| 1676 |
|
Bacon's
Rebellion begins in the New World. |
| 1773 |
|
To
keep the troubled East India Company
afloat, Parliament passes the Tea
Act, taxing all tea in the American
colonies. |
| 1774 |
|
Louis
XVI succeeds his father Louis XV as
King of France. |
| 1775 |
|
American
troops capture Fort Ticonderoga from
the British. |
| 1794 |
|
Elizabeth,
the sister of King Louis XVI, is
beheaded. |
| 1796 |
|
Napoleon
Bonaparte wins a brilliant victory
against the Austrians at Lodi bridge
in Italy. |
| 1840 |
|
Mormon
leader Joseph Smith moves his band
of followers to Illinois to escape
the hostilities they experienced in
Missouri. |
| 1857 |
|
The
Bengal Army in India revolts against
the British. |
| 1863 |
|
General
Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
succumbs to illness and wounds
received during the Battle of
Chancellorsville. |
| 1865 |
|
Union
cavalry troops capture Confederate
President Jefferson Davis near
Irvinville, Georgia. |
| 1869 |
|
The
Central Pacific and Union Pacific
railroads meet in Promontory, Utah. |
| 1859 |
|
French
emperor Napoleon III leaves Paris to
join his troops preparing to battle
the Austrian army in Northern Italy. |
| 1872 |
|
Victoria
Woodhull becomes first woman
nominated for U.S. president. |
| 1917 |
|
Allied
ships get destroyer escorts to fend
off German attacks in the Atlantic. |
| 1924 |
|
J.
Edgar Hoover is appointed head of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation. |
| 1928 |
|
WGY-TV
in Schenectady, New York, begins
regular television programming. |
| 1933 |
|
Nazis
begin burning books by "unGerman"
writers such as Heinrich Mann and
Erich Maria Remarque, author of All
Quiet on the Western Front. |
| 1940 |
|
German
forces begin a blitzkrieg of the
Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg,
skirting France's
"impenetrable" Maginot
Line. |
| 1940 |
|
Winston
Churchill succeeds Neville
Chamberlain as British Prime
Minister. |
| 1941 |
|
England's
House of Commons is destroyed during
the worst of the London Blitz: 550
German bombers drop 100,000
incendiary bombs. |
| 1960 |
|
The
USS Nautilus completes first
circumnavigation of globe
underwater. |
| 1994 |
|
Nelson
Mandela is sworn in as South
Africa's first black president. |
Born on May 10 |
| 1730 |
|
George
Ross, signer of the Declaration of
Independence. |
| 1813 |
|
Montgomery
Blair, lawyer. |
| 1838 |
|
John
Wilkes Booth, actor, assassin of
President Abraham Lincoln. |
| 1886 |
|
Karl
Barth, Swiss theologian. |
| 1899 |
|
Fred
Astaire (Frederick Austerlitz),
American dancer and actor. |
| 1902 |
|
David
O. Selznick, film producer (Gone
with the Wind, Rebecca). |
| 1908 |
|
Carl
Albert, U.S. politician. |
| 1920 |
|
Richard
Adams, English novelist (Watership
Down) |
.
|
| 1937 |
|
Arthur
Kopit, American playwright. |
| 1944 |
|
Judith
Jamison, American ballerina. |
