U.S. Army Center of Military History

31 MAY – 12 JUNE 1864 — BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR

The final major battle in the Overland Campaign was fought at Cold Harbor from 31 May to 12 June 1864, a brutal thirteen-day fight which was one of the Civil War’s bloodiest clashes.

Despite staggering losses on both sides, Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign had brought the Army of the Potomac steadily closer to the Confederate capital of Richmond in a nearly continuous series of engagements during the month of May.

By 31 May, Union and Confederate forces converged at the crossroads known as Cold Harbor, about ten miles northeast of Richmond, beginning the final engagement of the Overland Campaign. Early on the morning of 3 June, five U.S. corps launched a frontal assault against the well-fortified Confederate line. As they charged across mostly open ground into withering rebel small arms and artillery fire, the U.S. troops were cut down in swaths.

On the U.S. left flank, Major General Winfield S. Hancock’s II Corps broke through the position held by rebel Major General John C. Breckinridge’s division, capturing several hundred prisoners before a rebel counterattack drove them back. By 1230 Lieutenant General Grant realized that the assault had failed.

On 3 June alone, the U.S. Army suffered about 6,000 casualties, compared to about 1,500 enemy casualties, in eight hours of combat. Although Union casualties were horrific, and Grant’s reputation suffered for it, the losses were not unprecedented; Pickett’s Charge, a comparable Confederate action at the Battle of Gettysburg, incurred similar losses for General Lee’s army.

The Battle of Cold Harbor resulted in the first extended lull of the Overland Campaign, although both sides skirmished, maneuvered, and built field fortifications. On 12 June, U.S. forces left their earthworks to move southeast to cross the James River and advance toward the vital transportation hub at Petersburg.

U.S. Army

30 MAY 1868 – FIRST OFFICIAL MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVATION

Memorial Day, the annual commemoration of American military servicemembers who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty, was first cemented as a national tradition on 30 May 1868, when the first “Decoration Day” ceremony was held at Arlington National Cemetery to honor the fallen heroes of the Civil War.

Localized commemorations for the fallen soldiers of the Civil War, oftentimes including a component of grave decoration (adorning graves with flowers and wreaths) began cropping up across the nation in the waning days of the Civil War and in the years immediately following its conclusion.

On 5 May 1868, General John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (a veteran’s organization for Union soldiers) directed local posts of the Grand Army to establish 30 May as Decoration Day, “designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land..”

The first Decoration Day ceremony was held at Arlington National Cemetery that year, constituting the first formal and official observance of what became Memorial Day in ensuing years. Tradition holds that he selected that date since it coincided with the anniversary of no major Civil War battle, but a competing explanation claims the date represented the best time of year for the availability of flowers.

When the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 took effect in January 1971, the observation of Memorial Day shifted to the last Monday in May.

U.S. Army

29 MAY 1780 - BATTLE OF WAXHAWS

British Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton inflicted devastating losses on a small Continental Army force in a “massacre” that inflamed patriot passions across the southern colonies.

The excessive bloodshed severely damaged the British effort to pacify the South. Instead of deterring resistance, the event outraged the region and galvanized Patriot support. “Remember the Waxhaws!” became a popular rallying cry that helped fuel crucial, retaliatory American victories at the Battle of Kings Mountain and the Battle of Cowpens later in the war.

U.S. Army

28 – 30 MAY 1918 – BATTLE OF CANTIGNY

At 0640 on 28 May 1918, the 28th Infantry of the 2d Infantry Brigade, 1st Division, advanced behind a rolling barrage toward the ruined town of Cantigny to capture the German position and eliminate a modest enemy salient. It was a test of the U.S. Army and the American soldier in their first battle during World War I.

The doughboys achieved surprise, fought their way through the town, and forced the German defenders to retreat. They quickly established defenses on the far side, but the Germans quickly responded with artillery and local infantry counterattacks, which progressed to a major assault.

The Americans were heavily supported by French air, artillery, tank, and flamethrower units, but when a new German offensive struck the defenses on the Chemin des Dames, about 50 miles to the southeast, most French units were withdrawn to help stem that potential rupture in the Allied line.

The Germans in the Cantigny sector regained local air superiority when the battle continued the next day, 29 May. Elements of the 18th Infantry reinforced the battered 28th Infantry, and by the end of the second day, 1st Division soldiers had withstood enemy air attacks and artillery fire directed by aerial observers and repulsed several German ground assaults with the timely and effective support of the 1st Artillery Brigade.

On 30 May, the third day of the battle, the intensity of enemy attacks decreased, and the rest of the 18th Infantry relieved the 28th Infantry in their forward positions that night. General John J. Pershing used the performance of the 1st Division in its first test of battle to bolster his stance that the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) should be committed as an independent American army, and its units not amalgamated into other Allied commands.

U.S. Army

27 MAY 1944 - BATTLE OF BIAK BEGINS -

Biak Island had airstrips suitable for heavy bombers. On 27 May the 41st Infantry Division (minus) began its attack when the first wave landed as planned, but strong currents pushed follow-on units west of their designated beaches.

The Japanese garrison was surprised and offered little early resistance. The heat, thick vegetation, rugged terrain, and Japanese entrenched in caves in a 200-foot-high cliff slowed the advance along the coastal track. By the following morning, 162d Infantry Regiment patrols advanced to within 200 yards of the airfields until repulsed by a strong counterattack. The 162d fought an unseen enemy until ordered to withdraw in late afternoon.

The next morning enemy infantry counterattacked supported by light tanks. While the Sherman M4 tanks defeated the Japanese models, the 162d broke the enemy infantry attack. The enemy regrouped for another attack as the Americans recognized the necessity of clearing the high ground. The 41st Division received reattachment of its 163d Regimental Combat Team (RCT) and reinforcement with the 34th RCT of the 24th Infantry Division by 1 June.

Meanwhile the 186th Infantry, which occupied the plateau overlooking the landing beaches, pushed westward. As the 162d along the coastal road pinned the Japanese defenders down, the 186th attacked the East Caves from the rear. General MacArthur demanded that Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, commander of the Sixth Army, urge the 41st Division quickly take the airfields.

The 186th Infantry moved from the high ground to the airfield on the coast, but because the enemy heavy weapons dominated the airdrome, it remained unusable. Fighting continued through June and into July until the island was completely secured by mid-August.

U.S. Army

25 MAY 1865 - Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department agrees to capitulate

The Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department, which covered rebel-held territory west of the Mississippi, became the last major Confederate command to negotiate surrender terms.

As the last major Confederate army in the field, its surrender marked the end of organized Southern military resistance and the close of the American Civil War.

U.S. Army

MEMORIAL DAY HISTORY – THESE HONORED DEAD

Memorial Day was established as a national holiday to remember those people who died while serving in the U.S. armed forces. It is currently observed every year on the last Monday of May.

The observance of Memorial Day originated with the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization of veterans who served in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Revenue Cutter Service (predecessor of the modern Coast Guard) during the American Civil War, as a special day to honor their fallen comrades.

It was first called "Decoration Day," because it began as a day set aside, separately in both the North and South, when the widows and orphans of the dead would gather at the graves of their loved ones to decorate them with flowers and other remembrances. The GAR’s first Decoration Day commemoration took place at Arlington National Cemetery on 30 May 1868.

The observance as we know it spread from local events until it became a nation-wide day of remembrance. In 1882, Decoration Day became Memorial Day, but use of the new name did not become widely accepted until after World War II. By 1890, it was a state holiday in all states, although former Confederate states continued to observe it on a different day until after the end of World War I.

At that time, the holiday had evolved to commemorate America's military dead in all wars. When the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 took effect in January 1971, the observation of Memorial Day shifted to the last Monday in May.

U.S. Army

24 MAY 1861 - Union Forces Occupy Alexandria, Virginia

A day after Virginia voted for secession, Union troops occupied Alexandria, a vital port along the Potomac River across from Washington, D.C.

Alexandria remained under Union control and martial law for the rest of the war. The city was transformed into a vital Union logistical hub, a major medical center, and a critical sanctuary for thousands of freedom-seeking refugees.

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