Virginia History Timeline

Events 1 - 100 of 321

• 1606-12-20 The English colonial expedition to America, consisting of the ships Discovery, Godspeed and Susan Constant, departs Blackwall, London to found Jamestown, Virginia
• 1607-04-26 Jamestown expedition makes first landing in America at a place named Cape Henry, in what would become Virginia, but they quickly depart for a better site

• 1608-01-07 Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia
• 1608-09-10 John Smith elected president of Jamestown colony council, Virginia
• 1609-05-23 Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place
• 1610-06-10 Thomas West, Baron de La Mar, is appointed governor of Virginia
• 1619-07-30 House of Burgesses Virginia forms, 1st elective American governing body
• 1619-08-20 Slavery begins in America: 1st known African Americans (approx. 20) land at Point Comfort (Fort Monroe), Virginia before being sold or traded into servitude

• 1622-03-22 First American Indian (Powhatan) massacre of Europeans around Jamestown, Virginia, 347 killed
• 1623-03-05 1st American temperance law enacted, Virginia
• 1623-06-14 1st breach-of-promise lawsuit: Rev Gerville Pooley, Virginia files against Cicely Jordan, he loses
• 1624-06-16 Virginia becomes an English crown colony following the bankruptcy of the London Company
• 1629-03-24 1st game law passed in American colonies, by Virginia
• 1635-04-28 Virginia Governor John Harvey accused of treason and removed from office
• 1635-08-24 The Great Colonial Hurricane - affects the Virginia Colony at Jamestown
• 1639-01-06 Virginia orders half of its tobacco crop destroyed to support plunging prices and to avoid an economic catastrophe, the 1st colony to order the destruction of crops
• 1651-07-24 Anthony Johnson, a free African American, receives grant of 250 acres in Virginia
• 1652-05-10 John Johnson, a free African-Virginian, is granted 550 acres in Northampton, Virginia by his father
• 1654-11-21 Richard Johnson, a free black, granted 550 acres in Virginia
• 1663-09-13 1st serious slave conspiracy in colonial America (Virginia)
• 1665-08-27 "Ye Bare & Ye Cubb" is the first play performed in North America in Acomac, Virginia
• 1676-05-10 Bacon's Rebellion begins, frontiersmen vs Virginia government
• 1676-08-03 Nathaniel Bacon publishes "Declaration of People of Virginia"
• 1676-09-19 Rebels under Nathaniel Bacon set Jamestown, Virginia, on fire
• 1677-05-29 Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and local Native Americans
• 1691-08-16 Yorktown, Virginia founded
• 1693-02-08 William & Mary College is chartered in Williamsburg in the Dominion and Colony of Virginia (second in North America)
• 1693-02-13 College of William & Mary opens in Williamsburg, Virginia
• 1750-11-11 The F.H.C. Society, also known as the Flat Hat Club, was formed at Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, Virginia. It was the first college fraternity.

• 1766-02-11 Stamp Act declared unconstitutional in Virginia
• 1773-10-12 America's first asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Virginia
• 1774-09-05 The 1st Continental Congress, a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that later became the United States, convenes at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia

• 1776-06-12 Virginia adopts Declaration of Rights

• 1777-12-16 Virginia becomes 1st state to ratify Articles of Confederation (US 1st constitution)

• 1794-01-14 Dr Jessee Bennet of Edom, Virginia, performs 1st successful Cesarean section operation in the US on his wife
• 1800-08-30 Gabriel Prosser leads a slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia
• 1802-01-29 John Beckley of Virginia appointed first Librarian of Congress

• 1811-12-26 A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.

• 1839-11-11 The Virginia Military Institute is founded in Lexington, Virginia.
• 1843-02-06 The first minstrel show in the United States The Virginia Minstrels opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).
• 1846-07-09 The territory of the District of Columbia south of the Potomac River (39 mi² or about 100 km²) is returned to Virginia through an Act of Congress
• 1857-06-02 James Gibbs of Virginia, patents the chain-stitch single-thread sewing machine

• 1859-12-02 Abolitionist John Brown hanged for murder, treason, and conspiring slaves to revolt at Charles Town, Virginia
• 1860-08-11 US's 1st successful silver mill (Virginia City, Nevada)
• 1861-04-17 Virginia secedes from the Union (US Civil War)

• 1861-04-27 West Virginia secedes from Virginia after Virginia secedes from Union (US Civil War)
• 1861-05-05 Alexandria, Virginia - Confederate troops abandon the city
• 1861-05-08 Richmond, Virginia, is named the capital of the Confederacy in the US
• 1861-05-18 Battle of Sewall's Point Virginia - 1st Federal offense against the South
• 1861-05-23 Three Virginia slaves Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory and James Townsend escape, rowing across Hampton Roads to Fort Monroe, Virginia - declared 1st contraband of war the next day [1]
• 1861-05-23 Virginia citizens vote 3 to 1 in favor of secession from the Union
• 1861-05-24 Alexandria, Virginia, occupied by Union troops
• 1861-06-01 1st skirmish in US Civil War at Fairfax Court House, Virginia
• 1861-06-01 Skirmish at Arlington Mills, Virginia
• 1861-06-10 Battle of Big Bethel Virginia (Bethel Church, Great Bethal) the Union retreats
• 1861-06-16 Battle of Vienna, Virginia and Secessionville, South Carolina (James Island)
• 1861-06-24 Battle of Mathias Point, Virginia Union forces attack Confederate batteries
• 1861-07-03 Martinsburg, Virginia - Confederate forces pull out before US advance
• 1861-07-07 Battle of Laurel Hill, Virginia
• 1861-07-11 Battle of Laurel Mountain Virginia - General Morris forces retreat of rebels
• 1861-07-11 Battle of Rich Mountain, Virginia - Rosecrans forces rebels to surrender
• 1861-07-13 Battle of Corrick's Ford, Virginia (Carrick's Ford) - Union army takes total control of western Virginia
• 1861-07-14 General McDowell advances toward Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia with 40,000 troops
• 1861-07-17 At Manassas, Virginia General Beauregard requests reinforcements for his 22,000 men, General Johnston is ordered to Manassas
• 1861-07-18 Battle of Blackburn's Ford, Virginia
• 1861-07-20 Confederate states' congress began holding sessions in Richmond, Virginia
• 1861-07-21 First Battle of Bull Run [Battle of First Manassas], 1st major battle of the US Civil War is fought near Manassas, Virginia, Confederate victory
• 1861-07-27 Battle of Mathias Point, Virginia - Rebel forces repel a Federal landing
• 1861-09-10 Battle of Carnifex Ferry in Virginia, 170 casualties
• 1861-09-17 First class for escaped slaves taught by Mary Peake at Fortress Monroe Virginia (now Hampton University).
• 1861-10-24 West Virginia secedes from Virginia
• 1861-11-18 The first provisional meeting of the Confederate Congress is held in Richmond, Virginia
• 1861-11-26 West Virginia created as a result of dispute over slavery with Virginia
• 1862-03-08 Naval Engagement at Hampton Roads, VA CSS Virginia, Jamestown & Yorktown vs USS Cumberland, Congress & Monitor

• 1862-03-23 Battle of Kernstown Virginia, Jackson begins his Valley Campaign
• 1862-03-28 Skirmish at Bealeton Station, Virginia
• 1862-04-04 Peninsular Campaign, launched in southeastern Virginia, aimed at capturing Richmond during US Civil War begins, Confederate victory (US Civil War)
• 1862-04-04 Siege of Yorktown, fought in York County and Newport News, Virginia begins (Yorktown campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
• 1862-04-05 Siege of Yorktown, fought in York County and Newport News, Virginia ends (Yorktown campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
• 1862-05-05 Battle at Williamsburg, Virginia, is inconclusive
• 1862-05-07 Battle of West Point, Virginia at Eltham's Landing, Barnhamsville
• 1862-05-08 Valley Campaign: Federals repulsed at Battle of McDowell, Virginia

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Birthdays 1 - 100 of 453

• 1561-12-09 Edwin Sandys, English politician (leading Parliamentary opponent of King James I of England) and a founder of Virginia colony, born in Worcestershire, England (d. 1629)
• 1577-07-09 Thomas West, 3rd & 12th Baron De La Warr, English Jamestown colonist and Governor of Virginia, born in Wherwell, Hampshire, England (d. 1618)

• 1587-08-18 Virginia Dare, 1st English child born in the New World, born on Roanoke Island, North Carolina (fate unknown) [1]
• 1609-08-06 Richard Bennett, English Colonial Governor of Virginia, born in Wiveliscombe, Somerset (d. 1675)
• 1615-01-30 Thomas Rolfe, American colonial settler and only child of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, born in Varina Farms, Virginia (d. 1675)
• 1646-12-26 Robert Bolling, English settler in Virginia (d. 1709)
• 1718-04-27 Thomas Lewis, Irish-American surveyor, lawyer, and a pioneer of early Virginia, born in County Donegal, Ireland (d. 1790)

• 1733-06-20 Betty Washington, younger sister of George Washington, born in Westmoreland County, Colony of Virginia (d. 1797)
• 1734-10-14 Francis Lightfoot Lee, American advocate for independence (signed US Declaration of Independence), born in Stratford Hall Plantation, Westmoreland County, Virginia Colony (d. 1797)

• 1736-09-10 Carter Braxton, American farmer and signer (Declaration of Independence), born in King and Queen County, Virginia (d. 1797)
• 1741-05-17 John Penn, American attorney (signed US Declaration of Independence), born in Port Royal, Caroline County, Virginia (d. 1788)

• 1752-11-19 George Rogers Clark, American frontier military leader in Revolutionary War, born in Albemarle County, Virginia (d. 1818)
• 1753-12-19 John Taylor, American philosopher (Jeffersonian Democracy), born in Virginia, (d. 1824)
• 1754-12-07 Jack Jouett, American politician and patriot (warn Thomas Jefferson of British attack), born in Albemarle County, Virginia (d. 1822)

• 1756-01-29 Henry Lee III "Light Horse Harry", American Congressman, Governor of Virginia and American General, born on Leesylvania Plantation, Colony of Virginia (d. 1818)

• 1760-12-02 John Breckinridge, American lawyer (5th United States Attorney General) and politician (U.S. Senator from Kentucky), born in Augusta County, Virginia (d. 1806)

• 1771-11-11 Ephraim McDowell, American physician and surgeon (pioneered abdominal surgery), born in Rockbridge, Virginia (d. 1830)
• 1772-09-27 Martha Jefferson Randolph, daughter of Thomas Jefferson the 3rd President of the U.S., born in Monticello, Virginia (d. 1836)

• 1773-06-02 John Randolph [of Roanoke], American planter, Congressman (Virginia) and Minister to Russia, born in Cawsons, Virginia (d. 1833)

• 1783-05-25 Philip Pendleton Barbour, American politician and U.S. Supreme Court justice, born in Gordonsville, Virginia (d. 1841)
• 1784-04-24 Peter Vivian Daniel, American jurist, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1841-60), born in Stafford County, Virginia (d. 1860)

• 1786-06-13 Winfield Scott, American army general (Union) and presidential candidate, born in Petersburg, Virginia (d. 1866)
• 1787-04-13 John Robertson, American politician, born in Petersburg, Virginia (d. 1873)

• 1791-04-12 Francis Preston Blair, American journalist and newspaper editor (Washington Globe), born in Abingdon, Virginia (d. 1876)

• 1793-09-04 Edward Bates, American lawyer (26th U.S. Attorney General), born in Goochland County, Virginia (d. 1869)

• 1797-09-06 William "Extra Billy" Smith, American lawyer, politician (Governor of Virginia, 1846-49 and 1864-65; US Representative from Virginia, 1853-61), and oldest General in the Confederate Army, born in Marengo, Virginia (d. 1887)
• 1798-04-26 James Beckwourth, American fur trader and explorer, born in Frederick County, Virginia (d. 1867)
• 1798-11-03 Mason James Murray, American senator and Confederate diplomat (Trent Affair), born in Fairfax, Virginia (d. 1871)

• 1801-04-26 Ambrose Dudley Mann, American diplomat, born in Hanover Courthouse, Virginia (d. 1889)
• 1802-02-21 George Douglas Ramsay, American Brevet Major general (Union Army), born in Dumfries, Virginia (d. 1882)
• 1803-04-21 Levin Minn Powell, American Commander (Union Navy), born in Winchester, Winchester City, Virginia (d. 1885)
• 1806-01-14 Matthew Fontaine Maury, Naval Commander (Confederacy), born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia (d. 1873)
• 1806-06-01 John B Floyd, American Governor (Virginia), Secretary of War (1857-60) and Confederate general, born in Blacksburg, Virginia (d. 1863)
• 1806-12-03 Henry A. Wise, American lawyer and politician (33rd Governor of Virginia), born in Drummondtown, Virginia (d. 1876)

• 1807-05-01 John B. Magruder, American Major General (Confederate Army), born in Port Royal, Virginia (d. 1871)
• 1807-12-20 Richard Lucian Page, US Navy officer (Confederate Army), born in Clarke County, Virginia (d. 1901)
• 1808-01-07 Jacob Ammen, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Fincastle, Virginia (d. 1894)
• 1808-08-09 William Thomas Ward, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Amelia County, Virginia (d. 1878)
• 1808-11-27 Hugh W. Mercer, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Fredericksburg, Virginia (d. 1877)

• 1809-04-17 Philip St. George Cocke, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Bremo Bluff, Virginia (d. 1861)
• 1809-04-20 John S. Preston, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Abingdon, Virginia (d. 1881)
• 1809-04-21 Robert M. T. Hunter, American lawyer and politician (2nd Confederate States Secretary of State), born in Loretto, Virginia (d. 1887)
• 1809-06-13 George Philip St Cooke, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Leesburg, Virginia (d. 1895)
• 1809-09-09 William Radford, U.S. Navy rear admiral, born in Fincastle, Virginia (d. 1890)
• 1809-09-20 Sterling "Old Pap" Price, American lawyer, U.S. Army Brigadier General and politician (11th Governor of Missouri), born in Prince Edward County, Virginia (d. 1867)
• 1809-12-26 William Nelson Pendleton, American Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), born in Richmond, Virginia (d. 1883)
• 1811-10-27 Stevens T. Mason, American politician (1st Governor of Michigan. 1835-40), born in Leesburg, Virginia (d. 1843)
• 1812-01-31 John Randolph Tucker, American naval officer (Confederate Navy), born in Alexandria, Virginia (d. 1883)
• 1812-05-06 Martin Delany, African-American abolitionist and physician (1st African American major in US Army), born in Charles Town, Virginia (d. 1885)
• 1813-03-29 John Letcher, American lawyer and politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia, born in Lexington, Virginia (d. 1884)
• 1815-01-08 Lawrence Pike Graham, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Amelia County, Virginia (d. 1905)
• 1815-01-10 Alexander Brydie Dyer, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Richmond, Virginia (d. 1874)
• 1816-03-14 Montgomery Dent Corse, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Alexandria, Virginia (d. 1895)
• 1816-04-16 Edward Johnson, American Major General (Confederate Army), born in Midlothian, Virginia (d. 1873)
• 1816-07-31 George Henry Thomas, American Major General (Union Army), born in Newsoms, Virginia (d. 1870)
• 1816-11-03 Jubal Early, American General (Confederate Army), born in Franklin County, Virginia (d. 1894)
• 1817-05-18 James William Denver, American lawyer, politician and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Winchester, Virginia (d. 1892)
• 1817-09-21 Carter L. Stevenson, American Major General (Confederate Army), born in Fredericksburg, Virginia (d. 1888)
• 1817-11-21 Richard B. Garnett, American Confederate Brigadier General, born in Essex County, Virginia (d. 1863)
• 1819-11-23 Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss, American politician and Major General (Union Army), born in Belleville, Virginia (d. 1901)
• 1819-12-17 Samuel Jones, American Major General (Confederate Army), born in Powhatan County, Virginia (d. 1887)
• 1820-07-26 John Marshall Jones, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Charlottesville, Virginia (d. 1864)
• 1820-09-21 Williams Carter Wickham, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Richmond, Virginia (d. 1888)
• 1821-06-08 John Dunlap Stevenson, American attorney, politician, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Staunton, Virginia (d. 1897)
• 1822-05-21 Mosby Monroe Parsons, United States officer in the Mexican–American War and brigadier general of the Confederate States Army, born in Charlottesville, Virginia (d. 1865)
• 1822-06-24 Birkett D. Fry, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Kanawha County, Virginia (d. 1891)
• 1822-09-22 Eppa Hunton, American representative and Brigadier-General who fought in most ANV campaigns, born in Warrenton, Virginia (d. 1908)
• 1822-12-28 William Booth Taliaferro, Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), born in Gloucester County, Virginia (d. 1898)
• 1823-06-11 James Lawson Kemper, American lawyer, military officer (US Army Captain - Mexican-American War; Confederate Army Major General), and politician (Governor of Virginia, 1874-78), born in Madison County, Virginia (d. 1895)
• 1823-08-25 John Newton, American engineer and Major General (Union Army), born in Norfolk, Virginia (d. 1895)

• 1824-05-09 William Edmonson "Grumble" Jones, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Washington County, Virginia (d. 1864)
• 1824-07-23 Gabriel C. Wharton, American civil engineer and Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Culpeper County, Virginia (d. 1906)
• 1824-08-14 William Terry, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Amherst County, Virginia (d. 1888)
• 1825-09-03 Armistead Lindsay Long, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Campbell County, Virginia (d. 1891)
• 1825-11-09 A. P. Hill, Confederate general, born in Culpeper, Virginia (d. 1865)
• 1827-05-29 Reuben Lindsay Walker, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Logan, Virginia (d. 1890)
• 1827-06-05 Beverly Holcombe Robertson, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Amelia County, Virginia (d. 1910)
• 1828-07-19 Roger Atkinson Pryor, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Petersburg, Virginia (d. 1919)

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