The Declaration of Independence – Today In Southern History
4 July 1776
4 July 1776
On this date in 1776…
The Second Continental Congress announced that it had unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, largely authored by Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration was actually adopted and signed on the 2nd of July.
Other Years:
1584 – An expedition Sir Walter Raleigh dispatched and led by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore the eastern coast of North America arrived with the first colonists on Roanoke Island to establish Sir Walter Raleigh’s colony.
1777 – Shawnee warriors attacked Boonesborough for a second time in four months. Again, the stockade proved too strong against the Shawnee assault and the Indians broke off the attack.
1803 – The Louisiana Purchase was announced to the American people.
1828 – Confederate General John Johnston Pettigrew was born in Tyrrell County, North Carolina.
1845 – The Texas Congress voted to allow annexation to the US
1863 – Vicksburg, Mississippi fell to federal forces.
1863 – More than six hundred died in a failed Confederate assault on federal forts around Helena, Arkansas in an effort to relieve pressure on the besieged town of Vicksburg, Mississippi by drawing away federal troops.
1870 – The Great Steamboat Race ended when the Robert E. Lee reached St. Louis, Missouri six hours and thirty-six minutes ahead of the Natchez.
1881 – Booker T. Washington established the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama.
1954 WMSL TV channel 48 in Huntsville, AL began broadcast
1969 – 140,000 attended the Atlanta Pop Festival in Byron, GA, performers included Janis Joplin, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago and Led Zeppelin
1984 – Richard Petty won his 200th and final victory in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway
1995 – The Birmingham (Alabama) Barracudas played the first Canadian Football League beating Winnipeg 38-10
2025 – A night-time flash flood along the Guadalupe River in Texas killed at least 116 people including children at a girls summer camp
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