Historical Events
- May 4 1st baseball league game (National Association of Baseball Players), (Ft Wayne 2, Cleveland 0) Deacon Jim White gets 1st hit, a double
- May 8 British-US treaty ends Alabama dispute
- May 10 Peace of Frankfurt-am-Main concluded between France & Germany ends Franco-Prussian war
- May 12 Segregated street cars integrated in Louisville, Kentucky
Salt Creek Massacre
May 18 Warren Wagon Train raid: Native American Comanche and Kiowa warriors attack a corn train led by Henry Warren near Graham, Texas, killing 7 waggoners. William T. Sherman pursues and captures 3 leaders, Satanta (White Bear), Satank (Sitting Bear) and Addo-eta ( Big Tree).
Famous Birthdays
- May 4 Mynona, Polish writer (The Creator), born in Gołańcz, Poland (d. 1946)
- May 5 Alberto Cametti, Italian composer, born in Rome, Italy (d. 1935)
- May 6 August Reusner, German composer, born in Löwenberg, Silesia (d. 1935)
- May 6 Christian Morgenstern, German poet (Ich und die Welt), born in Munich (d. 1914)
- May 6 Victor Grignard, French chemist (Nobel 1912 - development of the Grignard reaction), born in Cherbourg, France (d. 1935)
- May 11 Frank Schlesinger, American astronomer (d. 1943)
- May 17 Henk Bremmer, Dutch art historian (Modern Kunstwerken), born in Leiden, Netherlands (d. 1956)
- May 18 Franiska [Franny] zu Reventlow, German writer and feminist, born in Husum, Germany (d. 1918)
- May 19 Reginald Aldworth Daly, Canadian-American Geologist who independently developed the theory of magmatic stopping, born in Napanee, Ontario (d. 1957)
- May 23 Sigurd Lie, Norwegian composer and conductor, born in Drammen (d. 1904)
- May 26 Camille Huysmans, Belgian premier (1946-47), born in Bilzen, Belgium (d. 1968)
- May 27 Georges Rouault, French expressionist painter (Miserere et Guerre), born in Paris (d. 1958)
- May 30 Amos Rusie, American Baseball HOF pitcher (Triple Crown & NL wins leader 1894; 5 × NL strikeout leader; pitched no-hitter 1891; NY Giants), born in Mooresville, Indiana (d. 1942)
- May 30 Olga Engl, Austrian actress (Phantom), born in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (d. 1946)
Famous Deaths
Howard B. Cushing (1838-1871)
May 5 American military officer, dies fighting Apaches in Arizona at 32
- May 7 Louis-Joseph Papineau, Canadian political reformer (Patriote movement), dies at 84
John Herschel (1792-1871)
May 11 English astronomer and photographer who invented the blueprint and catalogued southern hemisphere stars, dies at 79
- May 12 Daniel François Esprit Auber, French opera composer (Fra Diavolo), dies at 89
- May 12 John F. W. Herschel, British astronomer (Catalogue of Nebulae), dies at 79
- May 24 Francisco Salvador Daniel, French composer, and ethnomusicologist, dies at 40
- May 26 Aimé Maillart, French opera composer (Les Dragons de Villars), dies at 54
