Historical Events on May 4
- 1865: Union Major General E.R.S Canby accepts Confederate Lieutenant General Richard Taylor surrender at Citronelle, Alabama during the American Civil War.
- 1869: In Japan, the Naval Battle of Hakodate is fought.
- 1871: The 1st professional baseball league – the National Association – begins its first season in For Wayne in Indiana.
- 1886: The Haymarket Affair occurs when a bomb is thrown at policemen at a labor rally in Chicago, Illinois. The police respond by firing into the crowd. Over 60 people are wounded and 8 people are killed during this incident.
- 1904: Construction on the Panama Canal is begun by the U.S.
- 1910: The Royal Canadian Navy is established on this day.
- 1932: Gangster Al Capone begins his 11 year prison sentence for tax evasion in Atlanta, Georgia.
- 1945: British forces liberate the Neuengamme Concentration Camp located near Hamburg, Germany during World War II.
- 1945: All German Wehrmacht forces surrender in Denmark, the Netherlands and in Northwest Germany.
- 1959: The First Annual Grammy Awards are held for the first time on this day.
- 1961: The Freedom Riders begin a bus trip through the Southern United States.
- 1970: 4 unarmed students are killed and another 9 are wounded when the Ohio National Guard open fire on students protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the U.S and South Vietnam.
- 1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister of the U.K. She’s the first female PM to be elected in Great Britain.
Famous Birthdays on May 4
- American educator and “Father of American Public Education,” Horace Mann is born in 1796.
- American historian and scholar, William H. Prescott is born in 1796.
- American painter Frederic Edwin Church is born in 1826.
- British actress and humanitarian, Audrey Hepburn is born in 1929.
- American astronaut Michael L. Gernhardt is born in 1956.
- American painter Keith Haring is born in 1958.
- American actress Ana Gasteyer is born in 1967.