July

The Treasure Coast – Today In Southern History

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31 July 1715  

On this date in 1715…

A hurricane sank the Spanish treasure fleet in the Florida Straitsoff Vero Beach, Florida. The loss of the fleet set off a financial crisis in Europe similar to the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The large amounts of Spanish gold, silver, and jewels found along the Florida beach over the years from Sebastian Inlet to Port St. Lucie from this and other wrecks gives the area the name, the “Treasure Coast.”

Other Years:
  • 1864 – The Battle of Sunshine Church near Round Oak, Georgia. 
  • 1966 – Alabama protesters burned Beatle products due to John Lennon’s “Jesus” remark.
  • 1969 – Elvis Presley performed a live concert for the first time since 1961 at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. It would be the first of his many performances delivered in Vegas.

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Deliverance – Today In Southern History

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30 July 1972  

On this date in 1972…

The movie Deliverance, based on James Dickey’s best-selling novel filmed on the Chattooga River in Georgia and starring Burt Reynolds, John Voight, and of course, Ned Beatty, reached theaters.

Other Years:
  • 1619 – The Virginia House of Burgesses formed as the first elected American governing body in Jamestown.
  • 1729 – The city of Baltimore was founded in Maryland.
  • 1864 – Confederate troops repulsed the assault of Grant’s federal troops after they exploded a mine under Southern fortifications in the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Virginia.
  • 1864 – Federal cavalry occupied Macon, Georgia.
  • 1970 – Hurricane Celia made its first landfall and killed 31 people in Cuba, Florida, and Texas.
  • 1990 – The first Saturn automobile rolled off the assembly line in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

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The Alabama – Today In Southern History

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29 July 1862  

On this date in 1862…

The most successful warship in American history, the C.S.S.Alabama, was secretly launched at Birkenhead in Cheshire, England.

Other Years:

  • 1847 – Cumberland School of Law was founded in Lebanon, Tennessee, one of only 15 law schools exist in the United States at that time.
  • 1932 – In Washington, D.C., federal troops dispersed the last of the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans.
  • 1940 – John Sigmund of St. Louis, MO, completed a 292-mile swim down the Mississippi River.
  • 1985 – General Motors announced its new Saturn automobile assembly plant would be located in Spring Hill, Tennessee.


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The Bonus Army – Today In Southern History

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28 July 1932  

On this date in 1932…

The Bonus Army, a protest that had grown to 43,000 marchers and mostly-Southern World War I veterans were attacked and dispersed by 1,800 Federal troops and 6 battle tanks led by Douglass McArthur. Four were killed and more than a thousand injured when the troops opened fire and beat protesters around Washington D.C.

Other Years:
  • 1862 – Fort Bowie was established at Apache Pass in southeastern Arizona Territory, by U.S. Brigadier General James Charlatan’s California volunteers.
  • 1868 – The Fourteenth Amendment, which granted former slaves the rights of citizenship, was declared to be ratified by the U.S. Secretary of State.
  • 1896 – The city of Miami, FL, was incorporated. 
  • 1957 – Jerry Lee Lewis appeared on the Steve Allen Show to perform his hit “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” In his usual outrageous style, Lewis slung his piano bench across the stage.
  • 1994 – Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers pitched the 14th perfect game in major league baseball history.

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The Olympic Park Bombing – Today In Southern History

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27 July 1996  

On this date in 1996…

Eric Robert Rudolph set off a bomb that killed two people at acelebration in Centennial Olympic Park at the Atlanta Olympic Games. In its infinite wisdom, the FBI harassed and investigated Richard Jewell, the security officer who found the bomb and saved countless lives, while Rudolph escaped.

Other Years:
  • 1586 – Sir Walter Raleigh brought first tobacco to England from Virginia.
  • 1824 – Florida Governor William Duval officially removed Principal Seminole Chief Neamathla from his position because of fears that he planned to lead an uprising of Seminole that have avoided removal from Florida.
  • 1861 – Confederate troops occupied Fort Fillmore, New Mexico Territory.
  • 1864 – Federal General William Tecumseh Sherman needlessly ordered the destruction of all railroad lines in federal occupied territory south of Atlanta.
  • 1958 – Southern Aviator and WWII Flying Tiger commander, Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault died at the age of 64 of lung cancer in New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • 1962 – Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Albany, Georgia.
  • 2007 – News helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collided over Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix with no survivors while covering a police chase. This was the first known incidence of two news helicopters colliding in mid-air, and the worst civilian aviation accident in Phoenix history.

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Cold War Security – Today In Southern History

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26 July 1947  

On this date in 1947…

U.S. President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Other Years:
  • 1861 – Confederate forces captured Fort Fillmore at Mesilla, New Mexico Territory.
  • 1863 – Tennessee Governor, general, and first Republic of Texas President, Sam Houston died at Huntsville, Texas.
  • 1864 – The Battle of Ezra Church, Georgia.
  • 1953 – Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle ordered an anti-polygamy law clampdown on fundamentalist Mormon residents of Short Creek, Arizona, which became known as the Short Creek Raid.
  • 1971 – Apollo 15 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
  • 1991 – Paul Reubens better known as Pee Wee Herman was arrested in Florida, for “public obscenity” in a theater.

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Hannah’s Tale – Today In Southern History

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25 July 1757  

On this date in 1757…

A war party of more than sixty Shawnee warriors attacked farms along the James River in Virginia. At the Dennis family farm they killed Joseph Dennis and his child, then took his young wife, Hannah as a slave along with several other captive white women to the Shawnee village of Chillicothe. After some time, Hannah Dennis gained the trust of the Shawnee and they began to accept her. She eventually escaped and her tale became well known throughout the American colonies. Since that time, numerous novels and movies have been inspired by Hannah Dennis’s ordeal.

Other Years:
  • 1729 – North Carolina became an English royal colony.
  • 1805 – Aaron Burr visited New Orleans with plans to establish a new country, with New Orleans as the capital.
  • 1861 – The Crittenden Resolution, which called for the War of Northern Aggression to be fought to preserve the Union and not for slavery, was passed by the U.S. Congress.
  • 1940 – John Sigmund began an 89 hour 46 minute swim in the Mississippi River.
  • 1979 – A Texas state record of 109 cm (43”) of rain fell at Alvin, Texas.

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