Events in History
- 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
Event of Interest
May 16 US Senate fails to impeach President Andrew Johnson by one vote
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
Magnus Hirschfeld
May 14 Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and gay rights advocate, born in Kolberg, Prussia (d. 1935)
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
- 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