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American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250thOn this day › May 9
What happened on May 9 in American history
May 9 is the 129th day of the year (the 130th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 11 stories from May 9 spanning 1865 to 2022. Among them: in 1865, Forrest surrenders at Gainesville; one of the Confederacy's last commands stands down; and in 1865, Johnson strips Confederate ships of belligerent rights; their captains now face the rope as pirates.
1865Member story · 1776 Club
Forrest surrenders at Gainesville; one of the Confederacy's last commands stands down
With Lee already gone, the general rides into Gainesville, Alabama, and lays down his arms rather than fight on for a cause with no government left to serve.
1865Member story · 1776 Club
Johnson strips Confederate ships of belligerent rights; their captains now face the rope as pirates
The proclamation orders foreign nations to intern or expel rebel vessels still prowling international waters, five weeks after Lincoln's assassination.
1941Member story · 1776 Club
Royal Navy boards U-110 and seizes a German Enigma machine with its codebooks
British warships forced the submarine to the surface in the Atlantic; what is inside may open Nazi naval communications to Allied codebreakers.
1944Member story · 1776 Club
American submarines tear apart a Japanese troop convoy; over 4,000 soldiers go down in the Celebes Sea
The Take Ichi convoy, carrying two veteran divisions from Shanghai toward New Guinea, limps into Halmahera with its reinforcements largely at the bottom of the ocean.
1945Member story · 1776 Club
Royal Navy destroyers reach the Channel Islands; the last British soil under Nazi rule is free
Nearly 27,000 German troops surrender on islands held since 1940, while 66,000 half-starved British civilians wait on the docks.
1955
West Germany joins NATO; a former enemy is now the alliance's eastern front against Moscow
Bonn gains full sovereignty and enters the Atlantic pact today, putting Western troops and nuclear guarantees on the Soviet Union's doorstep.
1960Member story · 1776 Club
FDA approves Enovid; women may now take a pill to prevent pregnancy
The synthetic hormone tablet, cleared after trials involving hundreds of thousands of women, is the first oral contraceptive approved for use in the United States.
1961Member story · 1776 Club
FCC chairman tells broadcasters their medium is a 'vast wasteland'
Newton Minow, Kennedy's new FCC chief, challenges the industry's biggest names to sit through a full day of their own programming.
1974Member story · 1776 Club
House Judiciary Committee opens televised impeachment hearings against Nixon
Watergate evidence goes before the cameras today, with the president's political survival and a historic first removal from office both now in the balance.
2020
Unemployment hits 14.7 percent; 20 million jobs vanish in seven weeks
The April rate is the highest since the Great Depression, as pandemic shutdowns bring entire industries to a halt.
2022
Biden signs Lend-Lease revival on Soviet Victory Day; weapons pipeline to Ukraine widens
The law cuts red tape on arms shipments to Kyiv, reviving the same World War II program that once armed Britain and the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany.
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