22 May History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 1246    -    Henry Raspe is elected anti-king by the Rhenish prelates in France.
  • 1455    -    King Henry VI is taken prisoner by the Yorkists at the Battle of St. Albans, during the War of the Roses.
  • 1804    -    The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially begins as the Corps of Discovery departs from St. Charles, Missouri.
  • 1856    -    U.S. Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane for Sumner's earlier condemnation of slavery, which included an insult to Brooks' cousin, Senator Andrew Butler.
  • 1863    -    Union General Ulysses S. Grant's second attack on Vicksburg fails and a siege begins.
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  • 1868    -    The "Great Train Robbery" takes place as seven members of the Reno Gang make off with $98,000 in cash from a train's safe in Indiana.
  • 1872    -    The Amnesty Act restores civil rights to Southerners.
  • 1882    -    The United States formally recognizes Korea.
  • 1908    -    The Wright brothers register their flying machine for a U.S. patent.
  • 1939    -    Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini sign a "Pact of Steel" forming the Axis powers.
  • 1947    -    The Truman Doctrine brings aid to Turkey and Greece.
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  • 1967    -    The children's program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood premiers.
  • 1972    -    Ceylon becomes the Republic of Sri Lanka as its constitution is ratified.
  • 1985    -    Baseball player Pete Rose passes Hank Aaron as National League run scoring leader with 2,108.
  • 1987    -    An Iraqi missile hits the American frigate USS Stark in the Persian Gulf.
  • 1990    -    In the Middle East, North and South Yemen merge to become a single state.
  • 1813    -    Richard Wagner, German composer.
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  • 1828    -    Albrecht von Grafe, German eye surgeon, founder of modern opthamology.
  • 1844    -    Mary Cassatt, impressionist painter.
  • 1859    -    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author, creator of the Sherlock Holmes series.
  • 1907    -    Laurence Olivier, actor.
  • 1920    -    Thomas Gold, astronomer.
  • 1927    -    Peter Mathiessen, writer.