Alabama History Timeline

Events 1 - 100 of 144

• 1813-11-03 US troops under General Coffee annihilate the Red Stick Creek Indian village at Tallasseehatchee, Alabama

• 1814-03-27 Battle at Horseshoe Bend: General Andrew Jackson defeats the Red Sticks, part of the Creek Indian tribe near Dadeville, Alabama
• 1817-03-03 Mississippi Territory is divided into Alabama Territory & Mississippi
• 1819-12-14 Alabama admitted to Union as 22nd state
• 1841-12-31 Alabama becomes 1st state to license dental surgeons
• 1856-02-01 Auburn University is chartered as the East Alabama Male College.
• 1856-03-09 Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded in the Johnston Mansion House on the University of Alabama
• 1861-01-04 US Civil War: Federal Ft Morgan in Mobile, Alabama seized by Confederate forces
• 1861-01-05 Alabama troops seize Forts Morgan & Gaines at Mobile Bay
• 1861-01-11 Alabama secedes from the Union (US Civil War)
• 1861-02-08 Confederate States of America organizes in Montgomery, Alabama (US Civil War)

• 1862-05-15 Confederate ship Alabama launched as the Enrica at Birkenhead, England, where she had been built in secret
• 1863-01-11 Naval engagement near Galveston between CSS Alabama and USS Hatteras
• 1863-06-05 CSS Alabama captures "Talisman" in the Mid Atlantic
• 1863-09-05 Bread revolt in Mobile, Alabama
• 1864-06-11 CSS Alabama, a Confederate screw sloop-of-war, arrives in port at Cherbourg, France
• 1864-06-19 CSS "Alabama" sunk by USS "Kearsarge" off Cherbourg, France
• 1864-08-06 Confederate forces evacuate Fort Powell in Mobile Bay, Alabama
• 1864-08-08 Union troops/fleet occupy Fort Gaines, Alabama
• 1864-08-09 Siege of Fort Morgan, Alabama, by Union forces begins (Confederates surrender 23 August)
• 1864-08-23 Union troops/fleet occupy Fort Morgan, Alabama
• 1864-09-04 Bread riots in Mobile, Alabama
• 1865-03-18 Battle of Wilson's raid to Selma, Alabama
• 1865-03-25 Battle of Mobile, Alabama (Spanish Fort, Fort Morgan, Fort Blakely)
• 1865-04-01 -9] Battle at Blakely Alabama
• 1865-04-02 Battle of Fort Blakely Alabama, last major battle of the US Civil War
• 1865-04-02 Battle of Selma, Alabama, Union forces break Confederates defenses to secure the town
• 1865-04-15 Mobile, Alabama is captured by Union forces after a siege led by General Canby
• 1865-05-04 Battle of Citronelle, Alabama; Richard Taylor surrenders

• 1867-04-01 Blacks vote in municipal election in Tuscumbia, Alabama
• 1868-02-24 1st US parade with floats (Mardi Gras-Mobile, Alabama)
• 1868-06-25 Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina readmitted to US, after the Civil War
• 1871-02-27 Meeting of Alabama claims commission
• 1871-05-08 British-US treaty ends Alabama dispute
• 1872-03-26 Thomas J. Martin, of Alabama, receives a U.S. patent for a pipe and valve fire extinguisher system

• 1883-02-23 Alabama becomes 1st US state to enact an antitrust law
• 1884-02-19 "Enigma Outbreak" of over 60 tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana kill hundreds, if not over a thousand (hence the "enigma") people
• 1890-10-15 Alabama Penny Savings Bank organizes in Birmingham
• 1894-07-16 Many negro miners in Alabama killed by striking white miners
• 1907-12-20 Explosion at Yolande Alabama, coal mine kills 91
• 1909-11-07 Knights of St Peter Claver founded in Mobile, Alabama; Ladies Auxiliary formed in 1922
• 1919-12-11 Boll weevil monument dedicated in Enterprise, Alabama
• 1920-04-20 Tornadoes kill 219 in Alabama & Mississippi
• 1922-01-03 1st living person identified on a US coin (Thomas E Kirby) on the Alabama Centennial half-dollar
• 1925-09-05 112 F (44°C), Centerville, Alabama (state record)
• 1926-09-16 -22] Hurricane in Florida & Alabama, kills 372
• 1931-03-25 Scottsboro Boys arrested in Alabama, accused of raping a white woman
• 1931-04-06 1st Scottsboro (Alabama) trial begins - 9 blacks accused of rape
• 1937-07-24 Alabama drops charges against 5 blacks accused of rape in Scottsboro
• 1938-08-24 Virgil Trucks strikes out his 418th batter, highest season total in organized ball-for Andalusia in an Alabama-Florida League game
• 1941-07-19 1st US Army flying school for black cadets dedicated (Tuskegee, Alabama)
• 1943-05-25 Riot at Mobile, Alabama, shipyard over upgrading 12 black workers
• 1944-08-10 Race riots in Athens, Alabama
• 1946-04-13 Eddie Klepp, a white pitcher signed by defending Negro League champ Cleveland Buckeyes, is barred from field in Birmingham, Alabama
• 1947-12-19 1948 NFL Draft: Harry Gilmer from University of Alabama first pick by Washington Redskins
• 1948-05-01 Glenn Taylor, Idaho Senator, arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, for trying to enter a meeting through a door marked "for Negroes"
• 1951-11-25 17 die in a train crash in Woodstock, Alabama
• 1952-03-21 -22] Tornadoes in Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky cause 343 deaths

• 1954-11-30 Ann Hodges is bruised by a meteor at Sylacauga, Alabama, in the first modern instance of a meteorite striking a human
• 1955-04-13 20.33" (51.64 cm) of rainfall, Axis, Alabama (then state record, eclipsed in 1997)

• 1955-12-05 Historic bus boycott begins in Montgomery, Alabama by Rosa Parks and other civil rights activists

• 1956-02-03 Autherine Lucy admitted to University of Alabama, suspended 2/7 after a riot
• 1956-02-06 University of Alabama suspends African-American student Autherine Lucy claiming that it can no longer provide for her safety
• 1956-02-15 Pirates & KC As cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham Alabama, because of local ordinance barring black from playing against white
• 1956-08-09 1st state-wide state-supported educational TV network, Alabama
• 1956-11-13 US Supreme court rules race separation on buses in Alabama unconstitutional
• 1956-12-20 Montgomery, Alabama removes race-based seat assignments on its buses
• 1960-08-03 Lee Petty and his sons, Richard & Maurice race against each other for the first and only time at Dixie Speedway in Birmingham, Alabama; Richard 2nd, Lee 3rd
• 1961-05-14 Bus with 1st group of Freedom Riders bombed & burned in Alabama
• 1961-05-20 White mob attacks "Freedom Riders" in Montgomery, Alabama
• 1961-10-31 Federal judge rules that laws in Birmingham, Alabama, against integrated playing fields are illegal

• 1963-04-12 Police in Birmingham, Alabama, use dogs & cattle prods on peaceful demonstrators

• 1963-05-11 Racial bomb attacks in Birmingham Alabama
• 1963-05-12 Race riot in Birmingham, Alabama
• 1963-06-11 Gov Wallace tries to prevent blacks registering at University of Alabama
• 1963-09-02 Alabama Governor George Wallace prevents integration of Tuskegee High School
• 1963-09-09 Alabama Governor George Wallace served a federal injunction to stop orders of state police to bar black students from enrolling in white schools
• 1963-09-10 20 black students enter public schools in Alabama

• 1965-03-21 Martin Luther King Jr. begins march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama
• 1965-03-25 Martin Luther King Jr. leads 25,000 to state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama
• 1965-05-30 Vivian Malone is 1st black to graduate from University of Alabama
• 1966-01-30 -27°F (-33°C), New Market, Alabama (state record)

• 1967-01-16 Lucius Amerson, becomes 1st southern (Alabama) African American sheriff in 20th century
• 1967-02-07 A fire at a restaurant in Montgomery, Alabama kills 25 people
• 1968-02-16 US 1st 911 phone system goes into service in Haleyville, Alabama
• 1969-08-17 Hurricane Camille strikes US coastline and kills 259 people (mainly in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana)

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Birthdays 1 - 100 of 318

• 1790-10-03 John Ross [Guwisguwi], Scottish-Cherokee leader (Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, 1828-66), born in Turkeytown, Cherokee Territory (now Alabama) (d. 1866)
• 1815-01-28 Andrew Jackson Hamilton, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Huntsville, Alabama (d. 1875)
• 1816-12-13 Clement Claiborne Clay, American politician (U.S. Senator from Alabama), born in Huntsville, Alabama (d. 1882)
• 1817-02-07 LeRoy Pope Walker, American lawyer and 1st Confederate States Secretary of War (1861), born in Huntsville, Alabama (d. 1884)
• 1818-04-23 John Gill Shorter, American politician (17th Governor of Alabama), born in Monticello, Georgia (d. 1872)
• 1819-05-28 William Birney, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Huntsville, Alabama (d. 1907)
• 1821-07-06 Edward Pettus, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Athens, Alabama (d. 1907)
• 1825-01-10 Alexander Travis Hawthorn, American Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), born in Conecuh County, Alabama (d. 1899)
• 1825-05-29 David Bell Birney, American businessman, lawyer, and Major General (Union Army), born in Huntsville, Alabama (d. 1864)
• 1825-10-16 Thomas Turpin Crittenden, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Huntsville, Alabama (d. 1905)
• 1826-04-02 Philip Dale Roddey, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Moulton, Alabama (d. 1897)
• 1829-10-10 Dandridge McRae, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Baldwin County, Alabama (d. 1899)
• 1837-11-13 James T. Rapier, African-American politician, born in Florence, Alabama (d. 1883)
• 1838-09-14 John Pelham, U.S. Confederate artillery major, born in Alexandria, Alabama (d. 1863)
• 1842-09-13 John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator from Alabama, born in Moscow, Marion County, Alabama (d. 1920)
• 1844-04-22 Lewis Powell, American Confederate soldier who was part of the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln and who attempted to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward, born in Randolph, Alabama (d. 1865)

• 1847-01-20 William R. Pettiford, African American minister and banker, founder of the Alabama Penny Savings Bank, born in Granville county, North Carolina (d. 1914)
• 1850-06-05 Pat Garrett, American Western lawman, born in Chambers County, Alabama (d. 1908)
• 1854-04-09 Seaborn McDaniel Denson, American composer, born in Cleburne County, Alabama (d. 1936)
• 1854-10-03 William Crawford Gorgas, American physician and 22nd Surgeon-General of the U.S. Army (help cure yellow fever), born in Toulminville, Alabama (d. 1920)

• 1878-03-16 Henry B Walthall, American actor (The Birth of a Nation, Klondike), born in Shelby City, Alabama (d. 1936)

• 1881-09-26 Hiram Wesley Evans, American member of the Ku Klux Klan, born in Ashland, Alabama (d. 1966)
• 1882-04-20 Holland Smith, American General in the U.S. Marine Corps, born in Seale, Alabama (d. 1967)
• 1888-10-09 Hank Patterson, American actor (Gunsmoke, Fred Ziffel-Green Acres), born in Springville, Alabama (d. 1975)
• 1891-01-07 Zora Neale Hurston, American writer (Their Eyes Were Watching God), born in Notasulga, Alabama (d. 1960)
• 1893-09-18 William March, American writer (Company K), born in Mobile, Alabama (d. 1954)
• 1898-09-10 Waldo Semon, American inventor (polyvinyl chloride), born in Demopolis, Alabama (d. 1999)

• 1899-12-20 John Sparkman, American politician (Sen-D-Alabama 1946-79, Rep-D-Alabama 1937-46), born in Hartselle, Alabama (d. 1985)
• 1900-07-24 Zelda Fitzgerald [née Sayre], American writer (This Side of Paradise) and wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, born in Montgomery, Alabama (d. 1948)
• 1900-09-08 Claude Pepper, American politician (Rep-D-FL, 1963-89), born in Dudleyville, Chambers County, Alabama (d. 1989)
• 1901-03-31 Mule Suttles, American Baseball HOF infielder (5 x NgL All Star; NL batting champion 1926, 28; NgL Triple Crown 1926; St. Louis Stars), born in Edgewater, Alabama (d. 1966)
• 1901-12-20 Robert J. Van de Graaff, American engineer and physicist (Mobility of Gaseous Ions), born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (d. 1967)
• 1902-01-31 Tallulah Bankhead, American stage and film actress (Lifeboat; They Knew What They Wanted; Batman -"Black Widow"), born in Huntsville, Alabama (d. 1968)
• 1902-03-23 Philip Ober, American actor (Gen Stone-I Dream of Jeannie), born in Fort Payne, Alabama (d. 1982)
• 1902-05-17 John Vincent, American composer, born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1977)
• 1903-05-13 Paul Page, American actor (Girl From Havana, Moth), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1974)
• 1904-06-11 Clarence "Pinetop" Smith, American jazz pianist and singer (Boogie Woogie Piano), born in Troy, Alabama (d. 1929)
• 1904-09-01 Johnny Mack Brown, American actor (Lawman is Born, Back Trail), born in Dothan, Alabama (d. 1974)

• 1906-10-11 Katherine Emery, American actress (Maze, Isle of the Dead), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1980)
• 1907-05-11 Rip Sewell, American baseball pitcher (MLB All-Star 1943–46; NL wins leader 1943; Pittsburgh Pirates 1938–49), born in Decatur, Alabama (d. 1989)
• 1907-08-22 Oliver McGowan, American actor (Banning, Stagecoach), born in Kipling, Alabama (d. 1971)
• 1908-10-09 Jim Folsom, American politician (Alabama-Gov, 1947-51, 1955-59), born in Coffee County, Alabama (d. 1987)

• 1910-11-13 William Bradford Huie, American writer and publisher, born in Hartselle, Alabama (d. 1986)
• 1911-06-01 Gertrude Michael, American actress (Cleopatra, Menace, Club Havana, caged), born in Talladega, Alabama (d. 1964)
• 1911-06-20 Gail Patrick [Margaret Fitzpatrick], American actress (My Man Godfrey, Love Crazy), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1980)
• 1911-07-10 (Charles) "Cootie" Williams, American jazz, jump-blues, and R&B trumpeter (Duke Ellington Orchestra, 1929-40 & 1962-74), born in Mobile, Alabama (d. 1985)
• 1911-09-15 Luther Terry, 9th Surgeon General of the United States (1961-65) warned against smoking, born in Red Level, Alabama (d. 1985)
• 1912-05-27 Terry Moore, American baseball outfielder (World Series 1942, 46; 4 x MLB All Star; St. Louis Cardinals) and manager (Philadelphia Phillies 1954), born in Vernon, Alabama (d. 1995)
• 1912-10-03 Gabriel Julian, American pianist (Bobby Byrne Orchestra), arranger (Glenn Miller), and bandleader (Alabama Cavaliers Jazz Ensemble), born in Newark, New Jersey (d. 2002)
• 1913-01-10 Haywood Frank Henry, American jazz baritone saxophonist, born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1994)

• 1913-02-14 Mel Allen, American sportscaster (voice of NY Yankees; 22 World Series; 24 MLB All Star games), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1996)
• 1913-04-13 Dave Albritton, American high jumper (Olympic silver 1936), born in Danville, Alabama (d. 1994)
• 1913-08-17 Rudy York, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers), born in Ragland, Alabama (d. 1970)

• 1913-10-05 William Lehman, American politician, born in Selma, Alabama (d. 2005)

• 1914-05-22 Sun Ra [Herbert Blount], American jazz pianist (The Arkestra), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1993)
• 1914-07-17 Lucille Benson, American actress (Halloween II; 194;1 Bosom Buddies), born in Scottsboro, Alabama (d. 1984)
• 1914-07-26 Erskine Hawkins, American trumpeter, big band leader, and composer ("Tuxedo Junction:' "After Hours"), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1993)
• 1914-10-20 Fayard Nicholas, American tap dancer, one-half of The Nicholas Brothers and actor (The Five Heartbeats), born in Mobile, Alabama (d. 2006)
• 1915-07-21 Floyd McDaniel, American blues singer and guitarist (Five Blazes), born in Athens, Alabama (d. 1995)
• 1916-01-07 Bobo Jenkins [John Pickens Jenkins], American blues singer-songwriter (Democrat Blues), born in Forkland, Alabama (d. 1984)
• 1916-04-26 Virgil Trucks, American baseball pitcher (World Series 1945 Detroit Tigers; MLB All Star 1949, 54), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 2013)
• 1916-05-28 Walker Percy, American writer and novelist ("The Moviegoer", "Lancelot"), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1990)
• 1916-07-31 Billy Hitchcock, American baseball infielder, manager, official (Detroit Tigers; president Double-A Southern League 1971–80), born in Inverness, Alabama (d. 2006)
• 1916-08-25 Frederick Robbins, American pediatrician and bacteriologist (Nobel 1954), born in Auburn, Alabama (d. 2003)
• 1916-11-05 Jim Tabor, American MLB 3rd baseman (2 x grand slams in one game), born in New Hope, Alabama (d. 1953)
• 1917-03-07 Davis Roberts [Robert Davis], American character actor (Westworld; Star Trek; The Killers), born in Mobile, Alabama (d. 1993)
• 1917-03-11 Robert L Carter, Caryville, Florida, American civil rights activist and judge (Brown v. Board of Education, NAACP v. Alabama) (d. 2012)
• 1917-04-07 R G Armstrong [Robert Golden], American actor (Predator, Dick Tracey, T.H.E. Cat), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 2012)
• 1917-08-30 William "Pop" Gates, American Basketball Hall of Fame guard and coach (Harlem Globetrotters "Legends" Ring 1995), born in Decatur, Alabama (d. 1999)
• 1917-10-30 Bobby Bragan, American baseball player, born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 2010)
• 1918-04-15 John Baragrey, American actor (Creeper, The Loves of Carmen), born in Haleyville, Alabama (d. 1975)
• 1918-05-24 Coleman Young, 1st African American Mayor of Detroit, born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (d. 1997)

• 1919-12-31 Recy Taylor, American sexual assault victim, born in Abbeville, Alabama (d. 2017)
• 1920-01-06 Early Wynn, Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher (Cy Young Award 1959 Chicago WS; MLB wins leader 1954, 59; 9 x MLB All Star; Cleveland Indians), born in Hartford, Alabama (d. 1999)
• 1920-09-17 Marjorie Holt, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 2018)
• 1921-03-27 Tom Bevill, American Democratic fifteen-term U.S. congressman, born in Townley, Alabama (d. 2005)
• 1921-06-19 Howell Heflin, American politician (Sen-D-Alabama, 1979-97), born in Poulan, Georgia (d. 2005)

• 1923-01-05 Sam Phillips, American record producer and founder of Sun Records (launched Elvis Presley's career), born in Florence, Alabama (d. 2003)
• 1923-04-30 Joseph Howze, American Roman Catholic bishop, 1st African American Bishop to be appointed in 20th century, born in Daphne, Alabama (d. 2019)
• 1923-07-06 Cathy O'Donnell [Ann Steely], American film noir actress (Miniver Story, Man from Laramie), born in Siluria, Alabama (d. 1970)

• 1924-05-11 Tim Flock, American auto racer (Winston Cup 1952, 55), born in Fort Payne, Alabama (d. 1998)
• 1925-07-25 (William) "Benny" Benjamin, American session drummer (Motown's Funk Brothers), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1969) [1]
• 1925-09-04 Forrest [Asa Earl] Carter, American author and segregationist speech writer, born in Anniston, Alabama (d. 1979)
• 1925-09-20 (Ulysses) Bobby Nunn, American singer (The Robins; The Coasters), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1986)
• 1925-11-09 Bill Bruton, American baseball outfielder (NL stolen bases leader 1953-55 Milwaukee Braves), born in Penola, Alabama (d. 1995)

• 1926-04-03 Alex Grammas, American baseball player, manager and coach, born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 2019)

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