Portal:Military of the United States/Selected anniversaries/May

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Selected anniversaries in May

May 1

• 1778 - American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins.
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: The Battle of Manila Bay - The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.
• 1960 - Cold War: U-2 Crisis – Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking off a diplomatic crisis.
• 1970 - Protests erupt in Seattle, Washington, United States following the announcement of President Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.
• 2003 - 2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, President George W. Bush declares "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" on board USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of California.

May 2

• 1863 - American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering for the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia 8 days later.
• 1945 - World War II: Fall of Berlin – The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building. German forces surrender in Italy. German forces surrender to the New Zealand Army in Trieste.
• 1964 - Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship.
• 2000 - Bill Clinton announces that GPS access equivalent to the U.S. military would be available for regular citizens.

May 3

• 1923 - Lieutenants John Macready and Oakley Kelly land their Fokker T-2 aircraft in San Diego, California. This is the first non-stop transcontinental flight. It took nearly 27 hrs.
• 1951 - The United States Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees begin their closed door hearings into the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry S. Truman.
• 1952 - U.S. Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict land a plane at the North Pole.

May 4

• 1776 - Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Chancellorsville – The battle ends with a Union retreat.
• 1942 - World War II: Battle of the Coral Sea – The battle begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands.
• 1946 - In San Francisco Bay, US Marines from the Treasure Island Marine Barracks stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz federal prison. Five people are killed in the riot.
• 1970 - Vietnam War: Kent State shootings – The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after the ROTC building was burnt down, opens fire on students protesting at the United States' invasion of Cambodia. Four students are killed, nine are wounded.

May 5

• 1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
• 1877 - Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
• 1886 - The Bay View Tragedy occurs, militia fire upon a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin killing seven.
• 1916 - American marines invade the Dominican Republic.
• 1980 - Operation Nimrod: The Special Air Service storm the Iranian embassy in London after a six day siege.

May 6

• 1861 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends, with a defeat of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker by Confederate troops under Stonewall Jackson.
• 1877 - Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
• 1941 - At California's March Field Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
• 1942 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
• 1981 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.

May 7

• 1864 - American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
• 1915 - World War I: a German submarine U-20 sinks the RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turned many formerly pro-Germans in the United States of America against the German Empire.
• 1945 - World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document will take effect the next day.
• 1960 - Cold War: U-2 Crisis - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.

May 8

• 1846 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Palo Alto – Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia, is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
• 1942 - World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end. This is the first time in the naval history where two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
• 1945 - World War II: VE Day. German forces agree to an unconditional surrender.
• 1972 - Vietnam War – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
• 1999 - Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel military college.

May 9

• 1926 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of his diary seems to indicate that this did not happen).
• 1945 - World War II: Hermann Göring is captured by the United States Army.

May 10

• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Fort Ticonderoga is taken by a small force led by Colonel Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Representatives from the 13 colonies of the 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.
• 1801 - First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Colonel Emory Upton leads a 10-regiment assault against the Confederate works at The Battle of Spotsylvania, which, though ultimately unsuccessful, would provide the idea for the massive assault against the Bloody Angle on May 12.
• 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, who lingers until his death on June 6.
• 1960 - The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.

May 11

• 1841 - Lt. Charles Wilkes lands at Fort Nisqually in Puget Sound.
• 1862 - American Civil War: The ironclad CSS Virginia is scuttled in the James River northwest of Norfolk, Virginia.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Yellow Tavern – Confederate General JEB Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern, Virginia.
• 1943 - World War II: American troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
• 1944 - World War II: The Allies start a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav Line.
• 1969 - Vietnam War: Operation Apache Snow – Near the Laos border, American and South Vietnamese forces fight North Vietnamese troops for Ap Bia Mountain (aka Hill 937 or "Hamburger Hill").

May 12

• 1780 - American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
• 1862 - U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps (ACW) turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: Thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die in "the Bloody Angle".
• 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch: The first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Conferderate victory.
• 1949 - Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its Blockade of Berlin.
• 1958 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
• 1962 - Douglas MacArthur delivers his famous "Duty, Honor, Country" valedictory speech at West Point.

May 13

• 1846 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Queen Victoria of Britain 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 Confederate victory.
• 1943 - World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.

May 14

• 1804 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begin their historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Jackson (MS).
• 2005 - Ex-America (CV-66), a decommissioned supercarrier of the United States Navy, is deliberately sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after four weeks of live-fire exercises. She is the largest ship ever to be disposed of as a target in a military exercise.

May 15

• 1776 - American Revolution: Virginia convention instructs its delegates to propose a declaration of independence from Great Britain.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ends.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia – Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
• 1942 - World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
• 1970 - President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals.
• 1972 - The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control.

May 16

• 1771 - The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called "The Regulators" occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.
• 1919 - US Navy Naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.
• 1960 - Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from US President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union thus ending a Big Four summit in Paris.

May 17

• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada.
• 1943 - The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC.
• 1987 - An Iraqi fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. warship USS Stark (FFG-31), killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
• 2006 - The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany sunk in the Gulf of Mexico to be an artificial reef.

May 18

• 1863 - American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins, ending on July 4.
• 1917 - World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress giving the President the power of conscription.
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
• 1953 - Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier (she flew in a F-86 Sabrejet at an average speed of 652.337 miles per hour (1049.835 km/h) at Rogers Dry Lake, California).
• 1958 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h).

May 19

• 1848 - Mexican-American War: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – Mexico ratifies the treaty thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of five other modern-day U.S. states to the USA for USD $15 million.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
• 1943 - World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set Monday, May 1, 1944 as the date for the cross-English Channel landing (D-Day would later be delayed over a month due to bad weather).

May 20

• 1861 - American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.
• 1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church - In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
• 1949 - In the United States of America, the Armed Forces Security Agency (predecessor to the National Security Agency) is established.
• 1969 - The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.

May 21

• 1863 - American Civil War: Siege of Port Hudson – Union forces begin to lay siege to the Confederate-controlled Port Hudson, Louisiana.
• 1941 - World War II: 950 miles off the coast of Brazil, the freighter SS Robin Moor becomes the first United States ship sunk by a German U-boat.
• 1956 - Nuclear testing: In the Pacific Ocean, Bikini Atoll is nearly obliterated by the first airborne explosion of a hydrogen bomb.
• 1961 - American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.

May 22

• 1968 - The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
• 1997 - Kelly Flinn, US Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepts a general discharge in order to avoid a court martial.

May 23

• 1846 - Mexican-American War: Mexico declares war on the United States.
• 1900 - American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner.
• 1939 - The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 26 sailors. The remaining 32 crewmen and one passenger are rescued the following day.

May 24

• 1846 - Mexican-American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.
• 2002 - Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.

May 25

• 1787 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States. George Washington presides.
• 1953 - Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test.

May 26

• 1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas.
• 1948 - The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 557 which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
• 1972 - The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

May 27

• 1813 - War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
• 1941 - World War II: U.S. President Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency".
• 1965 - Vietnam War: United States warships begin bombardments of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam for the first time.
• 1967 - The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) is christened by Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline.

May 28

• 1754 - French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first African American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts, to fight for the Union.
• 1987 - A robot probe finds the wreckage of the USS Monitor near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

May 29

• 1780 - Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton brutally massacred Colonel Abraham Buford's continentals even after the continentals surrendered. 113 Americans were killed.
• 1932 - WW I Veterans begin to assemble in Washington, DC in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.
• 2004 - The World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C..

May 30

• 1868 - Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") observed in the United States for the first time (By "Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic" John A. Logan's proclaimation on May 5).
• 1958 - Memorial Day: The bodies of several unidentified soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.

May 31

• 1862 - American Civil War Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines or (Battle of Fair Oaks) - Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston & G. W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside Richmond, Virginia.
• 1864 - American Civil War Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor - The Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee engages the Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant & George G. Meade.
• 1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower retires from active service in the United States Army.
• 1971 - In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
• 1973 - The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
• 2002 - The United States Secretary of the Navy issued Instruction 10520.6 directing all United States Navy ships to fly the First Navy Jack in honor of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The ensign will be flown for the duration of the War on Terrorism.