Historical Events
Herschel Discovers a Binary Star
May 2 William Herschel discovers 1st binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
May 4 American Academy of Arts & Science founded in Boston, James Bowdoin, John and Samuel Adams founding members
- May 4 Charles Bunbury on Diomed wins 1st Epsom Derby
Siege of Charleston Ends
May 12 American General Benjamin Lincoln surrenders Charleston to the British (Revolutionary War)
- May 19 About midday, near-total darkness descends on New England, now known to be caused by forest fires in Canada
- May 29 Battle of Waxhaw Creek: alleged massacre of 113 of Colonel Abraham Buford's continentals by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton's troops after the continentals raised a white flag
Famous Birthdays
- May 10 Peter Lichtenthal, Austrian composer, musicologist, and physician, born in Pressburg, Kingdom of Hungary (now Bratislavia, Slovakia) (d. 1853)
Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845)
May 21 English prison reformer, social reformer and Quaker Minister, born in Norwich, England
Famous Deaths
- May 18 Charles Hardy, British governor of Newfoundland, dies at 66
Authors
Dictators
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Outlaws
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