FEBRUARY 5 — 1994 Beckwith convicted of killing Medgar Evers; 1865 Battle of Hatcher’s Run; 2016 Sailor breaks world record for longest walk on a globe
FEBRUARY 5
1994 Beckwith convicted of killing Medgar Evers
…Evers was a civil rights activist who fought in France and England during WWII. He was honorably discharged in 1946, and tried unsuccessfully to get admitted into the University of Mississippi law school… Upon his rejection, since this was after all the 1950s, he became the NAACP’s single field volunteer. He had a high profile in Mississippi, and thus became a subject of threats. On June 12, 1963 he was shot in the back in his driveway as his wife and children looked on. He died an hour later.
The nation was outraged and the killer was white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith, who denied it, stating his gun was stolen. Medgar’s brother, Charles would take his place in the NAACP and become an even more powerful figure, actually becoming mayor of a town in Mississippi, the first African American in that area. In Beckwith’s trial, an all-white jury deadlocked and refused to convict him. Twice. Evers’ wife, Murlie, refused to give up. She moved the children to California where she worked din the Public Works.
In 1989, she got a break when she discovered that the jury at Beckwith’s trial had been tampered with. Finally in February 1994, 30 years after the murder, a riflescope was used with Beckwith’s fingerprints on it, as well as new witnesses who testified that Beckwith had bragged about committing the crime. Beckwith would be given a life sentence and died in prison. Evers on the other hand had a school and a US Navy vessel named after him.
1865 – Battle of Hatcher’s Run,
…or Dabney’s Mill. General David Gregg and his men Andrew Humphreys and Governor Warren V General Robert E. Lee’s John Gordon. The result: Union victory, according to Wikipedia, but really it was just yet another bloody stalemate with thousands of casualties.
Union General Ulysses Grant tried to break the siege of Petersburg and Richmond in Virginia. Jump back to 1864 real quick: Grant and Lee had been pounding each other with astonishing casualties on both sides, the highest in the war in fact. On this day in 1865, Grant sent Bvt. Brig. Gen. David Gregg and his cavalry division to ride out to the Boydton Plank Road via Ream’s Station and Dinwiddie Court House in order to intercept Confederate supply trains. Yankee infantry leader Maj. Gen. G.K. Warren moved southwest towards Dinwiddie Courthouse near the post office at Old Stage road, and crossed Hatcher’s Run, then fortified the area on the Vaughan Road to prevent interference with Gregg’s operations and dispatched Maj. Gen. A.A. Humphries to cover his right flank at Armstrong Mill.
The fighting was on, and Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon attempted to turn Humphrey’s right flank near the mill but was pushed back. Two divisions reinforced the Union army, and on February 6, when Gregg attempted to return to Gravelly Run on the Vaughan Road after his failed raid, he was attack by the Rebels under Brig. Gen. John Pegram, who was killed in the battle. The Yankees couldn’t reach the Confederate Line around Dabney’s Mill, and lost around 2,000 killed, wounded or captured, while the Rebels about a thousand. . Although the Union advance was stopped, the Federals were able extend their stronghold to the Vaughan Road crossing of Hatcher’s Run.
1969 – One of the most infamous flops in TV history almost airs. At one station. It got pulled after 11 minutes and never came back. It was called Turn-On, a computer generated comedy full of rapid fire sex jokes that might be considered funny by today’s standards. But back then it was just appalling.
2006 – Steelers beat the Seahawks in Super Bowl 40. Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin sang the Star spangled banner. Wide receiver Hines Ward was the game’s MVP, but the best part about that game was the Stones playing halftime.
2017 – Tom Brady rallies Patriots to overcome a 25 point deficit to win Super Bowl LI.
LI means 51 to those of us who don’t speak Greek. Born in 1977 in San Mateo CA, Tom Brady, who went to high school with Barry Bonds, Lynn Swan, and Gregg Jeffries, who now has the stadium at that high school named after him, the winningest quarterback in NFL history, completed 43 passes in this game against the Atlanta Falcons.
Tom Brady! Who as of 2018 is 71-19 against AFC east rivals, the Jets, Dolphins, Bills, who in one seasons threw to 65 receivers, who first showed up in Super Bowl XXXVI and showed up on an episode of Family Guy, on this day in ’17 won his 5th Super Bowl, matching Charles Haley’s record from the 1980s and 90s. Yes, it was the reason Peyton Manning doesn’t like having Super Bowl parties when Tom’s playing, maybe because Tom’s debut in the NFL ended up a 44-13 regular season victory against Manning’s Colts. On this day in 2017, with the Falcons killing the Pats in a 28-3 lead, underestimated the might of Tom Brady, at one time the 20-5 at Michigan, was 1 win and one loss against Ohio State.
Who in 2016 started a vegan snacks and appeared on SNL in 2005 and ten years later in the locker room wore a Trump Make America Great Again hat, broke yet another record as he rallied the Patriots and beat the Falcons 34-28 in overtime, won yet another record: four Super Bowl MVP awards.
Like him or not, blame it on Belichick if y our want, or the NFL commit, or deflategate, but give Tom his credit.