Battle of the Virginia Capes

5 September 1781 

On this date in 1781 the French Fleet won...

At the Battle of Virginia Capes, the French fleet defeated its British counterpart, trapping Lord Cornwallis’s British and Loyalist troops at Yorktown, Virginia. This paved the way for victory in the American War for Independence

Other Years:

• 1774 - Delegates of twelve British North American colonies met in the First Continental Congress at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in response to the Intolerable Acts passed the British Parliament.
• 1836 - Sam Houston was elected as president of the Texas Republic.
• 1847 - Jesse Woodson James Jesse Woodson James, Missouri outlaw and Confederate guerrilla was born in Kearney, Missouri. Missouri.
• 1863 – The “Bread Revolt” began in Mobile, Alabama.
• 1906 - Bradbury Robinson executed the first legal forward pass in football when he threw to Jack Schneider of St. Louis University in a game against Carroll College.
• 1953 - The first privately operated atomic reactor opened in Raleigh, North Carolina.
• 1958 - The first color videotaped program, "The Betty Freezor Show," was aired on WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• 1960 - Cassius Clay of Louisville, KY, won the gold medal for light-heavyweight boxing at the Olympic Games in Rome, Italy.
•  1971 - J.R. Richard of the Houston Astros tied Karl Spooner’s record when he struck out 15 batters in his major-league pitching debut.
• 1982 - Eddie Hill of Texas set a propeller-driven boat water speed record when he reached 229 mph.
• 1989 - Deborah Norville of Dalton, Georgia became the news anchor of NBC's "Today" show.

Read: Why Know Southern History?

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