May 26

Events

• 1328 - William of Ockham secretly leaves Avignon under threat from Pope John XXII
• 1538 - Geneva throws out John Calvin
• 1637 - Pequot War: an allied Puritan and Mohegan force under English Captain John Mason attacks a Pequot village in Connecticut, killing approximately 500 inhabitants
• 1670 - In Dover, Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France secretly sign a treaty ending hostilities between their kingdoms.
• 1736 - Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw Native Americans defeat French troops.
• 1805 - In Milan's cathedral, Napoleon I of France is crowned King of Italy.
• 1828 - Mysterious foundling Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering the streets of Nurenberg, Germany.
• 1830 - The Indian Removal Act was passed by the United States Congress.
• 1864 - Montana is organized as a United States territory.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas
• 1868 - The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ends, with Johnson being found not guilty by one vote
• 1879 - Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.
• 1896 - Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia
• 1897 - The novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker, goes on sale in London
• 1906 - Vauxhall Bridge opened in London
• 1908 - At Masjid-al-Salaman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.
• 1918 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established
• 1938 - The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its first session
• 1940 - World War II: Battle of Dunkirk - In France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk.
• 1948 - The United States Congress passes Public Law 557 which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
• 1963 - The Organization of African Unity forms
• 1966 - British Guiana gains independence, as Guyana
• 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first manned moon landing.
• 1970 - The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
• 1972 - Willandra National Park is established in Australia.
• 1972 - The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
• 1978 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Resorts International, the first legal casino in the eastern United States, opens.
• 1986 - The European Community adopts the European flag.
• 1991 - A Lauda Air Boeing 767-300 explodes over rural Thailand killing 223
• 2002 - The Mars Odyssey finds signs of huge water ice deposits on the planet Mars.

Births

• 1650 - John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (+ 1722)
• 1667 - Abraham de Moivre, mathematician (+ 1754)
• 1700 - Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf (+ 1760)
• 1764 - Edward Livingston, jurist and statesman (+ 1836)
• 1799 - Aleksandr Pushkin, Russian author (+ 1837)
• 1822 - Edmond de Goncourt, writer (+ 1896)
• 1865 - Robert W. Chambers, artist (+ 1933)
• 1867 - Mary of Teck, queen consort of King George V of the United Kingdom (+ 1953)
• 1873 - Olaf Gulbransson, painter (+ 1958)
• 1878 - Isadora Duncan, dancer (+ 1927)
• 1886 - Al Jolson (+ 1950)
• 1887 - Paul Lukas, actor (+ 1971)
• 1893 - Norma Talmadge, actress (+ 1957)
• 1907 - John Wayne ("The Duke"), actor (+ 1979)
• 1908 - Robert Morley, actor (+ 1992)
• 1911 - Ben Alexander, actor (+ 1969)
• 1912 - Jay Silverheels, actor (+ 1980)
• 1913 - Peter Cushing, actor (+ 1994)
• 1916 - Henriette Roosenburg, journalist (+ 1972)
• 1920 - Peggy Lee, singer (+ 2002)
• 1923 - James Arness, actor
• 1923 - Roy Dotrice, actor
• 1926 - Miles Davis, musician (+ 1991)
• 1928 - Jack Kevorkian, physician
• 1939 - Brent Musburger, sports broadcaster
• 1941 - Cliff Drysdale, tennis star
• 1942 - Levon Helm, musician ("The Band)"
• 1946 - Mick Ronson, guitarist (+ 1993)
• 1948 - Stevie Nicks, songwriter, actress
• 1949 - Philip Michael Thomas, actor
• 1949 - Hank Williams Jr., singer
• 1949 - Ward Cunningham, inventor of wiki
• 1951 - Sally Ride, astronaut
• 1953 - Michael Portillo, politician
• 1955 - Doris Dörrie, actor and screenplay writer
• 1957 - Margaret Colin, actress
• 1958 - Pete Michaels, actor, comedian, ventriloquist
• 1962 - Bobcat Goldthwait, actor, comedian
• 1964 - Lenny Kravitz, guitarist, singer
• 1966 - Helena Bonham Carter, actress
• 1968 - Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark
• 1975 - Lauryn Hill, hip-hop singer

Deaths

• 604 or 605 - Augustine of Canterbury
• 946 - King Edmund I of England
• 1648 - Vincent Voiture, poet
• 1703 - Samuel Pepys, English civil servant, famous for his diary
• 1824 - Capel Lofft, writer
• 1881 - Jakob Bernays, philologist
• 1883 - Edward Sabine, astronomer
• 1902 - Almon Strowger, developed the Strowger switch
• 1907 - Ida McKinley, First Lady of the United States
• 1908 - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadi sect
• 1926 - Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter
• 1933 - Jimmie Rodgers, singer
• 1943 - Edsel Ford, president of the Ford Motor Company
• 1976 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher
• 1995 - Friz Freleng, animator
• 1999 - Waldo Semon, inventor
• 2002 - Mamo Wolde, marathon runner
• 2003 - Kathleen Winsor, novelist

Holidays and Observances

May 25 - May 27 - April 26 - June 26 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By