Kentucky Timeline of Events

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Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

Timeline of Events

1789

6.14.1789

Whiskey distilled from maize is first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. It is named Bourbon because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

1792

6.1.1792

Kentucky is admitted as the 15th state of the United States.

1851

11.9.1851

Kentucky marshals abduct abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and take him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape.

1861

5.20.1861

American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.

9.3.1861

American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.

11.20.1861

American Civil War: Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky's Confederate government.

12.10.1861

American Civil War: the Confederate States of America accept a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 13th state of the Confederacy.

1862

12.17.1862

American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues ''General Order No. 11'', expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.

1865

5.10.1865

American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.

1936

8.14.1936

Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States.

1990

6.2.1990

The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12. Petersburg, Indiana, is the hardest-hit town in the outbreak, with 6 deaths.

2005

11.6.2005

The Evansville Tornado of November 2005 kills 25 in Northwestern Kentucky and Southwestern Indiana.