1. On October 3, 1789, the University of South Carolina was founded. It is the oldest public university in the state and one of the oldest in the country.

2. On October 3, 1863, Confederate General James Longstreet's troops attacked the Union army near Knoxville, Tennessee, which was one of the last battles fought in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.

3. On October 3, 1870, Governor Robert Scott signed South Carolina's first public school law, which provided free primary education to all children between the ages of six and sixteen.

4. On October 3, 1942, the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier that played a key role in the Pacific Theater during World War II, was commissioned in Newport News, Virginia. The ship was named after the Battle of Yorktown, which took place during the American Revolutionary War and was a major victory for the American colonists.

5. On October 3, 1962, Hurricane Daisy made landfall near Hilton Head Island, causing extensive damage and flooding in coastal South Carolina. The storm resulted in six deaths and over $4 million in property damage.