The Dark and Bloody Ground – Today In Southern History

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.


Other Years:

  • 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.

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D-Day and Bedford's Lost Generation – Today In Southern History

6 June 1944  

On this date in 1944…

American, Canadian, and British troops swarmed ashore in the D-Day invasion at Normandy, France.  Nineteen soldiers from a Bedford, Virginia company died on Omaha Beach. Most of the rest of the company suffered severe wounds. Bedford lost more residents per capita in the Normandy landings than any other American community.


Other Years:

  • 1799 – Patrick Henry died of stomach cancer, while at Red Hill plantation in Brookneal, Virginia.
  • 1916 – Thomas Dixon, Jr.’s film The Fall of a Nation is released as a follow-up to D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a nation and becomes the first movie sequel. The film was mysteriously lost in the 1940’s and no known copies still exist.
  • 1862 – The naval battle off Memphis, Tennessee.
  • 1868 – After following their trail for 100 miles, troopers from the 3rd U.S. Cavalry out of Fort Sumner, New Mexico surprise a band of Navaho accused of killing settlers near the fort. Though the Indians are entrenched in a ravine, the troops kill 3, wound and capture 11, before the rest escape.
  • 1966 – Civil rights activist James Lee Meredith was wounded by a sniper in Mississippi.

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An Immoral and Scandalous Performance – Today In Southern History

5 June 1956  

On this date in 1956…

Elvis Presley scandalized the airwaves with suggestive hip movements while performing “Hound Dog”, on the Milton Berle Show. Network complaints from indignant viewers were so bad that for fifteen years, any future broadcast of Presley will only show him from the waist up.


Other Years:

  • 1794 – The U.S. Congress prohibited citizens from serving in any foreign armed forces. 
  • 1837 – The Republic of Texas incorporated the city of Houston.
  • 1863 – The Confederate cruiser C.S.S. Alabama captured the northern ship Tailsman in mid-Atlantic.
  • 1917 – The World War I draft registration began.
  • 2001 – Tropical Storm Allison brought heavy rains as it made landfall on the upper-Texas coastline and flooded Houston, causing $5.5 billion in damage, making Allison the most expensive tropical storm in U.S. history.

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Fort Necessity – Today In Southern History

4 June 1754  

On this date in 1754…

Colonel George Washington and his small British and Virginian military force started construction of Fort Necessity during the French and Indian War. 

Other Years:

  • 1812 – Most of Louisiana Territory was officially renamed Missouri Territory.
  • 1816 – The first double-decker steamboat, the Washington, was launched at Wheeling in western Virginia.
  • 1862 – Confederate troops evacuated Fort Pillow, Tennessee to avoid encirclement by invading federal naval and land forces. 
  • 1939 – The first shopping cart was introduced by Sylvan Goldman in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
  • 1985 – The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Alabama’s “moment of silence” law saying that it was too similar to prayer in public schools.

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Davis's Birthday – Today In Southern History

3 June 1808  

On this date in 1808…

Confederate President Jefferson Davis was born in Fairview, Kentucky. Today is a traditional holiday in Southern states. 

Other Years:

  • 1864 – Confederate defenders mowed down a doomed frontal assault by 12,000 of General Ulysses S. Grant’s invading federal troops at the Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia.
  • 1861 – The C.S.S. Sumter was officially designated.
  • 1539 – After being in Florida for only a few days, Spanish Conquistador Hernando de Soto became one of many to claim Florida for the King of Spain.
  • 1833 – U.S. Secretary of War Lewis Cass directly ordered the United States Marshal’s office to remove white settlers from Creek land in Alabama.
  • 1965 – Astronaut Ed White of Texas became the first Southerner and the first American to walk in space.

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