Mississippi River Timeline of Events

Home / Timelines / Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 31 U.S...

Timeline of Events

1541

5.8.1541

Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River and names it ''Río de Espíritu Santo''.

1673

5.17.1673

Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River.

6.17.1673

French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reach the Mississippi River and become the first Europeans to make a detailed account of its course.

1679

7.2.1679

Europeans first visit Minnesota and see headwaters of Mississippi in an expedition led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth.

1682

4.9.1682

Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.

1687

3.19.1687

Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.

1811

10.1.1811

The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River arrives in New Orléans, Louisiana.

1835

12.29.1835

The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.

1855

1.23.1855

The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota, a crossing made today by the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge.

1862

4.24.1862

American Civil War: A flotilla commanded by Union Admiral David Farragut passes two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River on its way to capture New Orleans, Louisiana.

6.4.1862

American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.

8.6.1862

American Civil War: the Confederate ironclad Ship CSS is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering damage in a battle with USS Essex near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1865

4.27.1865

The steamboat ''Sultana'', carrying 2,400 passengers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River, killing 1,700, most of whom are Union survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba Prisons.

1947

1.22.1947

KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, begins operation in Hollywood, California.

1976

10.20.1976

The ferry ''George Prince'' is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River between Destrehan and Luling, Louisiana. Seventy-eight passengers and crew die and only 18 people aboard the ferry survive.

1993

10.7.1993

The Great Flood of 1993 ends at St. Louis, Missouri, 103 days after it began, as the Mississippi River falls below flood stage.

2007

8.1.2007

The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour.