This day in history - May 5

[seamusTX]

1809 - Mary Kies became the first woman to be granted a U.S. patent. The patent was for weaving straw with silk and thread, as in straw hats.

1862 - Mexican forces defeated French army forces at the Battle of Puebla.

This event was barely a ripple in the course of history, and is celebrated more in the U.S. than in Mexico (not unlike Columbus Day with respect to the rest of the world).

1925 - John Scopes was arrested in Tennessee for teaching evolution.

The arrest was a staged event, intended to attract publicity, which it did.

1945 - A Japanese balloon bomb exploded in Oregon, killing the pregnant wife of a minister and five children. It was the only fatal Japanese attack on the continental United States (Hawaii and Alaska not being states at that time).

1955 - West Germany was restored to sovereignty after 10 years of military occupation.

1961 - Alan Shepard became the first American in space (on a very short trip), one month after the first Soviet.

- Jim