On This Day in History

May 10

Historical Events

1497 Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci leaves for his first voyage to the New World (disputed).

1775 Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and issues paper currency for the first time.

1801 First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America (1st US foreign war).

Mutineers are executed by the Bengal Horse Artillery, in a painting by Orlando Noire

1857 Indian mutiny against rule by the British East India Company begins with the revolt of the Sepoy soldiers in Meerut.

The 1st Transcontinental Railroad is finished at last!

1869 Golden spike driven, completing the 1st US Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah and connecting the Central Pacific Railroad with the Union Pacific.

1940 Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister at the head of a coalition government.

1994 Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa's 1st black president.

More Historical Events

Famous Birthdays

John Wilkes Booth 1838 - 1865 Gustav Stresemann 1878 - 1929

Maybelle Carter 1909 - 1978 Bono 64th Birthday

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Famous Deaths

Stonewall Jackson 1824 - 1863 John Wayne Gacy 1942 - 1994

Also Paul Revere and Henry Morton Stanley.

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One-Man Mission of Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland on this day planning to negotiate peace with the British – without the knowledge or approval of his boss, Adolf Hitler.

Rudolf Hess’s Peace Mission