1. On May 13, 1865, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered his troops to Union General William T. Sherman in Durham Station, North Carolina, effectively ending the Civil War in Georgia.

2. On May 13, 1935, the first flight of the Lockheed Electra, an American twin-engine, all-metal aircraft designed and built by the Lockheed Corporation, took place in Burbank, California. The Electra is notable for being the aircraft flown by Amelia Earhart on her ill-fated final flight in 1937.

3. On May 13, 1958, Atlanta's first skyscraper, the 119-meter-high Equitable Building, was completed. At the time it was the tallest building in the southeastern United States and one of the 50 tallest in the world.

4. On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II visited Atlanta as part of his six-city tour of the United States. The Pope celebrated Mass at the Omni Coliseum and addressed a crowd of over 350,000 people.

5. On May 13, 2005, the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere, opened in downtown Atlanta. The aquarium is home to more than 100,000 animals representing 700 species and attracts over 2 million visitors annually.