22 May in History

334 B.C.--The Macedonian army, under the command of Alexander the Great, defeats the Persians, under Darius III, in the Battle of Granicus.

1176--The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to assassinate Saladin near Aleppo.

1455--In the English War of The Roses, at the First Battle of St. Albans, Richard, Duke of York, captures and defeats King Henry VI Lancaster.

1819--The S.S. Savannah leaves port of Savannah, Georgia and begins the first successful steamship crossing of the Atlantic.

1826--Charles Darwin, aboard the HMS Beagle leaves on its first journey to the Galapagos Islands.

1843--Thousands of settlers depart Independence, Missouri for the Oregon Territory and blaze what would become the Oregon Trail.

1856--Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats, on the floor of the Senate, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, after a speech in which Sumner attacked Southerners who support slavery and the violence of the pro-slavery guerillas in "Bleeding Kansas".

1872--President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872, which gives amnesty and civil rights to all but 500 Confederate sympathizers.

1906--The Wright Brothers are granted a patent for their "flying machine".

1939--Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel Treaty.

1947--Truman signs into law a bill giving aid to Greece and Turkey in fighting Communism, initiating the Truman Doctrine.

1964--President Lyndon B. Johnson gives his Great Society speech, outlining numerous social reforms.

1968--The U.S.S. Scorpion with all of the crew lost.

1969--Apollo 10's lunar module flies over the moon's surface.