Historical Events on May 12

  • 1780: British forces capture Charleston in South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War. It’s the largest defeat of the Continental Army.
  • 1784: The Treaty of Paris – which was signed in September of 1783 – takes effect on this day.
  • 1797: During the War of the First Coalition, Venice is captured by Napoleon I of France.
  • 1846: Leaving Independence, Missouri for a new life in California, the Donner Party heads out today. Their year long journey will be filled with hardship and end with cannibalism.
  • 1862: Baton Rouge in Louisiana is occupied by United States Federal forces during the American Civil War.
  • 1864: Thousands of Confederate and Union soldiers die during at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House during the American Civil War.
  • 1865: The Confederates win at the Battle of Palmito Ranch during the American Civil War.
  • 1941: The Z3 electromechanical computer is introduced in Berlin in Germany by Konrad Zuse. It’s considered to be the world’s first programmable automatic computer.
  • 1942: The German submarine U-507 fires a torpedo at the SS Virginia at the mouth of the Mississippi River during World War 2.
  • 1949: Russia lifts its blockade of the German city of Berlin.
  • 2008: Almost 70,000 people are killed when an earthquake hits Sichuan, China.
  • 2008: The largest-ever raid of a workplace occurs in Postville, Iowa when the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency arrest almost four hundred immigrants for document fraud and identity theft.
  • 2017: Over four hundred thousand computers are attacked by a ransom-ware attack that was targeting U.K National Health Services and Telefónica computer systems.

Famous Birthdays on May 12

  • Italian-English nurse and social reformer, Florence Nightingale is born in 1820.
  • English poet and painter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti is born in 1828.
  • American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth is born in 1880.
  • Canadian-American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate, William Giauque is born in 1895.
  • American actress Katharine Hepburn is born in 1907.
  • American baseball player, coach and manager, Yogi Berra is born in 1925.
  • American painter and sculptor, Frank Stella is born in 1936.
  • American comedian, actor and author, George Carlin is born in 1937.