15 October 1863

On this date in 1863…

The Confederate submarine Horace L. Hunley sank for a second during time training exercises, killing 7 crew members.

Other Years:

• 1864 – Confederate troops occupied Glasgow, Missouri.

• 1883 - The US Supreme Court declared the Reconstruction Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional

• 1890 – Alabama Penny Savings Bank organized in Birmingham.

• 1954 - Hurricane Hazel made landfall in the US in North Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane, killing 195 people in the US and Canada

• 1955 - Buddy Holley opened for Bill Haley & the Comets in Lubbock, Texas, leading to a mis-spelled recording contract withthe name “Buddy Holly”

• 1962 - WLOX TV channel 13 in Biloxi-Gulfport, MS began broadcasts

• 1973 - Singer-songwriter Dolly Parton of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee released her single “Jolene,” which went to #1 on the country charts

• 1977 – The Arkansas Razorbacks’ Steve Little kicked a record tying 67 yard field goal.

• 1989 - North Carolina evangelist Billy Graham received the 1,900th star on the Hollywood Boulevard, becoming the first clergyman to be granted a star on the Walk of Fame

• 2011 – Legoland Florida, the world’s largest Legoland theme park, opened in Winter Haven, Florida.

• 2013 - Walmart announced that Doug McMillon of Memphis, Tennessee of its International Division, would become the next CEO

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14 October 1947

On this date in 1947…

Southern WWII fighter ace Chuck Yeager of Western Virginia was the first man to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 aircraft, “Glamorous Glennis” named after his wife.

Other Years:

• 1773 - During the American Revolutionary War, the cargo of East India Company tea ships were burned at Annapolis, Maryland in a second '“Tea Party”

• 1834 - Henry Blair of Annapolis, Maryland became the first African American granted a US patent for his corn planter

• 1936 – The first Social Security Board office opened in Austin, Texas and local offices took over the assigning of Social Security Numbers.

• 1949 - Ezzard Charles of Lawrenceville, Georgia won the heavyweight boxing title

• 1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis began when it was learned Soviet missiles capable of destroying most Southern cities were being installed in Cuba.

• 1957 - Don and Phil Everly of Brownie, Kentucky, the Everly Brothers, single “Wake Up Little Susie” reached #1 on the charts

• 1964 – Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

• 1968 - Dumas, Arkansas sprinter Jim Hines ran a world record 9.95s 100m to win the gold medal at the Mexico City Olympics

• 1987 – 18 month old Jessica McClure fell down an abandoned well in Midland, Texas and was rescued after a 58 hour effort.

• 1989 - Texas A&I University running back Johnny Bailey set a new NCAA season rush record at 6,085 yards

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13 October 1845

On this date in 1845…

The newly annexed state of Texas ratified it’s first state constitution.

Other Years:

• 1792 – The cornerstone of the Executive Mansion was laid in Washington, DC, becoming known as the White House in 1818.

• 1864 – Confederate General John B. Hood’s forces seized the Western & Atlantic Railroad above Resaca, Georgia.

• 1885 – The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) was founded in Atlanta, United States.

• 1951 – A football with a rubber covering was used for the first time when Georgia Tech beat Louisiana State 25-7 in Atlanta.

• 1971 - WTZH TV channel 24 in Meridian, Mississippi suspended its broadcasts

• 1976 - The first electron micrograph of the Ebola virus was taken by Dr. F.A. Murphy, working at the CDC in Atlanta

• 1982 - THe IOC Executive Committee approved reinstatement of Jim Thorpe’s gold medals from the 1912 Olympics

• 1995 – Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida admitted its 500-millionth guest.

• 2024 - SpaceX recovered its first Starship rocket booster when caught giant arms in a test near Brownsville, Texas

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12 October 1861

On this date in 1861…

The tiny Confederate ironclad Manassas attacked the massive war sloop USS Richmond on the Mississippi River south of New Orleans. The Manassas retired under heavy fire after ramming and damaging the Richmond and a coal barge.

Other Years:

• 1773 – America’s first insane asylum opens for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds in Williamsburg, Virginia.

• 1815 – Confederate General William Hardee was born.

• 1862 - Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart completed his second ride around McClellan’s yankee army during the Raid on Chambersburg

• 1870 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee died and was buried in Lexington, Virginia.

• 1886 – A major hurricane struck Indianola, Texas. The winds and storm surge killed 250 people.

• 1933 - American Gangster George Barnes of Memphis, Tennessee, known as Machine Gun Kelly, was sentenced to life in prison

• 1964 - Don Schollander of Charlotte, North Carolina swam an Olympic record 53.4 seconds to win the 100m freestyle gold medal, the first of Schollander’s 4 gold medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games

• 1996 – Members of all major Southern heritage groups met in summit at New Albany, Mississippi and issued the New Albany Declaration as a set of principles and objectives for the modern Southern Rights movement.

• 2015 – Dell Computer Corporation of Texas announced it was buying EMC for around $67 billion.

• 2022 - American radio host Alex Jones of Dallas ordered by a Connecticut jury to pay $965 million to families of those killed in 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School

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11 October 1809

On this date in 1809…

National hero, Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, died of multiple gunshot wounds on the Natchez Trace at Grinder’s Stand, Tennessee on rout to Washington. The death was ruled a suicide. However, modern forensic investigators have concluded Lewis was most likely assassinated by political rivals.

Other Years:

• 1767 – Surveying for the Mason–Dixon line separating Maryland from Pennsylvania was completed.

• 1779 - Polish Count Casimir Pulaski led a Patriot cavalry charge during the Siege of Savannah. He was wounded in the battle and died two days later

• 1890 – The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, DC

• 1910 – Former President Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane when he flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright brothers at Kinloch Field in St. Louis, Missouri.

• 1929 – J.C. Penney of Hamilton. Missouri opened a store in Milford, Delaware making his chain a nationwide company with stores in all 48 states.

• 1975 – Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham were married in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

• 1984 – Construction began on the Kamric/Cinergy Futursonics Studio in Houston, Texas.

• 1991 - Pro Golfer Chip Beck of Fayetteville, NC tied the PGA record lowest 18 hole score of 59 during 3rd round of the Las Vegas Invitational

• 2002 - The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former US President Jimmy Carter

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10 October 1864

On this date in 1864…

Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s troops inflicted heavy damage to federal vessels and troops at Eastport, Mississippi on the Tennessee River.

Other Years:

• 1802 – The first non-Indian settlement was established in Oklahoma by the fur traders of Col. A.P. Chouteau at present-day Salinas.

• 1845 - The US Naval School later named the US Naval Academy, opened in Annapolis, Maryland

• 1864 – Federal General W.T. Sherman’s invading troops burned foundries, mills and civillian property of every kind in Rome, Georgia.

• 1971 – Ater being sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, the London Bridge reopened in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

• 2003 – Radio host Rush Limbaugh of Missouri announced that he was addicted to painkillers and that he was going to check into rehab.

• 2018 - Hurricane Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane which killed 27 people,

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9 October 1862

On this date in 1862…

Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry raided Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during his ride around McClellan’s army.

Other Years:

• 1779 - At the Siege of Savannah, Georgia, Polish Continental Army General Casimir Pulaski was mortally wounded by grapeshot and died two days later

• 1781 – The last major battle of the American Revolutionary War began in Yorktown, Virginia when American forces, led by George Washington started bombardment British troops under Lord Cornwallis.

• 1837 - The steamboat “Home” sank off Ocracoke, North Carolina, killing 100 people

• 1858 – Stagecoach mail service between San Francisco and St. Louis began.

• 1888 – The public was admitted to the Washington Monument for the first time.

• 1902 - The bloody Tucker-Parnell feud began with a gunfight on the Union County court square in Eldorado, Arkansas leaving a constable and two Parnell brothers dead and several others wounded

• 1960 - The DAllas Cowboys’ QB Eddie LeBaron threw the NFL’s all-time shortest touchdown pass at an almost immesurable 2 inches

• 1962 - NASA civilian test pilot John B. McKay of Portsmouth, Virginia flew the X-15 to 39,200 meters in altitude

• 1995 – The Amtrak Sunset Limited train was derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona.

• 2000 – Brett Hull of the Dallas Stars scored his 611th National Hockey League goal allowing him to pass his father, Bobby Hull, on the all time scoring list.

• 2024 - Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3 storm, killing at least 23 people and causing one of the Florida’s largest evacuations

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8 October 1918

On this date in 1918…

During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Cpl. Alvin York single-handedly silenced German machine guns, killed at least 25 Germans and captured 132 prisoners. For his actions, York was promoted to sergeant and became the most decorated American soldier of WWI.

Other Years:

• 1862 – Battle of Perryville, Kentucky.

• 1927 - “The Second Hundred Years” silent film is released, starring Englishman Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy of Harlem, Georgia, the birth of early Hollywood’s most famous comedy team

• 1944 – Cpt. Bobbie Brown of Dublin, Georgia received the Medal of Honor for his heroics in The Battle of Crucifix Hill next to the village of Haaren in Germany.

• 1945 – U.S. President Harry Truman Of Missouri announced that only Britain and Canada would be given the secret to the atomic bomb.

• 1975 - The ABA’s San Antonio Spurs defeated the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks 109-107 in the first basketball game played in the Louisiana Superdome

• 1993 – The U.S. government issued a report absolving the FBI of any wrongdoing in its final assault in Waco, Texas on the Branch Davidian compound and the fire that ended the siege killing 85 people.

• 1998 - The US House of Representatives voteed to begin impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton on charges of lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky

• 2001 – Missourian radio host and conservative icon, Rush Limbaugh announced to his listeners that he was totally deaf in his left ear and had only partial hearing in his right ear.

• 2018 - New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees became the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards, beating Peyton Manning’s record

  

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7 October 1780

On this date in 7 October 1780…

A Patriot force of mountaineers and settlers defeated Tories and British rangers at the Battle of King’s Mountain, North Carolina and secured the frontier against further British attacks.

Other Years:

• 1492 – Christopher Columbus missed discovering Florida when he changed course.

• 1800 – Gabriel, a slave revolt leader in Virginia was hanged.

• 1849 – Edgar Allen Poe died after being found delirious in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland.

• 1861 – The Confederate States signed an alignment treaty with the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee Braves flag was flown in honor of the event.

• 1916 – Georgia Tech, coached by John Heisman, defeated Cumberland 222-0, the most lopsided score in the history of college football.

• 1958 - The US manned space-flight project at Houston wass renamed Project Mercury

• 1984 - Walter Payton of Columbia, Mississippi passed Jim Brown as the NFL’s career rushing leader

• 2003 – Actor Randy Quaid of Houston, Texas received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

• 2004 -Actor-Director Billy Bob Thornton of Malvern, Arkansas got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

• 2012 - New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees broke Johnny Unitas’ NFL record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass at 48

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6 October 1961

On this date in 1961…

U.S. President John F. Kennedy advised Americans in the Southern U.S. to build bomb and fallout shelters in response to the Soviet missle threat in Cuba.

Other Years:

• 1841 – At the age of 37 and after several business failures author of the Texas Declaration of Independence George Childress committed suicide by stabbing himself.

• 1857 - The First American Chess Congress was hosted by the American Chess Association in New York City and later won by Paul Morphy of New Orleans

• 1948 – “Summer and Smoke” by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway.

• 1977 – Boxer George Foreman married Cynthia Lewis.

• 1992 – Texan Ross Perot appeared in his first paid broadcast on CBS-TV after entering the U.S. presidential race.

• 2023 - Researchers confirmed fossil footprints to be 23,000-21,000 years old at White Sands National Park, New Mexico, as the oldest evidence of humans in the Americas

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5 October 1863

On this date in 1863…

The C.S.S. David, a Confederate torpedo boat exploded a spar torpedo, damaging the U.S.S. New Ironsides in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.

Other Years:

• 1862 – A Federal fleet occupied Galveston, Texas.

• 1864 – The Battle of Allatoona Pass, Georgia.

• 1892 - Oklahoma outlaws of the Dalton Gang was wiped out while trying to rob two banks at once in Coffeyville, Kansas. Four members were killed, and Emmet Dalton was wounded and captured

• 1915 - Detroit Tigers legend Ty Cobb of Narrows, Georgia steals his 96th base of the season

• 1947 – U.S. President Harry S Truman of Missouri held the first televised presidential address from the White House.

• 1955 - Vice squad officers raid the Music Hall in Houston, Texas and arrest musicians Illinois Jacquet and Dizzy Gillespie for playing dice and singer Ella Fitzgerald for allowing it

• 1965 - Dick McInnes of Henderson, Kentucky flew for almost 12 hours in a kite pulled by a speedboat along the Ohio River

• 1969 – A Cuban defector landed a Soviet-made MiG-17 at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida after the plane entered U.S. air space and landed without being detected.

• 1988 – In a debate between candidates for vice president of Texas Democrat Lloyd Bentsen told Republican Dan Quayle, “You’re no Jack Kennedy.”

• 2001 - he Atlanta Braves became the first professional sports team to win 10 consecutive division titles after defeating the Florida Marlins

• 2006 – Walmart rolled out its $4 generic drug program to the entire state of Florida after a successful test in the Tampa area.

• 2015 - Floods in South Carolina after a “1,000-year storm,” resulted in 12 deaths and 9 dam failures

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On this date in 1997…

The second largest cash robbery in American history occured at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Loomis, Fargo and Company. An FBI investigation eventually resulted in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the $17.3 million cash the thieves took.

Other Years:

• 1876 – The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas formally dedicated by Texas Gov. Richard Coke.

• 1909 – The first airship race in the U.S. took place in St. Louis, Missouri.

• 1925 - Baseball legend Ty Cobb of Narrows, Georgia batted over .300 for the 20th time

• 1928 - The St. Louis-based Howdy company applied for a patent on Charles Leiper Grigg’s lithium containing beverage known as “SEVEN UP”

• 1964 - Hurricane Hilda killed 38 people in Louisiana, Mississippi, & Georgia

• 1970 – Singer Janis Joplin of Port Arthur, Texas died of a drug overdose at age 27

• 1997 – Hundreds of thousands of men attended a Promise Keepers rally on the Mall in Washington, DC.

• 2003 - The Red Raiders’ quarterback B.J. Symons set a Big 12 Conference record with 8 touchdown passes, in a 59-28 win over Texas A & M

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3 October 1960

On this date in 1960…

The Andy Griffith Show started its 8-year run on CBS. One of the most beloved television programs of all time, the Andy Griffith Show is one of the few programs that has remained, through syndication, on the air somewhere in the world every day since it first began.

Other Years:

• 1789 - President George Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day on November 26

• 1849 – American author Edgar Allan Poe is found delirious in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland under mysterious circumstances. Poe died four days later.

• 1862 – The Battle of Corinth, Mississippi began.

• 1904 - Mary McLeod Bethune opened Daytona Normal and Industrial School in Florida

• 1922 – Rebecca L. Felton became the first female to hold office of U.S. Senator. She was appointed by Governor Thomas W. Hardwick of Georgia to fill a vacancy.

• 1945 – Elvis Presley made his first public performance at age 10, coming n fifth place in a talent show.

• 1962 – The Sigma VII blasted off from Cape Canaveral for a nine-hour flight.

• 1974 – Frank Robinson of Beaumont, Texas took over the Cleveland Indians as the first black manager in major league baseball.

• 1990 – Florida record store owner Charles Freeman was found guilty of obscenity for selling 2 Live Crew rap records.

• 2014 - Blues legend B.B. King of Berclair, Mississippi performed his last live show at the House of Blues in Chicago

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2 October 1835

On this date in 1835…

The Battle of Gonzales was fought near the Guadalupe River when American settlers defeated a Mexican cavalry unit. . Gonzales was the first engagement of the Texas revolution.

Other Years:

• 1789 – George Washington transmits the proposed Constitutional amendments (The United States Bill of Rights) to the States for ratification

• 1861 – Former US VP John C Breckinridge fled Kentucky

• 1862 – The Battle of Columbia, Mississippi.

• 1876 – The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas opened as the state’s first venture into public higher education.

• 1893 - The Cheniere Caminada hurricane (Great October Storm) struck as the third worst hurricane in US history killing 1,800 people in Louisiana

• 1919 - US President Woodrow Wilson had a stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed and his wife secretly taking over his daily duties

• 1974 - Hank Aaron hit his final home run as a member of the Atlanta Braves against the Cincinnati Reds. It was Aaron’s 733rd career home

• 1999 - #21 Alabama beat #3 Florida 40-39 in overtime to snap the Gators' 30-game home win streak

• 2013 – Eight people were killed and 14 injured after an accident involving an SUV, church bus, and tractor trailer in Jefferson County, Tennessee

• 2024 - Category 4 Hurricane Helene struck Florida’s Big Bend region on causing over 250 deaths and widespread destruction across the Southeast

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1 October 1800

On this date in 1800…

Spain ceded Louisiana to France in a secret treaty that negated the Treaty of Fontainebleau and led to the Louisiana Purchase three years later.

Other Years:

• 1837 - Racer’s Hurricane devastated parts of northeastern Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing about 105 people and causing widespread destruction

• 1862 – General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry defeated federals in battles at Athens and Huntsville, Alabama.

• 1885 – The United States Postal Service first began Special delivery mail service on routes in Western Virginia.

• 1893 – 3rd worst hurricane in US history killed 1,800 people in Mississippi.

• 1926 - An oil field accident cost aviator Wiley Post of Texas his left eye; he used the settlement money to buy his first aircraft

• 1946 – The first baseball play-off game for a league championship was played when the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-2.

• 1962 – James Meredith became first black student to attend the University of Mississippi

• 1967 - Richard Petty chalked up the tenth cosecutive win on his historic streak at the Wilkes 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina

• 1971 – Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida

• 1982 – Disney’s EPCOT Center opened in Orlando, Florida

• 1986 - The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia was dedicated

• 2024 - Okaloosa County, Florida, commissioners agreed to purchase the record-holding ocean liner SS United States to sink in the Gulf of America as an artificial reef and diving attraction

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30 September 1919

On this date in 1919…

Socialist agitators incited a plot that resulted in a race riot in Elaine, Arkansas that killed as many as 250 people. The Elaine Riots began when conspirators caught and killed an investigator for the Missouri Pacific Railroad who had discovered the plot and were part of several incidents that made up the “Red Summer” of 1919.

Other Years:

• 1862 - Confederate and Missouri State Guard troops drove away federals at the First Battle of Newtonia in Newton County, Missouri

• 1907 - The St. Louis Cardinals’ Ed Konetchy steals home twice, and Joe Delahanty also steals home setting a record of three home plate steals against Boston

• 1924 – Author Truman Capote was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

• 1934 - The St. Louis Cardinals clinch pennant as Arkansawyer Dizzy Dean wins his 30th game of the year

• 1949 - Alabama chemist Percy L. Julian at the Glidden Company announces an improved method for producing cortisone

• 1950 - WSM-TV channel 4 in Nashville, TN began broadcasts

• 1962 – Federal Marshalls backed by 3,000 federal troops invaded Ole Miss and used terror and excessive force to enforce an integration order and enroll James Lee Meredith. Their actions caused days of violent riots.

• 1992 – Western Virginia native George Brett of the Kansas City Royals reached his 3,000th career hit during a game against the California Angels.

• 1997 - The Florida-based Hooters restaurant chain agreed to pay $2 million in discrimination lawsuits

• 2014 - A case of the Ebola virus reached Dallas, Texas after US President Barak Obama refused to limit travel from infected regions of Africa

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29 September 1997

On this date in 1997…

Jury selection began for Northern terrorist terry nichols’ trial for the Oklahoma City bombing.

Other Years:

• 1789 – On the final day of its first session, The U.S. Congress officially created the United States military.

• 1864 – The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia began.

• 1915 – A hurricane killed 275 victims in the Mississippi Delta.

• 1927 – A tornado killed 85 people in St Louis Missouri.

• 1962 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy authorized use of federal troops to integrate the University of Mississippi ad nationalized the Mississippi National guard in response to city officials defying federal court orders.

• 1986 – Western Virginia native and Olympic gold medalist, Mary Lou Retton announced that she was quitting gymnastics.

• 1988 – The space shuttle Discovery took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It was the first manned space flight since the Challenger disaster.

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28 September 1781

On this date in 1781…

The Continental Army under General George Washington began the siege of Lord Cornwallis’s British troops at Yorktown, Virginia.

Other Years:

• 1528 – A Spanish fleet sank in a Florida hurricane drowning about 380 victims.

• 1787 – The U.S. Congress voted to send the new Constitution of the United States to the state legislatures for their approval.

• 1789 – In the U.S., the first Federal Congress passed a resolution that asked President George Washington to recommend to the nation a day of thanksgiving. Several days later Washington issued a proclamation that named Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a “Day of Publick Thanksgiving.”

• 1912 – W.C. Handy’s “Memphis Blues” was published.

• 1967 – The first mayor of Washington, DC, Walter Washington, took office.

• 1968 – The Atlanta Chiefs won the first North American Soccer League Championship/

• 2000 – The U.S. Federal Drug Administration approved the use of RU-486 in the United States to induce abortion.

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27 September 1514

On this date in 1514…

Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon was granted the title Military Governor of Bimini and Florida.

Other Years:

• 1862 – Federal General W.T. Sherman ordered that for every instance of firing onto a supply boat, ten families should be expelled from Memphis, Tennessee. Sherman then began placing Confederate prisoners on boats as human shields.

• 1864 – The Centralia Massacre occurred in Missouri when twenty-four Federal soldiers were captured and executed by troops under “Bloody Bill” Anderson as retaliation for similar atrocities commited against Confederates.

• 1964 – The Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.

• 1864 – The Battle of Fort Davidson at Pilot Knob, Missourri was the opening engagement of General Sterling Price’s Missourri Raid. Federal troops fled the fort under cover of darkness, ending the battle with forces suffering 1,700 combined casualties.

• 1903 – Wreck of the Old 97, a train crash made famous by the song of the same name occurred en route from Monroe, Virginia, to Spencer, North Carolina.

• 1930 – Bobby Jones of Atlanta, Georgia won the U.S. Amateur Championship to complete what was then the Grand Slam of golf: the U.S. Open, British Open, U.S. Amateur, and British Amateur.

• 1998 – Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals set a major league baseball record when he hit his 70th home run of the season.

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26 September 1820

On this date in 1820…

Daniel Boone died at the age of 85 in Osage Creek Missouri. His remains were later re-interred in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Other Years:

• 1789 – Thomas Jefferson was appointed America’s first Secretary of State and Edmund Jennings Randolph (both from Virginia) was appointed the first Attorney General under the U.S. Constitution.

• 1888 – Poet, dramatist, and Nobel Prize winner, T. S. Eliot was born in St Louis Missouri.

• 1933 – Gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrendered to the FBI outside Memphis, Tennessee. Kelly shouted out, “Don’t shoot, G-Men!”, which became a nickname for FBI agents.

• 1962 – “The Beverly Hillbillies” premiered on CBS-TV.

• 1980 – The Cuban government abruptly closed Mariel Harbor to end the boatlift of Cuban “refugees” that began the previous April.

• 1981 – Nolan Ryan of Texas set a Major League record by throwing his fifth no-hitter.

• 1985 – Shamu, the first killer whale to survive being born in captivity, was born at Sea World in Orlando, Florida.

• 1991 – The two-year Biosphere 2 experiment began in Oracle Arizona.

• 1993 – The eight people who had stayed in “Biosphere II” emerged to end the experiment.

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