May Events in Virginia

May 1

- regular shipments of coal started from Pocahontas to Norfolk, converting the Norfolk and Western Railroad from a general merchandise hauler into a coal railroad

May 2

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May 3

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May 4

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May 5

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May 6

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May 7

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May 8

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May 9

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May 10

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May 11

- CSS Virginia is destroyed, after efforts fail to lighten the ship so it could steam upstream towards Richmond in waters as shallow as 18 feet, at Craney Island, 1862

May 12

- The 299th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown is commemorated in a ceremony that starts with a overnight steamship journey from Norfolk, 1857

May 13

- The first permanent English colony in the New World is established at Jamestown, 1607

May 14

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May 15

- Confederate forces at Drewrey's Bluff block the attempt of the Union navy to sail up the James River and capture Richmond in 1862. The delay between the destruction of the CSS Virginia and the attack up the James gave the Confederates, including sailors from the CSS Virginia, timne to finish the fortifications - otherwise, the Civil War might have ended with the capture of the Confederate capital, three years before Richmond fell and Lee surrendered at Appomattox in 1865.

May 16

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May 17

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May 18

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May 19

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May 20

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May 21

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May 22

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May 23

- The Patience and the Deliverance arrive at Jamestown with governor Sir Thomas Gates. Both vessels had been built in Bermuda from the wreckage of the Sea Venture, after that flagship of the Third Supply had been separated from the rest of the fleet in a July, 1609 hurricane.

May 24

- Christopher Newport planted a cross at base of the falls on the James. He told the local chief ("Little Powhatan") that it symbolized the union between the native American and the English visitors. However, Newport failed to explain that the Jacobus Rex 1607 inscription reflected the English claim to the land by right of discovery.

- Martial law (the Laws Divine, Morall and Martiall) is declared at Jamestown by the governor, Sir Thomas Gates, in 1614.

May 25

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May 26

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May 27

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May 28

- George Washinton attacked the French at Jumonville Glen in 1754

May 29

- In the Treaty of Middle Plantation in 1677, the Powhatans were forced to move from the Lower Peninsula (to lands north of the York River), and the English agree not to settle within three miles of Powhatan towns. In 2003, the Circuit Court of the City of Newport News ruled that the Treaty of Middle Plantation could not be cited as a reason to stop the King William reservoir proposed for Cohoke Creek.

May 30

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