Today in History for July 12, 2015

Baseball legend Cy Young.

July 12, circa 100 B.C. – Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Rome. He was the great military leader who managed to capture for the Roman Empire most of what became France and Great Britain.

July 12, 1389 – King Richard II appointed poet Geoffrey Chaucer to the position of Chief Clerk of the King’s Works in Westminster. Chaucer is best remembered for his greatest work, “The Canterbury Tales.”

July 12, 1493 – Hartmann Schedel's “Nuremberg Chronicle,” one of the best-documented early printed books, was published.

July 12, 1562 – Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatán, burned the sacred books of the Maya.

July 12, 1584 – English navigator and explorer Steven Borough passed away at the age of 58 and was buried at Chatham.

July 12, 1776 – Captain James Cook began his third voyage.

July 12, 1780 – In what is known as the Battle of Huck’s Defeat, Philadelphia lawyer Captain Christian Huck and 130 Loyalist cavalry, belonging to British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s legion, suffered defeat at the hands of 500 Patriot militiamen at Williamson’s Plantation in South Carolina. The British lost between 25 and 50 men killed, including Huck, at least twice as many wounded and 29 captured. Only one Patriot died, and Continental morale received a significant a boost.

July 12, 1804 - In Weehawken, N.J., former U.S. Secretary of the Treasurery Alexander Hamilton died from a wound he suffered in a duel with Aaron Burr the day before. Hamilton was either 47 or 49 years old.

July 12, 1817 – Author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, tax resister and transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Mass.

July 12, 1861 - Special Confederate commissioner Albert Pike completed treaties with the members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, giving the new Confederate States of America several allies in Indian Territory. Some of these tribes even sent troops to serve in the Confederate army, and one Cherokee, Stand Watie, rose to the rank of brigadier general.

July 12, 1862 – The Medal of Honor was created when President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a measure calling for the awarding of a U.S. Army Medal of Honor, in the name of Congress, "to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities during the present insurrection."

July 12, 1862 - The Confederate ironclad Arkansas was completed and steered down the Yazoo and into the Mississippi River. The ship lasted only 23 days before running aground and being blown up by the crew on August 6 to avoid capture.

July 12, 1862 – During the Civil War, a five-day Federal operation began in the vicinity of Decatur, Ala. with a skirmish near Davis Gap.

July 12, 1864 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln witnessed the battle where Union forces repelled Jubal Early's army on the outskirts of Washington, DC.

July 12, 1892 – Alexander Joy Cartwright Jr., the inventor of the modern game of baseball, passed away in Honolulu, O'ahu, Kingdom of Hawai'I at the age of 72.

July 12, 1901 - Cy Young of the Boston Red Sox got his 300th career victory. He ended his career with 511 wins.

July 12, 1904 – Poet Pablo Neruda was born Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto in Parral, Chile.

July 12, 1912 – Evergreen’s baseball team beat Pollard, 1-0, in Evergreen, Ala.

July 12, 1915 – Wiley House returned home on this Monday after spending several days with his sister Mrs. C.A. Sinquefield. He was fully recovered from the pistol and knife wounds he received from John Salter and Robert Watkins on June 23, 1915.

July 12, 1918 – Croatian explorer Dragutin Lerman died at the age of 54 in Kreševo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where his gravestone is still visible. He was a member of the 1882 Henry Morton Stanley expedition to Congo and was one of Stanley's most trusted men.

July 12, 1930 – The thermometer at the Evergreen, Ala. weather observation station registered a high mark of 107.5 degrees on this day and the day before.

July 12, 1931 - A major league baseball record for doubles was set as the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs combined for a total of 23.

July 12, 1946 - "The Adventures of Sam Spade" was heard on ABC radio for the first time.

July 12, 1954 - The Major League Baseball Players Association was organized in Cleveland, Ohio.

July 12, 1978 – The Wilson-Finlay House (also known as Mist Lady, the Joshua Wilson House and the Finlay House) in Gainestown in Clarke County, Ala. was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

July 12, 1979 – The infamous “Disco Demolition” night was held at Comiskey Park in Chicago, which led to at least nine injuries, 39 arrests and the cancellation and forfeiture of the second game of a doubleheader between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers.

July 12, 1980 – Local weather reporter Earl Windham reported a high temperature of 101 degrees in Evergreen, Ala.

July 12, 1980 – Brenda Joy Yancey, 34, drowned in the Sepulga River at Cobb’s Landing at about 8:30 p.m.

July 12, 1982 - "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" broke all box-office records by surpassing the $100-million mark of ticket sales in the first 31 days of its opening.

July 12, 1984 – The Evergreen Courant reported that the members of the Evergreen Little League All Star team were Richard Melton, Keith Richardson, Broderick Gross, Bryan Garrett, Ryan Burt, Mickey Jones, Michael Floyd, Kevin Townson, Jamie Deason, Greg Stanton, Jamie Shipp, Scott Jones, Richard Byrd and Kenny Meeks. The coaches were Willie Byrd and Earnest Boykin.

July 12, 1984 - Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies recorded his 100th strikeout for the 18th consecutive season.

July 12, 2000 - The movie "X-Men" premiered in New York.

July 12, 2010 – The Wiggins Cemetery at Mexia, Ala. was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register.

July 12, 2010 – Alabama native Bo Jackson threw the ceremonial first pitch before the 2010 Home Run Derby at Angel Stadium in Anaheim California and participated in the celebrity softball game.

July 12, 2015 - In Gothenburg, Sweden, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters fell off the stage and broke his leg. He had his leg set backstage and returned to perform more songs.