De Soto Dead – Today In Southern History
21 May 1542
On this date in 1542…
Spanish Conquistador Hernando de Soto died of a fever near present day Lake Village, Arkansas. Before his death, he appointed Luis de Moscoso his successor. De Soto’s body was later weighted and buried in the Mississippi River to prevent desecration of his remains by hostile natives. Because of the changing course of the river, some believe his actual burial site to now be in Lake Chicot, Arkansas, the largest oxbow lake in the world.
Other Years:
1822 – Confederate General and founder of the Southern Historical Society, Dabney H. Maury was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
1832 - The first Democratic Party National Convention was held in Baltimore
1861 - Richmond, Virginia, was designated as the Confederate States Capital
1863 – The siege of the Confederate citadel at Port Hudson, Louisiana began. Port Hudson remains the longest siege in U.S. military history.
1906 - The US and Mexico sign an agreement over distribution of the waters of the Rio Grande for US crop irrigation
1917 - Leo Pinckney, a black man from Charleston, SC was the first American drafted during WWI.
1961 – Governor Patterson declared martial law in Montgomery, Alabama.
1966 - Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) of Louisville, KY beat Henry Cooper by TKO in 6 rounds to win the heavyweight boxing title
1971 - The National Guard mobilized to quell riot a in Chattanooga, Tennessee
1986 - Atlanta Brave Rafael Ramirez hit 4 doubles in one game
1987 – Operation of the Xignals computer bulletin board system (BBS) began in Alabama.
1998 - Five abortion clinics in Miami, Florida, were targeted by a butyric acid attack.
2022 - US Navy posthumously awards Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Charles J. French of Foreman, AR known as ‘the Human Tugboat’ for heroic actions in the South Pacific in 1942
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