1. In 1863, Union General Ulysses S. Grant ordered a failed amphibious assault on the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg. The attack was the first step in what would become a successful Union campaign to take control of the Mississippi River during the Civil War.

2. In 1894, William Faulkner, one of Mississippi's most celebrated authors, was born in the town of New Albany. Faulkner went on to write numerous novels and short stories set in Mississippi, becoming an important voice in American literature.

3. In 1933, the first ever rural electric cooperative was established in Mississippi, providing affordable electricity to rural residents who previously had no access to it. The cooperative was the first of its kind in the country and served as a model for similar projects across the United States.

4. In 1969, Mississippi civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer died from injuries sustained when Ku Klux Klan members firebombed his family's home in Hattiesburg. Dahmer had been a prominent activist in the fight for voting rights and worked to register African American voters in Mississippi despite facing constant threats and intimidation.

5. In 1978, singer and guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan performed at the Jackson Coliseum in Mississippi. The concert was part of Vaughan's first national tour and helped to launch his career as a blues artist. Vaughan went on to become one of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century before his untimely death in a helicopter crash in 1990.