Today in History for Aug. 20, 2014

The Battle of Churubusco.

Aug. 20, 1540 – The DeSoto Expedition departed the ancient Indian town of Coosa (Cosa, Coca), which was located on the east bank of Talladega Creek, 1-1/2 miles northeast of Childersburg in Talladega County, Ala. DeSoto arrived at the town on July 16, 1540.

Aug. 20, 1800 – In an incident attributed to the "Bermuda Triangle," the USS Pickering disappeared with a crew of 90 while en route to Guadeloupe in the West Indies from New Castle, Delaware.

Aug. 20, 1824 – During his extended tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette left New York City and made several stops on his way to Bridgeport, Conn., stopping in Harlem, New Rochelle, Byram Bridge and Putnam Hill in Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, Saugatuck (Westport) and Fairfield before reaching Bridgeport and staying at the Washington Hotel.

Aug. 20, 1832 – David Holmes passed away in Winchester, Va. at the age of 63. On June 5, 1815, as the Territorial Governor of Mississippi, Holmes would establish Monroe County by proclamation.

Aug. 20, 1847 – During the Mexican-American War, Mark B. Travis, a younger brother of William Barrett Travis who died at the Alamo, was said to have been wounded on this day at the Battle of Churubusco, a few miles outside of Mexico City.

Aug. 20, 1862 – During the Civil War, Horace Greeley's "The Prayer of Twenty Millions" was published in the New York Tribune, and the editorial called on U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to declare emancipation for all slaves.

Aug. 20, 1866 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson formally declared that the American Civil War was over even though fighting had stopped months earlier.

Aug. 20, 1890 – H.P. Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island.

Aug. 20, 1920 – Professional football was born as seven men met to organize a professional football league at the Jordan and Hupmobile Auto Showroom in Canton, Ohio. The meeting led to the creation of the American Professional Football Conference, the forerunner of today's National Football League.

Aug. 20, 1937 - Dixie Bibb Graves took her seat in the U.S. Senate to become Alabama's first female senator. Only the fourth woman to serve as a U.S. senator, Graves had been appointed by her husband, Gov. Bibb Graves, to succeed Hugo Black, who had been appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Aug. 20, 1945 - Tommy Brown of the Brooklyn Dodgers became the youngest player to hit a home run in a major league ball game. Brown was 17 years, 8 months and 14 days old.

Aug. 20, 1949 - Cleveland’s Indians and Chicago’s White Sox played at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland before the largest crowd, 78,382 people, to see a nighttime major-league baseball game.

Aug. 20, 1977 – Cropduster Gary Earl Geck, 26, of Castleberry killed in plane crash n a wooded area on the Appleton Road in the southwestern section of Conecuh County.

Aug. 20, 1994 – Chris McCutcheon, 17, of Evergreen was critically injured when the 1993 Honda Prelude he was driving collided with a northbound CSX train around 10:15 a.m. at the railroad crossing near the Old Depot in downtown Evergreen.

Aug. 20, 2005 - Thomas Herrion of the San Francisco 49ers collapsed and died after a preseason game in Denver.