1. In 1863, Union General Ambrose Burnside led approximately 15,000 troops across the Cape Fear River in North Carolina, beginning the Battle of Knoxville in the American Civil War.
2. The first North Carolina State Fair was held on November 20, 1853, in Raleigh. The fair has since become a longstanding tradition in the state and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.
3. On November 20, 1997, the Charlotte Hornets announced that they would be relocating to New Orleans after the 2001 NBA season. The team would later return to North Carolina in 2004 as the Charlotte Bobcats (now the Charlotte Hornets once again).
4. In 1975, North Carolina State University's men's basketball team made history by defeating the Soviet Union national team in a game played at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh. It was the first time an American collegiate team had ever beaten an international team.
5. Novelist Thomas Wolfe, known for works such as "Look Homeward Angel" and "Of Time and the River," was born in Asheville, North Carolina on November 20, 1900. He is regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century and a major figure in American literature.