On this date in 1793…

Chickamauga Chief Captain Bench, and his followers attacked Moses Cockrell and several other whites leading pack animals across Powell’s Mountain. Cockrell was the only survivor of the party after outrunning Bench.

• 1818 – U.S. Troops commanded by General Andrew Jackson burned the Seminole town of Tallahassee in Florida during the First Seminole War.
• 1863 – John S. Mosby’s cavalry defeated Federals at Drainesville, Virginia.
• 1862 – Naval action at Island #10 on Mississippi River.
• 1902 – In Tennessee, 22 coal miners were killed by an explosion. 
• 1945 – “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway. 
• 1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter of Georgia deregulated the banking industry.

On this date in 1822…

The U.S. Congress combined East and West Florida into Florida Territory.

• 1854 – Indians successfully defeated a company of U.S. Dragoons at Cieneguilla, New Mexico.
• 1862 – Federal troops attacked Union City, Tennessee.
• 1863 – Federal troops and Pin Indian allies attacked the Cherokee capital at Tahlequah, Indian Territory.
• 1870 – Texas became the last Confederate state readmitted to the union.
• 1909 – In Oklahoma, Seminole Indians revolted against lower pay for government jobs. 
• 1910 – The Mississippi Legislature founded The University of Southern Mississippi at Hattiesburg.
• 1981 – President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House news secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer.

On this date in 1973…

The last United States combat troops left South Vietnam, ending America’s direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.

• 1865 – There was heavy fighting in Petersburg, Virginia at the Boydton and Quaker Roads.
• 1906 – Across the South, coal miners walked off the job seeking higher wages. 
• 1918 – Wal-Mart founder and CEO Sam Walton was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma.
• 1943 – U.S. rationing of meat, butter and cheese began during World War II. 
• 1971 – U.S. Army Lt. William Calley Jr., of Miami, Florida was found guilty of the premeditated murder of at least 22 Vietnamese civilians at the My Lai massacre in Vietnam on March 16, 1968 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
• 1979 – The Committee on Assassinations Report issued by U.S. House of Representatives stated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was the result of a conspiracy.
• 1992 – Arkansas Governor and Democrat presidential front-runner Bill Clinton said “I didn’t inhale and I didn’t try it again” in reference to when he had experimented with marijuana. 
• 1998 – Tennessee won the woman’s college basketball championship over Louisiana after setting a NCAA record with regular season record or 39-0.

On this date in 1958…

During the opening night of a tour, Jerry Lee Lewis was enraged that he had to perform before Chuck Berry and not last. He torched his piano during his set-closing number, “Great Balls of Fire” and reportedly told Chuck, “Let’s see you top that.” 

• 1818 – Confederate General Wade Hampton, III was born in Charleston, South Carolina.
• 1834 – The U.S. Senate voted to censure President Andrew Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States. 
• 1862 – Battle of Glorieta Pass, New Mexico.
• 1953 – “World’s Greatest Athlete” and Oklahoma native, Jim Thorpe died in Lomita, California.
• 1990 – Jesse Owens received the Congressional Gold Medal from U.S. President George H.W. Bush.

On this date in 1814…

General Andrew Jackson  with a force of 2000 U.S. regulars, militia, Cherokee, Choctaw, and White-Stick Creek defeated the Red Stick Creeks near Dadeville, Alabama at Horseshoe Bend. Only about 50 Red Stick warriors survived. The Red Stick leader William Weatherford was not at the battle, but would turn himself in later. The defeat led to the Treaty of Fort Jackson in August, where the Creek gave up 23 million acres of land to the United States. 

• 1513 –Some sources give this as the date Spaniard Juan Ponce de Leon and his expedition first sighted Florida.
• 1836 – Mexican troops acting on orders from Santa Anna murdered Colonel James Fannin and 341 surrendered Texas soldiers outside Goliad, Texas.  Feigning death, 28 men survived to tell of the Mexican treachery.
• 1866 – U.S. President Andrew Johnson vetoed the civil rights bill, which later became the 14th amendment.
• 1890 – A tornado struck Louisville, Kentucky, killing 76 and injuring 200.
• 1994 – Church in Piedmont Alabama collapse during a tornado. Nineteen people were killed.
• 2000 – A Phillips refinery explosion killed 1 and injureed 71 in Pasadena, Texas.