May 1, 1778 – American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.

May 1, 1862 – American Civil War: The Union Army completes the Capture of New Orleans.

May 1, 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins.

May 1, 1884 – Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States.

May 1, 1898 -- Spanish-American War: The Battle of Manila Bay – the United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.

May 1, 1945 – World War II: A German newsletter announces that Third Reich leader Adolf Hitler has “fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany.”

May 1, 1960 – Cold War: U-2 incident – Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.

May 1, 1961 – Fidel Castro: The Prime Minister of Cuba proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.

May 1, 1970 – Vietnam War: Protests erupt in Seattle, Washington, after the announcement by U.S. President Richard Nixon that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.

May 1, 2003 – War on Terror: U.S. President George Bush declares that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended” with the most famous 2 words to roll off his tongue: “Mission Accomplished.” He probably punched a wall after hearing the words that rolled off President Obama"s tongue eight years later to the May Day.