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| L. Frank Baum |
May 15, 1602 - Cape Cod was discovered by Bartholomew
Gosnold.
May 15, 1755 – Laredo, Texas was established by the
Spaniards.
May 15, 1776 – During the American Revolution, the Virginia
Convention instructed its Continental Congress delegation to propose a
resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United
States Declaration of Independence.
May 15, 1781 - Continentals captured Fort Granby from
Loyalists in South Carolina.
May 15, 1812 – Tecumseh attended a council at Mississinaway,
30 miles below Fort Wayne, Ind.
May 15, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the
Marquis de Lafayette spent the night at the home of Major John Keene, five
miles from Lexington, Ky.
May 15, 1856 – “The Wizard of Oz” author L. Frank Baum was
born in Chittenango, N.Y.
May 15, 1862 - The Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Virginia took
place.
May 15, 1862 – The Confederate ship “Alabama” launched as
the “Enrica” at Birkenhead, England, where she had been built in secret.
May 15, 1862 - Brooklyn's Union Grounds opened. It was the
first enclosed baseball park.
May 15, 1862 – President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill into
law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United
States Department of Agriculture.
May 15, 1864 – During the Civil War, at the Battle of New
Market, Va., students from the Virginia Military Institute fought alongside the
Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah
Valley. Confederate forces were led by John Breckinridge.
May 15, 1864 – During the Civil War, the Battle of Resaca, Ga.
ended.
May 15, 1865 – Joseph R. Bass, who was discharged from the
Confederate Army on May 8, reached Evergreen, Ala. Seven months later he would
move to Texas, where he would spend the remainder of his life. He is buried in
Caddo Mills, Texas. (Some sources say he arrived in Evergreen on May 10.)
May 15, 1883 – Former head of Confederate artillery and
president of the University of Alabama Josiah Gorgas passed away in Tuscaloosa
at the age of 64.
May 15, 1886 – Poet Emily Dickinson died at the age of 55. She
had made her sister promise to burn all of her letters when she died, but
didn’t say what to do with her notebooks. There were 40 of them, and they
contained nearly 1,800 poems that she’d written.
May 15, 1890 – Katherine Anne Porter was born in Indian
Creek, Texas. Porter went on to write award-winning short stories and novels,
including “Flowering Judas and Other
Stories” (1930), “Pale
Horse, Pale Rider” (1939), “The
Old Order: Stories of the South” (1955) and “Ship of Fools” (1962).
May 15, 1905 – Las Vegas was founded when 110 acres, in what
later would become downtown, were auctioned off.
May 15, 1926 – In Lovecraftian fiction, Harold Hadley
Copeland, a leading anthropological authority on Pacific cultures as well as
co-founder and president of the Pacific Area Archaeological Association, died
in a San Francisco sanitarium. He first appeared in 1971’s “The Dweller in the
Tomb” by Lin Carter.
May 15, 1926 - Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth were
forced down in Alaska after a four-day flight over an icecap. Ice had begun to
form on the dirigible Norge.
May 15, 1927 - Author and forester Tom Kelly was born in
Mobile, Ala.
May 15, 1935 - The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia
Phillies, 20-5.
May 15, 1941 – Joe DiMaggio began his record-breaking
56-game hitting streak against the White Sox in Yankee Stadium with a single
and an RBI. The streak ended on July 17.
May 15, 1952 – Alabama baseball great Virgil Trucks pitched
his first of two no-hitters during the 1952 season, leading the Detroit Tigers
to a 1-0 win over the Washington Senators. He would pitch his second no-hitter
in August, becoming one of just five major league pitchers to throw two
no-hitters in a single season.
May 15, 1953 – National Baseball Hall of Fame third baseman,
designated hitter and first baseman George Brett was born in Glen Dale, West
Virginia. He would go on to play his entire career (1973-1993) for the Kansas
City Royals. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.
May 15, 1954 - Alabama author William March died in New
Orleans, La.
May 15, 1955 – Author and Vredenburgh, Ala. native Mike Stewart was
born.
May 15, 1959 – In the finals of the First District baseball
playoffs, Jackson High School beat Evergreen High School, 5-2, in Jackson, Ala.
Evergreen finished the season with a 9-4 overall record.
May 15, 1965 - The Canadian Football Players Association was
organized.
May 15, 1967 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher John
Smoltz was born in Warren, Mich. He would go on to play for the Atlanta Braves,
the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. He was inducted into the Hall
of Fame in 2015.
May 15, 1969 – Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Emmitt
Smith was born in Pensacola, Fla. He went on to play for the University of
Florida, the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals. He was inducted into the
Hall of Fame in 2010.
May 15, 1970 – Army Spc. Edward Earl Nisewonger of Flomaton,
Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam.
May 15, 1972 – Alabama Gov. George Wallace was shot during
an outdoor rally in Laurel, Maryland while campaigning for the Democratic
nomination for president. The assassination attempt by 21-year-old Arthur
Bremer left the Governor paralyzed from the waist down and effectively ended
his chances at the nomination. He campaigned again for president in 1976,
marking his fourth consecutive run for that office.
May 15, 1972 – Former Philadelphia Phillies catcher Douglas
Woolley “Dixie” Parker, who was born at Forest Home in Butler County, Ala., passed
away in Tuscaloosa at the age of 77. He was buried in Green Pond Cemetery in
Green Pond, Ala.
May 15, 1973 - Nolan Ryan of the California Angels pitched
his first no-hitter.
May 15, 1984 - Archeologists in Guatemala made a remarkable find - a painted Mayan tomb more than 1,500 years old that was untouched by looters.
May 15, 1989 – State Treasurer George C. Wallace Jr. was the
featured speaker at the Evergreen Civitan Club’s first ever banquet on this
Monday night at the Quality Inn in Evergreen, Ala.
May 15, 1991 - U.S. President Bush took Queen Elizabeth to
an Oakland A's-Baltimore Orioles game.
May 15, 1992 – “Bob Meeks Day” was scheduled to be
celebrated in Evergreen, Ala. in honor of Evergreen native Bob Meeks, a senior
at Auburn University, was drafted by the Denver Broncos of the National
Football League. A reception was scheduled for 6 p.m. at Hillcrest High School,
and Auburn head football coach Pat Dye was expected to attend. The event was
originally scheduled for May 1, but had to be reschedule.
May 15, 1993 - The Montreal Expos retired Rusty Staub's No. 10
jersey. It was the first number retired by the team.
May 15, 1993 - The Alamodome opened in San Antonio, Texas.
May 15, 1995 – Evergreen, Ala. Police Chief Thomas W. Booker
was sworn in as the new state chapter president of the National Association of
Chiefs of Police.
May 15, 2001 - A runaway train rolled about 70 miles through
Ohio with no one aboard before a rail employee jumped onto the locomotive and
brought it to a stop.
May 15, 2010 – Jessica Watson became the youngest person to
sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.
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