7 June 1769
On this date in 1769…
Frontiersman Daniel Boone first visited and began exploring the “Dark and Bloody Ground” of present-day Kentucky.
- 1618 – Thomas West, the third Baron de La Mar, and English Governor of Virginia colony died.
- 1776 – Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence.
- 1862 – In New Orleans, Louisiana, William B. Mumford was hanged by order of U.S. General Benjamin “Beast” Butler for tearing down a U.S. flag flying over the New Orleans Mint.
- 1932 – More than 7,000 World War I veterans marched in Washington, DC demanding promised bonuses.
- 1998 – James Byrd, Jr. was dragged to death behind a pickup by three white men outside Jasper, Texas in a racially-motivated murder.
Read: Why Know Southern History?