Today in Southern History: February

Showing posts with label February. Show all posts

28 February 2017

28 February 1993

On this date in 1993...

A gun battle erupted near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidian commune; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began. The attack and siege was largely seen as the agency's botched attempt to prove its relevance in the face of threats by congress to reduce its funding.

Other Years:

1675 - The Spanish Mission Santa Cruz de Sabacola El Menor was dedicated for the Sawoklis Indians on the Apalachicola River.
1827 - The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad became the first American railway chartered for freight and passengers.
1837 - A band of Creek warriors attacked the Alberson homestead on the Alabama-Florida border and massacre the entire family.
1863 - The C.S.S. Nashville was destroyed by the U.S.S. Montauk near Fort McAllister, Georgia.
1960 - Richard Petty won his first Winston Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina.

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27 February 2017

27 February 1827

On this date in 1827...

A group of masked and costumed students danced through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, beginning the city's first Mardi Gras celebration.

Other Years:

1699 - Fearing an English take over of the Mississippi Valley, Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville began a voyage up the Mississippi River to establish a series of French forts.
1776 - The Continental Congress established the Southern Department of the Continental Army, consisting of Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia.
1836 - While attempting to cross the Withlacoochee River in Florida, General Edmund Gaines and 1,100 troops were attacked by a Seminole force of 1,500 warriors. Under fire, the troops built a stockade and fighting continued ten more days before both sides agreed to a truce.
1863 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis called for a national day of fasting and prayer.
1932 - A coal mine explosion killed 38 miners in Boissevain, Virginia.
1971 - Janis Joplin's album Pearl is released posthumously.

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26 February 2017

26 February 1932

On this date in 1932...

Legendary singer-songwriter John R. "Johnny" Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas. Also known as the "The Man In Black", Cash is the only artist to have been inducted into inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Other Years:

1861 - The Confederate Congress passed an act to organize a general staff for the Confederate Army.
1919 – The U.S. Congress passed "An Act to Establish the Grand Canyon National Park in the State of Arizona."
1972 - A slag-heap dam collapsed above Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, killing 125 residents.
1998 - Oprah Winfrey was found not guilty in a trail on a beef defamation suit brought by Texas cattlemen.

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25 February 2017

25 February 1862

On this date in 1862...

Federal troops under federal General Ullyses S. Grant occupied Nashville, Tennessee.

Other Years:

1793 - The department heads of the U.S. government met with U.S. President Washington for the first Cabinet meeting on record.
1839 – Defeated Seminole warriors, their families, and black allies were placed on ships at Tampa Bay, Florida and sent west to Indian Territory.
1870 - Hiram R. Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, became the first black member of the United States Senate as he was sworn in to serve out the remainder Jefferson Davis's unexpired term.
1875 - After the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon and a relentless pursuit by the Army, Lone Wolf, and 252 Kiowa followers, finally surrendered at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Lone Wolf was sent as a prisoner-of-war to Fort Marion, in St. Augustine, Florida.
1913 - The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, authorizing an income tax.
1999 - William King was sentenced to death for the racially-motivated murder of James Byrd Jr in Jasper, Texas.

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24 February 2017

24 February 1730

On this date in 1730...

With both sides running low of ammunition, the French and Natchez Indians agreed on a peace settlement in which the Natchez released all of their prisoners and the French withdrew to the Mississippi River.

Other Years:

1836 - Colonel William Travis issued a call for help on behalf of the Texan troops defending the Alamo.
1863 - Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry raided Brentwood, Tennessee.
1863 - Arizona organized as a separate territory from New Mexico.
1868 - The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Johnson was later acquitted by one vote in the Senate.
1868 - The Mardi Gras celebration at Mobile, Alabama became the first U.S. parade to feature floats.
1921 - The first transcontinental flight of more than 24 hours flight time arrived in Florida.
1943 - The Texas League announced it would suspend baseball for the duration of WWII.
1979 - The highest price ever, $42,500, was paid for a prize-winning pig in Stamford, Texas.
1999 - The State of Arizona executed Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery, despite Germany's legal attempts to save him.
1986 - Texas Air bought Eastern Airlines for $676 million.
1949 - A V-2/WAC-Corporal became the first rocket to travel five times the speed of sound at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

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23 February 2017

23 February 1847

On this date in 1847...

Jefferson Davis became a national hero at the head of his Mississippi troops in the Mexican War Battle of Buena Vista.

Other Years:

1836 - A large Mexican force commanded by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna arrived suddenly at San Antonio to begin the siege of Texas patriots in the Alamo.
1838 - Confederate General Gilbert Moxley Sorrel was born in Savanah, Georgia.
1861 - Texas became the 7th state to secede from the Union.
1869 – The Louisiana reconstruction governor signed the public accommodations law.
1870 - Mississippi was readmitted to the union.
1883 - Alabama became the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
1983 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
1998 - Tornadoes struck Florida killing at least 31 people.

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22 February 2017

22 February 1861

On this date in 1862...

The second and permanent Confederate Congress officially adopted this date for formation of the CSA to honor the 130th anniversary of George Washington’s birthday. (Washington is prominently featured on the Great Seal of the Confederate States)

Other Years:

1732 - First U.S. President and Revelotionary War Commander George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
1819 - The U.S. and Spain signed the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, ceding Florida to the U.S. and setting a boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. (Mexico including Texas)
1821 - Spain officially ceded East Florida to the United States for $5 million.
1862 - President Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the official President of the Confederate States of America.
1865 - Wilmington, North Carolina fell to federal troops.
1865 - Occupied Tennessee adopted its reconstruction constitution and abolished slavery
1944 - Cherokee First Lieutenant Jack C. Montgomery, with the Forty-fifth Infantry, Oklahoma National Guard near Padiglione, Italy, Montgomery single-handedly attacked German positions, killing eleven enemy soldiers and taking dozens of prisoners for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
1946 - The first attack of the still-unsolved "Phantom" serial-murders occurred in Texarkana on the Arkansas-Texas border.
1959 - Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500.
2010 - Arkansas-based Walmart announced it was acquiring the video streaming company Vudu, Inc.

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21 February 2017

21 February 1911

On this date in 1911...The “last Comanche Chief” and founder of the Native American Church, Quanah Parker, died at age sixty-four and was buried at Post Oak Mission Cemetery near Cache, Oklahoma.

Other Years:

1861 - Camp Cooper, a post established on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River to keep watch over the nearby Comanche Reservation, was abandoned by federal troops.
1863 – The Battle of Valverde, New Mexico.
1922 - The Italian Airship Roma exploded at Hampton Roads, Virginia killing 34 people.
1988 - In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, evangelist Jimmy Swaggart confessed to his congregation that he was guilty of an unspecified sin and that he was leaving the pulpit temporarily.

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20 February 2017

20 February 1832

On this date in 1832...

After suffering floods, cold weather, and mud, Choctaw Chief, Peter Pitchlynn, and his surviving followers, arrived in Fort Smith, Arkansas on the Trail of Tears.

Other Years:

1792 - U.S. President George Washington signed the Postal Service Act that created the U.S. Post Office.
1809 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the power of the federal government was greater than that of any individual state.
1839 - The U.S. Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.
1861 – The provisional Confederate Congress founded the Confederate States Navy.
1864 - Confederate forces fought back a federal invasion force at the Battle of Olustee, Florida.
1877 - The first cantilever bridge in the U.S. was completed at Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
1933 - The U.S. House of Representatives completed congressional action on the amendment to repeal Prohibition.

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19 February 2017

19 February 1807

On this date in 1807...

U.S. Vice-President Aaron Burr was arrested in Alabama for treason in a plot to steal and become dictator of a large swath of the Louisiana Purchase.

Other Years:

1778 - Virginia Governor Patrick Henry wrote a letter to Colonel William Fleming suggesting that the murderers of Shawnee Chief Cornstalk were British agents trying to instigate a fight with the Indians to divert Virginia troops away from the Revolutionary War.
1846 - Texas formally installed a state government in Austin, Texas.
1917 - Novelist Carson McCullers was born in Columbus, Georgia.
1942 - President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order that resulted in the internment of Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast. Thousands were relocated to concentration camps built in the rural South and West.
1950 - A ground-breaking ceremony was held for Mississippi Vocational College, which later became Mississippi Valley State University.
1953 - Georgia approved the first literature censorship board in the U.S.
1966 - Janis Joplin debuted as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company.
1968 - The first U.S. teachers strike started in Florida.
1998 - Grand Old Opry star, Louis Marshal "Grandpa" Jones died at the age of 84 from the effects of a stroke in Nashville, Tennessee.

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18 February 2017

18 February 1861

On this date in 1861...

Jefferson Davis took the oath as provisional president of the Confederate States of America at his inauguration in Montgomery, Alabama.

Other Years:

1685 - Fort St. Louis was established by French soldiers at Matagorda Bay forming the basis for a French claim to Texas.
1817 - Confederate General Lewis A. Armistead was born in New Bern, North Carolina.
1861 - General David Twiggs surrendered all federal military posts in Texas to state authorities.
1876 - Twenty-Fifth U.S. Infantry soldiers fought Indians in the Carrizo Mountains of Texas with no casualties recorded on either side.
1878 – Rancher John Tunstall was murdered by outlaw Jessie Evans and others, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
1885 - Mark Twain published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
1915 – Confederate veteran and Western outlaw Frank James died at the age of 72 at his home in Clay County, Missouri.
2001 - "The Intimidator," NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt died in a crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

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17 February 2017

They Created a Desert and Called It Peace

17 February 1865

On this date in 1865...

Federal General William Tecumseh Sherman, after taking Columbia, South Carolina, allowed his drunken troops to burn almost the entire city to the ground. None of the federal arsonists were ever punished or brought to trial.

Other Years:

1690 - French explorer Henri de Tonti visits the Natchitoches Confederation near what is now called Natchitoches, Louisiana.
1793 - Creek Chief Alexander McGillivray died in Pensacola, Florida.
1801 - Thomas Jefferson secured his victory over incumbent John Adams in the disputed presidential election of 1800.
1817 - The first gaslit streetlights appeared on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland.
1864 - The Confederate submarine Horace L. Hunley sank the U.S.S. Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, S.C and vanished the same night.
1870 - Mississippi was the ninth Confederate state readmitted to the union.
1909 - Apache Chief Geronimo (Goyathlay) died at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
1924 - Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller set a world record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 57-2/5 seconds in Miami, Florida.
1957 - A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri killed 72 people.

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16 February 2017

16 February 1838

On this date in 1838...

Kentucky passed a law permitting women to attend school under certain conditions.

Other Years:

1804 - Maryland-native Lt. Stephen Decatur led a raid to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia that had been taken by Barbary pirates.
1857 - The National Deaf Mute College was incorporated in Washington, DC as the first school in the world for advanced education of the deaf. It was later renamed Gallaudet College.
1861 - Texas state troops occupied the federal arsenal and barracks at San Antonio.
1862 - Fort Donelson, Tennessee fell to Ulysses Grant's invading federal forces.
1865 - Columbia, South Carolina fell to General W.T. Sherman's federal invaders.
1959 - Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba after the overthrow of President Fulgencio Batista.
1968 - The first 911 emergency telephone system in the U.S. was inaugurated in Haleyville, Alabama.
1970 - Joe Frazier of Beaufort, SC began his reign as the undefeated heavyweight world champion when he knocked out Jimmy Ellis in five rounds. Frazier lost the title on January 22, 1973, losing for the first time in his professional career to George Foreman of Texas.

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15 February 2017

15 February 1861

On this date in 1861...

The Confederate Provisional Congress created a Peace Commission to negotiate with the U.S. Government and avoid an unwanted war. President Davis chose Martin J. Crawford of Georgia, John Forsyth of Alabama, and Andre B. Roman of Louisiana to serve as commissioners. The U.S. government refused to see the peace commissioners and proceeded to escalate tensions, ultimately to the point of provoking war.

Other Years:

1764 - St. Louis, Missouri was founded as a French trading post by Pierre Laclade Ligue.
1862 – Federal Gen. Ullyses S. Grant launched his major assault to take Ft. Donelson, Tennessee.
1898 - The battleship U.S.S. Maine blew up in Havana Harbor, killing 260 crew members, escalating tensions with Spain, and leading to the Spanish-American War.
2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush approved Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a site for long-term disposal of radioactive nuclear waste.

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14 February 2017

14 February 1779

On this date in 1779...

A Patriot force led by Andrew Pickens and Elijah Clarke defeated North Carolina Tories at the Battle of Kettle Creek, Georgia.

Other Years:

1855 - Texas was linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.
1862 – The Confederate shore batteries of Fort Donelson, exchanged fire with attacking federal ironclads.
1867 - Morehouse College organized in Augusta, Georgia.
1912 - The former Confederate Territory of Arizona was admitted to the union as the 48th U.S. state.
1957 - The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, comprised of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Charles K. Steele and Fred L. Shuttlesworth, was organized. King was the organization's first president.
1978 - The first microchip was patented by Texas Instruments.
1998 – Federal authorities announced that Eric Robert Rudolph was suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.

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13 February 2017

13 February 1866

On this date in 1866...

Jesse James, Frank James, and Cole Younger were suspects in the first daylight armed bank robbery in the United States during peacetime. The target, the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri, was owned by Republican former militia officers who had a reputation for deception and foreclosures against Southern veterans. The gang escaped with a haul of more than $15,000.

Other Years:

1566 - St Augustine, Florida was founded by Spanish colonists.
1693 - The College of William & Mary opened in Virginia.
1786 - Abraham Baldwin was selected as president of the University of Georgia.
1795 - The University of North Carolina opened, making it the first state university in the U.S.
1861 - The Virginia Secession Convention assembled in Richmond.
1862 - The Battle of Fort Donelson, Tennessee began.
1879 - Victorio, and twenty-two Warm Springs Apache, surrendered to Lieutenant Charles Merritt, of the Ninth U.S. Cavalry, at Ojo Caliente, New Mexico.
1925 - Pioneering cave explorer Floyd Collins died after being trapped underground for fourteen days in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.
1981 - A series of sewer explosions destroyed more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.

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12 February 2017

Georgia Colony Founded

12 February 1733

On this date in 1733...

James Oglethorpe and his colonists first landed at Yamacraw Bluff to found the British colony of Georgia at the site of present-day Savannah, Georgia.

Other Years:

1825 – The Creek tribe ceded the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrated west.
1962 – The Macon, Georgia bus boycott began.
1963 – Construction began on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
1971 - James Cash Penney of Hamilton, Missouri died at the age of 95. J.C. Penny closed for one-half day as a memorial to the company's founder.
1999 - The U.S. Senate voted not to remove U.S. President Bill Clinton from office after his trial on charges raised in his impeachment.
2002 - Kenneth Lay, former Enron CEO, exercised his constitutional rights and refused to testify to the U.S. Congress about the collapse of the Texas energy giant.

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11 February 2017

The Longest Walk

11 February 1978

On this date in 1978...

The "longest walk" began at Alcatraz Island, CA and went to Washington DC to protest U.S. government treatment of Indians. A portion of the route mirrored the route of the Trail of tears

Other Years:

1715 - The Tuscarora Tribe led by Tom Blount, signed a peace treaty with the English settlers of North Carolina ending much of the fighting in the colony.
1766 – The British Stamp Act was declared unconstitutional in Virginia.
1812 - Confederate Vice-President Alexander H. Stephens was born in Crawfordville, Georgia.
1861 - In Arizona, Lieutenant George Bascom found the bodies of the six hostages that had been held by Cochise. Today, three of Cochise's relatives and three Coyotero Apache prisoners were hung over the graves of the white hostages.
1940 - NBC radio presented "The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street" for the first time, celebrating New Orleans Dixieland jazz and making Dinah Shore a national recording star.
2006 - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old Texas attorney, during a quail hunt on a ranch in Riviera, Texas.

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10 February 2017

The Treaty of Paris

10 February 1763

On this date in 1763...

The Treaty of Paris, "The definitive Treaty of Peace and Friendship between his Britannick Majesty, the Most Christian King, and the King of Spain” was signed at Paris, France to end the French and Indian War. England claimed sovereignty over all lands and Indians east of the Mississippi River.

Other Years:

1861 - Jefferson Davis was notified by telegraph that he had been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
1863 – The first U.S. fire extinguisher patent was granted to Alanson Crane, of Virginia.
1923 – Texas Tech University was founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas
1927 - Soprano Leontyne Price was born in Laurel, Mississippi.
1962 - The Soviet Union exchanged capture American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of Jenkins, Kentucky for Soviet spy Rudolph Ivanovich Abel.
1967 – The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified dealing with presidential succession.

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09 February 2017

President Davis

9 February 1861

On this date in 1861...

Mexican War hero, former Secretary of War, and U.S. Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected by the provisional Confederate government as President and Alexander Stephens as Vice-President of the Confederate States of America.

Other Years:

1611 - While leading a Paspahegh war party near Jamestown, Virginia, Chief Wochinchopunck of the Powhatan Confederacy was killed killed by Cpt. William Powell during a fight with English colonists in Virginia
1861 - A vote for Tennessee secession failed.
1926 - Atlanta, Georgia schools forbid the teaching of the Darwin’s theory of evolution.
1960 - The first star was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honoring Joanne Woodward of Thomasville, Georgia.
1989 - New York-based Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. completed the $25 billion purchase of RJR Nabisco, Inc.

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