Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
the first shots officially fired in the Civil War. South Carolina militiamen attacked Fort Sumter,
a federal fort in the harbor at Charleston.
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South Dakota
(40th state—1889) is named, like North Dakota, for the Dakota tribe (see above).
In the Black Hills in the southwestern corner of the state is the famed Mount Rushmore in which
the faces of Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt have been carved. New
Mexico's roadrunner should be careful; South Dakota is the Coyote State.
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Tennessee
(16th state—1796), is derived from a Cherokee word whose meaning is obscure. Once
humbly dubbing itself the Nation's Most Interesting State, Tennessee has been more commonly
known as the Volunteer State since 1847 when the governor called for 2,800 volunteers for the
Mexican War and 30,000 men responded.
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Texas
(28th state—1845) comes from an Indian word meaning “friends.” The Texans were
American southerners who had been invited into the territory by Mexico, which controlled it.
But they rebelled because Mexico had emancipated slaves. Setting itself up as the Lone Star
Republic, Texas fought for independence from Mexico in 1836, precipitating the Mexican War,
after which the territory joined the Union.
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Utah
(45th state—1896) is named after the Ute tribe, meaning “people of the mountains.” First
explored by Spanish priests, Utah was opened up to white settlers by the great migration of Mor-
mons who came to escape religious persecution in the East beginning in 1847. The territory was
part of the settlement made with Mexico in 1848.
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Vermont
(14th state—1791) is a combination of the French words for “green mountain” which
also provides its predictable nickname, the Green Mountain State, certainly not as interesting as
the Land of Marble, Milk, and Honey.
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Virginia
(10th state—1788), site of the first permanent English settlement in Amer-
ica—Jamestown, 1607—was the largest of the original thirteen colonies and certainly one of the
most influential states in America's early history. Named in honor of Elizabeth I, the “virgin
queen” of England, Virginia was also promoted by the men who wanted to attract new settlers to
“virgin land.” It was later called the Mother of Presidents, having produced four of the first five
Presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe—plus
four others (William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson). Its
political clout carried right up to the Civil War years, and it was the most significant of the Con-
federate states, being the site of the Confederate capital, Richmond, and the home state of Robert
E. Lee, who led the Confederate troops.
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Washington
(42nd state—1889) was named in honor of George Washington. It is also called the
Chinook State after the tribe that inhabited the region. It is this tribe that also gives its name to a
pair of separate winds: a characteristic warm, moist wind that blows from the sea on the Wash-
ington and Oregon coasts; as well as a warm, dry wind that descends on the eastern side of the
Rocky Mountains and influences the climate of Colorado in particular.
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West Virginia
(35th state—1863) originated as a part of Virginia. But after Virginia's secession
from the Union in 1861, delegates from forty of the state's western counties formed their own
government and were granted statehood as a non-slave state during the Civil War. Its rugged ter-
