11 May History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 1573    -    Henry of Anjou becomes the first elected king of Poland.
  • 1689    -    French and English navies battle at Bantry Bay.
  • 1690    -    In the first major engagement of King William's War, British troops from Massachusetts seize Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) from the French.
  • 1745    -    French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army at Fontenoy.
  • 1792    -    The Columbia River is discovered by Captain Robert Gray.
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  • 1812    -    British prime Minster Spencer Perceval is shot by a bankrupt banker in the lobby of the House of Commons.
  • 1857    -    Indian mutineers seize Delhi.
  • 1858    -    Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.
  • 1860    -    Giuseppe Garibaldi lands at Marsala, Sicily.
  • 1862    -    Confederates scuttle the CSS Virginia off Norfolk, Virginia.
  • 1864    -    Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern.
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  • 1960    -    Israeli soldiers capture Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires.
  • 1967    -    The siege of Khe Sanh ends, the base is still in American hands.

  • 11 May Birthdays

  • 1885    -    "King" Joseph Oliver, jazz cornetist and bandleader.
  • 1888    -    Irving Berlin, composer, writer of over 1,500 songs.
  • 1894    -    Mari Sandoz, writer and biographer (Crazy Horse).
  • 1895    -    William Grant Still, American composer and conductor.
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  • 1904    -    Salvador Dali, surrealist painter.
  • 1912    -    Phil Silvers, comedian and actor.
  • 1918    -    Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist.
  • 1930    -    Stanley Elkin, author (George Mills).
  • 1933    -    Louis Farrakhan, American religious leader.