May 10 in Military History

Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, joined by Benedict Arnold, captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British in a surprise dawn attack. The fort's cannons were later hauled to Boston by Henry Knox, forcing the British evacuation. It was one of the first offensive actions of the Revolutionary War.

The Pasha of Tripoli declared war by cutting down the American consulate's flagstaff. The resulting conflict was America's first overseas military expedition and led to a permanent U.S. naval presence in the Mediterranean. The Marine Corps hymn's "shores of Tripoli" commemorates this war.

Lieutenant General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson died at Guinea Station, Virginia, from pneumonia following his wounding at Chancellorsville eight days earlier. His dying words, "Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees", are among the most famous in military history. His death deprived Lee of his most capable subordinate.

Union cavalry of the 4th Michigan captured Davis near Irwinville, Georgia, ending the Confederate government. Davis had fled Richmond on April 2 and spent a month moving south. He was imprisoned at Fort Monroe for two years and charged with treason but never tried.

Nazi Germany launched its invasion of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, beginning the campaign that would conquer Western Europe in six weeks.

Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister on the very day Germany invaded France. His defiant leadership through the fall of France, the Battle of Britain, and the Blitz kept Britain in the war. "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat," he told Parliament.

The Royal Marines and Royal Navy preemptively occupied Iceland to prevent a German seizure, establishing a North Atlantic staging base that became critical for convoy escort operations and the ferry route to Britain.

U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft began Operation Linebacker I, a sustained interdiction and strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnamese transport, logistics, and industrial targets, marking the first major use of laser-guided bombs in combat.

Navy F-4J Phantoms of VF-96 from USS Constellation shot down two MiG-17s and a MiG-21 in a single engagement over North Vietnam, Lt. Randy Cunningham and Lt. j.g. Willie Driscoll becoming the first American aces of the war on the same day Linebacker opened.

Nelson Mandela was formally inaugurated as South Africa's president at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, with a flypast by integrated South African Air Force aircraft symbolizing the merger of apartheid-era and liberation forces.