Tidbits of History, May 2

Baby Day
Brothers and Sisters Day
Scurvy Awareness Day
National Chocolate Mousse Day

1497 – John Cabot departed for North-America. His 1497 discovery of the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century.

On May 2, 1536, Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, second wife of Henry VIII, was arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft. She was beheaded on May 19, 1536

John Knox returned from exile to Scotland on May 2, 1559 to become the leader of the Scottish Reformation.

In 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots, escaped from Loch Leven Castle.

The King James Bible was published on May 2, 1611.

1670 – King Charles II of England granted a permanent charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.

France and Spain agreed to give weapons to American rebels in 1776.

Birthday of Henry Martyn Robert (May 2, 1837), American military engineer and parliamentarian who is famous for Robert’s Rules of Order. The first edition of the book was called “Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies”, and was published in 1876.

Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson was badly wounded in the arm by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. His arm was amputated but he died of pneumonia eight days later.

In 1878 the US stopped minting 20 cent coin. It was struck from 1875 to 1878, but only for collectors in the final two years.
1876_Proof_Twenty-cent_piece_reverse, discontinued May 2, 18781876_Proof_Twenty-cent_piece_obverse, discontinued May 2, 1878

1890 – The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as the State of Oklahoma.

“Take me out to the Ball Game” registered for copyright on May 2, 1908. It was written by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer, neither of whom had attended a game prior to writing the song:

President Bill Clinton announced in 2000 that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.

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