What Happened in May 1864

Historical Events

Attack at Rappahannock River

May 4 General Ulysses S. Grant's Union Army at Potomac attacks Robert E. Lee's Confederates at Rappahannock River

Union General and US President Ulysses S. Grant

May 5 Atlanta Campaign: 5 days fighting begins at Rocky Face Ridge
May 5 Battle between Confederate & Union ships at mouth of Roanoke
May 5 Battle of Wilderness, Virginia (Germanna Ford, Wilderness Tavern)
May 5 Campaign in Northern Georgia - Chattanooga to Atlanta
May 6 Battle of Port Walthall Junction, fought in Virginia begins (Battle of Port Walthall Junction), Union victory (US Civil War)

Battle of Wilderness

May 6 Battle of Wilderness, fought in Virginia, Confederate General James Longstreet seriously injured (Overland Campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)

Sherman Begins Atlanta Advance

May 6 US Civil War: Union Army General Sherman begins advance to Atlanta, Georgia, during the Atlanta Campaign

May 7 Battle of Wilderness ends (total losses: USA-17,666; CSA-7,500)
May 7 Skirmish at Port Walthall Junction, Virginia (Drewry's Bluff)
May 8 Actions at Stony Creek/Nottoway bridge, Virginia (Drewry's Bluff)
May 8 Atlanta Campaign: Severe fighting near Dalton
May 8 Battle of Spotsylvania Court House begins
May 9 -20] Skirmish at Ware Bottom Church, Virginia
May 9 Battle of Cloyd's Mt, & Swift Creek, Virginia (Drewery's Bluff, Fort Darling)
May 9 Ship battle at Helgoland, Austria-Denmark
May 10 Battles at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia
May 10 Skirmish at Ny River, Virginia
May 11 Battle of Yellow Tavern, Virginia (Sheridan's Raid, South Anna Bridge)

Battle of Yellow Tavern

May 11 Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart is mortally wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern in Henrico County, Virginia

May 12 Battle of Drewry's Bluff, fought in Chesterfield County, Virginia (Peninsula Campaign), Confederate victory (US Civil War)
May 12 Battle of Spotsylvania, fought near Courthouse, Virginia (Overland Campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
May 12 Battle of Todd's Tavern, cavalry battle fought near Todds Tavern, Virginia (Sheridan's Raid), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
May 12 US Union colonel Emory Upton (24) promoted to brigadier general
May 13 -16] Atlanta Campaign: Battle of Resaca, Georgia
May 15 Battle of New Market, Virginia
May 15 Skirmish at Marksville (Avoyelles) (Red River Campaign)
May 16 Atlanta Campaign: Battle of Resaca, ends (since May 13)
May 16 Battle of Bermuda Hundred, Virginia
May 16 Last battles at Drewry's Bluff, Virginia (6,666 casualties)
May 17 Battle of Adairsville Georgia, Union forces Confederates to retreat
May 18 Battle of Yellow Bayou, Louisiana (Bayou de Glaize, Old Oaks)
May 19 Battle of Port Walthall Junction, Virginia (Bermuda Hundred)
May 19 Last engagement in series of battles known as Spotsylvania
May 19 Skirmish at Cassville, Georgia
May 20 Battle at Ware Bottom Church, Virginia, 1,400 killed or injured
May 20 Spotsylvania campaign in US Civil War ends after 10,920 killed or injured
May 21 General David Hunter takes command of Department of West Virginia
May 21 Russia declares an end to the Russian-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated to be the Circassian Day of Mourning.
May 22 Battle of North Anna River, Virginia (Totopotamy River, Haw's Shop, Hanovertown)
May 23 Battle of North Anna, Virginia, 1st of 3 days of fighting
May 25 US Civil War: Battle of New Hope Church, Georgia: Major William T. Sherman's Union forces launch attack but suffers heavy losses and entrenchment on both sides [1]
May 26 -30] Skirmish along the Totopotomoy Creek, Virginia
May 26 Battle of Dallas, begins near Paulding County, Georgia (Atlanta Campaign), Union victory (US Civil War)
May 26 Territory of Montana formed
May 27 Skirmish at Salem Church (Haw's Shop), Virginia
May 29 Mexican Emperor Maximilian arrives at Vera Cruz
May 30 Battle of Bethesda Church [Totopotomoy Creek], cavalry battle fought in Hanover County, Virginia, inconclusive result (US Civil War)

Events in 1864

Famous Birthdays

May 14 Eleanor Everest Freer, American composer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1942)
May 16 Nathan Birnbaum, Austrian writer (Gottes Volk; Der Ruf), and philosopher (early Zionist, later anti-Zionist), born in Vienna, Austrian Empire (d. 1937)
May 18 Jan P. Veth, Dutch painter, etcher, lithographer and art historian, born in Dordrecht. Netherlands (d. 1925)
May 19 Carl Akeley, American taxidermist and naturalist who developed the animal mount process and other techniques for museums, born in Clarendon, New York (d. 1926)
May 21 Princess Stephanie of Belgium (d. 1945)
May 27 Ante Trumbić, Croatian politician (23rd Mayor of Split), born in Split, Dalmatia, Austria-Hungary (d. 1938)
May 28 Basil Grieve, English cricket batsman (2 Tests), born in Kilburn, England (d. 1917)

Born in 1864

Famous Deaths

May 2 Giacomo Meyerbeer, German opera composer (Gott und die Natur - God and Nature), dies at 72
May 5 Alexander Hays, US Union-general-major, dies in battle at 44
May 5 John Marshall Jones, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in battle at 43
May 6 Henry Livermore Abbott, US Union brigadier general, dies in battle
May 6 Micah Jenkins, Confederate brigadier general (friendly fire), dies at 28
May 8 James Samuel Wadsworth, American politician and major general (Union), dies in battle at 56
May 8 Leroy Augustus Stafford, Confederate American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies from injuries incurred 3 days earlier during the Battle of the Wilderness in northern Virginia, at 42
May 9 John Sedgwick, American Major General (Union Army), is shot in battle after claiming "they couldn't hit an elephant at this distance" at 50
May 10 James Clay Rice, lawyer/Union brigadier general, dies in battle at 34
May 10 Thomas Greeley Stevenson, Union brigadier general, dies at about 27
May 11 Thomas D. Doubleday, American bookstore owner and Union Army officer, dies after being run over by a horse-drawn coach at 58
May 12 Abner Monroe Perrin, Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at 37

J.E.B. Stuart (1833-1864)

May 12 Confederate General in the American Civil War, killed in action at 31

May 13 Junius Daniel, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 35
May 14 William N Green Jr, Union brigadier general, dies
May 16 Lean Bear, Cheyenne chief, murdered
May 18 James Byron Gordon, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 41

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

May 19 American author (House of 7 Gables, The Scarlet Letter), dies at 59

May 20 John Clare, English poet (Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery), dies at 70
May 26 Charles Sealsfield, Austrian-American writer, dies at 71
May 28 Henry H Giesy, US Union-brigadier general, dies in battle
May 28 Simion Bărnuţiu, Romanian philosopher and liberal politician, dies at 55
May 30 James Barbour Terrill, US attorney/Confederate brigadier general, dies at 26

On This Day