By month
editJanuary
editPortal:Virginia/Selected anniversaries/January
- January 1, 1776: The Burning of Norfolk
- January 16, 1786: The Virginia General Assembly adopts the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, an event celebrated annually as National Religious Freedom Day.
- January 19, 1807: Future general Robert E. Lee is born at Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County; annually commemorated on the state holiday Lee–Jackson Day (observance date shifts annually).
- January 20, 1775: The Fincastle Resolutions are adopted in the lead up to the American Revolution.
- January 21, 1960: As part of Project Mercury, Little Joe 1B is launched from Wallops Flight Facility, crewed by Miss Sam (pictured), a Rhesus monkey.
February
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- February 3, 1865: The Hampton Roads Conference is held, attempting to end the American Civil War
- February 9–10, 1864: Overnight, 109 Union prisoners of war escape from Libby Prison (pictured) in Richmond via a tunnel
- February 17, 1882: Gov. Cameron leads an unsuccessful raid against oyster pirates.
- February 16, 1961: Satellite Explorer 9 is launched aboard a Scout X-1 rocket at Wallops Island.
- February 22, 1732 (N.S.): George Washington is born at a plantation in Westmoreland County; celebrated annually as Washington's Birthday
March
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- March 8–9, 1862: The Battle of Hampton Roads pits the USS Monitor against the CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimack) in the world's first battle between ironclad warships (pictured).
- March 12, 1719: The 14 surviving members of Blackbeard's crew are tried for piracy in Williamsburg. 12 are convicted and later executed there.
- March 22, 1622: The entire Colony of Virginia is attacked by forces led by Chief Opchanacanough in what became known as the Indian massacre of 1622. Forewarned, Jamestown is one of the only settlements to survive.
April
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- April 5, 1614: Pocahontas and John Rolfe are married (pictured).
- April 9, 1865: General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, officially ending the Army of Northern Virginia
- April 17, 1861: After President Lincoln calls for troops, the Virginia Secession Convention votes for it to secede from the Union.
- April 20, 1775: The Gunpowder Incident results from the attempt of Governor Dunmore to remove the militia's gunpowder from Williamsburg.
- April 26, 1607: Captain Newport and the colonists make their First Landing in the New World at Cape Henry.
May
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- May 2, 1863: During the Battle of Chancellorsville, General Stonewall Jackson is shot behind his own lines, and dies several days later.
- May 5–7, 1864: The Battle of the Wilderness is the first engagement between Generals Grant and Lee.
- May 14, 1607: Jamestown is founded on an island in the James River, upstream of the Chesapeake Bay. (Historic Jamestowne, pictured)
- May 15, 1776: Virginia declares itself independent of the British Empire, prior to the general Declaration of Independence made later that year
- May 23, 1610: The Third Supply arrives in Jamestown with desperately-needed provisions and new colonists, enabling continued survival of the colony
June
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- June 12, 1776: The Virginia Declaration of Rights is ratified by the Fifth Virginia Convention
- June 23, 1951: The SS United States (pictured), which has held the Blue Riband since 1952, is christened and launched at the Newport News Shipbuilding yard.
- June 25–July 1, 1862: The Seven Days Battles, mere miles from the Confederate capital in Richmond, bring an end to Union efforts to capture it through the Peninsula Campaign; it will not be captured for nearly three more years.
July
editPortal:Virginia/Selected anniversaries/July
- July 18, 1774: The Fairfax Resolves are adopted in the lead up to the American Revolution.
- July 21, 1861: The Battle of First Manassas (pictured), is fought in Northern Virginia, becoming the first major land battle of the American Civil War.
- July 30, 1619: The Virginia House of Burgesses (predecessor of the Virginia General Assembly) first meets in Jamestown, marking the beginning of representative government in the future United States.
- July 30, 1864: The Battle of the Crater results from an attempt to break the Confederate trenches near Petersburg using an explosives-filled tunnel.
August
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- August 3, 1807: The treason trial of Aaron Burr begins in Richmond, presided over by Chief Justice John Marshall.
- August 6, 1993: There is a tornado outbreak across eastern Virginia; one tornado strikes Downtown Petersburg causing over $50 million in damage.
- August 21–22, 1831: Nat Turner's slave rebellion
- August 29, 1716: The Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition, led by Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood (pictured), departs Germanna to cross the Blue Ridge and explore the Shenandoah Valley.
- August 30, 1800: Gabriel's Rebellion is suppressed before it could begin.
September
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- September 11, 2001: Flight 77 is steered into the Pentagon Building in Arlington, Virginia, killing 189, as part of the September 11 attacks.
- September 19, 1676: The capital city of Jamestown is burnt to the ground during Bacon's Rebellion, by rebels under the leadership of Nathaniel Bacon
- September 24, 1960: USS Enterprise (pictured), the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is christened and launched at the Newport News Shipbuilding yard.
- September 27, 1903: The Wreck of the Old 97 occurs while the train near Danville, and is later immortalized by a popular ballad.
October
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- October 2002: The Beltway sniper attacks strike Northern Virginia
- October 19, 1781: According to tradition, the "The World Turned Upside Down” is played at the Surrender of Yorktown. (Yorktown Victory Monument, pictured)
- October 19, 1864: Union General Sheridan rides from Winchester to the Battle of Cedar Creek, rallying his troops and reversing the course of the battle.
- October 23, 1995: The commercial Conestoga 1620 rocket is terminated during its failed launch at Wallops Island; its project is scrubbed shortly thereafter.
- October 31, 1887: the 1887 Halloween tropical storm hits the Eastern seaboard, driving numerous vessels aground onto the Virginia coast
November
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- November 7, 1775: Lord Dunmore's Proclamation (pictured) declares martial law throughout the Colony of Virginia.
- November 19, 1718: On the orders of Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood, a fleet commanded by Robert Maynard departs Hampton in search of notorious pirate Blackbeard; on the 22nd they engage and kill him in coastal North Carolina.
- November 27, 1926: Restoration and reconstruction begins on Colonial Williamsburg
- November 27–December 2, 1863: The Battle of Mine Run was the last combat of the year for the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War .
December
editPortal:Virginia/Selected anniversaries/December
- December 9, 1775: The Battle of Great Bridge
- December 11–15, 1862: In the Battle of Fredericksburg (pictured), Union troops cross the Rappahannock River under fire into Fredericksburg and face the first major urban combat of the American Civil War.
- December 16, 1907: The Great White Fleet departs Hampton Roads to begin its circumnavigation of the globe, heralding the rise of the United States as a world naval power.
- December 20, 1606: A fleet of three ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery, sets sail from England bound for the New World to establish the Colony of Virginia, led by Captain Christopher Newport.
- December 26, 1811: 72 people, including the governor, are killed in the Richmond Theatre fire, the worst urban disaster in the United States to that point.