May 5 holidays in 2025

Historical Events on May 5

• 1821: On Saint Helena Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on this day.
• 1835: A railway connecting Brussels and Mechelen is opened. It’s the first railway in continental Europe.
• 1862: A French invasion at the Battle of Puebla in Mexico is halted by troops under Ignacio Zaragoza.
• 1864: In Spotsylvania County, the Battle of the Wilderness begins during the American Civil War.
• 1865: The Confederate government is dissolved at Washington, Georgia during the American Civil War.
• 1866: The first celebration of Memorial Day is celebrated in the U.S at Waterloo, New York.
• 1877: Sitting Bull leads members of the Lakota tribe into Canada to avoid Colonel Nelson Miles and U.S Army Forces.
• 1886: During the Bay View Massacre, militia forces fire into a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 7 people are killed during the incident.
• 1891: The music hall that would eventually be known as Carnegie Hall is opened for the first time.
• 1944: Over 200 civilians are executed in Kleisoura, Greece by German forces.
• 1945: 6 people are killed after a Japanese fire balloon explodes around Bly, Oregon.
• 1946: 28 Japanese military and government officials are accused of “Crimes against humanity” and “War crimes” as the International Military Tribunal for the Far East starts in Tokyo, Japan.
• 1955: West Germany becomes a sovereign state.
• 1973: The race horse Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby.

Famous Birthdays on May 5

• German philosopher and sociologist, Karl Marx is born in 1818.
• American businessman and founder of the Stetson Company, John Batterson Stetson is born in 1830.
• Polish journalist, author and Nobel Prize laureate, Henryk Sienkiewicz is born in 1846.
• American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, Arthur Leonard Schawlow is born in 1921.
• American actor Lance Henriksen is born in 1940.
• American singer-songwriter Tammy Wynette is born in 1942.
• English actor and screenwriter, Michael Palin is born in 1943.