Today in History for April 11, 2018

Brigadier General Thomas John Lucas

April 11, 1692 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft trials, Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Proctor were examined before Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth and members of the Governor's Council. On the same day Elizabeth's husband, John Proctor, became the first man accused of witchcraft and was jailed.

April 11, 1721 - Missionary David Zeisberger was born in Zauchental, Moravia. His Native American converts were slaughtered by Pennsylvania militiamen in the Gnaddenhuetten Massacre of 1781.

April 11, 1722 – Poet Christopher Smart was born in Shipbourne, England.

April 11, 1783 - After receiving a copy of the provisional treaty on March 13, the U.S. Congress proclaimed a formal end to hostilities with Great Britain.

April 11, 1803 - In one of the great surprises in diplomatic history, French Foreign Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand made an offer to sell all of the Louisiana Territory to the United States.

April 11, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette arrived in Chalmette, Louisiana (site of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans). Remaining in New Orleans for several days of festivities, he lodged in the Cabildo (the site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer ceremonies in 1803).

April 11, 1846 – Nelson Plumb became postmaster at Burnt Corn, Ala.

April 11, 1861 – During the Civil War, Confederate forces demanded the evacuation of Fort Sumter, S.C.

April 11, 1862 – During the Civil War, Huntsville, Ala. was occupied by Federal forces.

April 11, 1862 - Confederate Colonel Charles Olmstead surrendered Fort Pulaski, which guarded the mouth of the Savannah River in Georgia, after a two-day Union bombardment tore great holes in the massive fort.

April 11, 1862 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought in the vicinity of Shiloh, Mo. and near Wartrace, Tenn. Also, the CSS Virginia (Merrimac) captured three Federal merchant ships in Hampton Roads, Va.

April 11, 1863 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought near Colorado City in the Colorado Territory; at Webber’s Falls in the Indian Territory; near Pattersonville, La.; at Courtney’s Plantation, Miss.; and at Suffolk, Williamsburg and near Blackwater, Va. A 12-day Federal operation between Camp Douglas and Spanish Fork Canon, in the Utah Territory, began. An eight-day Federal operation between Beverly and Franklin, West Virginia began. A Federal operation between La Grange and Saulbury, Tenn. began. Federal cavalry forces departed Nashville for a raid into Georgia.

April 11, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Kelly’s Plantation and Caperton’s Ferry, Ala.

April 11, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought near Little Rock, Ark., and another at Richland Creek, Ark.; near Columbus and another in Charlton County, Mo.; and in the vicinity of Greenwich, Va., at Catlett’s Station. A three-day Federal reconnaissance between Rossville and La Fayette, Ga. began.

April 11, 1864 - Alabama author Robert Loveman was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

April 11, 1865 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Mt. Pleasant in Monroe County, Ala. Union forces consisted of a brigade strength cavalry detachment under the command of Brigadier General Thomas John Lucas that included the 2nd New York Veteran Cavalry Regiment, the 1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment, a detachment of the 2nd Illinois Cavalry regiment, and two sections (four cannons) of the 2nd Massachusetts Light Artillery. Confederate forces consisted of local militia from Monroe and Baldwin counties. Confederate casualties from the battle were five killed and six slightly wounded. Federal casualties were three killed and nine wounded, including one officer of the 1st Louisiana Cavalry.

April 11, 1865 – During the Civil War, Confederate forces evacuated Mobile, Ala. and begin a withdrawal toward Meridian, Miss.

April 11, 1865 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Saint Charles, Ark.; and near Beulah, Pikeville, Mocksville, Shallow Ford, and Smithfield, N.C. A two-day Federal reconnaissance from Winchester, Va. to Timber Ridge, West Virginia began.

April 11, 1865 – 59^TH ALABAMA: A formal surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia’s artillery and cavalry occurred on this day and the men received their parole receipts. The leftover men of the 59^th would all be together for the last time. The 59^th marched down and formed up with John Gordon’s troops. Brig. Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain ordered the bugler to sound the marching salute, and Gordon saluted Chamberlain. After turning over their weapons and ammunition, the 59^th reformed in the road, marched past the Appomattox Courthouse and halted.

April 11, 1876 – James Uriah Blacksher was born, the son of David Wesley Blacksher and Maggie McGowin.

April 11, 1878 – Prominent Monroe County, Ala. attorney Francis W. Hare was born at Oak Bowery in Chambers County, Ala. In 1898, he was manager of Auburn’s football and baseball teams, later represented Monroe County in the State House of Representatives.

April 11, 1881 – Spelman College, originally known as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, was founded in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta by two white teachers from New England, Sophia Packard and Harriet Giles.

April 11, 1887 – Monroe County Commissioners Court was scheduled to convene on this Monday.

April 11, 1890 – Joseph Merrick, also known as the “Elephant Man,” passed away at the age of 27 in the London Hospital, Whitechapel, London, England.

April 11, 1895 – The Monroe Journal reported that the “White Caps” had been operating recently in the neighborhood of Tekoa in Monroe County.

April 11, 1897 – Dr. J.S. Jenkins of Pineville, Ala. died at the age of 78. Born on Dec. 27, 1818, he was buried in the Pineville Baptist Cemetery in Monroe County, Ala.

April 11, 1899 - The treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.

April 11, 1906 - Lieutenant Governor Russell M. Cunningham, who was a candidate for governor of Alabama, addressed a large crowd of Monroe County citizens in the Monroe County Courthouse at 1:30 p.m. on this Wednesday, “many coming from various portions of the county especially to hear him,” The Monroe Journal reported.

April 11, 1907 - In New York, umpire Bill Klem called a forfeit in favor of the Phillies when Giants fans disrupted play with snowballs.

April 11, 1908 – Humorist Leo Rosten was born in Lodz, Poland.

April 11, 1909 – On this Saturday morning, Evergreen, Ala. experienced a heavy frost with the thermometer dipping down to 35 degrees. No damage to crops were reported.

April 11, 1914 - A special meeting of Confederate veterans was scheduled to be held in Monroeville at 3 p.m. on this Saturday, for the election of delegates to the general Reunion and payment of dues.

April 11, 1915 – On this Sunday night, Charles Cameron of Midway, Ala., who’d just been released from a Selma hospital, was shot three times and instantly killed in Selma by Heyward Melton of Pineapple. Melton, who was “said to be under the influence of intoxicants,” said he was shooting at McDuffie Stallworth, a prominent Wilcox County man “with whom he’d had previous trouble.” Melton escaped before the Wilcox County Sheriff arrived.

April 11, 1916 - S.D. Nettles of Tunnel Springs, government agent for the collection of ginning statistics, visited The Monroe Journal office on this Tuesday and said he believed there was “a general disposition among farmers to reduce cotton acreage this year and devote more attention to the growing of food and feed crops.”

April 11, 1916 - General J.B. Stanley, editor of The Greenville Advocate, and Edward Doty, senior editor of The Andalusia Star, visited The Conecuh Record office in Evergreen, Ala. on this Tuesday.

April 11, 1917 - Mr. J.O. Taylor of Monroe, La. addressed a number of interested citizens in the circuit court room on this Wednesday evening on methods of dealing with boll weevil in the production of cotton in his state and incidentally urging the necessity of growing abundant food crops.

April 11, 1917 - The Evergreen Courant reported, under the headline “War Declared,” that the “Senate on Thursday, and the House of Representatives on Friday, passed the Flood-Martin joint resolution declaring that a state of war exists between the United States and Germany, and authorizing the President to bring into play the army and navy and all other resources of the country in the vigorous prosecution of the war. President Wilson worked long and faithfully to keep this country out of war, but it was impossible. The people will stand behind the President with firmness and determination to protect America’s honor and to bring the great world war to a successful termination.”

April 11, 1919 - In Paris, France, the International Labor Organization (ILO) was founded as an independent, affiliated agency of the League of Nations.

April 11, 1920 - Dr. W.F. Betts left Evergreen, Ala. on this Sunday for New Orleans to attend the session of the American Medical Association.

April 11, 1921 - The first live sports event on radio took place this day on KDKA Radio. The event was a boxing match between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee.

April 11, 1921 – Evergreen, Ala. received 3-1/2 inches of rain on this day, according to The Evergreen Courant.

April 11, 1934 – Poet Mark Strand was born in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

April 11, 1935 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Coach E.L. McInnis was holding daily workouts with the players on Evergreen’s baseball team, these practices having begun about a week before. Excellent progress was reported with prospects for one of the best teams Evergreen had had in several years. Virtually all of the players on the team last year were going out each afternoon at three o’clock for practice at Gantt Field, as well as a number of new players. Among those who had been going out who did not play last season were: Mac English, pitcher; “Red” Hardin, catcher; “Mutt” Wilson, third base; Chas. English, catcher.

April 11, 1935 – The Evergreen Courant reported that engineers from the State Highway Department were engaged in making a survey preparatory to the construction of an overhead crossing over the railroad at Owassa. The work had been in progress for the previous week. The construction of this crossing was scheduled to begin just as soon as funds became available from the Federal government, a large amount of the $4,800,000,000 works measure enacted by Congress having been set aside for this purpose.

April 11, 1935 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Mrs. W.J. Donovan and Mrs. J.E. Jones attended the Alabama Federation of Music Clubs in Selma during the previous week.

April 11, 1935 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Misses Mildred Wild, Bess Yarbrough, Alice Croom, Nell Glenn and Ruth Moorer of the Alabama College at Montevallo, were spending the Spring holidays at home.

April 11, 1935 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Mary Louis Mixon left during the previous week for Nashville, Tenn., where she was to enroll for training at the Davidson County Hospital.

April 11, 1941 – Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman was born Ellen Holtz in Newton, Mass.

April 11, 1944 – NFL defensive back Joe Beauchamp was born in Chicago, Ill. He would go on to play for Iowa State and the San Diego Chargers.

April 11, 1945 – The U.S. Army liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, a camp that was judged second only to Auschwitz in the horrors it imposed on its prisoners.

April 11, 1947 - Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major-league history when he played in an exhibition game for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

April 11, 1949 – Writer Dorothy Allison was born in Greenville, S.C.

April 11, 1950 - The Evergreen High School Aggies opened the 1950 baseball season in Andalusia on this Tuesday afternoon, dropping a 5-1 decision to Andalusia High School. Jack Cunningham, senior southpaw hurler, pitched for Evergreen and allowed five hits. At the plate, the Aggies collected only three hits. Bertie Hassel led the Evergreen with two hits, and Bobby “Pistol Pete” Wells got the team’s only other hit.

April 11, 1951 – Major League Baseball pitcher Sid Monge was born in Auga Prieta, New Mexico. He would go on to pitch for the California Angels, the Cleveland Indians, the Philadelphia Phillies, the San Diego Padres and the Detroit Tigers.

April 11, 1951 – The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, was found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey.

April 11, 1953 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Kid Nichols passed away in Kansas City, Mo. at the age of 83. During his career, he played for the Boston Beaneaters, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1949.

April 11, 1961 – The trial of Adolf Eichmann began in Jerusalem.

April 11, 1963 – The crew of a Boeing 707 on a flight from San Juan to New York reported seeing at 1:30 p.m., 20 minutes after takeoff, the ocean “rising into a great round mound” that grew to a diameter of half a mile to a mile with a height of about half its width. The incident occurred in the Bermuda Triangle and over the Puerto Rico Trench, where the sea reaches a depth of 5-1/2 miles.

April 11, 1963 - One hundred U.S. troops of the Hawaiian-based 25th Infantry Division were ordered to temporary duty with military units in South Vietnam to serve as machine gunners aboard Army H-21 helicopters. This was the first commitment of American combat troops to the war and represented a quiet escalation of the U.S. commitment to the war in Vietnam.

April 11, 1964 – Evergreen High School’s baseball team dropped to 1-2 on the season on this Saturday night when they lost, 1-0, to T.R. Miller in Evergreen. Sam Schad four-hit the Aggies but needed help from Bob Watson to get the last out. Bubba Faulkner pitched a three-hitter but lost it on an unearned run. An infield error in the seventh gave the victors their lone run.

April 11, 1966 - Myrtle Griffin, former classroom teacher, was named acting principal of the Evergreen City School to fill the vacancy created by the death of Marcus O’Gwynn. She assumed her duties on this Monday. Griffin was named by the Conecuh County Board of Education the previous week, according to Harvey G. Pate, superintendent of education. He said that she would be acting principal through the remainder of this school term.

April 11, 1968 – The Evergreen Golf Club planned to stag its annual Invitational Golf Tournament on this Thursday.

April 11, 1972 – Major League Baseball catcher Jason Varitek was born in Rochester, Michigan. He played his entire career for the Boston Red Sox.

April 11, 1972 - On this day, B-52 strikes against communist forces attacking South Vietnamese positions in the Central Highlands near Kontum removed any immediate threat to that city. Also on this day, the Pentagon ordered two more squadrons of B-52s to Thailand.

April 11, 1973 – Ellicott’s Stone in northern Mobile County was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

April 11, 1973 – Magnolia Grove, a historic Greek Revival mansion in Greensboro, Alabama, was added to the National Register of Historic Places due to its architectural and historical significance.

April 11, 1976 – Major League Baseball pitcher Kelvim Escobar was born in La Guaira, Venezuela. He would go on to play for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Anaheim Angels/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

April 11, 1977 – Fire destroyed the Monroe Theater in Monroeville, Ala.

April 11, 1980 – Major League Baseball first baseman and designated hitter Mark Teixeira was born in Annapolis, Md.

April 11, 1983 - R.E.M.'s first album, "Murmur", was released.

April 11, 1984 – The Commercial Hotel (later known as the Hart Hotel and Flomaton Hotel) in Flomaton, Ala. was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.

April 11, 1985 - The 100th episode of "Hill Street Blues" aired.

April 11, 1990 – Customs officers in Middlesbrough, England, United Kingdom, said they had seized what they believed to be the barrel of a massive gun on a ship bound for Iraq.

April 11, 1991 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Evergreen native Jeff Brock was one of the 27 students recently graduating from Jones School of Law in Montgomery. Graduation ceremonies were held on Jan. 13, 1991 at Faulkner University. Jeff Brock received his B.S. degree from Troy State University in 1985.

April 11, 1991 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Ronald Campbell, manager of Hardee’s, was recently presented a plaque in appreciation of Hardee’s support of the Hillcrest High School basketball team. Making the presentation were Dr. William Robbins, principal of Hillcrest; Campbell, Danny Covin, head basketball coach at Hillcrest; and H.L. Watson, athletic director at Hillcrest.

April 11, 1991 – The Monroe Journal reported that members of Monroeville’s 778^th Maintenance Co. had moved to the port of Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, and Alabama Army National Guard officials and family members were organizing “welcome home” celebrations in hopes they would catch a flight out on Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week. Sgt. Norman Arnold, Guard spokesman in Montgomery, could not confirm the April 17 return date but was hopeful the Guard unit would return soon. Ralph Leek, manager of the Guard’s Family Assistance Center in Monroeville, also could not confirm the date, but he was more hopeful about that date than the April 4-12 departure mentioned in previous weeks.

  

April 11, 1994 - A Seattle, Wash. coroner ruled that Kurt Cobain's death was a suicide.

April 11, 1994 - Nirvana's album "In Utero" was certified double-platinum.

April 11, 2003 - U.S. President George W. Bush announced that Saddam Hussein's regime was out of power in Iraq.

April 11, 2006 - Dave Holloway published his book recounting the search for his daughter, co-authored with R. Stephanie Good and Larry Garrison, “Aruba: The Tragic Untold Story of Natalee Holloway and Corruption in Paradise.”

April 11, 2014 – The horror film, “Oculus,” which was filmed in Mobile and Baldwin counties, was released in the U.S.

April 11, 2016 - Conecuh County commissioners discussed the prospect of having a dinosaur theme park being built in the county, the brainchild of a controversial Florida man known as “Dr. Dino.” During a commission meeting on this Monday morning at the Conecuh County Government Center in Evergreen, Commissioner Johnny Andrews reported that Kent Hovind of Pensacola, Fla., who goes by the nickname “Dr. Dino,” planned to buy property along U.S. Highway 41, off I-65’s Exit 77, to establish a dinosaur theme park. The park would be similar to a Pensacola park opened by Hovind in 2001 called Dinosaur Adventure Land, and Hovind had said in interviews that he planned to erect a dinosaur at his new park that would be over 80 feet tall, making it the tallest dinosaur in the state.