1864: After slipping out of an intended trap laid by General P.G.T. Beauregard, Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler withdrew the Army of the James to Bermuda Hundred, ending the Second Battle of Drewry’s Bluff in a standoff. Both Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and General Robert E. Lee subsequently started siphoning troops out of those armies to replace losses to their own. In Georgia, the three-day Battle of Resaca ended. Interested in learning more about the Battle of Resaca? Visit HistoryNet.com for more.
Also today in history, in the U.S. and elsewhere:
1863: Union Major General John Logan won the Battle of Champion’s Hill, Mississippi, the bloodiest pitched engagement of the Vicksburg campaign. Want to know more about the Battle of Champion’s Hill? Visit HistoryNet.com to learn more.
1943: Germans blew up the Warsaw synagogue to make the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto truly official–even though pockets of resistance were still turning up. That night, the Royal Air Force enacted Operation Chastise, as Avro Lancaster Mark I Specials of No. 617 Squadron lost “bouncing bombs” devised by Barnes Wallace to crack open the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams and flood the Ruhr Valley.
1945: Fierce fighting took place on the Sugar Loaf and Half Moon objectives on Okinawa.
1948: Egyptian forces entered the Gaza Strip in their bid to invade and exterminate the newly proclaimed state of Israel, which issued its first postage stamp amid the fighting.
Today in history: May 16
