The Lusitania – Today In Southern History
7 May 1915
On this date in 1915…
A German submarine sunk the British ocean liner Lusitania just committing one of the acts that eventually drew America into WWI.
Other Years:
1718 - The city of New Orleans was founded by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville
1789 - The first inaugural ball was held for George Washington in New York City
1840 - A tornado struck Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people
1851 – The Cherokee Nation opened a seminary (high school) for women, north of Park Hill on the Cherokee Reservation in Indian Territory.
1861 – Virginia was formally admitted into the Confederate States of America.
1865 – Governor Brown surrendered the Georgia State Line Troops and the Georgia Militia to federal General James H. Wilson
1865 – Confederate Major Henry Wirz was arrested at Andersonville, Georgia on order of federal General James H. Wilson.
1912 – The first airplane equipped with a machine gun flew over College Park, Maryland.
1914 - The US Congress established the Southern tradition of Mother’s Day as a national holiday
1945 – Baseball owner Branch Rickey announced the organization of the United States Negro Baseball League with six teams.
1958 – Fighter ace and test pilot Howard “Scrappy” Johnson of Knoxville, Tennessee broke the world’s altitude record by over 14,000 feet, soaring at 91,249 feet in his F–104A Starfighter.
1960 - The Soviet Union announced that downed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of Jenkins, KY confessed to being a CIA spy
1998 – Leeza Gibbons of Hartsville, South Carolina received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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