Will Rogers

4 November 1879

On this date in 1879 - Cherokee and Southern cowboy, comedian, social commentator, and actor, Will Rogers was born in Oologah, Indian Territory. (Now Oklahoma)  Rogers used to say, "My family didn't come over on the Mayflower, but they met the boat.

Other Years:

• 1833 - Lieutenant Rains reported that since the beginning of the fall, approximately 1/5 of the 3000 Choctaws near the Choctaw Agency in Indian Territory had died from the elements and poor medical care.
• 1864 - Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest's troops destroyed Federal gunboats, transports and storage warehouses near Johnsonville, Tennessee.
• 1981 - The second scheduled flight of the space shuttle Columbia was canceled with only 31 seconds left in the countdown at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Read: Why Know Southern History?

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