1863: With Lt. Gen Stonewall Jackson wounded and Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill wounded shortly afterward, Confederate General Robert E. Lee temporarily put Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart in command of the Second Corps–and he did a generally good job of finishing what Jackson started, ultimately driving Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s army from Chancellorsville. On the other side of the battlefront, Union Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick’s VI Corps drove Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early’s 10,000-man division from Marye’s Heights to win the “Second Battle of Fredericksburg,” but is stopped in the follow-up Battle of Salem Church and, with Early’s force regrouped and threatening to his south and with news that Hooker has withdrawn from the west, Sedgwick decided to retire the next day as well. In spite of galling losses, Lee has won arguably the most remarkable tactical victory of his career. Interested in learning about Stonewall Jackson? Visit HistoryNet.com.
Also today in history, in the U.S. and elsewhere:
1861: Major General Winfield Scott proposed his strategy for strangling the Southern secessionist states, which was dismissively (at the time) called the Anaconda Plan. President Abraham Lincoln asked for 42,000 Army volunteers and 18,000 naval personnel.
1926: Nine months after leaving, the Marines landed in Nicaragua again to uphold American interests–this time to stick around until 1933.
1945: The Polish 1st Armoured Brigade occupied Wilhelmshaven. The Allies arrested Nazi nuclear physicist Werner Heisenberg. British troops fought their way into Rangoon, Burma. Royal Air Force planes sunk the prisoner-laden German liner Cap Arcona in the East Sea, resulting in 5,800 deaths.
Today in history: May 3
