, 1735 – American Revolutionary War Patriot Paul
Revere was born in Boston, Mass.
Jan 1, 1739 – Bouvet Island was discovered by French
explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
Jan. 1, 1740 - Using a fleet of 15 boats plus a combined
military force that included friendly Creek, Chickasaw and Uchee Indians,
Oglethorpe began heading south in late December 1739. On this morning, his
fleet successfully raided both Fort San Francisco de Pupo and Fort Picolata
along the San Sebastian (St. Johns's) River, west of St. Augustine in Spanish
Florida.
Jan. 1, 1764 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a prominent
Freemason, played for the Royal Family at Versailles in France.
Jan. 1, 1773 – The hymn “Amazing Grace,” written by John
Newton, was first presented at a prayer meeting in Olney, Buckinghamshire,
England.
Jan. 1, 1776 – During the American Revolutionary War,
Norfolk, Va. was burned by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.
Jan. 1, 1781 – During the American Revolutionary War, 1,500
soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne's command
rebelled against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey
in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781.
Jan. 1, 1788 – The first edition of London’s oldest daily
newspaper, The Times of London, previously named The Daily Universal Register,
was published.
Jan. 1, 1800 – John Hill Dailey was born in Ohio. He came to
Alabama as a young man and first settled at Belleville. A few years later, he
moved to Tunnel Springs, where he became an extensive planter and owner of many
slaves. He passed away at the age of 91 on Sept. 29, 1891 and was buried in the
Antioch Cemetery on Pine Orchard Road, near Tunnel Springs, Ala. (Some sources
say he was born in Connecticut and that he died on Sept. 29, 1890.)
Jan. 1, 1803 – Emperor Gia Long ordered all bronze wares of
the Tây Sơn dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal
Citadel in Huế, Vietnam.
Jan. 1, 1808 - The U.S. banned the importation of slaves
from Africa.
Jan. 1, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the
Marquis de Lafayette attended a banquet hosted by the U.S. Congress.
Jan. 1, 1836 – David People was given a license to sell
whiskey and keep a tavern in Monroe County, Ala. for one year.
Jan. 1, 1836 – This day was the deadline set by Indian Agent
Wiley Thompson for the Seminoles to leave Florida for Indian Territory.
(Thompson was killed four days before by a band of Seminoles led by Osceola at
Fort King.)
Jan. 1, 1837 - Paying their own way, 600 members of the
Cherokee Treaty Party departed for the Cherokee Nation West in Indian
Territory.
Jan. 1, 1838 - Numerous fortifications were built during
1838 to create a boundary that began at the inlet of the Indian River to
present-day Bradenton. These forts were Fort Bassinger, Fort Floyd, Fort Hamer,
Fort Myakka and Fort Pierce.
Jan. 1, 1846 – English soldier and explorer John Torrington,
at around the age of 21, died during an expedition to find the Northwest
Passage and was buried on Beechey Island.
Jan. 1, 1853 – Australian farmer and explorer Gregory
Blaxland died at the age of 74 in New South Wales.
Jan 1, 1862 – During the Civil War,
the Federal shelling of Fort McRee and Fort Barranacas in Pensacola, Fla.
began.
Jan. 1, 1862 – During the Civil
War, the first of three days of Federal operations between Dayton and Rose Hill
in Missouri began.
Jan. 1, 1862 – During the Civil
War, a skirmish was fought at Port Royal, S.C.
Jan. 1, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Helena, Ark.; at Bath Springs, Miss.; and in the
vicinity of Clifton, Stewart’s Creek and La Vergne, in Tennessee.
Jan. 1, 1863 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the
final Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the rebel
states and Confederate territory were free. A preliminary proclamation was
issued in September 1862, following the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam
in Maryland. The act signaled an important shift in the Union’s Civil War aims,
expanding the goal of the war from reunification to include the eradication of
slavery.
Jan. 1, 1863 - Confederate troops under General John Bankhead
Magruder captured Galveston, Texas.
Jan. 1, 1863 – A farmer named Daniel Freeman submitted the
first claim under the new Homestead Act for a property near Beatrice, Nebraska.
Jan. 1, 1864 – During the Civil
War, 30 days of sustained Federal operations in Northeastern Arkansas began.
Skirmishes were also fought at Lunenburg and Sylamore in Arkansas; at
Dandridge, Tenn.; in Charleston Harbor, S.C. and vicinity; and at Bunker Hill,
West Va.
Jan. 1, 1864 – During the Civil
War, Federal operations against Indians, mostly Hoopas, began in the Humboldt
Military District of California.
Jan. 1, 1864 – During the Civil
War, a four-day Confederate operation began in Middle Tennessee.
Jan 1, 1864 – During the Civil War,
a four-day Federal expedition began between Beatlton to Front Royal, Va. A
skirmish was also fought at Rectortown, Va.
Jan. 1, 1865 – During the Civil
War, a skirmish was fought at Bentonville, Ark. and with Snake Indians on the
Canyon City Road in Oregon.
Jan. 1, 1865 – During the Civil
War, the Federal Campaign of the Carolinas began.
Jan. 1, 1879 – Novelist E.M. Forster was born Edward Morgan
Forster in London.
Jan. 1, 1889 - Friedrich Nietzsche was said to have suffered
a nervous breakdown after seeing a horse whipped by a cab driver.
Jan. 1, 1889 - During a full eclipse of the sun on New
Year's Day 1889, the Native American Ghost Dance religion came into being when
these words were spoken by a Paiute rancher named Wovoka: "When the Sun
died, I went up to Heaven and saw God and all the people who had died a long
time ago. God told me to come back and tell my people they must be good and
love one another, and not fight, or steal or lie. He gave me this dance to give
to my people."
Jan. 1, 1892 – The Ellis Island Immigrant Station formally
opened in New York.
Jan. 1, 1895 - J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the
FBI, was born in Washington, D.C.
Jan. 1, 1896 – Confederate veteran Abner Dees died at the
age of 75, according to The Monroe Journal. He was born on Oct. 15, 1820 and
was buried in the Brady Cemetery at Drewry in Monroe County, Ala.
Jan. 1, 1898 – The City of Pensacola, Fla. established a
full-time, paid fire department.
Jan. 1, 1900 - Alabama ushered in 1900 with cold
temperatures and little fanfare. Snow was recorded in Birmingham and Montgomery
at the start of the holiday weekend and freezing temperatures continued to
Mon., Jan. 1. Most citizens did not celebrate the start of the 20th century
until 1901 and The Birmingham Age-Herald remarked “the first day of the last
year of the nineteenth century dawned dull enough in Birmingham.”
Jan. 1, 1901 - Alabama newspapers welcomed a new year and a
new century. Declaring Jan. 1, 1901, as the first day of the 20th Century (and
not January 1, 1900), the Montgomery Journal predicted that “Montgomery can
well afford to welcome the year and the century with enthusiasm.” Likewise, the
Birmingham Age-Herald carried a prominent front-page cartoon with a depiction
of Father Time greeting the twin babies of the new year and the new century.
Jan. 1, 1902 - The first Tournament of Roses (later the Rose
Bowl) collegiate football game was played in Pasadena, Calif. This was the
first college football bowl game, and Michigan beat Stanford, 49-0.
Jan. 1, 1906 – Medal of Honor recipient Richmond Pearson
Hobson of Greensboro, the “Hero of the Merrimac,” was scheduled to deliver a
lecture at the Conecuh County Courthouse in Evergreen, Ala.
Jan. 1, 1908 – For the first time, a ball was dropped in New
York City's Times Square to signify the start of the New Year at midnight.
Jan. 1, 1911 – National Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman
Hank Greenberg was born in New York. He would go on to play for the Detroit
Tigers and the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in
1956.
Jan. 1, 1912 – The annual meeting of Camp Capt. William Lee,
No. 338, of the United Confederate Veterans was held and G.R. Boulware was
re-elected camp commander. Other officers elected included M.B. Salter,
sergeant major; Rev. J.D. Wright, chaplain; Dr. W.B. Shaver, surgeon. Delegates
to the next encampment were W.F. Tomlinson, J.T. Fincher and J.W. Cook.
Jan. 1, 1913 – The parcel post system was put into operation
at every post office in the U.S. Under this system, parcels weighing up to 11
pounds were transported by mail.
Jan. 1, 1915 – A meeting of Camp William Lee, No. 338, was
scheduled to be held. It was said to be the 24th Annual reunion of the United
Confederate Veterans of Camp Wm. Lee, No. 338.
Jan. 1, 1915 – Alabama Gov. Emmit O’Neal appointed Ben. D.
Turner, about 28 years old, of Washington County as the judge of the first
judicial circuit to succeed Judge John T. Lackland of Grove Hill, who died on
Dec. 25, 1914. Other candidates for the position included W.F. Herbert of
Demopolis and J.B. Barnett of Monroeville.
Jan. 1, 1915 - Alabama author John Henrik Clarke was born in
Union Springs, in Bullock County, Ala.
Jan. 1, 1915 – During World
War I, in the early-morning hours of New Year’s Day, 1915, the 15,000-ton
British HMS class battleship Formidable
was torpedoed by the German submarine U-24
and sank in the English Channel, killing 547 men.
Jan. 1, 1916 – The 26th Annual Reunion of the United
Confederate Veterans Camp, Capt. Wm. Lee, No. 338, was scheduled to be held at
the Conecuh County Courthouse in Evergreen, Ala. During the reunion, members
were to elect officers for the ensuing year and the collection of dues. All
veterans who were physically able were required to attend and participate in
the meeting.
Jan. 1, 1919 - J.D. Salinger, the author of “The Catcher in
the Rye,” was born Jerome David Salinger in New York City.
Jan. 1, 1925 – H.P. Lovecraft’s wife of just 10 months,
Sonia Haft Greene, went to Cleveland, Ohio to take a job there, and Lovecraft
moved into a single apartment near the seedy Brooklyn area called Red Hook. The
couple divorced in 1929.
Jan. 1, 1925 – Monroe Journal editor Q. Salter editorialized
that with this day’s issue of the newspaper, The Journal “enters upon its 59th
year of publication, 37 of which have been under the present management.
Assuming the duties and responsibilities of the position as a beardless youth
with little experience, the publisher has endeavored to steer a consistent
course, adhering steadfastly to those ideals which he believed to be for moral
and social welfare and for the material development of town and county. He has
doubtless made many mistakes and fallen into many errors of judgement during
these years, but an indulgent public has generously overlooked them and
accorded consistent patronage far beyond his merit, for which he is grateful.”
Jan. 1, 1925 – The Monroe Journal reported that Mr. Noble J.
Sproule of Stenen, Saskatchewan was visiting his sister, Dr. Ida A. Fraser.
Mrs. Sproule and children had been in Monroeville for several weeks, and when
Mr. Sproule left his home the temperature was 30 below zero.
Jan. 1, 1926 – Coach Wallace Wade’s University of Alabama
football team, the first southern team to be honored with an invitation to the
Rose Bowl, beat the University of Washington, 20-19, in Pasadena, Calif. This
was the first of six Rose Bowl appearances for Alabama and the first time a
southern football team was invited to play in a national bowl game. That year’s
Rose Bowl was also carried from coast to coast on network radio for the first
time.
Jan. 1, 1926 - The fire siren called Evergreen firemen to
the residence of Mr. A.A. Williams on Bruner Avenue on this New Year’s morning.
Within a short while after the fire was extinguished at his residence, fire was
discovered in the cotton office of Williams over the Binion Grocery & Feed
Co. on West Front Street. Williams was out of town at the time.
Jan. 1, 1927 – Pro Football Hall of Fame halfback, kicker
and punter Doak Walker was born in Dallas, Texas. He went on to play for SMU
and the Detroit Lions. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in
1986.
Jan. 1, 1932 – The United States Post Office Department
issued a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George
Washington's birth.
Jan. 1, 1933 - Miami defeated Manhattan, 7-0, in the first
ever Orange Bowl, which was then called the Festival of Palms Bowl.
Jan. 1-2, 1934 – The Purcell Stage Circus, featuring
monkeys, dogs, pony and clowns, which had played at the Grand Theatre in
Montgomery, was scheduled to play at the Evergreen Theatre on this Monday and
Tuesday in Evergreen, Ala.
Jan. 1, 1934
– Nazi Germany passed the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased
Offspring."
Jan. 1, 1935 – Tulane beat Temple, 20-14, in the first ever
Sugar Bowl. The game was played at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.
Jan. 1, 1935 - The El Paso All-Stars beat the Rangers
(Texas), 25-21, in the first ever Sun Bowl, which was played in the El Paso
High School stadium.
Jan. 1, 1935 – Cartoonist B. Kliban was born in Connecticut.
Jan. 1, 1936 – In Lovecraftian fiction, despite the high
quality of care given to the patients at Oakdeene Sanitarium, the Sanitarium is
best remembered for the scandal caused by the death of some inmates on this
night. This facility first appeared in 1977’s “The Horror at Oakdeene” by Brian
Lumley.
Jan. 1, 1936 - The "New York Herald Tribune" began
microfilming its current issues on this date.
Jan. 1, 1937 – TCU beat Marquette, 16-6, in the first ever
Cotton Bowl in Dallas Texas.
Jan. 1, 1939 – The new Commercial Hotel, which had been
under construction since mid-summer, was scheduled to open in Monroeville, Ala.
The 30-room hotel was owned by Mrs. W.B. Strong.
Jan. 1, 1939 - Alabama author James Seay was born in Panola
County, Miss.
Jan. 1, 1952 - As of this date, there were four Confederate
Pensioners living in Monroe County, all widows of former Confederate soldiers.
They were Mrs. Susan C. Easley of Beatrice, Mrs. B.A. Porter of Frisco City,
Mrs. B. Sawyer of Frisco City and Mrs. Sadie O. Sellers of Peterman. Their
names were published in the Jan. 17, 1952 edition of The Monroe Journal.
Jan. 1, 1953 - Legendary singer-songwriter Hank Williams
died at the age of twenty-nine near Oak Hill, West Virginia. Over 20,000 people
attended his funeral in Montgomery, Ala. Williams was inducted into the Country
Music Hall of Fame in 1961 and received the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Lifetime
Achievement award for Performing Achievement in 1985.
Jan. 1, 1953 – Alabama, under head coach Harold Drew, beat
Syracuse, 61-6, in the 1953 Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla. Offensive left guard
Jeff Moorer of Evergreen, Ala. played all of the last quarter on offense and he
is believed to be the first Evergreen athlete to play in a college football
bowl game. Other players on Alabama’s team included Bart Starr, Tommy Lewis of
Greenville and Hootie Ingram. Lewis scored two touchdowns in the game.
Jan. 1, 1954 - The Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl were shown
in color for the first time.
Jan. 1, 1954 – Rice beat Alabama, 28-6, in the 1954 Cotton
Bowl Classic at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. Rice won the game, but its
victory was overshadowed by Greenville, Ala. native Tommy Lewis and his
"12th man tackle" of Rice running back Dicky Moegle in the second
quarter.
Jan. 1, 1959 - Fidel Castro’s forces overthrew the
government of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, and seized power in Cuba during
the Cuban Revolution.
Jan. 1, 1959 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Cadet Tal
Stuart and Nell Stuart spent the weekend with Mr. and Mrs. Cliff Harper in
Montgomery and attended the Blue-Gray football game.
Jan. 1, 1959 – The Monroe Journal reported, under the
headline “Journal Is Moved To New Quarters,” that, effective Jan. 1, The Monroe
Journal would be located in new quarters in Monroeville. Both the office supply
division and the printing shop had been moved a block further down Mt. Pleasant
St., and were now housed in the building formerly occupied by the Sam Williams
Farm Supply, next to the City Hall. The new quarters had been completely
remodeled and when moving of all equipment was complete, The Journal would have
one of the most modern weekly printing plants in Alabama.
Jan. 1, 1959 – The Monroe Journal reported that Miss Nelle
Harper Lee of New York City was a guest of her father, A.C. Lee, and her
sister, Miss Alice Lee, in Monroeville.
Jan. 1, 1959 – The Monroe Journal reported that stores and
business houses in Monroeville were scheduled to be closed all day on Thurs.,
Jan. 1, as part of the annual New Year’s observance. Students in Monroe County
schools returned to classes Mon. Dec. 29, but were to have a half-day holiday
on New Year’s Day. Vacation period for Monroe Mills, which began Dec. 23, was
to continue until Mon., Jan. 5.
Jan. 1, 1960 – The first traffic fatality in Alabama of 1960
occurred early on this Friday morning on State Highway 41 near Range when
Ulysses Glenn, a 27-year-old convict was fatally wounded when he was thrown
from a truck hauling prisoners to work.
Jan. 1, 1961 - Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Mich. was renamed
Tigers Stadium.
Jan. 1, 1963 – Lee Roy Jordan of Excel was named the MVP of
the Orange Bowl, a game in which Bear Bryant’s 9-1 Alabama Crimson Tide beat
8-2 Oklahoma, 17-0, in Miami, Fla. With President John F. Kennedy and First
Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in attendance, Jordan recorded an Alabama bowl record
of 31 tackles in the victory. The game was broadcast nationally on ABC.
Jan. 1, 1966 – During the Vietnam War, advance elements of
the 1st Regiment of the Marine 1st Division arrived in Vietnam, and the entire
division followed by the end of March, establishing its headquarters at Chu Lai.
Jan. 1, 1967 - Sonny and Cher were banned from the
Tournament of Roses for supporting Sunset Strip rioters.
Jan 1, 1967 – During the Vietnam War, Operation Sam Houston
began as a continuation of border surveillance operations in Pleiku and Kontum
Provinces in the Central Highlands by units from the U.S. 4th and 25th Infantry
Divisions.
Jan. 1, 1967 – Pro Football Hall of Fame outside linebacker
and defensive end Derrick Thomas was born in Miami, Fla. He went on to play at
the University of Alabama and the Kansas City Chiefs. He was inducted into the
Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009.
Jan. 1-2, 1975 – The “Call of the Wild,” based on Jack
London’s famous story and starring Charlton Heston, was to be shown at the Pix
Theatre in Evergreen, Ala. on this Wednesday and Thursday. W.B. Epperson was
the theatre’s manager.
Jan. 1, 1976 – In connection with the “Amityville Horror”
incident, cloven hoofprints attributed to an enormous pig appeared in the snow
outside the house. The claim of cloven hoofprints in the snow on Jan. 1, 1976
was later rejected by other researchers, because a check on the weather records
showed that there had been no snow in Amityville on the day in question.
Jan. 1, 1976 - A radio version of author Ambrose Bierce's
story "One of the Missing" was broadcast as part of the series, “The CBS Radio Mystery
Theatre.”
Jan. 1, 1976 – The first baby born
in the Monroe County Hospital in 1976 was Albert Leon Rabon, the son of Mr. and
Mrs. Wilber Rabon of Castleberry. Born Jan. 1 at 3:42 a.m., Albert weighed nine
pounds, two ounces and was 21 inches long.
Jan. 1, 1978 – On this night, the Conecuh County (Ala.)
Rescue Squad located and rescued lost hunter Dennis Monk, who was reported
missing by his hunting companion about 6:15 p.m. in the Murder Creek Swamp
area. Monk was found around 10:30 p.m. and was brought out of the swamp around
1 a.m. on Jan. 2. Alabama State Troopers, Conecuh County Sheriff’s Deputies and
Evergreen police assisted in the search.
Jan. 1, 1978 – The Dickinson House, located on Dickinson
Avenue in Grove Hill, was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and
Heritage.
Jan. 1, 1992 - The ESPN Radio Network was officially
launched.
Jan. 1, 1994 - The North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) went into effect.
Jan. 1, 2001 - The second phase of Alabama’s mandatory
liability insurance requirements began as the Alabama Department of Revenue
started mailing insurance verification survey forms to vehicle owners.
Jan. 1, 2002 - A movie version of Alabama author Walker
Percy's book “The
Moviegoer” was released.
Jan. 1, 2006 – Monroeville, Ala.
was featured in National Geographic magazine in a story titled “To Catch a
Mockingbird” by Cathy Newman with photos by Michael Nichols.
Jan. 1, 2007 - Darrent Williams of
the Denver Broncos was killed in a drive-by shooting outside a nightclub in
Denver, Colo.
Jan. 1, 2009 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Sparta
Academy’s Cody Baggett and Nick Andrews had both been named to this year’s
Alabama Sports Writers Association high school football all-state team.
Baggett, a 6-foot-0, 180-pound senior, was named as an AISA honorable mention
wide receiver. Andrews, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound junior, was named as an AISA honorable
mention place-kicker.
Jan. 1, 2009 – The Monroe Journal reported that J.F. Shields
Principal Marion McIntosh recognized varsity boys basketball coach Jerome
Sanders and varsity girls basketball coach Herbert Blackmon at the first home
basketball game of the 2008-2009 season. Blackmon was recognized for being
named The Monroe Journal’s 2007-2008 Coach of the Year and Sanders was
recognized for being named the 2007-2008 Southeast Region Coach of the Year.
Jan. 1, 2011 - The new Oak Island
Treasure Act came into effect and allowed for treasure hunting to continue on
the island under the terms of a license issued by the Minister of Natural
Resources.
Jan. 1, 2016 – A UFO was reported seen around 7:15 p.m. on
this Friday in Pinson, about 15 miles northeast of Birmingham, Ala. The witness
in this case, along with his wife, mother and daughter, reported seeing three,
unusual lights in the shape of an inverted triangle in the southern sky. The
witness said these lights were larger and brighter than the visible stars, and
the strange lights were orange or yellowish-orange in color. The witnesses
watched as the lights moved “very slowly” to the east and appeared to rotate
slightly. In all, the witnesses watched these strange lights for three to four
minutes before the lights disappeared behind clouds to the southwest.
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