May 10 in History

Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led 83 Green Mountain Boys in a dawn assault on Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775, capturing the poorly garrisoned British fort without a single casualty on either side. Allen reportedly demanded the surrender "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," though the British commander later said he was simply startled out of bed. The real prize was the fort's artillery: 78 cannons, six mortars, and three howitzers. The following winter, Colonel Henry Knox organized an extraordinary overland transport of 60 tons of these weapons 300 miles from Ticonderoga to Boston, using ox-drawn sledges across frozen lakes and mountains. When the guns appeared on Dorchester Heights in March 1776, the British evacuated Boston.

Leland Stanford drove the ceremonial golden spike at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, connecting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads and completing the first transcontinental railroad. He missed on the first swing. Telegraph operators wired the word "DONE" across the nation, triggering celebrations from coast to coast. The railroad reduced cross-country travel time from six months to six days and freight costs by 95%. The Central Pacific had employed up to 15,000 Chinese laborers who did the most dangerous work, blasting tunnels through the Sierra Nevada granite using nitroglycerin, for lower wages than white workers received. Many died in avalanches, explosions, and accidents. Their contributions went unrecognized for over a century.

J. Edgar Hoover was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation (renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935) on May 10, 1924, at age 29. He immediately professionalized the agency, requiring agents to have law or accounting degrees and establishing fingerprint files, forensic laboratories, and the FBI National Academy for training. He also built a vast domestic surveillance apparatus, maintaining secret files on politicians, civil rights leaders, journalists, and celebrities. The FBI's COINTELPRO operations targeted Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, and antiwar groups through illegal wiretapping, infiltration, and disinformation campaigns. Hoover served 48 years as director, through eight presidents, dying in office on May 2, 1972. Congress subsequently limited future directors to ten-year terms.

Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on May 10, 1940, the same day Germany launched its invasion of France and the Low Countries. Neville Chamberlain had resigned after losing the confidence of Parliament following the failed Norway campaign. Churchill, at 65, had been a political outsider for most of the 1930s, ridiculed for his warnings about Hitler. His first act was to form an all-party coalition government. Three days later, he delivered his famous "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons. Within six weeks, France had fallen, the British army had been evacuated from Dunkirk, and Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany. Churchill's leadership during those dark months is widely regarded as the most consequential individual contribution to Allied victory.

Union cavalry captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis near Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, 1865, ending his attempt to flee south after the fall of Richmond. Davis had hoped to reach the Trans-Mississippi Department and continue the war from Texas. He was captured wearing his wife's shawl over his shoulders, which Northern newspapers gleefully distorted into claims he had been disguised in women's clothing. Davis was imprisoned at Fort Monroe, Virginia, for two years, including several months in leg irons. He was indicted for treason but never tried; the government feared a trial might raise constitutional questions about secession and acquit him. He was released on bail in 1867. He never regained citizenship, which was posthumously restored by Congress in 1978.

The Second Continental Congress convened at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, three weeks after the battles of Lexington and Concord. All thirteen colonies sent delegates. The Congress functioned as the de facto national government for the next six years, though it had no legal authority to tax and relied on voluntary contributions from the states. Within its first year, Congress appointed George Washington commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, authorized the creation of a navy and marine corps, printed continental currency, established a postal system, and on July 4, 1776, adopted the Declaration of Independence. The Congress also drafted the Articles of Confederation, which were not ratified until 1781. Many delegates served simultaneously in their state governments.

The Third Wall was unfinished—still under construction when Titus arrived with four legions and 80,000 men. Jerusalem's defenders had been arguing for months about whether to complete it. They lost that argument on this day. Titus chose the northwest approach because the ground was flattest, which meant his siege towers could roll right up. What he started wouldn't end for five months. When it did, the Second Temple was ash, a million people were dead, and the Jewish diaspora began in earnest. Sometimes the direction you attack from determines everything that follows.