Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History
On August 26, 1747, Spanish privateers attacked and plundered Beaufort. The attack was the latest in a multi-year period of assaults by the Spanish on the largely undefended coast of North Carolina. It dramatically demonstrated the constant threat posed by the Spanish on the small British colony.
On August 26, 1902, David Schenck, the “father” of Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, died.
On August 25, 1880, North Carolina granted a charter to Claremont Female College in Hickory. The school, founded by the Evangelical and Reformed Church, started in an old church building. It was modeled after Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
On August 25, 1962, Little Eva hit the top of the charts with her recording of "The Loco-Motion". Eva Narcissus Boyd, fresh from her home in Belhaven, can be said to have been in the right place at the right time.
On August 24, 1901, Mary Lily Kenan, daughter of Captain William Rand Kenan, married multimillionaire Henry M. Flagler at Liberty Hall in Duplin County.
On August 24, 1814, Dolley Madison rescued several important state documents and a now-famous oil portrait of George Washington from the White House as Washington, D.C., was being burned by invading British forces.
On August 23, 1784, the State of Franklin declared its independence from North Carolina. The independence would prove to be short-lived.
On August 23, 1934, legendary quarterback Christian Jurgensen, was born in Wilmington. Known to the world as Sonny, the spirited and redheaded Jurgensen is considered one of the all-time best passers in pro football history.
Jurgensen was a multi-talented athlete in Wilmington during the 1940s and 1950s, playing baseball, basketball, football and tennis. He attended Duke and joined the varsity football squad in 1954 as a defensive back, becoming starting quarterback the next year and leading the team to the Orange Bowl.