July 1, 1862
The last of the Seven Days Battles, the battle of Malvern Hill, takes place east of Richmond. Though the attacking Confederate force is halted by powerful Union artillery that day, the Army of the Potomac continues its movement the next day away from Richmond to the vicinity of Berkeley Plantation on the northern bank of the James River.

July 1, 1971
Singer-songwriter Melissa “Missy” Elliott is born in Portsmouth, Virginia.

July 1, 2020
Mayor Levar Stoney orders the removal of all city-owned Confederate statues. Stonewall Jackson’s statue is removed that same day.

July 2, 1788
The newly adopted U.S. Constitution goes into effect in Virginia. The document is based, primarily, on the "Virginia Plan," which was drafted by James Madison.

July 4, 1584
Sailing under the sponsorship of Sir Walter Ralegh, Philip Armadas and Arthur Barlowe land on the Atlantic coast in what is now North Carolina. The English name the entire region "Virginia," in honor of Queen Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen."

July 4, 1963
Monticello holds the first of its annual naturalization ceremonies. 

July 4, 1776
The Continental Congress formally approves the Declaration of Independence, drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson with revisions added by Benjamin Franklin. The document details a philosophy of human rights and lists grievances against the royal government.

July 4, 1826
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, dies at his home, Monticello, fifty years to the day after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, which he drafted. The second president, John Adams, dies on the same day.

July 4, 1831
James Monroe, fifth U.S. president and a native of Westmoreland County dies. Monroe's body will be disinterred from its resting place in New York City and relocated to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond in 1858.

July 4, 1989
The United Mine Workers of America hold a rally in Norton, Virginia, during the Pittston Coal Strike. Long-time labor activist Cesar Chavez delivers a speech to a crowd of more than five thousand. 

July 5, 1776
“The Great Seal of Virginia” is adopted. The state flag, adopted in April 1861, displays the state seal on a deep blue field.

July 6, 2017
The death penalty is used for the final time in Virginia, when William Morva is executed. The practice was eventually abolished in 2021, making Virginia the first state in the South to do so.

July 9, 1835
Supreme Court Justice John Marshall’s body is laid to rest in Richmond. Businesses closed, courts adjourned, church bells rang, and mourners gathered across the city to commemorate his life. Marshall had died three days earlier in Philadelphia.

July 10, 1943
Tennis champion Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr., is born in Richmond. In 1975, he will become the first African American male to win the Wimbledon singles title.

July 15, 1864
Bank president and business woman Maggie Lena Walker, is born in Richmond. In 1903, she founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank and was probably the first woman bank president in America. She also worked tirelessly for education reform, women's suffrage, voter registration, and other political and community causes.

July 16, 1944
Irene Morgan is arrested in Middlesex County for refusing to give up her seat on a Greyhound bus going from Gloucester, Virginia, to Baltimore, Maryland. Morgan’s defiance led to a landmark Supreme Court case, Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia, that overturned a Virginia law requiring racial segregation on commercial interstate buses.

July 18, 1792
John Paul Jones dies in Paris, France. Jones lived in Fredericksburg for a period of time before becoming the United States’ first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War.

July 19, 1951
Eastern Airlines Flight 601 from Newark, New Jersey, crash lands in open fields at Curles Neck Farm near Richmond, Virginia. All 53 passengers and crew survived.

July 21, 1861
Union forces under General Irvin McDowell cross Bull Run, initiating the first major battle of the Civil War, the battle of Manassas or Bull Run. A costly confederate victory shatters hopes on both sides for a quick bloodless war.

July 25, 1609
The Sea Venture, captained by Sir George Somers, is shipwrecked near Bermuda. The vessel was part of a fleet of nine ships traveling to Jamestown. The lost crew survived on Bermuda for nine months and built two new ships to continue their voyage.

July 25, 1831
Cyrus McCormick demonstrates the world's first successful mechanical reaper on a crop of oats in Rockbridge County.

July 26, 1790
Alexander Hamilton’s Assumption Plan is passed by Congress, relocating the capital from New York to Virginia. In order to achieve this, Hamilton made a compromise with Virginians Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

July 28, 1903
Maggie L. Walker receives a charter for the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, becoming the first woman in the United States to found and become president of a bank. She serves as its president until 1931.

July 30, 1619
The Virginia General Assembly, the first representative legislative body in North America, convenes at Jamestown. Hot, humid weather during the six-day session claims the life of Walter Shelly of Smythes Hundred and causes illness among several burgesses and the governor, Sir George Yeardley.

July 30, 1864
The Battle of the Crater occurs near Petersburg. Union forces detonate thousands of pounds of gunpowder in a mine beneath Confederate fortifications. Confused Union attacks following the explosion lead to a Confederates victory.