Famous People from West Virgina

Famous People from West Virginia Thomas Stonewall capital of Mississippi (1824-1863) Jackson was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia. He was a companion general and won at the First Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War. He was accidentally killed by one of his men at Chanvellorsville. Anna Jarvis (1864-1948) Jarvis was born in Grafton, West Virginia. She was a promoter who worked to make Mothers Day a nationally famed holiday. Morgan Morgan (1688-1766) Morgan was a pioneer and the first white settler in West Virginia. He built a log cabin near Bunker Hill. bloody shame Lou Retton (1968- )Retton was born in Fairmont, West Virginia, and was a gymnast. She won a gold medal for the best all-around gymnast performance in the 1984 Olympics and was the first American gymnast to acquire a medal since 1948. Cyrus Vance (1917- ) Vance was born Clarksburg, West Virginia, and was a diplomat. He represented President Johnson in Panama, Cyprus and in urban riot centers. He negotiated the relea se of the USS Pueblo and its crew. Vance was the united States secretary of state from 1977-1981. Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) Washington grew up in Malden, West Virginia, and was and educator and reformer.He thought that blacks should work for education and employment instead of rubbish social equality with whites. He founded the National Negro Business League. He wrote a book called Up. West Virginia Fun Facts West Virginia is the only state in the Union to have acquired its sovereignty by proclamation of the President of the unify States. West Virginia is considered the gray most northern state and the northern most southern state. Mothers Day was first observed at Andrews Church in Gafton on May 10, 1908. West Virginia has the oldest population of any state.The median grow is 40. Jacksons Mill is the site of the first 4-H Camp in the United States. The first federal prison exclusively for women in the United States was overt in 1926 in West Virginia. The New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville is the second highest steel arch bridge in the United States. The bridge is too the longest steel arch bridge (1,700 feet) in the world. Every October on Bridge Day, the road is closed and individuals parachute and bungee cord jump 876 feet rancid the bridge. It is West Virginias largest single day event and attracts about 100,000 people each year.The first major land battle fought between Union and Confederate soldiers in the Civil War was the Battle of Philippi on June 3, 1861. One of the nations oldest and largest Indian burial grounds is located in Moundsville. It is 69 feet high, 900 feet in circumference, and 50 feet high. An inscribed stone was removed from the vault and is on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D. C. The first rural free put up delivery was started in Charles Town on October 6, 1896, and then spread throughout the United States.A naval battle was fought in West Virginia waters during the Civil War. United States a rmored steamers were actively engaged in the Battle of Buffington Island near Ravenswood on July 19, 1863. A variety of the yellow apple, the meretricious Delicious, originated in Clay County. The original Grimes Golden Apple Tree was discovered in 1775 near Wellsburg. West Virginia has a mean altitude of 1,500 feet, giving it the highest average altitude east of the Mississippi. The first galvanic railroad in the world, built as a commercial enterprise, was constructed between Huntington and Guyandotte.William Tompkins used natural gas to evaporate salt brine in 1841, indeed becoming the first person in the United States to use natural gas for industrial purposes. Bailey Brown, the first Union soldier killed in the Civil War, died on May 22, 1861, at Fetterman, Taylor County. Chester Merriman of Romney was the youngest soldier of World War I, having enlisted at the age of 14. The first brick street in the world was laid in Charleston, on October 23, 1870, on Summers Street, betw een Kanawha and Virginia Streets.