This day in Lexington history, on May 18, we're looking back at two moments that shaped the nation and left their mark on Kentucky.

Back in eighteen sixty-three, Union General Ulysses S. Grant and his forces surrounded Vicksburg, Mississippi, in what would become one of the Civil War's most pivotal sieges. For Kentucky, this battle mattered deeply. Our state was torn between North and South, and control of the Mississippi River meant everything for supply lines, trade, and military strategy. Grant's victory here in forty-seven days helped turn the tide of the war and secured the Union's grip on that vital waterway.

Then, jumping ahead seventy years to nineteen thirty-three, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation creating the Tennessee Valley Authority. The TVA brought massive infrastructure projects, jobs, and electrical power to the South, including right here in our region. It was a cornerstone of the New Deal, and it reshaped how rural America got connected to the modern world.

Two very different moments, but both reminders of how much the decisions made generations ago still shape the Lexington we live in today.

That's your history for today.

Listen live: The Lexington Times runs a 24/7 local news livestream — watch on YouTube or on Facebook. This transcript is from a recent on-air segment.