Historical Events
- May 5 King Leopold I of Belgium opens Brussels-Mechelen railway
New York Herald
May 6 James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald (price 1 cent)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
May 8 1st installment of Hans Christian Andersen "Fairy Tales" published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark
Darwin Visits Panuncillo Coal Mines
May 12 Charles Darwin visits Alexander Caldcleugh’s copper mines at Panuncillo in northern Chile and is impressed by the extraordinary feats of labor performed by the workers
Famous Birthdays
- May 1 Alfred Napoleon Alexander "Natti" Duffié, French-American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Paris, France (d. 1880)
- May 4 Edmund Hart Turpin, English composer, born in Nottingham, England (d. 1907)
- May 11 Kārlis Baumanis, Latvian composer (Dievs, svētī Latviju! (“God bless Latvia!”), the national anthem of Latvia), born in Viļķene Parish, Courland Governorate, Russian Empire (d. 1905)
- May 21 František Chvostek, Moravian physician (d. 1884)
- May 21 Newton Martin Curtis, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in De Peyster, New York (d. 1910)
- May 26 Edward Porter Alexander, Brigadier General (Confederate Army) and military engineer, born in Washington, Georgia (d. 1910)
- May 30 Alfred Austin, English poet laureate of England (Garden), born in Headingley, Yorkshire, England (d. 1913)
- May 31 Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese military leader, born in Hino, Tokyo, Japan (d. 1869)
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies