The Miracle of Dunkirk
On June 4, 1940, over 338,000 Allied troops were evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk after being cut off and surrounded there for weeks.
Army
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Aleutian Islands Campaign
On June 3, 1942, Japanese forces kicked of the 14-month Aleutian Islands Campaign. The campaign’s two Japanese invasions were the only ones on US soil during the war.
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Start of the Battle of Cold Harbor
On May 31, 1864, forces assembled in Virginia for the bloody Battle of Cold Harbor. The clash became one of the final major battles of Grant’s Overland Campaign against Robert E. Lee.
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Rhode Island Becomes 13th State
On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island became the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the US Constitution. The vote was close, but it brought the smallest state into the new nation as the 13th state.
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Birth of John L. Hines
General John Leonard “Birdie” Hines was born on May 21, 1868, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. During World War I, Hines successively commanded a regiment, brigade, division, and corps in combat. He was the first person to do that since the Civil War.
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Siege of Vicksburg
On May 18, 1863, the key Siege of Vicksburg began. The fight for this Mississippi River stronghold became one of the longest and most demanding Union operations of the Civil War.
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Winfield Scott’s “Anaconda Plan”
On May 3, 1861, General-in-Chief Winfield Scott presented a strategy to defeat the Confederacy with limited bloodshed. Later nicknamed the “Anaconda Plan,” it aimed to squeeze the South through blockade and control of its rivers rather than by one dramatic battle.
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Washington’s Proclamation of Peace
On April 18, 1783, General George Washington issued a proclamation announcing the end of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War. After eight years of fighting, the Continental Army was finally told to stand down, though the path to peace had already been set in motion months earlier.
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Birth of Thornton Wilder
On April 17, 1897, playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin. Over the next several decades, he would become one of America’s most respected writers, known for works that explored everyday life with unusual clarity and structure.
