Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History

On March 25, 1758, Richard Dobbs Spaight, the first North Carolina-born governor, was born in New Bern. Orphaned at a young age, Spaight received his preparatory education in Ireland and is thought to have graduated from the University of Glasgow.

On March 25, 1918, television sportscaster Howard Cosell was born Howard William Cohen in Winston-Salem. Before Cosell turned three, his family moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., where he later changed his surname from Cohen to Cossell to reflect his Polish roots.

On March 24, 1853, William R. D. King was elected vice president of the United States.

On March 24, 1862, African American educational leader George E. Davis was born in Wilmington. Davis was the primary organizer and fundraiser for the Rosenwald schools movement in North Carolina. 

On March 24, 1663, King Charles II granted a charter for land in America to the Lords Proprietors, who were eight of his closest supporters during the Restoration of 1660.

On March 23, 1713, the Tuscarora Indian stronghold known as Neoheroka fell to colonial militiamen. As a result of the action, 950 Indians were killed or captured.

On March 23, 1896, Southern Railway Company broke ground on a new repair facility in Spencer. The Rowan County community was chosen as the location of the new shop complex because it was halfway between Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

On March 22, 1882, Governor Oliver Max Gardner, whose political organization known as the “Shelby Dynasty” dominated state politics for a generation, was born in Cleveland County.