Mississippi History Timeline
People, places, and events that shaped Mississippi history
10,000BCE–1518CE
1519–1797
1798-1832
1833-1865
1866-1902
1903-1928
1929-1945
1946-Present
This day in Mississippi History
April 1, 1945:
U.S. forces invade Japanese island Okinawa
This month in Mississippi History
April 7, 1798:
Congress establishes Mississippi Territory
April 2, 1799:
Governor Winthrop Sargent establishes first two counties — Pickering and Adams
April 30, 1803:
France and United States sign Louisiana Purchase
April 12, 1861:
Civil War begins
April 6-7, 1862:
Battle of Shiloh ends in Union victory
April 16 and 22, 1863:
Union navy passes Vicksburg batteries
April 17, 1863:
Colonel Benjamin Grierson’s Union cavalry raid
April 29, 1863:
Union bombards Grand Gulf
April 30, 1863:
Union navy lands at Bruinsburg
April 9, 1865:
General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant
April 14, 1865:
Abraham Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth
April 26, 1865:
Confederate forces begin surrendering
April 25, 1866:
Women of Columbus decorate Union and Confederate soldiers’ graves
April 27, 1897:
Mississippi Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) organized in Meridian
April 6, 1917:
Mississippi ratifies Woodrow Wilson’s declaration of war on Germany
April 6, 1917:
United States enters World War I
April 5, 1936:
Tornado devastates Tupelo, killing over 200
April 23, 1940:
Fire kills over 200 at Rhythm Night Club in Natchez
April 29, 1943:
The
USS Natchez
helps sink German submarine off Virginia coast
April 3, 1944:
U.S. Supreme Court abolishes “white only” primaries in Smith v. Allwright
April 12, 1945:
President Roosevelt dies; vice president Harry S. Truman becomes president
April 20, 1945:
Mississippi Choctaws adopt constitution and by-laws
April 12, 1956:
Elvis Presley posts first #1 hit
April 25, 1959:
Mack Charles Parker murdered in Poplarville
April 24, 1960:
Biloxi Beach Wade In Held
April 24, 1960:
Biloxi Beach wade-in held
April 17, 1964:
Second mistrial declared in Byron De La Beckwith’s murder trial
April 26, 1964:
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Formed
April 26, 1964:
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party formed
April 15, 1965:
WLBT License Challenged
April 15, 1965:
WLBT broadcasting license challenged
April 23, 1966:
First Saturn V rocket tested at Mississippi Test Facility in Hancock County
April 30, 1966:
Blacks Build Tent City
April 4, 1968:
Dr. Martin Luther King Assassinated
April 4, 1968:
Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated in Memphis
April 11, 1968:
President Johnson Signs Civil Rights Act of 1968
April 11, 1968:
President Johnson signs Civil Rights Act of 1968
April 12, 1970:
Sharecropper Rainey Poole disappears
April 17, 1973:
Governor Waller vetoes funding for the Sovereignty Commission
April 27, 1973:
Sovereignty Commission proposes to seal its files
April 27, 1979:
U.S. District Judge Harold Cox dismisses ACLU lawsuit to open Sovereignty Commission records
April 8, 1981:
5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstates ACLU lawsuit to open Sovereignty Commission records
April 17, 2001:
Proposed new state flag defeated by popular vote
