Charleston WV – The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history.
To read more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at www.wvencyclopedia.org.
Aug. 20, 1794: The Americans’ victory over a tribal coalition at the Battle of Fallen
Timbers, in Ohio, and subsequent treaty, ended the frontier era’s Indian Wars in Western
Virginia and brought peace to the region for the first time in generations.
Aug. 20, 1851: The oldest statue in West Virginia, a nine-foot wood carving of Patrick
Henry, was dedicated at the county courthouse in Morgantown.
Aug. 20, 2004: Eldora Bolyard Nuzum died in Elkins. While working for the Grafton
Sentinel in 1946, she became the first female editor of a daily newspaper in West Virginia. For
three decades, she was editor of the Elkins Inter-Mountain.
Aug. 21, 1861: Confederate troops under General John B. Floyd crossed the Gauley
River at Carnifex Ferry, Nicholas County, and began to entrench their position. It was the
beginning of what became known as the Battle of Carnifex Ferry.
Aug. 21, 1915: Singer Ann Baker was born in Pennsylvania. She later operated a popular
Charleston nightclub, The Shalamar, and became known as “Charleston’s First Lady of Jazz.”
Aug. 21, 1946: Gerry Milnes was born in Pennsylvania. After moving to West Virginia
in 1976, he became one of the state’s most prolific folklorists, musicians, and filmmakers. His
five decades of documenting and preserving Appalachian traditions earned him the prestigious
2026 Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the
Arts.
Aug. 22, 1872: Following the Constitutional Convention of 1872, the West Virginia
electorate ratified a new state constitution by a vote of 42,344 to 37,777. In the same election,
voters rejected a controversial convention proposition that would have prohibited Black citizens
from holding public office.
Aug. 22, 1874: John Kee, the patriarch of a powerful political family, was born in
Glenville. He relocated to Bluefield in 1910 and was first elected to Congress in 1932, eventually
chairing the House Foreign Affairs Committee. After his death in 1951, his widow, Elizabeth,
filled his seat (1951-65), followed by their son James (1965-73).
Aug. 23, 1949: John Chambers was born in Cleveland but spent much of his formative
years in Ravenswood and Charleston. He is best known as the former CEO and chairman of the
Cisco Systems technology company.
Aug. 23, 1970: The Mormon Church established its first “stake,” or congregation, in
West Virginia. The stake was organized in Charleston with a membership of nearly 4,000
people.
Aug. 24, 1918: Louis Bennett Jr. died of injuries sustained when his plane was shot down
by German anti-aircraft fire. Bennett, with 12 combat kills, was West Virginia’s only World War
I fighter ace.
Aug. 24, 1947: Joe Manchin III was born in Fairmont. He served in both houses of the
legislature and as secretary of state before becoming the 34th governor in 2005. In 2010, he ran
successfully for the late Robert C. Byrd’s U.S. Senate seat and stepped down as governor. He
retired from the Senate in 2025.
Aug. 25, 1903: Soprano Susanne Fisher was born in Sutton. Fisher was the first West
Virginian to sing at the Metropolitan Opera.
Aug. 25, 1921: Miners began to arrive at Blair Mountain near the border of Logan and
Boone counties. Sheriff Don Chafin, a hated symbol of anti-unionism in southern West Virginia,
met them with a combined force of deputies, mine guards, civilian volunteers, and others.
Aug. 25, 2000: The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope was dedicated. It is the
world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope.
Aug. 26, 1863: Union and Confederate forces collided in what became known as the
Battle of White Sulphur Springs. The next morning, with ammunition nearly depleted, Union
General William Averell retreated to his base without accomplishing any of his objectives.
Aug. 26, 1918: Mathematician Katherine Johnson was born in White Sulphur Springs.
For 33 years, Johnson worked for NASA, making calculations for manned space flights,
including the Apollo 11 moon landing. In 2015, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.