The Powhattan Massacre – Today In Southern History
22 March 1622
On this date in 1622…
Tribes of the Powhattan Confederation killed 347 English settlers in and around Jamestown, Virginia in the first American Indian massacre of whites. The people of Jamestown only survived because a newly converted Christian Indian alerted them to the attack in time, however most of the residents of the outlying farms and smaller settlements were killed. The attack killed roughly 1/4 of the European population of Virginia Colony.
Other Years:
1764 – Tunica, Ofo, Avoyel, and Choctaw Indians attacked a group of English boats searching for a fugitive slave who has taken shelter with the Indians. Six Englishmen were killed before they abandoned the search.
1790 – Thomas Jefferson of Virginia became the first U.S. Secretary of State.
1817 – Conrederate General Baxton Bragg was born in Warrenton, North Carolina.
1864 – Confederate Army of Tennessee troops languishing in their winter quarters fought “The Great Snowball Fight” near Dalton, Georgia.
1871 – William Holden of North Carolina became the first governor to be removed by impeachment.
1934 – The first Masters golf championship began in Augusta, Georgia.
1972 – Congress sent the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification. It fell short of the three-fourths approval needed.
1975 – A fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama causes citizens to evacuate because of a dangerous loss of cooling water to the reactor.
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