Today in Southern History: December

Showing posts with label December. Show all posts

31 December 2017

Murfreesboro

31 December 1862

On this date in 1862...

The Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee began.

Other Years:

1794 - After agreeing to a peace with the United States on November 7th, the Cherokee, the Chickamauga band, and the U.S. exchanged prisoners, effectively ending the Chickamauga War.
1841 - Alabama became the first state to license dental surgeons.
1862 - Skirmish at Parker Cross Roads, Tennessee
1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the unconstitutional act admitting West Virginia to the Union.
1953 - Willie Shoemaker of Fabens, Texas broke his own record as he won his 485th race of the year.
1974 - Private citizens in the U.S. were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time simce the 1930's.

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30 December 2017

Charleston Arsenal

30 December 1860

On this date in 1860...

South Carolina state troops seized the federal arsenal at Charleston.

Other Years:

1853 - The United States bought about 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase.
1863 - Twenty Confederate States Marines froze to death after a federal warship swamped their boat and then fired on the survivors at Matagorda Peninsula, Texas.
1961 - Jack Nicklaus lost his first pro golf match to Gary Player in an exhibition at Miami, Florida.
1978 - Following Public outrage after Hayes punched Clemson University player Charlie Bauman during the Gator Bowl,Ohio State University fired its football coach, Woody Hayes. .

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29 December 2017

Chickasaw Bluffs

29 December 1862

On this date in 1862...

Confederate troops under General Joseph E. Johnston repulsed federal General W.T. Sherman's first attempt on Vicksburg at the Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs, Mississippi.

Other Years:

1776 - Members of the Mingo tribe under Chief Pluggy attacked the stockade at John McClelland's station, a settlement near modern-day Lexington, Kentucky. After many men on both sides were killed, the Mingo gave up the attack.
1778 - British troops occupied Savannah, Georgia.
1809 - Sovereign Grand Master of the Southern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, Confederate General, and Confederate Indian Commissioner, Albert Pike was born.
1830 - Nine missionaries issued a proclamation defending the Cherokee against the actions of Georgia for the state’s attempts to remove the tribe from their lands.
1835 - The Treaty of New Echota was signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.
1845 - Texas became the 28th U.S. state.
1862 - General Robert E. Lee executed a deed of manumission for (freed) all the slaves of the Custis estate.
1930 - Fred P. Newton of Clinton, Oklahoma completed longest swim ever (1826 miles), when he swam the Mississippi River from Ford Dam, Minn, to New Orleans.
1982 - Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant coached his final game as Alabama won the Liberty Bowl. Coach Bryant retired with the record for wins by a college football coach at 323.

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28 December 2017

Calhoun Resigns as VP

28 December 1832

On this date in 1832...

John C. Calhoun became the first vice-president in U.S. history to resign from office when a still higher tariff replaced the Tariff of Abominations of 1828. He returned to South Carolina, had a state convention called, and directed the passage of the famous South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification.

Other Years:

1791 – A Cherokee delegation including Chief Bloody Fellow arrived in Philadelphia to meet with President George Washington. The meeting was delayed by Secretary of War Knox until the Cherokee had been outfitted in "more proper" clothing.
1835 - Seminoles ambushed the Dade Party, 110 men under the command of Major Francis L. Dade who were sent from Fort Brooke to reinforce Fort King, Florida. Only two soldiers made it back to Fort Brooke, and one of those died of his wounds a few days later. The Dade Massacre began the Second Seminole War.
1948 - DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappearsed 50 miles south of Miami, Florida.
1981 - Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby, was born in Norfolk, Virginia.
1987 - In Arkansas, R Gene Simmons killed 2, later the bodies of 14 of his relatives were found at his home near Dover.

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27 December 2017

Stephen F. Austin Dies

27 December 1836

On this date in 1836...

Texas pioneer and impresario Stephen F. Austin died at West Columbia, Texas after a lengthy illness resulting from his imprisonment in Mexico.

Other Years:

1761 – Creek Indians led by a chief known as "The Mortar" attacked several English in the "Long Canes" area of South Carolina killing 14 settlers.
1845 - Dr. Crawford Williamson Long used anesthesia for childbirth for the first time, the delivery of his own child in Jefferson, Georgia.
1860 - South Carolina troops seized Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor. The U.S. Revenue Cutter William Aiken surrendered to South Carolina authorities.
1900 - Kentucky native and prohibitionist, Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas breaking every liquor bottle she could find.
1965 - The International Swimming Hall of Fame was dedicated in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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26 December 2017

Anderson’s Provacative Move

26 December 1860

On this date in 1860...

Federal Major Robert Anderson secretly moved his troops from Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, into Fort Sumter, aggravating the tense situation in Charleston, South Carolina.

Other Years:

1811 - A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia killed the Governor George William Smith and First National Bank of Virginia president Abraham B. Venable.
1863 - Federal raiders looted and burned Port Lavaca, Texas.
1908 - Texas boxer "Galveston Jack" Johnson knocked out Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia, becoming the first black boxer to win the world heavyweight title.
1944 - Tennessee Williams' play "The Glass Menagerie" was first performed publicly, at the Civic Theatre in Chicago.

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25 December 2017

Bermuda Hundred

25 December 1611

On this date in 1611...

Sir Thomas Dale led a band of Jamestown colonists up the James River to burn the main Appomattoc village in retalliation for a September attack that killed 20 men. Dale built a new settlement called Bermuda Hundred at the site.

Other Years:

1780 - John Sevier, and troops from Virginia, burned the Cherokee town of Chota, Tennessee, and several other nearby villages.
1861 - Trent affair ended with release of Confederate Commissioners to England, Mason & Slidell to the British.
1864 - Federal troops unsuccessfully attacked Fort Fisher, North Carolina.
1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all persons involved in defending the Confederate States during the War of Northern Aggression.
1971 - The longest pro-football game to date finally ended when Garo Yepremian kicked a field goal in the second quarter of sudden death overtime as the Miami Dolphins defeated Kansas City, 27-24. The game lasted 82 minutes and 40 seconds of playing time.
1983 – The first live telecast of the EPCOT Center Christmas Parade aired from Disney World in Florida.
1991 - The Cold War ended as Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev announced his resignation as leader of a Communist superpower that no longer existed.

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24 December 2017

The La Harpe Expedition

24 December 1721

On this date in 1721...

French explorer Benard de la Harpe started an expedition up the Arkansas River. With 16 Frenchmen, he travelled all the way to the Rocky mountains and returned. La Harpe recommend establishing a trading posts along his route to New Mexico.

Other Years:

1798 - The Virginia state legislature passed James Madison’s Virginia Resolution to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.
1814 - The War of 1812 between the U.S. and England ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium.
1851 - A fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, DC destroying about 35,000 volumes.
1865 - Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed what began as a private social club in Pulaski, Tennessee called the Ku Klux Klan.
1924 - A school in Babb's Switch, Oklahoma caught fire killing 36 children.
2000 - The “Texas Seven” gang of escaped convicts held up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins was killed during the robbery.

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23 December 2017

The Battle of the Holy Ground

23 December 1813

On this date in 1813...

Approximately 850 militia from Natchez, led by Brigadier General Ferdinand Claiborne, and 150 Choctaws, led by Chief Pushmataha, attacked the Red Stick Creeks at a secret holy site, called the Hickory Ground, in Lowndes County, Alabama. The Creeks lost the “Battle of the Holy Ground” with many warriors and prophets killed. Red Stick Chief William Weatherford (Lume Chathi) survived by jumping his horse off a bluff into the Alabama River. The Americans reported only one soldier killed.

Other Years:

1783 - George Washington resigned his commission as commander in chief of the Continental Army and returned home to Mount Vernon, after the disbanding of his army following the Revolutionary War.
1788 - Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government. About two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia.
1861 - Lord Lyon's of Great Britain demanded that federals release Confederate Commissioners Mason & Slidell to England after they were illegally seized from the H.M.S. Trent.
1913 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the Federal Reserve System.
1957 - Dan Blocker of De Kalb, Texas made his acting debut on television in the "Restless Gun."
1982 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced it had identified dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach, Missouri
1987 - Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, serving a life sentence for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ford in 1975, escaped from the Alderson Federal Prison for Women in Western Virginia.
1997 - terry nichols was found guilty of manslaughter for his part in the Oklahoma City bombing.

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22 December 2017

Morgan’s Raid

22 December 1862

On this date in 1862...

General John Hunt Morgan's Confederate cavalry crossed the Cumberland River to raid federal installations in occupied Kentucky.

Other Years:

1769 - A Shawnee war party captured Daniel Boone.
1775 - A force of 1,500 Patriot rangers and militia captured a Loyalist force in Great Canebrake, South Carolina.
1830 - The State of Georgia prohibited whites from being on Cherokee land without a permit.
1961 - SP4 James Davis of Livingston, Tennessee became the first U.S. soldier to die in Vietnam, while serving as a military adviser.
1991 - The body of Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, an American hostage from Danville, Kentucky murdered by his captors, was found along a highway in Lebanon.

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21 December 2017

Savannah Occupied

21 December 1864

On this date in 1864...

Federal General W.T. Sherman’s federal troops occupied Savannah, Georgia after Confederates evacuated the city.

Other Years:

1759 - A peace conference convened between the Cherokee and British representatives in North Carolina.
1804 - Two treaties the Cherokee signed to give up over four million acres for almost $20,000 went to the Senate for approval.
1968 - Apollo 8 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on a mission to orbit the moon.
1996 - After two years of denials, U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia admitted violating House ethics rules.

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20 December 2017

The Flying Tigers

20 December 1941

On this date in 1941...

Southerner Claire Lee Chennault's American Volunteer Group, the Flying Tigers, acting as part of the Chinese Air Force, were the first American forces to strike an offensive blow at the Japanese military when they dove on 10 Japanese bombers enroute to bomb Kunming, China. The Flying Tigers' P-40 Warhawks shot down 4 Japanese planes and prevented any bombers from reaching the Chinese capital.

Other Years:

1606 - The "Susan Constant," "Godspeed" and "Discovery" set sail from London. Their landing at Jamestown, Virginia, was the start of the first permanent English settlement in America.
1803 – The French flag was lowered in New Orleans to mark formal transfer of Louisiana Purchase from France to US for 27 million dollars.
1820 - Missouri imposed a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between age 21 & 50.
1860 - South Carolina became the U.S. state to secede from the Union.
1862 - General Earl Van Dorn's Confederate cavalry destroyed General Ulysses Grant's federal supply base at Holly Springs, Mississippi.
1893 – Georgia became the first state to pass an anti-lynching statute.
1907 – An explosion at a Yolande, Alabama coal mine killed 91 miners.
1957 - Elvis Presley was drafted by the U.S. Army and sent to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas for training.
1998 - In Houston, Texas a 27-year-old woman gave birth to the only known living set of octuplets.

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19 December 2017

Clinton Impeached

19 December 1998

On this date in 1998...

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve and file two articles of impeachment against U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton.

Other Years:

1795 - Kentucky became the first state to appropriate public money for road building.
1823 - Georgia passed the first state law requiring registration of live birth in the U.S.
1828 - South Carolina declared the right of states to nullify federal laws.
1842 - Hawaiian independence was recognized by the U.S.
1862 - General Nathan Bedford Forrest's Confederate cavalry attacked the federal supply line on the railroad near Jackson, Tennessee.
1959 - Claiming to be the last veteran of the War of Northern Aggression, Walter Washington Williams died in Houston, Texas, at the age of 117.
1990 - Bo Jackson of Bessemer, Alabama, playing for the Los Angeles Raiders became the first athlete to be chosen for All Star Games of two sports.

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18 December 2017

Battle of Lexington, Tenn.

18 December 1862

On this date in 1862...

General Nathan Bedford Forrest's Confederate cavalry defeated a larger federal force at Lexington, Tennessee.

Other Years:

1796 - The "Monitor," of Baltimore published the first Sunday newspaper.
1835 - A group of Seminoles, led by Osceola attacked a military baggage caravan separated from its main force while marching from Jacksonville, FL to Wetumpka, AL near Micanopy, Florida. The Battle of Black Point resulted in the death of most of the soldiers and became the first battle of the Second Seminole War.
1859 - South Carolina declared itself an "independent commonwealth."
1865 - U.S. Secretary of State William Seward issued a statement verifying the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution during "Reconstruction."
1915 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson of Virginia, widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt at her Washington home.
1998 - The U.S. House of Representatives began the debate on the four articles of impeachment concerning U.S. President Bill Clinton.
1998 - South Carolina conducted the U.S.' 500th execution since capital punishment was restored.

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17 December 2017

First In Flight

17 December 1903

On this date in 1903...

Orville and Wilbur Wright took the first successful man-powered airplane flights at Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Other Years:

1777 - France recognized American independence.
1821 - Kentucky abolished debtors' prisons.
1860 - The South Carolina Secession Convention convened at First Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina.
1862 - General Wade Hampton's Confederate cavalry raided Federal supply depots at Occoquan, Virginia.
1862 - General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order #11, expelling Jews from Tennessee.
1976 - WTCG-TV, Atlanta, Georgia, changed its call letters to WTBS, and was uplinked via satellite, becoming the first commercial TV station to cover the entire U.S.
1988 – The USS Tennessee SSBN-73, the first nuclear sub to carry Trident 2 missiles was commissioned with its home port of King’s Bay, Georgia.

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16 December 2017

The New Madrid Quake

16 December 1811

On this date in 1811...

The New Madrid earthquake swarm began with two quakes of an estimated 7.5 -7.9 magnitude in Northeastern Arkansas. They remain the most powerful earthquakes in recorded history to hit the contiguous United States east of the Rocky Mountains. The earthquakes rang church bells as far away as Boston, reshaped the landscape creating Reelfoot Lake, and continued until February 1812.

Other Years:

1825 – Confederate General Henry Heth was born at Black Heath, Virginia.
1826 - Benjamin W. Edwards rode into Mexican-controlled Nacogdoches, Texas and declared himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.
1864 - General John B. Hood wasted the rest of the Confederate Army of Tennessee in the Battle of Nashville.
1950 - U.S. President Harry Truman of Missouri proclaimed a national state of emergency to fight "Communist imperialism."
1972 - The Miami Dolphins became the first NFL team to go unbeaten and untied in a 14-game regular season, goimg on to defeat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII.

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15 December 2017

The Hartford Convention

15 December 1814

On this date in 1814...

Due to dissatisfaction with the War of 1812, delegates from five New England states met in secret meetings at the Hartford Convention and threatened to secede from the United States and set up their own country. No invasion or war followed.

Other Years:

1791 - The new United States of America affirmed the God-given rights of its citizens by ratifying the Bill of Rights (amendments 1-10 of the U.S. Constitution) when Virginia gave its approval.
1938 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt presided over the ground-breaking ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.
1939 - "Gone With the Wind," produced by David O. Selznick based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, premiered at Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta.
1982 - Paul "Bear" Bryant announced his retirement as head football coach at the University of Alabama.

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14 December 2017

The Southern Sport

14 December 1947

On this date in 1947...

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) was founded in Daytona Beach, Florida, finally giving moonshine haulers and hot-rodders a legal way to make a living.

Other Years:

1703 – A small Carolina militia of 50 men led by Colonel James Moore, and almost 1,000 Creek allies, attacked the Spanish Apalachee Indian village of Ayubale near modern day Tallahassee, killing more than 200 Apalachee.
1742: After attacks on settlers in the valley of Virginia, a European militia trapped the Catawba war party on the North Fork of the Potomac River. Numerous Indians, and 8 settlers died in the fighting.
1799 - George Washington died at his home, Mt. Vernon in Virginia.
1819 - Alabama became the 22nd U.S. state.
1903 - Orville Wright made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged in the attempt at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1985 - Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to lead a major American Indian tribe as she formally took office as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
1986 - Jeana Yeager of Ft. Worth, Texas and Dick Rutan took off from California in the Voyager on the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world taking nine days.

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13 December 2017

Fredricksburg

13 December 1862

On this date in 1962...

Federal General Ambrose E. Burnside wasted 12,653 of his own troops in a doomed frontal attack during the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Other Years:

1801 - In treaty negotiations at Fort Adams, Mississippi, the U.S. agreed to give the Choctaw training in the spinning of cotton, and to provide them spinning wheels
.1809 - The first abdominal surgical procedure was performed in Danville, Kentucky, on Jane Todd Crawford without an anesthetic.
1862 - The Georgia General Assembly created the Georgia State Line Troops.
1864 - Ft. McAllister, Georgia fell to General W.T. Sherman's federal invaders.
1887 - Alvin York, the most decorated American soldier of WWI was born at Pall Mall, Tennessee.
1918 - U.S. President Wilson of Virginia arrived in France, becoming the first chief executive to visit a European country while holding office.
1964 - In El Paso, Texas, President Lyndon Johnson and Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz set off an explosion that diverted the Rio Grande River, reshaped the border, and ended a century-old border dispute.
1983 - Martha Layne Collins was inaugurated as Kentucky's first female governor.
2000 - The "Texas Seven" escaped from the John Connally Correctional Unit near Kennedy, Texas and went on a crime spree, killing police officer Aubrey Hawkins.

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12 December 2017

Stand Watie

12 December 1806

On this date in 1806...

Standhope Uwatie, better known as Cherokee Confederate General and principal Chief Stand Watie was born in Oothcaloga, Cherokee Nation. (now Calhoun, Georgia)

Other Years:

1729 - The Yazoo Indians, having joined the Natchez in their war on the French, attacked Fort St. Pierre in southern Louisiana. They kill all 17 soldiers at the fort and give the women and children to the Chickasaw as slaves.
1800 - Washington, DC, was established as the capital of the United States.
1830 - Confederate General Joseph Orville Shelby was born in Lexington, Kentucky.
1870 - Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first black lawmaker to be sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives.
1998 - The House Judiciary Committee rejected censure and approved the final article of impeachment against U.S. President Bill Clinton, submitting the case to the full House for a verdict.
2000 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court in the 2000 U.S. Presidential election was unconstitutional.
2000 - Oklahoma City bomber timothy mcveigh, over the objections of his lawyers, abandoned his final round of appeals and asked that his execution be set within 120 days.

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