1865 – Last land action of Civil war at Palmito Ranch, Texas
1908 – Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B. Stubblefield
1925 – Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan become autonomous Soviet republics
1968 – “March of the Poor” under Rev Ralph Abernathy reaches Washington, D.C.
1968 – WSKG TV channel 46 (PBS) in Binghamton, NY, begins broadcasting
1994 – WIBC Bowling Queens won by Anne Marie Duggan
1999 – David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament
2024 – Flash flood kills at least 300 people in northern Afghanistan and destroys nearly 2000 homes
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 11th May 2026
1674 – Netherlands and Cologne sign peace treaty
1812 – British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London. Ironically, descendants of both later stand for the same seat in Parliament at the same time, but neither wins
1865 – Confederate Brigadier General Meriwether Jeff Thompson surrenders at Jacksonport, Arkansas
1928 – 63rd British Open Men’s Golf Championship, Royal St George’s GC: Walter Hagen wins 3rd of his 4 Open Championship titles, 2 strokes ahead of fellow American Gene Sarazen
1940 – 65th Preakness: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 1:58.6
1963 – “Puff (The Magic Dragon)” single by Peter, Paul and Mary hits #2; Peter Yarrow adapted a poem that college classmate Lenny Lipton had left behind after borrowing Yarrow’s typewriter
1969 – British comedy troupe Monty Python forms, made up of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin
1989 – NHL Prince of Wales Conference Final: Montreal Canadians beat Philadelphia Flyers, 4 games to 2
Historical Events for 10th May 2026
1774 – Louis XVI ascends to the throne of France
1902 – Portugal goes bankrupt, but its parliament passes a bill converting its external debt. Contributing to Portugal’s troubles is a recent revolt in its colony of Angola, put down on September 6
1969 – US troops begin attack on Hill 937 (“Hamburger Hill”), Vietnam
1973 – Stanley Cup Final, Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL: Yvan Cournoyer has a goal and 2 assists as Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 6-4 to take title, 4 games to 2
1983 – TV sitcom “Laverne and Shirley” last airs on ABC-TV
1989 – NHL Clarence Campbell Conference Final: Calgary Flames beat Chicago Blackhawks, 4 games to 1
2018 – New record auction price for a Latin American artwork of $9.76 million for Diego Rivera’s “The Rivals”
2023 – Heaviest fighting in months between Israel and Palestinian militants as both sides launch air attacks, leaving over 20 dead in Gaza
Historical Events for 9th May 2026
1738 – Britain sends a fleet to the Mediterranean Sea and the West Indies
1846 – Battle of Resaca de la Palma-US sends Mexico back to Rio Grande
1962 – The Beatles sign their first contract with EMI Parlophone
1987 – 183 die aboard a Polish jetliner that crashes in Warsaw
1989 – VP Quayle says in United Negro College Fund speech: “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind” instead of “a mind is terrible thing to waste”
2012 – United States President Barack Obama officially states his support for same-sex marriage
2017 – Jakarta’s Christian governor Ahok jailed for 2 years for blasphemy
2022 – Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa submits his resignation to his brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, amid continuing violent protests causing four deaths
Historical Events for 8th May 2026
1450 – Jack Cade’s Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt begins against King Henry VI and they march towards London
1639 – William Coddington founds Newport, Rhode Island
1905 – Union of Unions organizes In Russia under the chairmanship of Paul Miliukov and joins liberal groups demanding parliamentary government and universal suffrage
1906 – Philadelphia A’s pitcher Albert Bender is deployed to left field in 6th inning and responds with 2 HRs in A’s 11-4 win over Boston Americans at Huntington Avenue Grounds, Boston
1960 – USSR and Cuba resume diplomatic relations
1974 – FC Magdenburg of East Germany win 14th European Cup Winner’s Cup against AC Milan of Italy 2-0 in Rotterdam
1994 – All-female pro baseball team Colorado Silver Bullets play their first game
2019 – Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi who spent eight years in prison on death row for blasphemy arrives in Canada
Historical Events for 7th May 2026
1355 – 1,200 Jews of Toledo, Spain killed by Count Henry of Trastamara
1800 – Indiana Territory organized
1856 – Argentina and Brazil sign a navigation pact
1938 – Dutch Minister of Justice Goseling calls fugitives of Nazi-Germany “undesired strangers”
1955 – USSR signs peace treaty with France and Great Britain
1982 – “Is There Life after High School?” opens at Barrymore Theatre, NYC; runs for 12 performances
2011 – 137th Kentucky Derby: John Velazquez aboard Animal Kingdom wins in 2:02.04
2024 – Stormy Daniels testifies in court to a 2006 sexual encounter with Donald Trump as part of a hush money trial against Trump
Historical Events for 6th May 2026
1604 – Leon VII Spanish poet’s first poem is published: La Cocina
1864 – US Civil War: Union Army General Sherman begins advance to Atlanta, Georgia, during the Atlanta Campaign
1889 – Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) in Paris opens with the recently completed Eiffel Tower serving as the entrance arch; the elevators in the tower are not yet ready, so intrepid visitors have to climb 1,710 steps to reach the top
1933 – 59th Kentucky Derby: Don Meade aboard Brokers Tip wins in 2:06.8
1942 – Corregidor and Philippines surrender to Japanese Armies
1970 – Irish Prime Minister Jack Lynch sacks two ministers in the Irish government over allegations of illegal arms importation
1981 – US expels Libyan diplomats
1991 – Space Shuttle STS 39 (Discovery 12) lands
Historical Events for 5th May 2026
1863 – Irish boxer Joe Coburn KOs American Mike McCoole in the 67th round in his first defense of Heavyweight C’ship of America in Charlestown, Maryland
1916 – US Marines invade Dominican Republic, stay until 1924
1917 – St Louis Browns pitcher Ernie Koob no-hits Chicago White Sox, 1-0 at Sportsman’s Park III
1948 – First squadron of jet aircraft boards a carrier
1955 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada test Site
1956 – The first World Judo Championships are held in Tokyo
1961 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard Freedom 7
2006 – The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army
Historical Events for 4th May 2026
1493 – Spanish Pope Alexander VI decrees in the papal bull “Inter caetera” that all lands west of a line 100 leagues west of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde Islands belong to Castile, ultimately dividing the Americas between Spain and Portugal
1861 – At Gretna, Louisiana, one of the first guns for the Confederate Navy is cast
1910 – Wilfrid Laurier passes the Naval Service Act, which creates the Royal Canadian Navy
1927 – Nicaragua agrees to a US supervised presidential election in 1928
1957 – Anne Frank Foundation forms in Amsterdam
1975 – Italian film “Seven Beauties” directed by Lina Wertmüller, starring Giancarlo Giannini, and Shirley Stoler released – first film directed by a women to be nominated for an Academy Award
1988 – USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
2018 – LA Angels first baseman Albert Pujols collects his 3,000th MLB hit in a 5-0 win v Mariners in Seattle
Historical Events for 3rd May 2026
1342 – Count Hartmann II becomes the ruler of Vaduz, Liechtenstein
1864 – Red River Campaign: third day of Battle at Alexandria, Louisiana
1933 – Nellie T. Ross takes office as the first female director of the US Mint
1966 – WDHO (now WNWO) TV channel 24 in Toledo, Ohio (ABC) begins broadcasting
2002 – Military MiG-21 aircraft crashes into the Bank of Rajasthan in India, killing eight people
2002 – “Spider-Man,” starring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin, premieres
2023 – 13-year-old Serbian student shoots and kills nine people at his Belgrade school, eight students and a security guard, before handing himself in
2023 – MLB LA Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani joins NY Yankee legend Babe Ruth as only pitcher to strike out 500 batters and hit over 100 career home runs in 6-4 over the Cardinals in St. Louis