The Pensacola Tragedy – Today In Southern History
14 August 1559
On this date in 1559…
Appointed by the Spanish Viceroy in Mexico to establish Spanish settlements on the Gulf Coast, Tristan de Luna y Arellano, with several priests, 500 soldiers, and 1,000 settlers landed at Pensacola Bay with thirteen ships. Most of the expedition was dead just a few days later due to a hurricane. The survivors soon starved.
Other Years:
1756 – Frontier legend Daniel Boone married Rebecca Bryan in Yadkin River, North Carolina.
1842 – The Second Seminole War ended with most Seminoles forced to relocate from Florida to Oklahoma.
1846 – The Cape Girardeau meteorite, a 2.3 kg chondrite-type meteorite struck near the town of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
1861 – Having seized control of the city, federal invaders declared Martial Law at St Louis, Missouri due to pro-secession sentiment which surged throughout Missouri after federal troops and German immigrants unsuccessfully attacked the Missouri State Guard at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek.
1864 – Confederate General Joe Wheeler laid siege to federals at Dalton, Georgia.
1936 – In the last public execution in the U.S., Rainey Bethea was hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky.
1995 – Due to a federal judge’s order, Shannon Faulkner became the first woman to attend the Citadel.
1997 – The Oklahoma Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence of northern terrorist Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City bombing.
Read ‘Why Know Southern History?’
There’s Plenty More to See At Our Sister Site ‘Southern Nation News’ for the best Southern News from Dixie Drudge
Copyright 2025, KnowSouthernHistory.Org