Every Day in Tennessee History
Excerpts for June(1999):
JUNE 1
1540, in what is now Polk County, a Cherokee village named Canasoga was visited by Hernando De Soto with his expedition camped in the he open country near the town. A delegation of twenty villagers met his column, each carrying a basket of mulberries as a peace offering. After consuming the berries De Soto's party became the first Europeans to experience the Tennessee "trots."
JUNE 2
1845, The Hermitage. Andrew Jackson's health continued to decline, when, according to William Tyack [also "Tyrack"], "his distress suddenly became very great; and the water increasing to an alarming extent. An express was sent to Nashville, twelve miles, for surgical aid. An operation was performed by Dr. Evans with success: much water was taken from his abdomen, which produced great relief although great prostration.".
JUNE 3
1917, Chattanooga. In an effort to raise money to support striking textile operatives, young female workers wearing union cards in their hat bands solicited nickels. In exchange they tied a tag to the clothing of donors which bore the slogan "Practical sympathy for locked out textile workers." These "sympathy tags" were seen on many passers-by all over the downtown area, especially on the khaki uniforms of soldiers from Fort Oglethorpe. One striking girl on the corner of Eighth and Market streets explained to a reporter: "Just notice as you go down the street and see if everybody ain't sympathizing with us. There's a few women all dressed up who can't see us girls when the go by. They're the folks we have been slaving for [for] nothing....I look at some of these women and girls in their swell clothes and I wonder if they ever realize it's us that makes the money for 'em. No, they don't. We are just dirt under their feet and they wouldn't so much as give us a nickel if they thought we was starving. But we are going to show 'em."
JUNE 4
1869, Knoxville. The city council passed an ordinance that made it unlawful for any male, 16 years of age or older, to accompany a prostitute through the streets or in a carriage. Additionally, the ordinance sought to control Knoxville's vice problem by decreeing that: "...it shall not be lawful for any woman or girl...to stand upon the sidewalk in front of the premises occupied [sic] by her or at the alley way door or gate of such premises, or sit up on the steps thereof in an indecent posture, or accost, call, or stop any person passing by, or walk up and down the sidewalk or strole [sic] about the...city indecently attired." That about covered it!.
JUNE 5
1946, Memphis. 278 German prisoners-of-war leave the city to return to their native land. These were the last contingent of German p.o.w.s in Memphis.
JUNE 6
1862, Memphis. The Daily Appeal, lock, stock and printing press and editor, left Memphis as the naval battle on the Mississippi rendered the city under Federal control. The editors kept the editorial flags flying as the paper moved from Memphis to Grenada, MS, Jackson, Meridian MS, Atlanta, GA, Montgomery AL, until its capture by union forces in Columbus GA on April 6, 1865.
JUNE 7
1843, The Hermitage. On this day Andrew Jackson's will was made official and among other things it stipulated: "My desire is to be buried by the side of my dear wife, in the garden at the Hermitage, in the vault prepared in the garden." He would die in two years.
JUNE 8
1968, London's Heathrow Airport. James Earl Ray, a forty year old escapee from the Missouri State Penitentiary was arrested with an ersatz Canadian passport. He was returned to the United States to face charges of murdering Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis.
JUNE 9
1882, Bean Station Tavern in Grainger County. Peter W. Grayson, Minister to the United States from Texas, committed suicide. He left a note indicating he was going mad and that the right thing for him to do was to end his life.
JUNE 10
1864. Brice's Crossroads, Mississippi. Confederate forces led by General Nathan Bedford Forrest won the Battle of Brice's Crossroads. The Federals lost 223 killed, 394 wounded, and 1.623 missing. Confederate casualties totaled 96 killed and 396 wounded. The battle was a brilliant tactical success for Forrest, but would in no way effect the outcome of the war.
JUNE 11
1856, Nashville. In order to force the city of Nashville to purchase them proper fire engine halls and avenge an insult they believed was tendered them by the city council, volunteer fire companies No. 1 and Deluge No. 3 went on strike, refusing to answer any alarm, as a matter of honor. The call of duty, however, led members to abandon the strike to aid in fighting a fire on July 9.
JUNE 12
1836, Memphis. The first recorded instance of a musical concert in Memphis, performed by the "celebrated violinists Mr. and Master St. Luke."
JUNE 13
1852, Gibson County. William G. Randle, a traveling daguerrerotypist (sort of a portrait photographer) encountered the town of Skullbone where he could get no service at a grocery store. It was Sunday and soon his party "made our way through Skullbone without seeing anything more remarkable than starring groups of women with pipes in their mouths....".
JUNE 14
1908, Nashville. The first automobile meet in the Capitol City was held at Cumberland Park. The owner of a White Steamer, Flamingo won first prize showing he could travel faster and longer than anyone else. One motorcyclist broke his wrist when he smashed into the rear of a Stanley Steamer.
JUNE 15
1934, Washington, D.C. Congress authorized the full establishment of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
JUNE 16
1838, near Cleveland. Reverend Evan Jones, a Baptist Missionary, depicted the following scene concerning the removal of the Cherokee then underway; "The Cherokees are nearly all prisoners. They had been dragged from their houses and encamped at the forts and military places, all over the [Cherokee] Nation....houses were left as prey to plunderers, who, like hungry wolves....rifle houses and strip the helpless, unoffending owners of all they have on earth. Females...are driven on foot before the bayonets of brutal men. Their feelings are mortified by vulgar and profane vociferations. It is a painful sight." They probably just didn't appreciate the blessings of Christian Civilization.
JUNE 17
1861, Nashville. The Confederate flag flew over the capitol for the first time. In February 1862 it no longer flew there.
JUNE 18
1877, Nashville. The mammoth balloon named the "Buffalo," said to be the largest device of its kind in the United States, went up with Dr. Samuel King and four others as passengers in the basket. The crew landed in Gallatin on June 19, after which another flight was made with yet another passenger, staying airborne the entire day. The party landed in Wilson County.
JUNE 19
1889, Knoxville. Memorial exercises were held in Knoxville during the ceremonies surrounding the reinternment of the remains of John Sevier. Sevier had died in 1815 in what is today Alabama while negotiating with the Indians. He grave was unmarked, so it seems hard to imagine that his remains could be found. However, a burnt log was placed over his grave and once found his remains were discovered.
JUNE 20
1540, Chiaha. Hernando De Soto ordered the chief of the Chiaha to find and return those of his people who fled the day before in order to avoid being drafted into the service of the Spanish.
1836. Brigadier General John E. Wool was appointed commander of all federal forces in the Cherokee nation. His orders included the removal of intruders, to assist removal officials and to distribute the $72,000 worth of clothing and provisions for the destitute and poor Cherokee nation in Tennessee and Georgia.
1852, near Nashville. Commencement exercises were held at Minerva College for Young Women. Dr. W.K. Bowling was the speaker and his subject was health and beauty. He deplored the then current feminine fashions and reliance upon medicines (usually composed of large quantities of opium) instead of exercise for good health. According to Bowling: "Inaction is had, fashion is worse, and medicine worst."
1879, Knoxville. Philanthropist Miss Emily L. Austin of Philadelphia notified Knoxville's Board of Education that generous citizens of Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Newark and other cities in the east had subscribed $6,500 to aid the city of Knoxville in building a school for Negro children. This offer was accepted and a seven-room brick structure was erected on Crozier Street (Central Avenue) and named 'Austin School.'
JUNE 21
1958, Bolivar. While campaigning for re-election to the U.S. Senate, Al Gore, Sr., defended his positive vote on civil rights legislation saying in effect the bill was inevitable so he would not oppose it.
JUNE 22
1925, Covington. For the first time in th city's history, members of the Ku Klux Klan staged a dress parade through the principal streets this night. Attired in pointed hats and sheets, they carried burning crosses and marched silently so as to magnify their terror.
JUNE 23
1773, Brunswick County, Virginia. Thomas Emmerson, first Mayor of Knoxville, judege on the Superior Court and the State Supreme Court, Charter member of the Board of Trustees of East Tennessee College and one of the founders of the Knoxville Female Academy, was born.
JUNE 24
1924, Memphis. Forty-one prisoners broke out of the Shelby Countyl jail. They dug a tunnel to the prison garage, broke a hole in the wall and escaped. Their leader was appropriatley named "Diggs" Nolen.
JUNE 25
1908, Memphis. The following anti-prohibitionist statement appeared in the Commercial Appeal: "Prohibition is Republicanism. It is Federalism. It is Centralization. It is Paternalism. It is opposed to every principle of home rule and individual liberty. It is a Trojan horse relied upon by the Republican party to divide the people on a misstated moral issue in order that Republicanism and Trustism and Protectionism and Predatory Wealth may get in their deadly work."
JUNE 26
1833, Boston. President Andrew Jackson was in Boston for ceremonies surrounding the repairs made to the U.S.S. CONSTITUTION ("OLD IRONSIDES") while in dry dock. One of the main changes to the ship was its figureheadl which was a likeness of Jackson. The figurehead was soon, and mysteriously, decapitated, no doubt by anti-Jackson forces. While in the neighborhood Jackson was also awareded an honorary law degree (LLD) by Harvard University, much to the disgust of alumnus and one time President John Q.Adams.
JUNE 27
1879, Memphis. A group of opium smokers are arrested in Henry Wah Ying's laundry at 207 Main Street. The group included, Mary Cox, Addie Smith and Kitty Western, three members of the demimonde, escorted by two "sports." The three women and Mr. Ying, however, were dismissed from court as there was no law against smoking opium.
JUNE 28
1849, Hawkins County. Orville Rice, on behalf of Hawkins County, pledged a block of Hawkins County granite to be used in building the Washington Monument, that "heroic shaft."
JUNE 29
1846, Brazes, St. Ago, Mexico. A letter from a member of the volunteer Nashville Blues wrote a letter giving an indication that all was not well with the Volunteers. It read in part:"I...would be thankful once more to plant my foot on the shores of Tennessee, as this thing called being a volunteer, is not the thing it is cracked up to be."
JUNE 30
1914. Francis Joseph Campbell of Franklin County died. Campbell was blind, and the best student at the Tennessee School for the Blind, established by the General Assembly on January 29, 1844. Campbell became the first Tennessean to be honored with a knighthood by King Edward VII. He, with the help of sighted guides, climbed Mt. Blanc in France, just to demonstrate what handicapped people could do.
Page design and maintenance by his son, Boyd R. Jones.
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