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| Ben Crum Foshee |
May 4, 1626 – Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrived in New
Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the See Meeuw. Native
Americans later sold the island (20,000 acres) for $24 in cloth and buttons.
May 4, 1675 – King Charles II of England ordered the construction
of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
May 4, 1692 – In connection with the Salem witchcraft
trials, George Burroughs was arrested in Maine.
May 4, 1776 - Rhode Island became the first North American
colony to renounce its allegiance to King George III, declaring its freedom
from England two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
May 4, 1796 – Horace Mann was born in Franklin, Mass. He was
the first great American advocate of public education. He believed that, in a
democratic society, education should be free and universal.
May 4, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the
Marquis de Lafayette arrived in Nashville, Tenn.
May 4, 1827 – English soldier and explorer John Hanning
Speke was born in Bideford, Devon, England. He was an officer in the British
Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa and who is most
associated with the search for the source of the Nile and was in fact the first
European that reached Lake Victoria and as such is the "discoverer of the
source of the Nile."
May 4, 1829 – Eldridge Swepson Greening of Sparta, Ala. died
in carriage accident on way to Pensacola. He was Junior Grand Warden of the
Alabama Grand Lodge in 1825 and Greening Lodge No. 53 in Evergreen was later
named in his honor.
May 4, 1847 - Jack Slade, who later became a victim of the Montana
vigilantes, began his involvement with the West by joining the military.
May 4, 1858 – French botanist and explorer Aimé Bonpland
passed away at the age of 84 in Paso de los Libres, Argentina.
May 4, 1861 – During the Civil War,
Federal ordnance stores were seized in Kansas City, Mo.
May 4, 1861 - The secession from
the Union was not received with joy by all the residents of Southern states. In
particular, the people of western Virginia were not thrilled. The mountainous
region had social and cultural differences with the southern and eastern parts
of the state. Meetings took place on this day in Wheeling, Kingswood and
Preston County to discuss another act of secession.
May 4, 1862 - General John B. Magruder abandoned Yorktown.
Union forces under General George McClellan had established siege lines on
April 5.
May 4, 1862 – During the Civil War,
skirmishes were fought at Farmington, near Corinth, in Mississippi; at Licking,
Mo.; near Bethel, Purdy and Pulaski in Tennessee; at Columbia Bridge, Culpepper
Courthouse and near Williamsburg in Virginia; and at Franklin and another
Princeton in West Virginia. Yorktown, Va. was occupied by Federal forces.
May 4, 1863 - The Battle of Chancellorsville entered its
fourth day and later ended when the Union Army retreated.
May 4, 1863 – During the Civil War,
skirmishes were fought at Fort De Russy, La.; at Hankinson’s Ferry, Miss.; at
Murray’s Inlet, S.C.; out from Nashville, Tenn.; and at Flemming’s Crossroads,
Tunstall’s Station, Ashland Church, Hungary Station, Hanover Ferry, Aylett,
Leesville, Salem Church and near Winchester, in Virginia.
May 4, 1863 - General Joseph
Hooker’s plan to flank the Confederates at Fredericksburg had ground to a
complete halt almost as soon as it began. Surprise and initiative lost, he
began to withdraw back across the fords of the Rappahannock. U.S. Gen. “Uncle”
John Sedgwick’s forces, who had finally taken bloody Marye’s Heights in
Fredericksburg, were attacked at Salem Church in an attempt to cut them off
from this escape. They managed to resist and make their way to Bank’s Ford,
which they crossed in the night.
May 4, 1863 - A six-day Federal
operation began against Snake Indians in the Idaho Territory. The Federal
vessel, George Sturgess, was sunk in its unsuccessful attempt to pass the
Vicksburg, Miss. batteries. Federal operations in the area surrounding
Lexington, Mo. began.
May 4-28, 1864 – 59TH ALABAMA: The 59th
Alabama took part in operations on the south side of the James River against
Richmond and Petersburg.
May 4, 1864 – 59TH ALABAMA: Gracie’s brigade was
assigned to the Department of Richmond, commanded by Major General Robert
Ransom.
May 4, 1864 - The Army of the Potomac embarked on the
biggest campaign of the Civil War and crossed the Rapidan River in Virginia,
precipitating an epic showdown that eventually decided the war. In March 1864,
Ulysses S. Grant became commander of all the Union forces and devised a plan to
destroy the two major remaining Confederate armies: Joseph Johnston’s Army of
the Tennessee, which was guarding the approaches to Atlanta, and Robert E.
Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Grant sent William T. Sherman to take on
Johnston, and then rode along with the Army of the Potomac, which was still
under the command of George Meade, to confront Lee.
May 4, 1864 - The House of Representatives approved the
Wade-Davis Reconstruction Bill.
May 4, 1864 – William Tecumseh Sherman's Atlanta campaign
began and in the first few months his troops engaged in several fierce battles
with Confederate soldiers on the outskirts of the city, including the Battle of
Kennesaw Mountain, which the Union forces lost.
May 4, 1864 – During the Civil War,
skirmishes were fought at Varnell’s Station Road, Ga.; at Ashwood Landing, La.;
with Apache Indians in Doubtful Canyon in the New Mexico Territory; at David’s
Ferry, La.; near New Berne, N.C., and in the Albemarle Sound, N.C.; near
Chancellorsville, Va.; at Callaghan’s Station, West Virginia.
May 4, 1864 – During the Civil War,
a Federal operation began between Vicksburg and Yazoo City in Mississippi, with
two skirmishes near Benton and another on Luce’s Plantation, Miss. Butler’s
campaign began on the south side of the James River in Virginia.
May 4, 1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was laid to
rest in Oak Ridge Cemetery outside Springfield, Ill.
May 4, 1865 - At Citronelle, Ala., three and a half weeks
after Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, the last
major Confederate force east of the Mississippi surrendered. Lt. Gen. Richard
Taylor surrendered the 12,000 troops of the Department of East Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama to Maj. Gen. E. R. S. Canby of the U.S. Army.
May 4, 1871 – The National Association, the first
professional baseball league, opened its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The first game of the National Association of Baseball Players was played, and
Fort Wayne beat Cleveland, 2-0.
May 4, 1884 – Chemist and Home Economics pioneer Agnes Fay
Morgan was born in Peoria, Ill.
May 4, 1885 – The Monroe Journal reported that U.S.
President Grover Cleveland had appointed Major Charles Lewis Scott of
Monroeville, Ala. as Minister to Venezuela.
May 4, 1886 - J.B. McMillan of Repton was in Monroeville on
this Tuesday.
May 4, 1895 – Monroe County (Ala.) Circuit Court adjourned
on this Saturday morning and “Judge Anderson and Solicitor Elmore left
immediately for their home in Demopolis.” Before Anderson’s departure, Capt.
Thomas S. Wiggins “arose and read a resolution adopted at a previous meeting of
the Monroeville bar, cordially welcoming Judge Anderson to Monroe County, and
expressing its high appreciation of the able, fair and impartial manner in
which he presided during the term. The bar desired to thank him for the many
courtesies shown it, and hoped that the pleasant relations thus begun might
continue uninterruptedly.”
May 4, 1903 – An election in the Town of Evergreen for Mayor
and five councilmen to serve for the ensuing 12 months was scheduled to be held
in Evergreen, Ala.
May 4, 1904 – The United States began construction of the
Panama Canal.
May 4, 1905 – The Monroe Journal reported that Sheriff
Fountain had captured a man who fit the description of a man who shot a Mr.
Reese at Lee Station in Sumter County.
May 4, 1906 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt warned the
U.S. Congress that Standard Oil was in violation of antitrust laws.
May 4, 1906 - Miss Eunice Stallworth’s school at Nadawah
closed on this Friday.
May 4, 1916 – This day’s edition of The Evergreen Courant
contained the following advertisement – “PLAY BALL – We have just received full
line of Reach Base Ball Goods, Guides, Etc. – Before organizing your Team come
in and look over our line. Remember that REACH Base Balls are the Standard of
the entire World without any equal anywhere. If you want the very best
practical Base Ball Goods made, ask for those marked R-E-A-C-H. Barlow Hardware
Company, Repton, Ala.”
May 4, 1916 - Germany responded to
a demand by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson by agreeing to limit its submarine
warfare in order to avert a diplomatic break with the United States.
May 4, 1917 - The rain on this Friday afternoon was
“accompanied by a heavy fall of hail, the stones in some sections being of
enormous size and doing considerable damage to crops and gardens. At Perdue
Hill the precipitation was especially heavy. It is said that one hailstone
picked up at that place weighed two ounces,” according to The Monroe Journal.
May 4, 1929 - Lou Gehrig hit three consecutive home runs.
May 4, 1931 - W.K. Knudsen, president of Chevrolet Motor
Co. and vice-president of General Motors Corp., accompanied by D.E. Ralston, General
Sales Manager of Chevrolet Co., was in Evergreen on this Monday morning for a
short while, paying a visit to the local Chevrolet agency. They were making a
cross section trip through this entire zone visiting dealers at all points
touched. The local dealer was C.W. Wilson.
May 4, 1931 - George Stallworth, a farmer living four
miles north of Belleville, Ala., was killed by lightning late on this Monday
afternoon. It was said that Stallworth was at home alone at the time the
incident occurred, his family being engaged in the berry fields near
Castleberry. His body was found by neighbors sometime on Tues., May 5, lying in
a path between his house and his pasture. It was thought that he had gone to
the pasture to turn out his cows and was struck while on the way. J.D. Skinner
and several others from Belleville held an inquest over the body soon after its
discovery and returned a coroner’s verdict that he came to his death as a
result of lightning. According to reports, the clothing was practically torn
from his body.
May 4, 1932 – College football and NFL wide receiver Harlon
Hill was born in Killen, Ala. He went on to play for North Alabama, the Chicago
Bears, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Detroit Lions. Hill was the NFL Rookie
of the Year in 1954 and winner of the Jim Thorpe Trophy as the NFL Player of
the Year in 1955. The Harlon Hill Trophy, named in his honor, is awarded
annually to the nation's best NCAA Division II football player.
May 4, 1933 - The discovery of mysterious radio waves from
the center of the Milky Way galaxy was described by Karl Jansky in a
presentation he made to the International Radio Union.
May 4, 1933 - Alabama author T. S. Stribling was awarded the
Pulitzer Prize for Novels for his book “The Store.”
May 4, 1936 – William E. Molett graduated from Southwest State
Agricultural School in Evergreen, Ala. After graduation, he joined the
military, became a master navigator, recorded 6,000 hours as an aircraft
navigator, including 91 flights over the North Pole. He also taught polar
aviation for three years and returned as a Lt. Col. in the Air Force. In 1996,
he wrote a book called “Robert Peary and Matthew Henson at the North Pole.” He
passed away on March 26, 2005 and is buried in the West Tennessee Veterans
Cemetery in Memphis, Tenn.
May 4, 1939 – Israeli writer Amos Oz was born in Jerusalem.
May 4, 1942 - Ben Crum Foshee, son of Mrs. Ella Foshee of
Cohassett, was killed in action on the Burma Road in China. The news was
announced to Mrs. Foshee through a cablegram from young Foshee’s commander,
Col. Chenault, which was received Sat., May 9. He had been in China since July
1941, attached to the American Volunteer Group under the command of Chenault. Foshee
was the youngest son of Mrs. Foshee and the late George Foshee. He finished
aeronautical engineering at Auburn and enlisted shortly afterwards in the Naval
Air Corps. For about one year, he was stationed at Pensacola, later going to
San Diego, Calif. He resigned from the Navy on July 19, 1941 to enlist with the
American Volunteer Group for service in China. He was 27 years of age. Young
Foshee’s life was to be memorialized over CBS radio program, “They Live
Forever,” at 9:30 p.m. on Sun., May 17, according to a CBS representative who
contacted the family this week.
May 4, 1944 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Mrs.
C.C. Gaston had received word that her two sons in the Army had safely landed
overseas. Staff Sgt. Quinton Gaston was in New Guinea and Pvt. George P. Gaston
was somewhere in England.
May 4, 1944 – The Evergreen Courant reported that J.T.
Ray of Owassa had received an invitation to the graduation of his cousin, Rev.
Carl Pickens Daw, which occurred May 3-5 at the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Rev. Daw’s parents were natives of Conecuh County
and he had many relatives and friends in the county.
May 4, 1944 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Mrs.
James V. Henderson had received a cablegram during the previous week from her
husband, Sgt. James V. Henderson, stating that he had arrived safely somewhere
in New Guinea. Sgt. Henderson was one of the National Guardsmen who left
Evergreen for service November 1940.
May 4, 1944 – The Monroe Journal reported that Major
Armistead Harper had received the Bronze Star for meritorious service in
support of combat operations from Major Geoffrey Keys, commanding general of a
Fifth Army unit in Italy. Harper was the son of Mrs. G.H. Harper of
Monroeville.
May 4, 1944 – The Monroe Journal reported that Mrs. Fred
Biggs had returned from Shreveport, La. for an extended visit to her parents, Mr.
and Mrs. John E. Simpson, and Mr. and Mrs. Ben R. Biggs, while Sgt. Fred Biggs
was serving with the U.S. Army Air Forces overseas.
May 4, 1947 – The Tri-County Baseball League (Semi-Pro) was
scheduled to open the 1947 season. Evergreen, managed by Wendell Hart, who also
pitched, was scheduled to play Frisco City at 3 p.m. in Evergreen, Ala.
May 4, 1948 - Twenty-five-year-old
Norman Mailer’s first novel, “The Naked and the Dead,” was published on this
day. The book was critically acclaimed and is widely considered one of the best
novels to come out of World War II.
May 4, 1950 - The Evergreen Greenies were scheduled to play
the Uriah-Booneville team in Evergreen on this Thursday afternoon in Brooks
Stadium in their first home game of the 1950 season. Probable game time was
2:30 p.m.
May 4, 1952 - The pitching of Eugene Davis and hitting of
Sam Brown gave Skinnerton’s baseball team a 17-12 victory over Shreve on this
Sunday. Sam Brown got a double and a triple, and Grady Booker got a double for
Skinnerton. Shreve used four pitchers in absorbing the loss.
May 4, 1952 – Starlington’s baseball team got 16 hits to no
avail on this Sunday afternoon as the Bermuda Bears used eight hits effectively
to score and 8-4 victory. Tink Stinson pitched well but had poor backing afield
while Thompson twirled a neat game for the Bears to gain the win. Stinson also
led the Bermuda team on offense, rapping out three hits.
May 4, 1952 - The Loree Dollies baseball team absorbed a
10-7 loss at the hands of the Paul Aces on this Sunday afternoon. Bertie
Hassell was the winning pitcher, and Bernard Powell suffered the loss. Cobb and
McClan led the batting for Paul with three hits each, and Charlie Brock led
Loree with two safties.
May 4, 1953 – Ernest Hemingway won
the Pulitzer Prize for “The Old Man and the Sea.”
May 4, 1954 - The Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis
Cardinals set a National League record when they used 42 players in one game.
The Phillies won, 14-10.
May 4, 1959 – Searchers found the bodies of the last four members
of the Dyatlov Expedition under four meters of snow in a ravine.
May 4, 1961 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Howard
Fore, the President of the Evergreen Junior Baseball League, announced that
week the following list of new players with their respective managers:
Dodger-Chicks: Gene Glass, Skipper Carlton, Vernon Millsap, Mike Bethune, Barry
Turk, John Skipper, William H. Kahl, Rodney Powell, Danny Hall, Billy Jack
Smith, Ivan Gomes, Billy Griggers, David Stonestreet, John Crum Sessions, Herbert
Ellis, Myles Covin, Marvin Salter and Gerald Salter. Managers for the Dodgers
are Robert Glass and Frank Chavers. Dizzy Dean and W.G. Langford will manage
the Chicks. Giants-Pelicans: Sammie Simpson, Wayne Hicks, Joe Brown, Tim
Skipper, Johnny Stokes, Eric Pugh, Bobby Snowden, Paul Drummond, Robert Ward,
Bill Snowden, Harold Wright, Larry Wright, Robert Williams, Jim Williams, John
Barron, George Fontaine and John Shanklin. Giants managers are Moreno White and
Marvin Hicks. Managers for the Pelicans are W.S. Simpson and Robert Quarles.
Yankees-Orioles: John Autrey, Jerry Sasser, Ralph Pugh, Stanley Aaron, James
Coker, Frank Bilbro, David Davis, Jimmy Bell, Shelby Windham, Dallas Kelly,
Gregory Hall, Danny Crosby and Harold Bolton. Waynard Price and Randy Moorer
were to manage the Yankees and the Orioles were to be managed by Bill Murner
and Terry Sullivan.
May 4, 1961 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Cadet 1st
Lt. Marvin Padgett had been selected as the national recipient for the 1961
Frank G. Brewer – Civil Air Patrol Memorial Aerospace Award. The selection was
made by a special committee at the National CAP Headquarters, Ellington Air
Force Base, Texas. Padgett was a cadet in the Evergreen Composite Squadron of
the CAP, which was led by Commander C.P. Strong. A charter member of the
Evergreen CAP cadets, Padgett joined in the summer of 1958 and had missed only
three of the weekly meetings since then. At Evergreen High School, where
Padgett was a junior in 1961, he was a member of the Dramatics Club, Journalism
Club, Beta Club and Echo staff. After finishing high school, he planned to
enter the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
May 4, 1961- At a press conference,
Secretary of State Dean Rusk reported that Viet Cong forces had grown to 12,000
men and that they had killed or kidnapped more than 3,000 persons in 1960.
May 4, 1963 - Pitcher Bob Shaw set a record with five balks
in a game.
May 4, 1964 - Alabama journalist Hazel Brannon Smith of The Lexington (Miss.)
Advertiser was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial
Writing.
May 4, 1965 - San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays, a
native of Alabama, hit his 512th career home run to break Mel Ott’s National
League record for home runs. Mays would finish his career with 660 home runs,
good for third on the all-time list at the time of his retirement.
May 4, 1970 - Alabama journalist Harold Eugene Martin of The Montgomery Advertiser
and The Alabama
Journal was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Local Investigative
Specialized Reporting for his exposure of a scheme to use Alabama prisoners for
medical experimentation.
May 4, 1970
– During the Vietnam War’s “Kent State shootings,” the Ohio National Guard,
sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the
weekend before, opened fire, killing four unarmed students and wounding nine
others. The students were protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the United
States and South Vietnam.
May 4, 1973 - The Phillies beat the Braves, 5-4, in 20
innings in the longest game to date at Veterans Stadium.
May 4, 1974 – An all-female Japanese team reached the summit
of Manaslu, becoming the first women to climb an 8,000-meter peak.
May 4, 1975 - Bob Watson of the Houston Astros scored the
one-millionth run in Major League Baseball history.
May 4, 1976 - There was an unusually heavy turnout of
voters in this Tuesday’s primary elections in Conecuh County, Ala., and they
completed nominating Democratic candidates for county offices in all but one
race. Approximately 5,050 voted, compared to about 5,150 in 1974’s first
primary when there were races for governor and sheriff which are usually more
attractive to voters. The only runoff was in District 2, Place 4, where veteran
commissioner C.L. Smith lacked 92 votes of obtaining a majority in a three-man
race. Smith led with 1,154 votes, Bert Gorum qualified for the runoff with 807
and E. Eugene Darby had 439.
May 4, 1976
– Major League Baseball outfielder Ben Grieve was born in Arlington, Texas. He
went on to play for the Oakland Athletics, the Tampa Ray Devil Rays, the
Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs.
May 4, 1976
– Major League Baseball outfielder Jason Michaels was born in Tampa, Fla. He
went on to play for the Philadelphia Phillies, the Cleveland Indians, the
Pittsburgh Pirates and the Houston Astros.
May 4, 1980 - Mike Squires of the Chicago White Sox played
the position of catcher in the final inning against the Brewers. It was the
first time a left-handed catcher had played since 1958.
May 4, 1984 - Dave Kingman hit a fly ball that got stuck in
the ceiling of the Metrodome.
May 4, 1990 – “Tales from the Darkside: The Movie,”
one segment written by Alabama author Robert McDowell, was released.
May 4, 1991 - Chris James of the Cleveland Indians set a
club record with nine RBI in a single game.
May 4, 1992 - Alma Martin Post 50 of the American Legion
installed new officers for the 1992-93 year at the Legion Home on Highway 31
South in Evergreen, Ala. New officers were Gene Shipp, Sergeant-at-Arms; Elmer
Parker, Second Vice Commander; Charlie Holcombe, First Vice Commander; Joe W.
Merrill, Commander; and Howard Fore, Chaplain.
May 4, 1998 – A federal judge in Sacramento, California,
gave "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years
after Kaczynski accepted a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
May 4, 2001 - The Harper Lee Award for Alabama's
Distinguished Writer was given to Alabama author Sena Jeter Naslund at the
Alabama Writers Symposium in Monroeville, Ala.
May 4, 2003 - The first cloned animal in the horse family, a
mule named Idaho Gem, was born at the University of Idaho.
May 4, 2004 - Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees hit his
350th career home run and drove in his 1,000th run. He was the youngest player
to reach 350 homeruns at 28 years, 282 days.
May 4, 2007 - The Harper Lee Award for Alabama's
Distinguished Writer was given to Alabama author William Cobb at the Alabama
Writers Symposium in Monroeville, Ala.
May 4, 2014 – “The Island with Bear Grylls” was first shown
on Channel 4. This series features 13 British men on an uninhabited Pacific
island with very little equipment.
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