Morgan’s Raid – Today In Southern History

Jul 17, 2026

17 July 1863

1603 – English explorer and Roanoke founder Walter Raleigh was arrested by forces of King James I of England
1673 – Frenchmen Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette, on an expedition to explore the Mississippi River reached the mouth of the Arkansas River. To avoid a confrontation with the Spanish they ended their expedition and returned north.
1821 – Spain ceded Florida to the U.S.
1861 – At Manassas, VA Confederate General PGT Beauregard requested reinforcements for his 22,000 men. General Joseph Johnston was ordered to assist
1979 – Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza fled to exile in Miami, Florida.
1922 – Ty Cobb of Narrows, GA got 5 hits in a game for a MLB record forth time in a year
1938 – Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan of Galveston, TX left New York for Los Angeles and flew to Ireland claiming a mistake after being denied permission for a Trans-Atlantic flight
1965 – WLCY TV channel 10 in St Petersburg-Tampa, Florida began broadcasts
1981 – A Fulton County, GA grand jury indicted Wayne Williams, a 23-year-old black photographer for the serial murder of 28 young black Atlanta men that the media and community blamed on whites
1994 – Hulk Hogan (GA) beat Ric Flair (NC) to win the WCW wrestling championship
2012 – Seventeen people were wounded by a shooting in a Tuscaloosa, Alabama bar.