The FreeDOS Alpha 5 distribution was released 10 August 1996.
History
We don't have a complete history of the early FreeDOS releases. The 25+ years of DOS history page shows two dates for Alpha 5: 10/97 and 11/97. The page also explains that "The FreeDOS A5 released Nov '97 was the first modern FreeDOS distribution, and was a re-release of the FreeDOS Alpha5." So the date for Alpha 5 should be updated to either 10/97 or 11/97.
Looks like we had an official Alpha 5 release on Aug 10 1996 per this archived announcement.
See different archive of announcement which also says Aug 10 1996
An announcement archived elsewhere dated Jan 28 1996 suggests Alpha 5 will be released early 2/96. This was probably very optimistic; if other release docs show Aug 96, then that is probably correct.
Announcement
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