On August 8, 1974, the CIA and U.S. Navy recovered a portion of the Soviet submarine K-129 from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean using the purpose-built ship Hughes Glomar Explorer.
Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History
On August 21, 1829, Priestley Hinton Mangum, Jr. was born in Wake County.
On September 4, 1748, sailors from two Spanish ships came ashore and attacked the town of Brunswick. Terrified at the sight of Spanish ships in the Cape Fear River, the residents of the port town gathered as many of their possessions as possible and fled.
On October 21, 1851, Burke County legislator William Waightstill Avery called the life’s work of Samuel Fleming of Yancey County, his rival in the General Assembly, a “fraud.”
On July 25, 1981, N.C. State University professor and writer Guy Owen died at the age of 56.
On December 31, 1862, the USS Monitor, sank during a storm off the coast of Cape Hatteras. Four officers and twelve crewmen were lost.
On December 31, 1900, renowned sculptor Selma Burke was born in Mooresville.
On December 31, 1990, Brasstown residents began their tradition of the “Possum Drop” when Clay Logan dropped a ceramic possum from the roof of his convenience store.
On December 31, 1906, Holiness preacher Gaston Barnabas Cashwell opened a revival in a tobacco warehouse in the Harnett County town of Dunn.
On December 30, 1833, the North Carolina General Assembly approved the charter for the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad Company.