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| Early postal routes historical marker in Wilcox County, Ala. |
March 4, 1493 – Explorer Christopher Columbus arrived back
in Lisbon, Portugal aboard his ship, Niña, from his voyage to what is now the
Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.
March 4, 1519 – Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico in search of
the Aztec civilization and its wealth.
March 4, 1766 - The British Parliament repealed the Stamp
Act, which had caused bitter and violent opposition in the American colonies.
March 4, 1776 – During the American Revolutionary War, the
Continental Army, under Brigadier General John Thomas, fortified Dorchester
Heights south of Boston with 2,000 troops, cannon and artillery, leading the
British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.
March 4, 1778 - The Continental Congress voted to ratify the
Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance. The two treaties were
the first entered into by the U.S. government.
March 4, 1778 - New Hampshire became the seventh state to
ratify the Articles of Confederation.
March 4, 1789 – The modern United States was established
when the U.S. Constitution formally replaced the Articles of Confederation. In
New York City, the first Congress of the United States met, putting the United
States Constitution into effect. The United States Bill of Rights was written
and proposed to Congress.
March 4, 1791 - Vermont was admitted as the 14th U.S. state.
It was the first addition to the original 13 American colonies.
March 4, 1794 - The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
was passed by the U.S. Congress, limiting the jurisdiction of the federal
courts to automatically hear cases brought against a state by the citizens of
another state. Later interpretations expanded this to include citizens of the
state being sued, as well.
March 4, 1797 – John Adams was inaugurated as the second
president of the United States, succeeding George Washington in the first
peaceful transfer of power between elected officials in modern times.
March 4, 1811 - Alabama author Hardin E. Taliaferro was born
on a farm in Surry County, N.C.
March 4, 1826 - The first railroad in the U.S. was
chartered, the Granite Railway in Quincy, Mass.
March 4, 1833 – John Murphy of Monroe County, Ala. began his
term as U.S. Representative for Alabama’s 5th Congressional District.
March 4, 1836 - Santa Anna ordered his artillery batteries
moved closer to the Alamo, and the prolonged artillery attack continued.
March 4, 1839 – James Dellet, a Whig from Claiborne, Ala.,
began his first term as U.S. Representative from Alabama’s 1st Congressional
District. His term ended on March 3, 1841.
March 4, 1842 – A tornado struck Newtown, near Tuscaloosa,
Ala., destroying a courthouse, a hotel, many homes and killing a young girl.
March 4, 1843 – James Dellet, a Whig from Claiborne, Ala.,
began his second term as U.S. Representative from Alabama’s 1st Congressional
District. His term ended on March 4, 1845.
March 4, 1851 – English explorer James Richardson died at
the age of 41 in Ngurutua near Kukawa, Bornu.
March 4, 1857 – James Adams Stallworth of Evergreen, Ala.
began serving in the U.S. Congress. He would withdraw with the rest of the
Alabama delegation in January 1861 when Alabama seceded from the Union at the
start of the Civil War.
March 4, 1861 - Inauguration ceremonies for 16th U.S.
President Abraham Lincoln were held in Washington.
March 4, 1861 - The first Confederate flag was raised over
the Alabama capitol at 3:30 p.m. by Letita Tyler, granddaughter of former U.S.
president John Tyler. The flag, which flew on a flagpole by the capitol clock,
was not the Confederate battle flag, but the "First National
Pattern," also known as the stars and bars.
March 4, 1862 – During the Civil
War, Union forces occupied Amelia Island, Fla., and an eight-day Federal
operation in Laclede, Wright and Douglas counties in Missouri began. Sante Fe,
in the New Mexico Territory, was abandoned by Federal forces. Confederate Major
General John Clifford Pemberton took the place of General Robert E. Lee as
commander of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and East Florida.
March 4, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought near Franklin, Rover and Unionville in Tennessee
and in the vicinity of Dumfries, Va. A 10-day Federal expedition from
Murfreesborough toward Columbia, in Tennessee began.
March 4, 1864 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Rodney, Miss.; near Murfreesborough, Tenn.; and
at Portsmouth, Va. Major General William T. Sherman’s Federal troops arrived
back at Vicksburg, Miss. from the Meridian, Miss. Campaign.
March 4, 1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln began his
second term as the 16th President of the United States. Within six weeks, the
war was over and Lincoln had been assassinated.
March 4, 1865 – The third and final national flag of the
Confederate States of America was adopted by the Confederate Congress.
March 4, 1865 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought in the vicinity of Pine Bluff, Ark. and at
Phillip’s Crossroads, N.C. The Federal vessel, Thorn, was sunk by a torpedo in
the Cape Fear River in the vicinity of Fort Anderson, N.C. A three-day Federal
expedition from near Cheraw to Florence in South Carolina began.
March 4, 1868 – Frontier trader Jesse Chisholm, who blazed one of the West’s most famous trails, the Chisholm Trail, died in Oklahoma of food poisoning.
March 4, 1877 – Greenville, Ala. attorney and former
Confederate officer Hilary A. Herbert began serving the first of his eight
terms as U.S. Representative from Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. He
would serve in this position until March 3, 1893, four days before he began
serving as the 33rd Secretary of the Navy.
March 4, 1880 - Halftone engraving was used for the first
time when the "Daily Graphic" was published in New York City.
March 4, 1881 – Pulitzer Prize-winning author T. S.
Stribling was born in Clifton, Tenn.
March 4, 1886 – Former Confederate soldier W.G. Riley died
and was buried at Buena Vista Cemetery in Buena Vista, Ala. Born on July 2,
1820, he was listed as sick at Union Mills, Va. on Aug. 23, 1861 and was
discharged on a surgeon’s certificate at Sangster Crossroads near Richmond on
Sept. 17, 1861. He enlisted with Co. G, 7th Alabama Cavalry at Claiborne, Ala.
on Aug. 8, 1863.
March 4, 1886 - Miss Hattie Stacy, the 29-year-old daughter
of W.H. and Gennett Stacy, died at the home of her father. “After a protracted
illness of more than three weeks, she quietly breathed her last,” according to
The Monroe Journal. “She was a member of the Baptist Church at Midway, Monroe
County, Ala., a devoted and obedient daughter and a Christian.”
March 4, 1888 – Notre Dame football coaching legend Knute Rockne
was born in Voss, Norway.
March 4, 1891 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Dazzy
Vance was born in Orient, Iowa. He went on to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates,
the New York Yankees, the Brooklyn Robins/Dodgers, the St. Louis Cardinals and
the Cincinnati Reds. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1955.
March 4, 1897 – National Baseball Hall of Fame left fielder
Lefty O’doul was born in San Francisco, Calif. He went on to play for the New
York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, the New York Giants, the Philadelphia
Phillies and the Brooklyn Robins/Dodgers. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame
in 2002.
March 4, 1901 – According to the Alabama League of
Municipalities, the Town of Red Level was officially incorporated as a municipality.
March 4, 1901 - A dramatic version of Alabama author Mary
Johnston's book “To
Have and To Hold” opened on Broadway.
March 4, 1906 – The Rev. Hasty, pastor of the Methodist
Church at Shibboleth, preached on this first Sunday of the month rather than on
the second Sunday, his regular day, on account of the quarterly conference
which was held at Repton on the Sunday before the first Sunday.
March 4, 1907 – Richmond Pearson Hobson of Greensboro, Ala.
began his first term as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Alabama. He would
serve until March 3, 1915 and during that time, he proposed more than 20
constitutional amendments to ban alcohol. He was denied the Democratic
nomination in 1916 to the 65th Congress.
March 4, 1913 - The New York Yankees traveled to Bermuda for
spring practice. They were the first team to leave the U.S. to train.
March 4, 1913 - With trouble brewing between the great nations of Europe, Thomas Woodrow Wilson took office as the 28th president of the United States in Washington, D.C.
March 4, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that the “local
military company has been mustered out of service, having failed to measure up
to the requirements of the military department on recent inspection.”
March 4, 1916 – Confederate veteran W.S. Crosby, one of
Conecuh County, Alabama’s oldest citizens, died on this Saturday morning after
an illness of several weeks. He was about 75 years old and funeral services
were held on the morning of Sun., March 5.
March 4, 1918 – A 500-foot-long U.S. Navy supply ship, the
USS Cyclops, sailed from Barbados to Norfolk with 309 aboard. The ship vanished
in good weather without sending any radio messages, and no wreckage was ever
found, presumably lost with all hands in the Bermuda Triangle.
March 4, 1918 - The flu pandemic (often referred to as the
Spanish flu) was first observed at Fort Riley, Kansas, when a soldier fell ill.
The pandemic, which lasted nearly a year, is estimated to have killed somewhere
between 30 to 50 million people worldwide.
March 4, 1921 - Warren G. Harding took office as the 29th
President of the United States. He was the great-grandson of Conecuh County,
Alabama’s Henchie Warren, who is said to have hidden a chest of gold in Shipps
Pond.
March 4, 1925 - Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office in
Washington, D.C. as the presidential inauguration was broadcast on radio for
the first time.
March 4, 1925 – National Baseball Hall of Fame infielder and
pitcher John Montgomery Ward died at the age of 65 in Augusta, Ga. During his
career, he played for the Providence Grays, the New York Gothams/Giants, the
Brooklyn Ward’s Wonders and the New York Giants, and he also managed the Grays,
the Gothams/Giants, the Wonders and the Grooms. He was inducted into the Hall
of Fame in 1964.
March 4, 1933 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt gave his
inauguration speech in which he said "We have nothing to fear, but fear
itself." By the time of his inauguration, the country had been mired in
the Great Depression for more than three years. Roosevelt won in a landslide
over Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover.
March 4, 1933 – Frances Perkins took her post as the U.S.
Secretary of Labor and became the first woman to serve on an American
president’s cabinet.
March 4, 1935 - A movie version of Alabama author Octavus
Roy Cohen's book “The
Transient Lady” was released.
March 4, 1936 – According to The Evergreen Courant, news
dispatches from Montgomery on this Wednesday stated that Representative Forrest
Castleberry’s proposed law to restrict the hunting of wild hogs to the month of
December was “buried under a flood of ‘no’ votes.” Many in Conecuh County did
not know there were any wild hogs in the county and furthermore, had no idea in
the event there were some, that anybody would object to them being hunted any
time and captured. However, Castleberry stated that he was very urgently
requested to secure the passage of the bill by some good citizens, who told him
that those who posed as hunters of wild hogs sometimes got mixed up and caught
tame ones. Members of the house did not feel that it was necessary to enact
Castleberry’s bill, so an unrestricted season on wild hogs still existed.
March 4, 1937
– Russian physician and explorer Yuri Senkevich was born in Choibalsan,
Mongolia.
March 4, 1945 – Finland declared war on Nazi Germany.
March 4, 1952 - U.S. President Harry Truman dedicated the
"Courier," the first seagoing radio broadcasting station.
March 4, 1952 - Ernest Hemingway completed his short novel
“The Old Man and the Sea.” He wrote his publisher the same day, saying he had
finished the book and that it was the best writing he had ever done. The
critics agreed: The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and became one of his
bestselling works.
March 4, 1954 - A television version of Octavus Roy Cohen's
book “Detective's
Holiday” was broadcast as part of the “Four Stars Playhouse” series.
March 4, 1958 – A Marine flight instructor and a Naval
flight student were killed instantly in a T-28 trainer crash around 1:15 p.m.
near the west boundary of Middleton Field, near the home of Len Mitchell, about
five miles from Evergreen, Ala. The instructor was 1st Lt. David Bruce
Mahorney, 25, of Hartford City, Indiana, and the student pilot was listed as
Ensign Richard E. Cossitt of Atlanta. According to bystanders, the plane had
just left the runway, flying north, when apparently motor trouble caused it to
plunge to the ground.
March 4, 1958 – John Reid took the oath of office and began
serving on the Evergreen, Ala. City Council. He was appointed to fill a vacancy
created by the resignation of veteran councilman, O.B. Tuggle.
March 4, 1958 – Evergreen (Ala.) High School started spring
football practice with 45 players reporting on this first day of practice. This
was said to be “the largest number of men reporting for practice in the history
of the school.” Returning lettermen included Paul Pace, George Bolton, Byron
Warren, Wayne Peacock, Ken Tucker, Jimmy Bell, Robbie Boykin and Robert
Ellington.
March 4, 1961 – Edward Waters and the Selma Chapter of the
Daughters of American Colonists erected the “Postal Routes of 1820” historical
marker at the intersection of State Highway 28 and State Highway 162 near
Catherine in Wilcox County, Ala. The marker reads - “POSTAL ROUTES OF 1820 –
Two miles north of this point was the intersection of two important postal
routes of early Alabama, the Saint Stephens-Cahawba Road and the
Tuskaloosa-Prairie Bluff Road.”
March 4, 1965 – The Evergreen Courant reported that two
members of Evergreen High School’s varsity boys basketball team were named to
the all-tournament team at the conclusion of the Region 1, Area 2 tournament
which was held in Evergreen, Ala. the week before. Billy Kendall, senior guard,
and Jimmy Warren, senior pivotman, were named to 12-man all-star squad.
Champion Monroeville placed three men on the squad as did Flomaton. Melvin
Middleton, a senior, and Terry Salter and Mike Segers, both juniors, were
chosen from Monroeville. Arvin Bell and Gwin Butler, seniors, and Steve Fore,
junior, were named from Flomaton. T.R. Miller of Brewton had Mike Sasser and
Bob Watson, both seniors, on the squad. Uriah’s Larry Harris and Georgiana’s
Jimmy Weathers, both seniors, rounded out the squad chosen by coaches and
officials.
March 4, 1965 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Durlyn
Davis was Miss Lyeffion High School for 1965, having been crowned at the annual
FHA Beauty Pageant. Durlyn was a senior and was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
James Davis.
March 4, 1965 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Miss
Margaret Hagood, Alabama’s 1964 Junior Miss, crowned the 1965 Junior Miss, Miss
Heather Strait of Montgomery, at the recent Junior Miss Pageant in Birmingham.
Hagood completed her reign with the coronation of Strait. Hagood was the
daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hagood of Evergreen, Ala.
March 4, 1965 – Novelist Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul,
Afghanistan.
March 4, 1965 – The Monroe Journal reported that Col. R.C.
Marshall, U.S. Army District Engineer at Mobile, Ala., had called for bids for
the first construction job on the Claiborne Lock and Dam, the lowermost of the
three lock and dams being built on the Alabama River to provide barge
navigation between Mobile and Montgomery. Bids were to be opened at 11 a.m. on
March 16 at the Corps of Engineers district office at 2301 Airport Blvd.,
Mobile, for excavating the lock area and constructing embankments on the east
side of the river. Engineers estimated that about 815,000 cubic yards of
material were to be removed from the lock excavation and about 83,150 cubic
yards of material would be placed in compacted fills.
March 4, 1965 – Monroe County High School’s varsity boys
basketball team was scheduled to play Lexington in the State Class AA
Tournament in Tuscaloosa. Members of MCHS’s team were Bobby Colquett, Milton
Coxwell, Melvin Middleton, Gary Downs, Tony Grantham, John Allen Stabler, Mike
Segers, Terry Salter, Larry Bryant, Coy Tatum and Johnny Brannon. Ronnie Dees
was MCHS’s head coach.
March 4, 1968 - In a draft
memorandum to the president, the Ad Hoc Task Force on Vietnam advised that the
administration send 22,000 more troops to Vietnam, but make deployment of the
additional 185,000 men previously requested by Gen. William Westmoreland
(senior U.S. commander in Vietnam) contingent on future developments.
March 4, 1974 – “People” magazine was published for the
first time in the United States as “People Weekly.”
March 4, 1976 - A radio version of Alabama author Ambrose
Bierce's story "The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter" was broadcast as
part of the series “The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre.”
March 4, 1976 – Major League Baseball outfielder Hiram
Bocachica was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. He would go on to play for the Los
Angeles Dodgers, the Detroit Tigers, the Seattle Mariners, the Oakland
Athletics and the San Diego Padres.
March 4, 1983 – Pensacola, Fla. firefighter Eddie Frank
Jackson was killed in the line of duty.
March 4, 1986 - "Today" debuted in London as
England’s newest, national, daily newspaper.
March 4, 1986 - A steer belonging to Brian Byrd of Frisco
City was named the grand champion of the annual Monroe County 4-H Steer Show
& Sale, held on this Monday at the county coliseum. The reserve champion
(runner-up) steer was owned by Dallas Gamble of Mexia. Both Byrd and Gamble were
among seven local 4-H’ers participating in state 4-H steer competition in
Montgomery the following week. Others planning to travel to state competition
were Jeff Griffin, Daniel Stokes, Bonner Lee, James Lee and Payton Casey.
March 4, 1986 – The City of Monroeville hired its first,
official full-time fireman when the City Council voted on this Tuesday night to
hire one, with a particular man in mind. He was not named in the council’s
regular meeting but was identified the next day as George Nettles, who planned
to retire from Alabama River Pulp Co.
March 4, 1991 - Sheik Saad al-Jaber al-Sabah, the prime
minister of Kuwait, returned to his country for the first time since Iraq's
invasion.
March 4, 1999 - Monica Lewinsky's book about her affair with
U.S. President Bill Clinton went on sale in the U.S.
March 4, 2009 – Pro Football Hall of Fame halfback George
McAfee died at the age of 90 in Decatur, Ga. During his career, he played for
Duke University and the Chicago Bears. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in
1966.
March 4, 2010 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Conecuh
County Sheriff Edwin L. Booker had announced that week that he had qualified
for the Democratic nomination for re-election as Sheriff of Conecuh County in
the June 2010 primary. Booker had previously served as Sheriff from 1975 to
1995 and then from 2006 to this point in 2010.
March 4, 2010 – The Evergreen Courant reported that David
Cook Jr. had announced his candidacy for re-election to the Conecuh County
Board of Education, District 2. He was currently serving his fourth term as a
member of the board and had served as board president for 12 years.
March 4, 2012 – Major League Baseball first baseman Don
Mincher passed away in Huntsville, Ala. at the age of 73. During his career, he
played for the Washington Senators, the Minnesota Twins, the California Angels,
the Seattle Pilots, the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers.
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