May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). There are 235 days remaining.

Events

1200-1899

• 1291 - Scottish nobles recognize the authority of King Edward I of England.
• 1497 - Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
• 1503 - Christopher Columbus discovers the Cayman Islands and 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 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.
• 1775 - United States meet in Philadelphia and raise the Continental Army to defend the new republic. They place it under command of Cavalier George Washington of Virginia.
• 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.
• 1801 - First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of United States.
• 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.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill in Kentucky (he lingered until his death on June 6).
• 1869 - The United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (not Promontory Point, Utah).
• 1872 - Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
• 1877 - Romania declares itself independent from Turkey, recognized on March 26, 1881 after the end of the Romanian independence war.

1900-1999

• 1908 - Mother's Day is observed for the first time (Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virgina, USA).
• 1924 - J. Edgar Hoover is appointed the Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, and remained so until his death in 1972.
• 1933 - Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
• 1940 - World War II: The first German bombs were dropped on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent.
• 1940 - World War II: Germany invades Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
• 1940 - World War II: Winston Churchill appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1941 - World War II: The House of Commons in London is destroyed by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
• 1941 - World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland in order to try and negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.
• 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 Triton completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.
• 1979 - The Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing.
• 1988 - Michel Rocard becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1994 - The American State of Illinois executes serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murder of 33 young men and boys.
• 1994 - Weezer releases their debut, self-titled album.
• 1994 - An annular eclipse of the sun is visible across much of North America.
• 1997 - An earthquake near Ardekul in northeastern Iran kills at least 2,400 people.
• 1998 - National elections are held in Hungary.

2000-2099

• 2001 - In Ghana, a stampede at a football game kills over 120 spectators.
• 2002 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is given a life sentence without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
• 2002 - Lynda Lyon Block is executed in Yellow Mama, the electric chair of Alabama.
• 2003 - May 2003 tornado outbreak ends.

Births

1700-1899

• 1727 - Anne Robert Turgot, statesman (d. 1781)
• 1760 - Johann Peter Hebel, poet (d. 1826)
• 1838 - John Wilkes Booth, actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
• 1841 - James Gordon Bennett Jr., publisher (d. 1918)
• 1878 - Gustav Stresemann, politician and recipient of the Nobel Prize in peace 1926 (d. 1929)
• 1888 - Max Steiner, composer (d. 1971)
• 1890 - Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
• 1899 - Fred Astaire, singer, dancer, actor (d. 1987)
• 1899 - Dimitri Tiomkin, composer (d. 1979)

1900-1999

• 1902 - Anatole Litvak, film director (d. 1974)
• 1902 - David O. Selznick, Hollywood film producer (d. 1965)
• 1909 - Mother Maybelle Carter, country musician
• 1915 - Denis Thatcher, husband of Margaret Thatcher
• 1916 - Milton Babbitt, composer
• 1927 - Nayantara Sahgal, author
• 1930 - Pat Summerall, American football player, broadcaster
• 1933 - Barbara Taylor Bradford, writer
• 1934 - Cliff Wilson, Welsh snooker player (d. 1994)
• 1936 - Gary Owens, actor, announcer
• 1944 - Jim Abrahams, director
• 1946 - Donovan, musician
• 1946 - Dave Mason, musician ("Traffic")
• 1953 - John Diamond, British journalist (d. 2001)
• 1955 - Chris Berman, ESPN sportscaster
• 1955 - Ashoka Prasad, medical scientist and psychiatrist
• 1955 - Mark David Chapman, assassin of John Lennon
• 1956 - Vladislav Listyev, Russian TV anchor and journalist
• 1957 - Sid Vicious, bassist of The Sex Pistols (d. 1979)
• 1960 - Bono, singer of U2
• 1965 - Linda Evangelista, supermodel
• 1966 - Jonathan Edwards, British triple jumper
• 1975 - Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian Indy Car driver, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner

Deaths

1200-1899

• 1290 - Duke Rudolph II of Austria
• 1717 - John Hathorne, magistrate (b. 1641)
• 1774 - King Louis XV of France (b. 1710)
• 1818 - Paul Revere, engraver, American patriot (b. 1735)
• 1863 - Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Confederate general (b. 1824)
• 1889 - Russian satirist (b. 1826)

1900-1999

• 1955 - Tommy Burns, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion (b. 1881)
• 1977 - Joan Crawford, actress (b. 1904)
• 1990 - Walker Percy, author (b. 1916)
• 1994 - John Wayne Gacy, serial killer (executed) (b. 1942)
• 1999 - Shel Silverstein, poet, composer (b. 1930)

2000-2099

• 2003 - Milan Vukcevich, chemist and chess problem composer

Holidays and observances

• Feast of Blessed Damien of Moloka'i - memorial day in Catholicism
• Confederate Memorial Day in North Carolina and South Carolina
• Mother's Day - 1987, 1998, 2009

May 9 - May 11 - April 10 - June 10 -- listing of all days