What are the five most important historical events in Kentucky history?

The Battle of Blue Licks was a devastating loss for Kentucky settlers in which about 70 soldiers were killed by a Shawnee and British loyalists attack on the last day of August, 1782. The Native American and British attack was in retaliation for the American victory in the Battle of Bryan's Station two days before.

2. The Louisville Flood of 1937

The Great Ohio River Flood of 1937 killed more than 100 people in Louisville, and flooded about 70% of the city. It also flooded about 900,000 acres in the Ohio Valley, and caused more than $500 million in damage. The flood control dam at Louisville, completed in 1955, has prevented a repeat of this destructive flood.

3. The First and Second Kentucky Consitutions

The First Constitution of Kentucky was ratified on June 1, 1792 and was the first to prohibit slavery in the state. However, the slave owners in the state demanded a new constitution and they drafted the Second Kentucky Constitution in 1799, which repealed all of the

prohibitions against slavery.

4. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (1865)

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. on April 14, 1865. John Wilkes Booth, the actor who assassinated Lincoln, was a native of Bel Air in Harford County, Maryland. Booth was a member of a wealthy and prominent family that owned a large tobacco plantation in Maryland and had strong ties to Kentucky. He had relatives from his mother's side who lived in Louisville and Owensboro. Booth escaped from Washington, D.C. and hid out on the family's plantation in the southern part of Maryland for about two weeks before fleeing to Virginia, where he was killed in a shootout with Union soldiers twelve days after Lincoln's assassination.

5. The Kentucky Derby (1875)

The Kentucky Derby is the most famous and prestigious horse race in America, and has been held on the first Saturday of every May at Churchill Downs in Louisville since 1875. It is attended by more than 150,000 people each year and is also known for the large hats worn by the women attending the events.