June dates in Virginia history

June 2, 1742
The Virginia Assembly creates Louisa County, named for Princess Louisa, daughter of King George II.

June 6, 1944
Virginia soldiers are among the thousands of Allied troops who land on the Normandy coast of France during the D-Day invasion. The county of Bedford, Virginia suffered some of the highest losses, proportionally, of any American community during the invasion.

June 10, 1610
Baron de la Warr, arrives in Jamestown to begin his term as Virginia Governor. He arrives with fresh supplies and settlers just in time to intercept the outgoing governor, Sir Thomas Gates and the surviving colonists who planned to abandon Jamestown and return to England.

June 11, 1875
Addie D. Waites Hunton, an African American suffragist, is born in Norfolk. Hunton will work with black troops for the YMCA during World War I. She will also help organize the National Association of Colored Women.

June 12, 1776
The Virginia Convention adopts a Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason, which includes such specific civil liberties as freedoms of the press and religion. The declaration became the model for the later Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution.

June 12, 1967
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Loving v. Virginia, unanimously declares unconstitutional Virginia's laws prohibiting interracial marriage. This decision nullifies similar laws in fifteen other states.

June 24, 1775
Revolutionaries seize weapons from the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg after Lord Dunmore, royal governor, flees the capital. Governor Dunmore had angered many Virginians by issuing a proclamation that promised freedom to slaves who left their patriot masters and joined Crown forces.

June 25, 1862
Confederate and Union forces meet at Oak Grove, east of Richmond, in what would become the opening day of the Seven Days Battles during the Peninsula Campaign.

June 29, 1776
Virginia declares itself an independent commonwealth and enacts a state constitution, the first colony to do so. The constitution was written primarily by George Mason. The first governor was Patrick Henry.

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