Attempting to cut off the Confederate retreat from Yorktown, Union General George McClellan sent a division of infantry under Brigadier general William Franklin by riverboat to Eltham's Landing on the Pamumkey River, where they disembarked on the evening of May 6, 1862.  Protecting the railroad and the line of retreat, Confederate troops, including John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade, engaged the landed troops in a heavy skirmish during which Franklin held his position but missed the chance to affect the Confederate withdrawal.  (By John Osborne) 

Governor Oliver P. Morton and other state officials loaded a special train with medical and other supplies for Indiana troops and left Indianapolis to visit their state troops engaged near Pittsburgh Landing.  In the dark, near the town of Sullivan, the train struck a stationary rail car and Professor Miles J. Fletcher, the Indiana Superintendent of State Instruction, looking out the window, was killed instantly.  He was the only casualty.  Sullivan County was seen as disloyal and foul play was suspected but a grand jury found the incident to be an accident.  (By John Osborne)  

A Sunday afternoon fire in Mitchell Street in Atlanta, Georgia completely destroyed a large warehouse filled with cotton and foodstuffs including several tons of bacon, and 200 barrels of lard.  The fire spread quickly and damaged several buildings.  Several serious injuries were reported in the local press.  (By John Osborne)

A farmer near Smithtown in Suffolk County named Joel Smith was clearing land when his fires were caught in heavy winds and spread across the entire area in the worse conflagration seen on Long Island in decades.  Fine weather had dried woodland and the fire spread with remarkable speed, burning farms, farm animals, and homes while also threatening track and trains on the Long Island railroad lines.  The fires burned uninterrupted for more than four days and caused more that $500,000 in damage.  (By John Osborne)

Commodore Andrew Hull Foote had been the successful commander of the U.S. Navy's Mississippi Flotila for nine months. Worn out and suffering the continued effects of a leg wound received at Fort Donelson, he asked to be relieved and when Captain Charles H. Davis arrived to replace him he left that afternoon for Washington and duty at the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting.  Promoted to Rear Admiral, he was posted to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron but died on June 26, 1863, before he could take up his new command.  (By John Osborne) 

Fire broke out in mid-morning at the Marchesi and Lane fireworks factory and swiftly burned fatally a worker named Charles Woolwebber.  Brought under control before it could cause even more fatal damage, the fire was estimated to have cost the firm around $2000 as well as a valued worker. (By John Osborne)