1. In 1862, the Battle of Blue's Gap took place in Virginia during the American Civil War. Confederate forces under General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson defeated Union forces, resulting in over 1,000 casualties.

2. On January 28, 1897, the West Virginia Statehood bill was signed by President Grover Cleveland. This bill made West Virginia the 35th state in the United States.

3. In 1958, Dick Clark hosted his first "American Bandstand" television show in Virginia. The popular music show had a long run and featured a variety of musicians and entertainment acts.

4. On January 28, 1986, NASA's Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after takeoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Among the seven astronauts who died was Ellison Onizuka, a Hawaii native who had lived in Virginia and attended George Washington University.

5. In 2014, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced that the state would no longer defend its ban on same-sex marriage. This decision paved the way for same-sex couples to legally marry in Virginia, and was a significant milestone in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States.