Historical Events
- May 1 William Walker, conqueror of Nicaragua, surrenders to US Navy
The Indian Mutiny
May 10 Indian Mutiny against rule by the British East India Company begins with the revolt of the Sepoy soldiers in Meerut
Dred Scott Freed
May 26 US slave Dred Scott and family freed by owner Henry Taylor Blow, only 3 months after US courts ruled against them in Dred Scott v. Sandford
Famous Birthdays
- May 2 Frederic Cliffe, English composer, born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England (d. 1931)
- May 3 George Gore, American baseball player, born in Saccarappa, Maine (d. 1933)
- May 5 Lee Richmond, American baseball pitcher (first ever MLB perfect game 1880), born in Sheffield, Ohio (d. 1929)
- May 7 William A. MacCorkle, American politician, 90th Governor of West Virginia, born in Lexington, Virginia (d. 1930)
- May 8 Frederik "Frits" Tartaud, Dutch actor and husband of Dutch actress Alida Klein, born in the Netherlands (d. 1946)
- May 9 Luigi Illica, Italian poet and opera librettist (Giacomo Puccini's "La bohème", "Tosca", and "Madama Butterfly"; Umberto Giordano's "Andrea Chénier"), born in Castell'Arquato, Duchy of Parma and Piacenza (now Italy) (d. 1919)
- May 10 Hendrik Zwaardemaker, Dutch physiologist (invented the olfactometer), born in Haarlem, Netherlands (d. 1930)
- May 13 Ronald Ross, British pathologist (Nobel Prize 1902), born in Almora, North-Western Provinces, British India (d. 1932)
- May 15 Williamina Fleming, Scottish-born astronomer (d. 1911)
- May 16 Juan Morel Campos, Puerto Rican composer (Danza), born in Ponce, Puerto Rico (d. 1896)
- May 19 John Jacob Abel, American pharmacologist (endocrine glands), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1938)
Pius XI (1857-1939)
May 31 Italian 259th Pope (1922-39), born in Desio, Lombardy-Venetia, Austrian Empire
