On This Day

May 1868 in History

Events in History

  • May 4 World's largest book, the Kuthodaw Inscription Shrines recording whole of Buddhist scriptures on 729 marble tablets completed and opened to the public in Mandalay, Burma
  • May 9 The city of Reno, Nevada, is founded
  • May 14 Japanese Boshin War: end of the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle, former Shogunate forces withdraw northward to Aizu by way of Nikkō
  • May 15 Dutch government of Zuylen van Nijevelt falls

Historic Event

May 16 US Senate fails to impeach President Andrew Johnson by one vote

Andrew Johnson
17th US President Andrew Johnson
  • May 20 Republican National Convention, meets in Chicago, nominates Grant
  • May 22 Train robbery at Marshfield, Indiana by the Reno Brothers Gang, who make off with $98,000
  • May 26 US President Andrew Johnson is acquitted by the Senate by one vote during his impeachment trial
  • May 29 Michael Obrenovich III, Prince of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade
  • May 30 "Decoration Day", later called Memorial Day is first observed in Northern US states
  • May 31 1st Memorial Day parade held in Ironton, Ohio

Birthdays in History

  • May 6 Władysław Reymont, Polish novelist (Chiopi, Nobel-1924), born in Kobiele Wielkie, Petrokov Governorate, Congress Poland (d. 1925)
  • May 12 Halsey William Wilson, American publisher of reference books

Magnus Hirschfeld

May 14 Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and gay rights advocate, born in Kolberg, Prussia (d. 1935)

Magnus Hirschfeld
Physician and Gay Rights Advocate Magnus Hirschfeld
  • May 17 Horace Elgin Dodge, American automobile manufacturing pioneer (co-founder of Dodge Brothers Company), born in Niles, Michigan (d. 1920)

Nicholas II

May 18 Nicholas II, last Tsar of Russia (1894-1917), born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (d. 1918)

Nicholas II
Tsar of Russia Nicholas II
  • May 19 John Fillmore Hayford, American Geodesist who established the theory of isostasy and founded the modern science of geodesy (precise measurements of the shape of the earth), born in Rouses Point, New York
  • May 24 Charles E. Taylor, American first aircraft maintenance professional, born in Cerro Gordo, Illinois (d. 1956)
  • May 28 Claude Anet [Jean Schopfer], French writer (Fille Perdue), born in Morges, Switzerland (d. 1931)

Deaths in History

  • May 7 Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, dies at 89
  • May 10 Henry Bennett, American politician (b. 1808)
  • May 14 John Newton Brown, American publisher and Baptist teacher, dies at 64
  • May 17 Isami Kondo, Shinsengumi Commander (b. 1834)
  • May 19 Benjamin Guinness, Irish brewer and philanthropist, dies at 69
  • May 22 Julius Plucker, German mathematician/physicist (formula of P), dies

Kit Carson

May 23 Kit Carson, American frontiersman, Indian fighter and army officer, dies of an aortic aneurysm at 58

Kit Carson
Frontiersman Kit Carson
  • May 26 Michael Barrett, Irish nationalist, last British public execution
  • May 29 Michael Obrenovich III, Prince of Serbia (b. 1823)
  • May 29 Levi Lincoln, Jr., American lawyer and 13th Governor of Massachusetts (1825-34), dies at 85

Historical Figures

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