May 15

Events

• 1718 - James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
• 1756 - The Seven Years' War begins when England declares war on France.
• 1811 - Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia – Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
• 1905 - Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded
• 1918 - Finnish Civil War ends.
• 1972 - Assassination attempt on Democrat presidential candidate Governor George C. Wallace in Laurel, Maryland. Leftist Arthur Bremer is arrested.
• 2007
  • The English section of Metapedia is launched.
  • The German section of Metapedia is launched. [1]

Births

• 1896 - Fritz Kuhn, leader of the German American Bund (d. 1951)
• 1902 - Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1976)
• 1937 - Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State

Deaths

• 1851 - Samuel George Morton, American physician and natural scientist (b. 1799)
• 1886 - Emily Dickinson, American poet (b. 1830)
• 1998 - Gunter d'Alquen, National Socialist journalist and war correspondent (b. 1910)
• 2007 - Jerry Falwell, American evangelist (b. 1933)