| 1471 | | In England, the Yorkists defeat the Landcastians at the battle of Tewkesbury. |
| 1626 | | Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons. |
| 1715 | | A French manufacturer debuts the first folding umbrella. |
| 1776 | | Rhode Island declares independence from England. |
| 1795 | | Thousands of rioters enter jails in Lyons, France, and massacre 99 Jacobin prisoners. |
| 1814 | | Napoleon Bonaparte disembarks at Portoferraio on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean. |
| 1863 | | The Battle of Chancellorsville ends when Union Army retreats. |
| 1864 | | Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces cross the Rapidan River and meet Robert E. Lee's Confederate army. |
| 1927 | | A balloon soars over 40,000 feet for the first time. |
| 1930 | | Mahatma Gandhi is arrested by the British. |
| 1942 | | The Battle of the Coral Sea commences. |
| 1942 | | The United States begins food rationing. |
| 1961 | | 13 civil rights activists, dubbed Freedom Riders, begin a bus trip through the South. |
| 1970 | | Ohio National Guardsmen open fire on student protesters at Kent State University, killing four and wounding nine others. |
|
