May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (131st in
leap years). There are 235 days remaining.
- 1291 - Scottish nobles recognize the authority of King Edward I of England.
- 1497 - Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cadiz for his first voyage to the New World.
- 1503 - Christopher Columbus discovers the Cayman Islands and he names them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles there.
- 1534 - Jacques Cartier discovers Newfoundland.
- 1768 - John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for the The North Briton[?] severely criticizing King George III. This action provokes rioting in London.
- 1774 - Louis XVI becomes King of France.
- 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Fort Ticonderoga is taken by a small force led by Colonel Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen.
- 1796 - First Coalition: Napoleon I of France wins a decisive victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the River Adda[?] in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
- 1837 - Panic of 1837: New York City banks fail, and unemployment reaches record levels.
- 1857 - Indian Mutiny: In India, the Sepoys[?] revolt against the British Army.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia[?].
- 1869 - The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Point, Utah.
- 1872 - Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
- 1908 - Mother's Day is observed for the first time (Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virgina[?]).
- 1924 - J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- 1933 - Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
- 1940 - World War II: Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
- 1941 - World War II: The United Kingdom's House of Commons is destroyed by the Luftwaffe in an air raid[?].
- 1941 - World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland claiming to be on a peace mission.
- 1954 - Bill Haley and the Comets release "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the charts.
- 1960 - The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus completes the first under water circumnavigation of the earth.
- 1979 - The Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing.
- 1994 - Illinois executes serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murder of 33 young men and boys.
- 1997 - An earthquake near Ardekul[?] in northeastern Iran kills at least 2,400.
- 2001 - In Ghana, a stampede at a soccer game kills over 120.
- 2002 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is given a life sentenced without the possibility of parole[?] for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
- 1727 - Anne Robert Turgot, statesman (+ 1781)
- 1760 - Johann Peter Hebel[?], poet (+ 1826)
- 1838 - John Wilkes Booth, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (+ 1865)
- 1841 - James Gordon Bennett Jr.[?], publisher
- 1878 - Gustav Stresemann, politician and recipient of the Nobel Prize in peace 1926 (+ 1929)
- 1888 - Max Steiner, composer (+ 1971)
- 1890 - Alfred Jodl, German general (+ 1946)
- 1899 - Fred Astaire, singer, dancer, actor (+ 1987)
- 1899 - Dimitri Tiomkin, composer (+ 1979)
- 1902 - David O. Selznick, Hollywood film producer (+ 1965)
- 1902 - Anatole Litvak[?], film director (+ 1974)
- 1909 - Mother Maybelle Carter[?], country musician
- 1916 - Milton Babbitt, composer
- 1930 - Pat Summerall[?], American football player, broadcaster
- 1933 - Barbara Taylor Bradford[?], writer
- 1944 - Jim Abrahams[?], director
- 1946 - Donovan Leitch, musician
- 1946 - Dave Mason[?], musician ("Traffic")
- 1955 - Mark David Chapman[?], assassin
- 1957 - Sid Vicious, bassist of The Sex Pistols (+ 1979)
- 1960 - Bono, singer of U2
- 1973 - Dario Franchitti[?], automobile racer
- 1818 - Paul Revere, engraver, American patriot
- 1863 - Thomas Stonewall Jackson, Confederate general
- 1955 - Tommy Burns, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion
- 1977 - Joan Crawford, actress
- 1985 - Chester Gould, cartoonist
- 1990 - Walker Percy, author
- 1994 - John Wayne Gacy, serial killer (executed)
- 1999 - Shel Silverstein, poet, composer
See Also:
May 9 - May 11 - April 10 - June 10 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December