TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

May 5, 1862

Mexican troops defeated French occupying forces in the Battle of Puebla.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1494

During his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica.

1892

Congress passed the Geary Act, which required Chinese in the United States to carry a certificate of residence at all times, or face deportation.

1942

Wartime sugar rationing began in the United States.

1955

West Germany became a fully sovereign state. The baseball musical “Damn Yankees” opened on Broadway.

1961

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.

1973

Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories.

1981

Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland in his 66th day without food.

1987

The congressional IranContra hearings opened with former Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord the lead-off witness.