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| USS Herbert (DD-160) |
May 8, 1541 - South of present-day Memphis, Tenn., Spanish
conquistador Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River, one of the first
European explorers to ever do so. He named it Rio de Espiritu Santo.
May 8, 1753 – Poet Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa,
mostly likely in Senegal or Gambia.
May 8, 1781 - The British surrendered Pensacola, Fla. to
Louisiana governor and Spanish military officer Bernardo de Galvez.
May 8, 1792 - The U.S. Congress passed the second portion of
the Militia Act. It required that every free able-bodied white male citizen be
enrolled in the militia. The act provided for the President of the United
States to take command of the state militias in times of imminent invasion or
insurrection.
May 8, 1794 - The United States Post Office was established.
May 8, 1820 – Future Civil War Union general William
Tecumseh Sherman was born in Lancaster, Ohio.
May 8, 1820 - The Alabama Supreme
Court convened for the first time. The court, meeting in the capital of Cahaba,
was composed of Alabama's circuit court judges. Clement C. Clay, who later
served in Congress and as governor, was appointed Chief Justice.
May 8–9, 1825 – The steamboat Mechanic, conveying the
Marquis de Lafayette and party to Louisville, Ky., sank on the Ohio River. All
passengers reached shore safely, but Lafayette lost property and money. The
party was picked up the following day by the passing steamboat Paragon.
May 8, 1835 - Alabama author Augusta Jane Evans Wilson was
born in Columbus, Ga.
May 8, 1842 – French admiral and explorer Jules Dumont
d’Urville passed away at the age of 51 when the train he and his family was
traveling in from Versailles to Paris derailed and caught fire.
May 8, 1858 – National Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman
Dan Brouthers was born in Sylvan Lake, N.Y. He went on to play for the Troy
Trojans, the Buffalo Bisons, the Detroit Wolverines, the Boston Beaneaters, the
Boston Reds, the Brooklyn Grooms, the Baltimore Orioles, the Louisville
Colonels, the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Giants. He was inducted
into the Hall of Fame in 1945.
May 8, 1861 – During the Civil War, Richmond, Va. was named
the capital of the Confederate States of America.
May 8, 1862 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at
Elkton Station, in the vicinity of Athens, Ala.
May 8, 1862 – During the Civil War, the Battle of McDowell,
Virginia, took place.
May 8, 1862 – John Jefferson Simpson enlisted in
Monroeville, Ala. as a private in Co. F of the 36th Alabama Regiment. He was
taken prisoner at Missionary Ridge on Nov. 25, 1863 and was forwarded to
Louisville Military Prison in Kentucky on Dec. 7, 1863. He was later forwarded
to Rock Island, Ill. Prison on Dec. 8, 1863 and was paroled at the end of the
war. He is buried in the Mexia Cemetery.
May 8, 1862 – During the Civil War,
the Confederate arsenal at Baton Rouge, La. was captured by Federal forces.
Federal reconnaissance was also conducted toward Corinth, Miss., and a skirmish
was fought at Glendale, Miss. in the vicinity of Corinth, Miss.
May 8, 1862 – During the Civil War,
a Federal naval demonstration too place at Sewell’s Point, Va. and an
engagement was fought at McDowell, Va. From Staunton, Major General T.J.
Jackson marched his army west along the Parkersburg Road to confront two
brigades of Frémont’s force (Milroy and Schenck), advancing toward the
Shenandoah Valley from western Virginia. At McDowell on May 8, Milroy seized
the initiative and assaulted the Confederate position on Sitlington’s Hill. The
Federals were repulsed after severe fighting, lasting four hours. Afterwards,
Milroy and Schenck withdrew into western Virginia, freeing up Jackson’s army to
march against the other Union columns threatening the Valley.
May 8, 1863 – During the Civil War,
a skirmish was fought at Grove Church, Va.
May 8, 1863 - All during the Civil
War, the draft laws of the United States had applied only to citizens, thereby
leaving alien residents exempt. (Aliens served, of course, and in large
numbers, but they were all volunteers.) On this day Abraham Lincoln signed a
proclamation announcing that henceforth the draft would be extended to include
any non-citizen who had applied for citizenship. The impulse to serve was not
universal, and many citizenship papers were hastily withdrawn.
May 8, 1863 - Clement Vallandigham,
a leader of the Copperheads, was arrested for violating General Ambrose
Burnside's Order No. 38. The order stated that public criticism of the war would
not be tolerated.
May 8, 1864 - Yankee troops arrived at Spotsylvania Court
House, Va., to find the Rebels already there. After the Battle of the
Wilderness (May 5-6), Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Potomac marched south in
the drive to take Richmond. Grant hoped to control the strategic crossroads at
Spotsylvania Court House, so he could draw Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern
Virginia into open ground.
May 8, 1864 – George Wilson of the Conecuh Guards was wounded
at Spotsylvania Court House.
May 8, 1864 – During the Civil War,
skirmishes were fought northeast of Maysville, Ark.; at Resaca, Snake Creek
Gap, Rocky Face Ridge, Mill Creek Gap, Dug Gap, and Sugar Valley, Ga.; at Bayou
Robert, La.; and at Jeffersonville and Halltown, West Virginia.
May 8, 1865 – Joseph R. Bass of Evergreen, Ala. was
discharged from the Confederate Army at Forsythe, Ga. He would move to Texas
after the war and is buried in Caddo Mills, Texas.
May 8, 1865 – During the Civil War,
a 14-day Federal reconnaissance from Spring Hill, Ala. to Baton Rouge, La.
began.
May 8, 1865 – During the Civil War,
a skirmish was fought near Readsville, Mo. Two days of Federal operations in
Saline, La Fayette and Cooper Counties, Mo. began. A 15-day Federal
reconnaissance from Plum Creek to Midway Station in the Nebraska Territory
began.
May 8, 1878 - Paul Hines made baseball's first unassisted
triple play.
May 8, 1879 – The Evergreen Star reported that W.H.
Hawkins had been reelected the position of Marshal of Evergreen.
May 8, 1879 – The Evergreen Star reported that Bill
Kennedy of Brooklyn reported that 315 grown rats (and a table full of young
rats) were killed on the premises of Robt. Garvin recently.
May 8, 1879 – The Evergreen Star reported that Col. J.W.
Posey of Greenville was robbed at the Evergreen Hotel one night that week of $600.
Posey, upon going to bed, raised a window fronting the gallery, through which
the thief or thieves entered.
May 8, 1879 – The Evergreen Star reported that the
shooting of cattle continued. M.W. Etheridge, W.H. Herrington and Dr. J.D.
Airey had their milch cows shot the week before by unknown parties.
May 8, 1879 – The Evergreen Star carried the following
veterans-related item: A postal from Hon. H.A. Herbert to Col. P.D. Bowles
says: “Soldiers of the War of 1812 are not in any manner affected by the act of
February 1879. – The back pay thereunder is only for soldiers of 1861 and
since.”
May 8, 1879 – The Evergreen Star carried the following
sports-related item – “We are requested to give notice that a match game of
Base Ball will be played between two nines at the grounds Monday evening next.
The Ladies are respectfully invited to attend and witness the game.”
May 8, 1884 – Harry S. Truman, future U.S. President and
prominent Freemason, was born in Lamar, Missouri.
May 8, 1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sold a
carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine.
May 8, 1891 – Russian occultist, spirit medium and author
Helena Blavatsky passed away at the age of 59 from influenza in London,
England. Known as a 'pioneer esotericist,' she co-founded the Theosophical
Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the leading
theoretician of Theosophy, the esoteric movement that the Society promoted.
May 8, 1893 – National Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Edd
Roush was born in Oakland City, Indiana. He went on to play for the Chicago
White Sox, the Indianapolis Hoosiers, the Newark Peppers, the New York Giants
and the Cincinnati Reds. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962.
May 8, 1895 – Writer Edmund Wilson was born in Red Bank, New
Jersey.
May 8, 1895 – On this Wednesday night, a large lamp in Dr.
Wiggins’ store in Monroeville, Ala. fell to the floor and exploded. The
escaping oil caught fire and filled the room with flames. Clerk Charles Russell
and Chas. Wiggins extinguished the fire before any “material damage” was done.
May 8, 1901 – Evergreen, Alabama’s first electrical system
was turned on for the first time “amid loud and enthusiastic cheers, echoed
from all parts of town” as Virginia Savage, the small daughter of Evergreen’s
mayor, pressed the button that turned the current on along the nearly four
miles of wires that “set Evergreen ablaze for the first time with brilliant
electric lights.”
May 8, 1901 – National Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder
Turkey Stearnes was born in Nashville, Tenn. He went on to play for the
Nashville Giants, the Montgomery Grey Sox, the Detroit Stars, the New York
Lincoln Giants, the Kansas City Monarchs, the Chicago American Giants and the
Philadelphia Stars. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.
May 8, 1909 - Chief Bender of the Philadelphia Athletics hit
two inside the park home runs against Boston.
May 8, 1915 – On this Saturday afternoon, Jeddo’s baseball
team beat McGill, 11-0.
May 8, 1919 – The USS Herbert, named after Greenville, Ala.
native and former Secretary of the Navy Hilary A. Herbert, was launched by
Herbert’s daughter Mrs. Benjamin Micou.
May 8, 1919
– Melbourne, Australia journalist Edward George Honey proposed the idea of a
moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended
World War I.
May 8, 1932 - Edward C. Barnes was reappointed on this
Monday by President Harding to be Postmaster at Evergreen, Ala. This made the
third successive term for which Barnes had received appointment.
May 8, 1930 – Poet Gary Snyder was born in San Francisco.
May 8, 1930 – Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Doug
Atkins was born in Humboldt, Tenn. He went on to play for the University of
Tennessee, the Cleveland Browns, the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1982.
May 8, 1935 - Author Clarence Cason died in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
May 8, 1935 - Ernie Lombardi of the Cincinnati Reds hit four
doubles on consecutive at-bats against four different Philadelphia pitchers.
May 8, 1937 – Novelist Thomas Pynchon was born in the Long
Island city of Glen Cove, N.Y.
May 8, 1938 – On this Sunday, the Andalusia Rams baseball
team beat the Evergreen Greenies, 12-7, in Andalusia, Ala.
May 8, 1945 - U.S. President Harry Truman announced that
World War II had ended in Europe.
May 8, 1945
– German SS officer Wilhelm Rediess committed suicide at the age of 44 in Oslo,
Norway.
May 8, 1947 – Evergreen’s semi-pro baseball team was
scheduled to play Frisco City in Frisco City, Ala.
May 8, 1948 - The commencement season was ushered in at
Evergreen High School on this Saturday night with a Senior Banquet and Prom.
May 8, 1949 – The first ever baseball game was played at
Vanity Fair Park in Monroeville, Ala. The team from the Atmore State Prison
Farm won, 7-3.
May 8, 1951 - The synthetic fabric Dacron debuted on this
day and was the first polyester fiber unleashed on the public.
May 8, 1952 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Bill
Robinson and Pace Bozeman had been named to represent Evergreen High School at
the annual Boys State in Tuscaloosa in June 1952.
May 8, 1952 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Cpl.
Robert Johnston, son of Mr. and Mrs. Newton E. Johnston of Bruner Avenue in
Evergreen, had returned to the U.S. after serving eight months overseas.
Johnston’s overseas service included combat duty in Korea. He entered active
service with Battery “C,” 117th Field Artillery Battalion, local
National Guard Unit, in January 1951. He went overseas as a replacement after a
period of training at Fort Jackson, S.C. Johnston, known familiarly as
“Sleepy,” was a graduate of Evergreen High School.
May 8, 1952 – In this day’s edition of The Evergreen
Courant, Quarterback Club President Raymond DaLee was shown in a photo
presenting the keys to Evergreen High’s new activities bus to Principal C.W.
Claybrook. Looking on were R.G. Bozeman, Ward Alexander and Coston Bowers, QB club
members, and Coach Wendell Hart. In another picture, the men posed with the
Aggie baseball squad just before they boarded the bus bound for Brewton and a
game with T.R. Miller as the bus got an early “christening.” Chassis for the
bus was purchased with funds raised for that purpose by the Quarterback Club
and the body was furnished by the County Board of Education.
May 8, 1952 – In Dixie Amateur Baseball League action,
Monroeville won its first game of the season by beating Atmore, 19-3, in Atmore
on this Thursday night. Left-handed pitcher Tunney Cardwell pitched, and Marion
Watson hit a two-run triple and a double. Other players on Monroeville’s team
included Clenner, Finlayson, Hanks, Bob Riley, Joe Tucker and Watkins.
May 8, 1958 - William Guthrie Jones, age 72, longtime
resident of this Evergreen and much beloved citizen, passed away at his home
early on Thursday morning, following a lingering illness of many months. In
1915, he opened a barber shop in Evergreen and continued its operation for 43
years, having sold it only a few weeks before his death. He was a member of the
Greening Masonic Lodge No. 53 and served as its secretary for about 12 years. Born
on Aug. 15, 1885, he was buried in Magnolia Cemetery.
May 8, 1959 – Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback and
safety Ronnie Lott was born in Albuquerque, N.M. He went on to play for
Southern Cal, the San Francisco 49ers, the Los Angeles Raiders, the New York
Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.
May 8, 1961 - New Yorkers selected a new name – The Mets -
for their new National League baseball franchise.
May 8, 1963
– South Vietnamese soldiers of Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem opened fire on
Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing
nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.
May 8, 1966 - Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles became
the first player to hit a ball completely out of Cleveland's Memorial Stadium.
May, 8, 1966 - The St. Louis Cardinals played their last
game at Busch Stadium. They lost to San Francisco, 10-5.
May 8, 1968 – Army Staff Sgt. Armstead Johnson, 41, of
Castleberry, Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam. He was buried in Beverly
National Cemetery in Beverly (Burlington County), New Jersey.
May 8, 1970
– The Hard Hat Riot occurred in the Wall Street area of New York City as
blue-collar construction workers clashed with demonstrators protesting the
Vietnam War.
May 8, 1970 - President Nixon, at a
news conference, defended the U.S. troop movement into Cambodia, saying the
operation would provide six to eight months of time for training South
Vietnamese forces and thus would shorten the war for Americans. Nixon
reaffirmed his promise to withdraw 150,000 American soldiers by the following
spring.
May 8, 1972 – During the Vietnam War, U.S. President Richard
Nixon announced his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in
order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
May 8, 1973 – A tornado ripped through Megargel, Ala.,
destroying houses, mobile homes, downing 200 pecan trees and blowing a
refrigerator 250 yards from its original location.
May 8, 1973 - In Cincinnati, Ralph Miller, the last of the
19th century baseball players, died at the age of 100.
May 8, 1973 – The Coffee County Courthouse in Elba, Ala. was
added to the National Register of Historic Places.
May 8, 1974 – Retired merchant James Randolph Moorer of
Evergreen, Ala. passed away at the age of 80 in a local hospital. According to
The Evergreen Courant, “as a young man he was an outstanding athlete and
perhaps the best baseball player ever to grow up here. He was widely known and
highly respected.” Born on March 13, 1894, he was buried in Magnolia Cemetery
in Evergreen.
May 8, 1975 – Sparta Quarterback Club’s Annual All Sports
Awards Banquet was scheduled to be held on this day and Paul Crane was to be
the guest speaker. At the time, Crane was serving as an assistant coach for
Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s University of Alabama Crimson Tide. He was an
All-American center for Alabama and went on to star as a linebacker for the New
York Jets, one of the smallest men to play that position in the pros. Crane was
a member of the Jets’ Super Bowl championship team. Letters and awards for
players of all varsity sports were to be presented at the banquet which was to
be held on this Thursday night at 7:30 in the gymnatorium at Sparta Academy.
Tickets were $6 and could be purchased at the school or The Evergreen Courant.
James Ansley was president of the Quarterback Club.
May 8, 1978 – The first ascent of Mount Everest without
supplemental oxygen was accomplished by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
May 8, 1978 - David R. Berkowitz, known as the "Son of
Sam," pled guilty to six murder charges.
May 8, 1982 - Weather observer Earl Windham reported 1.28
inches of rain on this day in Evergreen, Ala.
May 8, 1982 - Dr. Charles Kendall Sergeant died unexpectedly
of an apparent massive heart attack suffered at his office on this Saturday afternoon.
Private memorial services were held on Wed., May 10, at his home at 307
Perryman St. in Evergreen, conducted by Dr. Lamar Jackson. Sergeant was a board
surgeon of extremely high qualifications and greatly respected in his
profession. He had practiced as a surgeon and as a family physician in
Evergreen for over four years.
May 8, 1983 – The Enoch Johnson Memorial Church of the
Nazarene in Excel, Ala. was dedicated. The pastor was the Rev. Comer R. Johnson
and the church’s Board of Trustees included Glennon Russell, Randy Kelly and
Sam Kelly. Board of Stewards were David Cole, Marvin Marrow, Mazie Petty,
Linnil Stacey and Beverly Marrow.
May 8, 1984 - Kirby Puckett of the Minnesota Twins debuted
with four singles.
May 8, 1984 - The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee
Brewers, 7-6, in 25 innings. The game was actually completed on May 9.
May 8, 1999 - Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners hit
his 361st home run. The feat tied him for 45th place on the all-time home run
list with Joe DiMaggio.
May 8, 2000 - Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit
his 534th home run. He tied Jimmie Foxx for ninth place on the all-time home
run list.
May 8, 2000 - Jason and Jeremy Giambi of the Oakland
Athletics became the 10th set of brothers to hit home runs in the same game.
May 8, 2006 – George Lutz of “Amityville Horror” fame passed
away at the age of 59 from heart disease.
May 8, 2008 - Sparta Academy senior Myles Wiggins received
the coveted Jerry Peacock Memorial Award on this Thursday night during the
school’s annual athletic awards banquet in Evergreen. The award was given
annually to the school’s top senior athlete in memory of Jerry Peacock, a 1977
Sparta Academy graduate and standout athlete whose life was cut short in a
tragic drowning accident shortly after his high school graduation. Wiggins, the
son of Sam and Allison Wiggins of Evergreen, was a standout athlete during his
career at Sparta, excelling in a number of sports, including football,
basketball, baseball and golf.
May 8, 2008 - Sparta Academy senior Peyton Thompson received
the coveted D.T. Stuart Football Sportsmanship Award on this Thursday night
during the school’s annual athletic awards banquet in Evergreen. The award was
given annually to the football player at the school who displayed the best
sportsmanship on and off the playing field throughout the season. Thompson was
also named as a Football Captain Award winner and was tapped as the winner of
the football team’s Best Defensive Back Award.
May 8, 2008 - Sparta Academy senior Susan Ann Cook received
the coveted Wayne Peacock Memorial Award on this Thursday night during the
school’s athletic awards banquet in Evergreen. The award was presented annually
to the school’s top girls basketball player in memory of longtime Sparta girls
basketball booster, Wayne Peacock. Cook also received a Senior Recognition
Award, a Girls Basketball Captain Award and a Varsity Cheerleader Captain
Award.
May 8, 2012 - Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers became the
16th Major League Baseball player to hit four home runs in one game.
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