May 13 is the 133rd day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (134th in
leap years). There are 232 days remaining.
- 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.
- 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 - Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.
- 1779 - War of Bavarian Succession[?]: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen[?] negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the a part of its territory that was taken from them (the Inn District[?]).
- 1787 - Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England with eleven ships full of convicts to establish a penal colony in Australia.
- 1830 - Ecuador gains its independence.
- 1846 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca[?] - the battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch - In far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Lee's surrender, the last land battle of the civil war ends with a Union victory.
- 1880 - In Menlo Park, New Jersey[?], Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway[?].
- 1888 - Brazil abolishes slavery.
- 1912 - In the United Kingdom, the Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) in established.
- 1913 - Igor Sikorsky becomes the first person to pilot a four engine aircraft.
- 1917 - Three peasant children claim to see the Blessed Virgin Mary above a holmoak[?] tree in Cova da Irianear[?] near Fatima, Portugal[?].
- 1940 - World War II: Nazi Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse River.
- 1943 - World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
- 1958 - During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard M. Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
- 1981 - Mehemet Ali Agca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Square[?] in Rome.
- 1985 - Philadelphia's mayor orders police to storm the radical group's MOVE headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents in the resulting fire.
- 1996 - Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kills 600.
- 1998 - Following India's second round of nuclear tests the United States and Japan impose economic sanctions[?] on the nation.
- 1717 - Empress Maria Theresa of Austria (+ 1780)
- 1842 - Arthur Sullivan, composer (+ 1900)
- 1882 - Georges Braque, painter (+ 1963)
- 1907 - Dame Daphne du Maurier, author (+ 1989)
- 1914 - Joe Louis, boxer (+ 1981)
- 1923 - Bea Arthur, actress
- 1927 - Herbert Ross[?], director (+ 2001)
- 1931 - Jim Jones, cult leader (+ 1978)
- 1934 - Adolf Muschg[?], author
- 1937 - Roger Zelazny, science fiction author (+ 1995)
- 1937 - Roch Carrier, Canadian author of fiction
- 1939 - Harvey Keitel, actor
- 1941 - Ritchie Valens, singer (+ 1959)
- 1941 - Senta Berger[?], actress
- 1944 - Armistead Maupin, author
- 1945 - Magic Dick[?], musician ("The J. Geils Band[?]")
- 1950 - Stevie Wonder, singer, pianist, bassist, drummer
- 1961 - Dennis Rodman[?], basketball player, actor
- 1966 - Darius Rucker[?], musician ("Hootie & the Blowfish")
See Also:
May 12 - May 14 - April 13 - June 13 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December