1. In 1772, the first permanent settlement in what is now West Virginia was established by Zackquill Morgan, a trader and land speculator, at what is now called Morgan's Cave in present-day Berkeley County.

2. On November 4, 1861, Union troops under the command of General William Rosecrans defeated Confederate forces in the Battle of Guyandotte, near present-day Huntington. The skirmish was one of the earliest Union victories in the Civil War and secured control of the important Ohio River port town.

3. In 1924, the first presidential election in which women could vote was held. West Virginia, which had granted suffrage to women in 1920, played a significant role in the election of President Calvin Coolidge, as his vice presidential running mate, Charles G. Dawes, was a native of the state.

4. The first African American elected to the West Virginia Legislature, Leon Sullivan, took office on November 4, 1980. Sullivan, a civil rights leader and Baptist minister, served two terms in the House of Delegates and later gained national fame for his work as a corporate executive and advocate for economic justice.

5. On November 4, 2014, Republican Shelley Moore Capito was elected as the first woman to represent West Virginia in the United States Senate. Capito, who had previously served in the House of Representatives, won the open seat by a wide margin, becoming only the second woman from the state to serve in the Senate.