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Feb. 22, 1512 – Italian cartographer and explorer Amerigo
Vespucci died at the age of 57 in Seville, Crown of
Castile, in present-day Spain.
Feb. 22, 1627 – Dutch explorer Olivier van Noort died at the
age of 68 or 69.
Feb. 22, 1630 - A Native American named Quadequina brought popcorn to the first Thanksgiving celebration, introducing the English colonists to the popping kernels that had been grown for more than 1,000 years on the North American continent.
Feb. 22, 1732 - George Washington was born at Pope's Creek Plantation in Westmoreland, Colony of Virginia. He was the second son from the second marriage of a colonial plantation owner. An initially loyal British subject, Washington led the Continental Army in the American Revolution and became known as the father of the United States.
Feb. 22, 1777 – Revolutionary War leader and Georgia’s first
Provisional Governor Archibald Bulloch died under mysterious circumstances just
hours after Georgia's Council of Safety granted him the powers of a dictator in
expectation of a British invasion.
Feb. 22, 1788 – German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer was
born in Danzig, now Gdansk, in Poland.
Feb. 22, 1791 - The Cherokees signed the “Treaty of Holston,” establishing terms of relations between the tribe and the United States. The treaty made the United States responsible for managing foreign affairs for the Cherokee.
Feb. 22, 1819 - Spanish minister Do Luis de Onis and U.S.
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams signed the Florida Purchase Treaty, in
which Spain agreed to cede the remainder of its old province of Florida to the
United States. Formal U.S. occupation began in 1821, and General Andrew
Jackson, the hero of the War of 1812, was appointed military governor. Florida
was organized as a U.S. territory in 1822 and was admitted into the Union as a
slave state in 1845.
Feb. 22, 1830 - Senator Hugh White of the Committee on Indian Affairs reported on this day “a Bill to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the States or Territories, and for their removal West of the river Mississippi.”
Feb. 22, 1836 - General Gaines and his meṇ arrived at Fort King without meeting with any incident. He then splits his men into three separate forces and marched to Withlacoochee.
Feb. 22, 1836 – The advance of Santa Anna’s Army reached the
heights of the Alazan, overlooking the city of San Antonio.
Feb. 22, 1840 - Commanding Officer Lt. Whedan found himself alone after a skirmish takes place near Magnolia. His men ran off when they were ambushed by Seminoles.
Feb. 22, 1847 – During the Mexican–American War, the Battle
of Buena Vista took place at the Angostura Pass in Mexico, and 5,000 American
troops defeated 15,000 Mexicans.
Feb. 22, 1855 - The U.S. Congress voted to appropriate
$200,000 for continuance of the work on the Washington Monument. The next
morning the resolution was tabled, and it would be 21 years before the Congress
would vote on funds again. Work was continued by the Know-Nothing Party in
charge of the project.
Feb. 22, 1859 - U.S. President James Buchanan approved the
Act of February 22, 1859, which incorporated the Washington National Monument
Society "for the purpose of completing the erection now in progress of a
great National Monument to the memory of Washington at the seat of the Federal
Government."
Feb. 22, 1860 - Organized baseball’s first game was played
in San Francisco, Calif.
Feb. 22, 1861 - President-Elect
Abraham Lincoln delivered speeches at Harrisburg, Pa. Due to death threats,
Lincoln left for Washington City, incognito, under the protection of the well-known
detective, Allen Pinkerton. Lincoln arrived unceremoniously in Washington the
next morning.
Feb. 22, 1862 – Jefferson Davis was officially inaugurated
for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in
Richmond, Va. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on
February 18, 1861.
Feb. 22, 1862 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Independence and Post Oak in Missouri; at
Kearnstown, Va. and at Arkansas Bay, Texas. A Federal expedition was conducted
to Vienna and Flint Hill in Virginia.
Feb. 22, 1863 – During the Civil War, Federal cavalry
attacked Tuscumbia, Ala.
Feb. 22, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought on the Manchester Pike, Tenn. and at Coombs Ferry,
Kentucky.
Feb. 22, 1864 – After getting captured by the Union at
Campbell’s Station, Noah Dallas Peacock (Lewis Lavon Peacock’s older brother)
was admitted to Asylum General Hospital in Nashville and was transferred to
Louisville Military Prison six days later.
Feb. 22, 1864 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Luna Landing, Ark.; at Dalton and Whitemarsh
Island in Georgia; at near Okolona, Miss. (At Ivey’s Farm); on the Tallahatchie
River in Mississippi; at Lexington and Warrensburg in Missouri; along
Calfkiller Creek and Powell’s Bridge in Tennessee; in the vicinity of
Indianola, Texas; at Gibsons’s and Wyerman’s Mills, both on Indian Creek, in Virginia.
Confederates also raided Mayfield, Ky.
Feb. 22, 1864 – The 2nd Alabama Cavalry regiment
suffered 70 men killed and wounded at the Battle of Okolona, Miss. Dr. John
Augustus Baldwin of Butler County, Ala. was assistant surgeon in the regiment.
Feb. 22, 1864 – At the Battle of West Point, Miss.,
Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest routed a Union force three times the
size of his army, helping to end Union General William T. Sherman's
expedition into Alabama. Union General William Sooy Smith retreated back to
Memphis due to another Confederate force blocking his way to Meridian. This
battle forced Union General Sherman to return to Vicksburg. The Confederates
suffered 144 men killed, wounded, or missing, while the Union lost 324.
Feb. 22, 1865 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred at
Tuscumbia, Ala.
Feb. 22, 1865 – During the Civil War, a three-day Federal
operation between Pine Bluff and Meto in Alabama began.
Feb. 22, 1865 – During the Civil War, a four-day Federal
operation from Barrancas to Milton in Florida began
Feb. 22, 1865 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought
at Northeast Ferry and Smith’s Creek in North Carolina and at Camden and along
the Wateree River, S.C.
Feb. 22, 1865 – During the Civil War, the last major port of
the Confederate States of America was effectively lost as Wilmington, N.C. was
evacuated by Confederate forces. Every available railroad car and engine was
pressed into service as the Confederates removed every scrap of military
material that could be hauled. Finally, burning the stores that could not be
removed, Gen. Braxton Bragg and his soldiers abandoned the town. As fast as
they were leaving, Federal forces under Brig. Gen. Terry began occupying the
city.
Feb. 22, 1869 – The Escambia County (Ala.) Commission held
its first ever meeting at Pollard, the county seat at that time.
Feb. 22, 1874 – National Baseball Hall of Fame umpire Bill
Klem was born in Rochester, N.Y. Known as the “Father of Baseball Umpires,” he
was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1953.
Feb. 22, 1875 – Sir Charles Lyell, the “Father of Modern
Geology,” died in London, England. A close friend of Charles Darwin, Lyell
visited Claiborne, Ala. in 1846 to study the Eocene fossil beds there.
Feb. 22, 1878 – Frank Woolworth opened the first of his
“five cent” stores, “Woolworth’s Great Five Cent Store,” in Utica, N.Y.
Feb. 22, 1885 - The Washington Monument was officially
dedicated in Washington, D.C. It opened to the public in 1889.
Feb. 22, 1889 – United States President Grover Cleveland
signed a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as
U.S. states.
Feb. 22, 1892 – Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent
Millay was born in Rockland, Maine.
Feb. 22, 1893 - The first Alabama-Auburn football game was
played in Birmingham, Alabama's Lakeview Park before a crowd of 5,000
spectators. Auburn won this first game, 32-22. The rivalry continued until 1907
when the games were stopped, with the renewal of the series not coming until
1948.
Feb. 22, 1896 - U.S. Marshall E.R. Morrisette was
circulating among his Monroeville, Ala. friends on this Saturday, according to
The Monroe Journal.
Feb. 22, 1904 - J.A. Amerson of Gregville was in Evergreen
on this Monday “circulating among the people in the interest of his candidacy
for commissioner.” Amerson tipped the scales at 307 pounds and, if elected,
will no doubt be one of the biggest commissioners in the state, according to
The Evergreen Courant.
Feb. 22, 1904 - Dr. D.D. Cole and Mr. S.E. Northrop of Mount
Pleasant were in Monroeville on this Monday and favored The Monroe Journal with
a call.
Feb. 22, 1906 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from
the Jones Mill community, that Middleton Bros. had closed their old saw mill
which was located one mile south of Jones Mill and were in the process of
constructing a new one at Lufkin.
Feb. 22, 1906 – The Monroe Journal reported that Sniders
Crossing expected to soon have the first telegraph operator between Manistee
and the Junction.
Feb. 22, 1906 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from
the Buena Vista community, that the store belonging to Wash Watson and sons had
burned and was a total loss. The fire was allegedly started by two arsonists,
including a black man who had been “whipped” by the “Watson boys” for a
misdemeanor several months before. The guilty parties were arrested, but one of
them, a young white man, escaped while being transported to the jail in Camden.
Feb. 22, 1906 – The Monroe Journal reported that the store
of Julius Farish in Beatrice, Ala. had been burglarized during the previous
week.
Feb. 22, 1906 - Mrs. J.A. Murphey of the Mt. Union had the
misfortune to lose her smoke house and all her meat to a fire on this Thursday.
Feb. 22, 1906 – Reddin Wade married Johnnie Peacock at her
parents’ home near Pine Apple on this Thursday afternoon. Justice G.W. Pugh
officiated, and a host of relatives and friends were present to “wish them
happiness,” according to The Monroe Journal.
Feb. 22, 1909 – W. Hicks was jailed for the nighttime murder
of John Askew of Andalusia, Ala. near Travis Bridge in eastern Conecuh County,
Ala.
Feb. 22, 1912 – Around 3 a.m., Evergreen, Ala. was struck by
an “embryo cyclone” that did considerable damage. E.C. Lee was picked up by the
wind and thrown into an outbuilding, breaking one of his arms. Large trees in
Evergreen were uprooted and fences were blown away. The Agricultural School was
also badly damaged.
Feb. 22, 1915 – During World War I, the Imperial German Navy
instituted unrestricted submarine warfare.
Feb. 22, 1916 – Both of Evergreen, Alabama’s banks, as well
as the post office, were closed on this Tuesday in observance of George
Washington’s birthday.
Feb. 22, 1917 – The Monroe Journal reported, under the
headline “Mr. Blacksher Resigns,” that somewhat to the surprise and greatly to
the regret of his many friends, J.U. Blacksher had tendered to the governor his
resignation as a member of the Monroe County Board of Revenue. Increasing
demands on his time and energies by extensive private interests, however,
necessitated the step. J.W. Jones of Roy was promptly named by the governor to
fill the vacancy.
Feb. 22, 1917 – The Monroe Journal reported that Dr. T.E.
Dennis’ “handsome” new dwelling on North Main Street had received the finishing
touches from the hands of the painters and was practically ready for occupancy.
This home, with its “beautifully shaded lawn and its elegant appointments,” was
one of the “show places” of the city.
Feb. 22, 1917 – The Monroe Journal reported that the Monvil
Park residence section was beginning to “attract the attention its advantageous
situation merited. Located on the new State Highway and near both high school
and city school, building lots were coming into demand.”
Feb. 22, 1917 – The Monroe Journal reported that Miss Jennie
Faulk was back from market and was arranging for a magnificent display of
seasonable millinery and ladies goods.
Feb. 22, 1917 - Sergeant Benito
Mussolini was wounded by the accidental explosion of a mortar bomb on the
Isonzo section of the Italian Front in World War I.
Feb. 22, 1918 - Swept along by hysterical fears of treacherous German spies and domestic labor violence, the Montana legislature passed a Sedition Law that severely restricted freedom of speech and assembly. Three months later, Congress adopted a federal Sedition Act modeled on the Montana law.
Feb. 22, 1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge became the
first President to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
Feb. 22, 1925 – Poet Gerald Stern was born in Pittsburgh,
Pa.
Feb. 22, 1928 – “Rope,”
a dramatic version of Alabama author T. S. Stribling's book “Teeftallow,” opened on Broadway.
Feb. 22, 1929 - Erastus Talbert died quite suddenly on this
Friday afternoon, aged 65 years. Talbert was engaged in the installation of a
pumping outfit at the Williamson Amusement Park when he suffered an attack of
heart failure and died before a physician could reach him. He had lived in
Monroeville for some 25 years, engaged in his occupation as a mechanic and
plumber.
Feb. 22, 1932 - The U.S. War Department announced the
creation of the "Order of the Purple Heart." The announcement was made
on George Washington's 200th birthday. On August 7, 1782, George Washington had
created the "Purple Heart" with the "Badge of Military
Merit."
Feb. 22, 1934 – National Baseball Hall of Fame second
baseman and manager Sparky Anderson was born in Bridgewater, S.D. He went on to
play for the Philadelphia Phillies and managed the Cincinnati Reds and the
Detroit Tigers. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.
Feb. 22, 1936 - T.L. Brantley’s car was hit in Repton by
Passenger Train No. 4 on this Saturday afternoon. Brantley was the only
occupant of the car and received some severe cuts and bruises and several
broken ribs. He was given first aid treatment at Dr. Carter’s office after
which he was carried to Carter’s Hospital. The car was completely demolished.
Feb. 22, 1937 – Bolling “Bo” Herbert, the Route One,
Evergreen mail carrier, lost control of his automobile and crashed into the
home of Maury Thames on Cary Street in Evergreen, Ala. He suffered minor
injuries, mostly bruises, and was “severely shaken up.”
Feb. 22, 1939 – Former Confederate soldier Hugh Ellis
Courtney died in Montgomery, Ala. and was buried in Pine Crest Cemetery in
Mobile, Ala. He was born on Feb. 13, 1842 in Mississippi and enlisted at
Pineville in Monroe County, Ala. on March 15, 1861. He re-enlisted on May 13,
1861 and was listed as sick at Hugunot Springs on July 15, 1861. He was wounded
at Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863 and was as admitted to the 2nd Div. Ala.
General Hospital at Richmond, Va. on June 6, 1863. He was listed as a POW at
the Wilderness on May 5, 1864 before being forwarded to Point Lookout, Md. on
May 18, 1864 and to Elmira Prison, N.Y. on Aug. 15, 1864. He took the Oath of
Allegiance on April 30, 1865 and stated that he desired to “return to Bell Landing,
where his relatives reside.” He was paroled on June 14, 1865. He was almost 5-8
with a fair complexion, auburn hair and blue eyes.
Feb. 22, 1943 – Construction of the USS Eldridge began at
the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. in Newark, N.J.
Feb. 22, 1943 – During World War II, members of the White
Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst were executed
in Nazi Germany.
Feb. 22, 1944 - Jack C. Montgomery was a Cherokee from Oklahoma, and a first lieutenant with the 45th Infantry Division Thunderbirds. On this day, near Padiglione, Italy, Montgomery's rifle platoon came under fire by three echelons of enemy forces. He single-handedly attacked all three positions, taking prisoners in the process. As a result of his courage, Montgomery's actions demoralized the enemy and inspired his men to defeat the Axis troops. He would be awarded the Medal of Honor.
Feb. 22, 1945 – The Monroe Journal reported that news had
been received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. L.A. Hayles of Uriah, that their
son, Sgt. Floyd Hayles, was a prisoner of war in Germany. Sgt. Hayles entered
the service in February 1943 and went overseas July 3 of that year. He took
part in some major engagements, was wounded on June 14, 1944 in France and was
reported missing in action Sept. 18, 1944.
Feb. 22, 1945 – The Monroe Journal reported that Mr. and
Mrs. J.D. Forte of Beatrice had received word that their son, John D. Forte,
had been awarded the Combat Infantry Badge and Battle Star. He was serving with
the Army in the Pacific.
Feb. 22, 1945 – The Monroe Journal reported that Lt. William
H. Walding of Monroeville, navigator of a B-17 Flying Fortress of the 95th
Bombardment Group in England, had been awarded the 3rd Oak Leaf
Cluster to the Air Medal for meritorious achievement in bombing attacks on
vital German targets. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Walding. His wife,
Betty Walding, lived in Indianapolis, Ind.
Feb. 22, 1947 - Alabama author Richard North Patterson was
born in Berkeley, Calif.
Feb. 22, 1950 - Thomas Mason Mills, age 74, widely known and
highly respected citizen of Evergreen, Ala., died in his sleep at the home of
his son, Carl H. Mills, in Pensacola on this Wednesday. Mills was born in
Wilcox County at Pineapple on March 6, 1875. He spent his early life in that
community and in Butler County. He moved to Evergreen about 35 years before his
death and made his home there until about one month before his death when he
moved to live with his son in Pensacola because of his failing health. He was
for many years connected with the L.L. Moorer Store, large mercantile
establishment in Evergreen in former years.
Feb. 22, 1951 – The Evergreen Courant reported that
chances were good that the construction of the proposed Conecuh County hospital
under the Hill-Burton Act would get underway that year or early in 1952. This
statement was made that week by Clay H. Dean, Director of the hospital planning
division of the State Department of Public Health in a letter to the Conecuh
County Hospital Association.
Feb. 22, 1957 – Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam survived a
communist shooting assassination attempt in Buôn Ma Thuột.
Feb. 22, 1960 – The top three winners in the senior division
of the annual Beta Club Beauty Revue at Excel High School on this Monday night
were Maxine Wiggins, second place; Sandra Roberson, first place; and Shelby
Kilpatrick, third place.
Feb. 22, 1960 - Extensive construction plans for the two
Monroeville schools had been submitted to the State Department of Education and
initial work was awaiting approval of the State Building Commission. This
information highlighted a report of a survey of schools in Monroeville and
throughout Monroe County as presented by Dr. John Abbott of Monroeville to the
local Parent-Teacher Association at a meeting on this Monday night. He said the
plans called for construction of a cafeteria and four new classrooms at Monroe
County High School and three classrooms and an auditorium at Monroeville
Elementary School.
Feb. 22-25, 1961 – The Class A, District I Basketball
Tournament was held at T.R. Miller High School in Brewton, Ala. Sixteen teams
participated in the tourney, including Castleberry, Chatom, Coffeeville, Excel,
Fairhope, Lyeffion, Miller, Monroeville, Repton and Silas.
Feb. 22, 1962 – “A Gift
of Time,” a dramatic version of Alabama author Lael Tucker
Wertenbaker's book “Death of a Man,”
opened on Broadway.
Feb. 22, 1965 - General William Westmoreland, commander of
Military Assistance Command Vietnam, cabled Washington, D.C., to request that two
battalions of U.S. Marines be sent to protect the U.S. airbase at Da Nang.
Feb. 22, 1966 – Conecuh County High School, led by head
coach Wayne Pope, beat Beatrice, 89-53, on this Tuesday night in the opening
round of the Area Class A Basketball Tournament in the Monroe County Coliseum
in Monroeville, Ala. Ronald Reeves led CCHS with 20 points; Rodney Wilson
scored 14; and Donald Janes scored 13. Brown led Beatrice with 23, and Booker
scored 11. Also that night, Fruitdale beat Lyeffion, 43-40. Booker led Lyeffion
with 18 points, and Wilson scored 12. Joe Mason was Lyeffion’s head coach.
Feb. 22, 1967 – The Conecuh County Training School played
the Mobile County Training School in Bay Minette, Ala. with the winner to
advance to the state basketball tournament.
Feb. 22, 1967 - Operation Junction
City was launched to ease pressure on Saigon.
Feb. 22, 1968 - The American war
effort in Vietnam was hit hard by the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive, which
ended on this day in 1968.
Feb. 22, 1973 – Evergreen High School’s boys basketball
team, led by head coach Charles Branum, beat Monroeville, 60-44, in the 3A
Region 1, Area 2 tournament.
Feb. 22, 1975 – Evergreen, Alabama’s new “Avenue of Flags”
was to be seen for the first time on this Saturday, when the flags were to fly
to honor the birthday of the nation’s first president, George Washington. The
project was led by the Pilot Club which set a goal of 50 flags to fly in the
park area between West Front Street and the L&N Railroad in downtown
Evergreen. Actually, a total of 72 flags, costing $25 each, were donated.
Feb. 22, 1979 – The Evergreen Courant reported that
Marine Cpl. James D. Morrow, son of Lois H. Browder of Rt. 2, Box 260,
McKenzie, Ala., had recently departed for deployment in the Mediterranean Sea.
He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, Eighth Marines, based at
Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, N.C. His unit was embarked aboard the
amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, operating as a unit of the U.S. Sixth
Fleet.
Feb. 22, 1979 – The Evergreen Courant reported that
Palmer Smith was serving as hospital pharmacist and purchasing agent for
Evergreen Hospital, Inc. Smith graduated from Evergreen High School in 1958
where he was a popular student and athlete. A registered pharmacist, he
graduated from Samford University, Birmingham, in 1963. He worked at the
Conecuh Drug Co. in Evergreen and then owned pharmacies in Montgomery for
several years. Prior to accepting his recent position, he worked as a
pharmacist with a Monroeville drug store. Smith and his wife, Jane, and their
son, Eben, 10, lived in the Fairview community and were members of the
Evergreen Baptist Church. He was the son of Mrs. V.P. Smith and the late Mr.
Smith of Route E, Evergreen.
Feb. 22, 1979 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Cynthia
Rudolph had won first place in the Birmingham Post-Herald Spelling Bee at
Marshall Middle School and would compete in the County Spelling Bee in March.
Feb. 22, 1979 – The Monroe Journal published a photo of a
smiling Randall Watson of Monroeville holding a magnetic key case that was said
to resemble one used to frame California sportswriter Bob Padecky on a drug
charge at Gulf Shores. Watson said the case he held in the photo was the same
one he asked a waitress to buy the same day the Padecky incident occurred.
Watson, who was with Padecky and professional football player Kenny Stabler
shortly before Padecky was arrested, had been prominent in recent state and
national news about the incident. Watson said he needed the case because he had
locked his keys in his car twice the night before and several other times.
Watson said investigators had contacted him during the previous week on their
first trip, and had said they had known exactly where he was. A spokesman for
Attorney General Charles Graddick said during the previous week that Watson was
not under investigation in the incident, but was wanted only for questioning.
Feb. 22, 1979 – The Monroe Journal reported that J. Lindsey
Finklea of Beatrice had retired the previous month from the Board of Directors
of Peoples Exchange Bank after serving on it for 44 years. Finklea was elected
a director of the bank Jan. 10, 1935 and was named vice president the following
May. He was to serve as chairman of the board emeritus after his retirement.
Feb. 22, 1987 – Vickie Lynn Pittman of East Brewton, Ala.
was murdered. Her body was discovered near Brooklyn, Ala. in March 1987 and she
was buried in the Elim Cemetery in Escambia County.
Feb. 22, 1995 - The NFL and CBS Radio agreed to a new
four-year contract for an annual 53-game package of games.
Feb. 22, 2004 - Dr. James Lamar Jackson, a minister who
worked with the Alabama Baptist State Convention, passed away on this Sunday at
his home in Evergreen. He was 86.
Feb. 22, 2006 – Iraqi journalist Atwar Bahjat was murdered
at the age of 29 in Samarra.
Feb. 22, 2010 - A copy of "Action Comics #1,"
which featured the first appearance of Superman, sold at auction for $1
million.
Feb. 22, 2010 - Ali Congdon of Bermuda fielded the Reserve
Grand Champion during the 65th Annual Conecuh County Steer &
Heifer Show on this Monday at Breaking Ridge Farms in Evergreen, Ala. The steer
tipped the scales at 1,110 pounds and sold for $1.50 per pound.
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