April 5

April 5 is the 95th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (96th in leap years). There are 270 days remaining.

Events

• 1242 - During a battle on the ice of Chudskoye Lake[?], Russian forces rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
• 1614 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe[?].
• 1621 - The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth[?] on a return trip to Great Britain.
• 1654 - Signing of the Treaty of Westminster[?], ending the First Anglo-Dutch War.
• 1792 - United States President George Washington vetos a bill designed to apportion representatives among U.S. states. This is the first time the presidential veto has been used in the United States.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Yorktown (1862) - The battle begins when Union forces under General George McClellan close in on the Confederate capital Richmond, Virginia.
• 1930 - In an act of civil disobedience, Mahatma Gandhi breaks British law after marching to the sea and making salt.
• 1951 - Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for performing espionage for the Soviet Union.
• 1955 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing heath.
• 1957 - In India, Communists[?] won the first elections in united Kerala and EMS Namboodiripad sworn in as the first chief minister.
• 1998 - In Japan, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshu and costing cost about US$3.8 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.
• 1999 - Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.
• 1999 - In Laramie, Wyoming, Russell Henderson pleads guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in order to avoid a possible death penalty conviction for the apparent hate crime killing of Matthew Shepard.

Births

• 1588 - Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (+ 1679)
• 1827 - Joseph Lister surgeon (+ 1912)
• 1856 - Booker T. Washington
• 1875 - Mistinguett, French vaudeville performer (+ 1956)
• 1900 - Spencer Tracy, actor (+ 1967)
• 1908 - Bette Davis, actress (+ 1989)
• 1908 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (+ 1989)
• 1916 - Gregory Peck, actor (+ 2003)
• 1922 - Gale Storm, singer/actress
• 1937 - Colin Powell, US Secretary of State
• 1942 - Peter Greenaway, painter

Deaths

• 1967 - Hermann Joseph Muller geneticist (+ 1890)
• 1970 - Alfred Henry Sturtevant[?] geneticist (+ 1891)
• 1975 - Chiang Kai-shek
• 1976 - Howard Hughes, aviation pioneer, film director, eccentric
• 1982 - Abe Fortas
• 1994 - Kurt Cobain, rock musician
• 2002 - Layne Staley, rock musician

Holidays and observances

April 4 - April 6 - March 5 - May 5 -- listing of all days

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