1568 – Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
1607 – English colonists, led by John Smith, land near James River in Virginia
1619 – Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after being convicted of treason.
1643 – Heavy earthquake strikes Santiago Chile; kills 1/3 of population
1780 – The Cumberland Compact is signed by leaders of the settlers in early Tennessee.
1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the “First Fleet”) to establish a penal colony in Australia.
1835 – 1st foreign embassy in Hawaii forms
1846 – US declares war on Mexico, 2 months after fighting begins
1861 – American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a “proclamation of neutrality” which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
1862 – The USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first man with dark skin to command a United States ship.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Resaca – the battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta, Georgia.
1865 – American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch – in far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory.
1880 – In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
1888 – With the passage of the Lei Áurea (“Golden Law”), Brazil abolishes slavery.
1912 – The Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) is established in the United Kingdom.
1912 – Gil Evans, Canadian musician – Ian Ernest Gilmore “Gil” Evans was a Canadian jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He played an important role in the development of cool jazz, modal jazz, free jazz and jazz fusion, and collaborated extensively with Miles Davis (d. 1988) Born
1913 – 1st four-engined aircraft built and flown (Igor Sikorsky, Russia)
1914 – Joe Louis, American boxer (d. 1981) was born.
1916 – 1st observance of Indian (Native American) Day
1917 – Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal.
1918 – 1st US airmail stamps issued (24 cents – about 5.00 today)
1922 – Bea Arthur, American actress and singer (d. 2009) was born.
1930 – Mike Gravel, (Sen-R-Alaska, 911 Truth Activist) Born
1931 – Jim Jones, American cult leader, founded the Peoples Temple (d. 1978) was born.
1937 – Roger [Joseph] Zelazny, sci-fi author (6 Hugos, Chronicles of Amber) Born
1939 – The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later becomes WDRC-FM.
1939 – Harvey Keitel, actor (Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Bad Lieutenant) Born
1939 – The Italian leader Benito Mussolini and German Leader Adolf Hitler are planning tours of borders with France and the border between Tunisia and Libya together with Poland. The Italian Leader is expected to give an anti-french speech in the next 2 days over the disputed areas Italy believes should be Italian and not French controlled offering a last chance for France to come to a peaceful settlement over Italian territorial claims.
1839 – Israel Ashkenazi of Shklov, found Ashkenazic community (1815), dies
1940 – World War II: Germany’s conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” speech to the House of Commons.
1940 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees her country to Great Britain after the German invasion. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
1941 – World War II: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting with German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.
1941 – Ritchie Valens, singer (Donna, La Bamba) born
1943 – World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
1943 – Mary Wells, Detroit, singer (My Guy) Born
1945 – Magic Dick, [Richard Salwitz], harmonicaist (J Geils Band-Centerfold) Born
1946 – Danny Klein, NYC, rock bassist (J Geils Band-Centerfold) Born
1947 – Pete “Overend” Watts, rock bassist (Mott The Hoople-All Young Dudes) Born
1947 – Stephen R Donaldson, US, sci-fi author (Lord Foul’s Bane)
1947 – In Germany calls have been made for urgent assistance in The American Zone and The British Zone as residents in both areas are now suffering with severe shortages of food which is causing mass starvation, this is in turn causing antagonism and resentment to America and England.
1948 – 1948 Arab-Israeli War: the Kfar Etzion massacre is committed by Arab irregulars, the day before the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14.
1950 – Danny Kirwan, London, rocker (Fleetwood Mac)Born
1950 – John “Jocko” Marcellino, rocker/actor (Tagget, Hot to Trot, Rain Man) Born
1950 Singer-Songwriter – Stevie Wonder, Saginaw, Michigan, American singer-songwriter (You are the Sunshine of My Love)Born
1951 – Paul Thompson, rock drummer (Roxy Music)Born
1956 – Ravi Shankar, Indian spiritual leader, founded the Art of Living Foundation was born.
1958 – Rioters attack US VP Richard Nixon in Venezuela
1960 – Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Thirty-one students are arrested, and the Free Speech Movement is born.
1961 – Gary Cooper, 2 time Acad award winning actor (High Noon), dies at 60
1961 – Dennis Rodman, American basketball player, wrestler, and actor was born.
1964 – Stephen Colbert, American comedian, actor, and talk show host was born.
1966 – Darius Rucker, American singer (Hootie & the Blowfish)Born
1967 – Chuck Schuldiner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Death, Control Denied, Slaughter, and Voodoocult) (d. 2001) was born.
1968 – 1,000,000 French demonstrate against Charles de Gaulle & Georges Pompidou
1969 – Buckethead, American guitarist and songwriter (Guns N’ Roses, Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains, Praxis, and Deli Creeps) was born.
1969 – Race riots, later known as the May 13 Incident, take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
1970 – Beatles movie “Let it Be” premieres
1971 – Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane seriously injured in a car accident
1972 – 115 die in nightclub atop 7-story Sennichi dept store (Osaka Japan)
1972 – Dan Blocker, American actor (Hoss-Bonanza), dies at 43
1972 – The Troubles: a car bombing outside a crowded pub in Belfast sparks a two-day gun battle involving the Provisional IRA, Ulster Volunteer Force and British Army. Seven people are killed and over 66 injured.
1977 – Howard Stern begins broadcasting at WRNW, Briarcliff Manor NY
1979 – Shah of Iran & family sentenced to death in Teheran
1981 – Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives.
1985 – Philadelphia Police Department drop a bomb containing C-4 and Tovex from a helicopter onto MOVE’s residence part of a row of tenements on Osage Avenue, the explosion started an uncontrolled fire and as a result, 53 houses burned and 240 people were left homeless. John Africa, six other adults and four children, who were living in the MOVE Cult Home died in the resulting fire. Police were attempting to enforce outstanding arrest warrants for four members of the group by blowing up tactical bunkers constructed by MOVE on the roof and had evacuated people from their Osage Avenue homes in order to prepare for an operation against MOVE. MOVE was a mostly black group whose members all adopted the surname Africa, advocated a ‘back-to-nature’ lifestyle and preached against technology.
1988 – Chet Baker, jazz trumpeter, fell to death out of a hotel window at 59
1989 – Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike.
1991 – South African activist Winnie Mandela convicted of abducting 4 blacks
1992 – Frank Stallone beats Geraldo Rivera in boxing on Howard Stern Show
1994 – Johnny Carson makes his last television appearance on Late Show with David Letterman.
1998 – Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese descent are looted and women raped.
2012 – 49 dismembered bodies are found on a Mexican highway as part of the Mexican drug war
2012 – Donald “Duck” Dunn, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (Booker T. & the M.G.’s, The Blues Brothers, and The Mar-Keys) (b. 1941) was born.
2013 – Joyce Brothers, American psychologist, dies from respiratory failure at 85