Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Benjamin F. Butler causes another controversy, this time by refusing to return fugitive slaves to their masters. This military policy of designating escapees as “contraband of war” is endorsed by the Lincoln administration, which sets a wartime precedent.
Federal commanders accept the surrender of the last major organized Confederate force still in the field.
Confederate army and naval elements attack Federal occupation forces in an effort to take back the vital port city of Galveston on the Texas coast.
Federal army-navy forces occupy one of the most important points on the Texas coast.
The last of a week-long series of battles on the Virginia Peninsula takes place at Malvern Hill, near the James River.
Robert E. Lee’s Confederates attack the Federal army once more, this time hoping to chase down the withdrawing enemy and destroying them before they reach the safety of the James River.