May 5 is the 125th day of the year. There are 240 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Sunday or Monday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Wednesday or Friday (56).
+ 1494 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain.
+ 1862 – Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.
+ 1866 – Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.
+ 1904 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball
+ 1981 – Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.
+ 1991 – A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man.
( Births )
+ 1926 – Ann B. Davis, American actress (d. 2014)
+ 1942 – Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)