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American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250thOn this day › May 11
What happened on May 11 in American history
May 11 is the 131st day of the year (the 132nd in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 13 stories from May 11 spanning 1858 to 2024. Among them: in 1858, Minnesota enters the Union as the 32nd state; the Dakota name, the French motto, the New England soul; and in 1880, Seven die at Mussel Slough; a California land war turns lethal at a settler's homestead.
1858
Minnesota enters the Union as the 32nd state; the Dakota name, the French motto, the New England soul
Nine years after Ramsey stepped off a riverboat to govern 5,000 settlers, the eastern half of the old territory takes its place on the map.
1880Member story · 1776 Club
Seven die at Mussel Slough; a California land war turns lethal at a settler's homestead
Twenty men rode out from a Hanford picnic to face railroad evictors at Henry Brewer's farm, and within minutes five settlers and two from the marshal's party are dead.
1889
Gunmen behind a boulder hit Wham's paymaster convoy; eight Buffalo Soldiers wounded, $28,345 gone
A dozen riflemen firing from pre-built breastworks above an Arizona gorge stripped the Army payroll; Frankie Campbell's horse was still picking around the obstacle when the ambush opened.
1894Member story · 1776 Club
4,000 Pullman workers walk off the job; wages cut 30 percent, but the rent is still due
The Palace Car men say George Pullman slashed their pay while holding company-town rents and grocery bills firm, and the American Railway Union is listening.
1910
Taft signs Glacier into law; a million Montana acres become a national park
George Bird Grinnell, who first rode into the region in 1885 and spent two decades lobbying Congress, calls it "the Crown of the Continent."
1953Member story · 1776 Club
F5 tornado strikes downtown Waco; 114 dead and hundreds buried under brick rubble
The bluffs along the Brazos were long said to make the city untouchable, a belief traced to the Huaco people, but the twister forms northwest of Lorena at 4:10 p.m. and tracks straight into the heart of town.
1963Member story · 1776 Club
Bombs strike A. D. King's home and the Gaston Motel; Birmingham erupts before dawn
Two blasts hours after the truce agreement; 2,500 fill the streets, businesses burn, and Washington moves toward its first modern military deployment for domestic unrest.
1970Member story · 1776 Club
A mile-and-a-half-wide tornado tears through Lubbock; 26 are dead and a quarter of the city in ruins
Touching down at 19th and University at 9:35 p.m., the twister spends thirty minutes cutting an 8.5-mile path, shattering 80% of downtown's plate glass and damaging 8,800 homes.
1973Member story · 1776 Club
Judge Byrne dismisses all charges against Ellsberg; "bizarre events" have "incurably infected the prosecution"
Counts of espionage, conspiracy, and theft collapse after evidence surfaces of a White House burglary, missing wiretap records, and a job offer dangled before the judge himself.
1996Member story · 1776 Club
ValuJet 592 rolls onto its side and dives into the Everglades; all 110 aboard are dead
Smoke reached passengers six minutes after Miami departure; fire in the cargo hold, traced to mislabeled oxygen generators, left Kubeck and Hazen less than four minutes to turn back.
1997Member story · 1776 Club
Deep Blue wins the match; Kasparov, never before beaten by a machine, resigns in nineteen moves
The 480-chip IBM supercomputer closes out the six-game rematch in barely an hour, and the reigning world champion immediately accuses the machine's handlers of cheating.
2009Member story · 1776 Club
Atlantis lifts off for Hubble's fifth and final servicing call
Seven astronauts, including John Grunsfeld on his third Hubble visit, carry two new instruments to an observatory NASA once considered too dangerous to save.
2024Member story · 1776 Club
Solar storm slams Earth; auroras blaze over Florida, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico
AR3664's X-class flares trigger the worst geomagnetic storm in 21 years, knocking a weather satellite offline and forcing hundreds of low-orbit satellites to maneuver at once.
Read the full May 11 edition →
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