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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

April 6, 1842, Charles Dickens arrived in Louisville on the steamboat Pike and spent the night in the Galt House as part of his travels through the Midwest.  He stopped at the Falls to meet and interview “Big” Jim Porter, The Kentucky Giant.

On April 6, 1862, Washington native Albert Sidney Johnston died in the Battle of Shiloh, the highest-ranking officer, Union or Confederate, killed during the entire war.  President Jefferson Davis believed the loss of General Johnston “was the turning point of our fate.”

April 6, 1865, Louisville native John Hughey, while serving as a Corporal at the Battle of Sayler’s Creek in Virginia, captured the Confederate States Army’s 38th Virginia Infantry’s battle flag, for this received the Medal of Honor.

On April 6, 1900, the Court of Appeals ruled 6-1 that Kentucky’s General Assembly unseated William Taylor legally as governor.  Taylor appealed to the U.S Supreme Court, and on May 21, the Court refused to hear the case; only Kentuckian John M. Harlan dissented.  With Taylor’s legal options exhausted, Goebel’s lieutenant governor, J. C. W. Beckham, ascended to the governorship.  During his short term as governor, Taylor made a few appointments and issued a few pardons.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Burkesville native William Marrion Branham, born in 1909.

April 6, 1917, America, led by President Woodrow Wilson, entered into World War I.

On April 6, 1919, the steamer Advance struck a snag puncturing an oil barge; the vessel caught fire and sank within minutes.  Shipping oil and gas continued down the Kentucky River from Lee County until pipelines came into play.  When that happened, the Kentucky River lost another source of income.  The Kentucky River by William E. Ellis, pg: 168

March 28, 2023

On April 6, 1920, the 6th Kentucky bank robbery of the year took place dramatically in Cave City.  At noon; two persons stole $8,500 after overpowering the bank’s president and shoving him into the vault.  The president stayed there until a teller returned from lunch a half-hour later.  The thieves escaped in an automobile.  A posse in motor cars gave chase toward Glasgow Junction, caught up to them but lost them after they abandoned the vehicle and took off on foot in Mammoth Cave National Park.  They later stole a horse and buggy from a farm in Hart County.

April 6, 1936, Universal Pictures released Flash Gordon.  Elizabethtown native Charles Middleton played Ming the Merciless.

On April 6, 1938, Mr. Peter Bruner passed away.  Born an enslaved person in Winchester in 1845, he escaped at 19 after many attempts.  He traveled 41 miles to join the Union Army at Camp Nelson, making him a free man.  His escape to freedom, and his life as an enslaved person and soldier, are detailed in his memoirs written with the assistance of his daughter, A Slave’s Adventures Toward Freedom; Not Fiction, but the True Story of a Struggle.

April 6, 1942, Louisville’s two-mile-long Army Day Parade took place downtown.  The event showcased the newest fighting vehicles from Fort Knox.  Two brand new M-4 tanks took center stage.  They ended the festivities with a night War Rally, attended by Generals and civilian notables.

April 6, 1950, Louisville set a new cold record when the temperature hit 28.3 degrees breaking the 1898 record of 28.4,

April 6, 1953, Marine Corps PFC Kenneth L. Beasley from Fordsville in Ohio County died in the Korean War.

April 6, 1963, Edward T. “Ned” Breathitt held a $25.00 dinner for his campaign workers in Freedom Hall called “Bucks For Breathitt Rally.”  Between 11,000 and 12,000 people attended to hear Ned.  Afterwards, he became the frontrunner in the Democratic primary.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Florida bred Dr. Fager, born in 1964.

April 6, 1971, Igor Stravinsky passed over, the most influential composer of the 20th Century.

On April 6, 1972, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew visited Fort Knox and stated that the U.S. involvement in Vietnam may be “the most moral act the United States ever performed.”

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Danville native Josh Teater, born in 1979.  The Morehead graduate played golf professionally.

April 6, 1989, Pikeville native John Paul Riddle passed over.  The pilot and aviation pioneer trained Allied air crews in WW2 and co-founded the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU).

April 6, 1993, Shelbyville native Lee Owen Tinsley made his MLB debut with the Seattle Mariners.

April 6, 1999, two volunteer firefighters, Kenneth Nickell (28) and Kevin Smith (30), died while battling a blaze at the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rowen County.

April 6, 2016, Stopover native Donald Leon Blankenship received one year in federal prison for his role in the deadliest U.S. mine explosion in four decades.  At sentencing, the judge told the coal executive he was part of a “deadly conspiracy.”  Pike County surrounds Stopover.

April 6, 2019, Tennessee Tech named Paintsville native John Leslie Pelphrey their 13th basketball coach.

April 6, 2020, the streets, downtowns, highways, and airways remained silent as Kentucky announced 54 new cases and 14 new “covid related deaths.”  One hundred sixty-three people beat the virus, 70 were hospitalized, and 19,955 Kentuckians tested.  Deaths from COVID-19 became the leading cause of death in the U.S.

April 6, 2021, Alice Headley Chandler died at age 95.  The oldest of three children born to Keeneland co-founder Hal Price Headley and Genevieve Molloy Headley, she built Mill Ridge Farm, part of the original Headley Farm, into a major Kentucky breeding farm respected worldwide.

On April 6, 2022, Lexington reported the season’s 1st influenza death.  The 60-year-old victim had underlying health issues.  The Lexington Health Department claimed an average of ten people die from the flu annually.  In 2020 there were zero deaths, and in 2019 nine.