Fire broke out in a large grain elevator in Rochester, New York around three in the morning. All attempts to bring it under control failed and the structure, together with 40,000 bushels of wheat and 6,950 bushels of corn, were completely destroyed.  Damage was estimated at around $82,000 but no serious injuries were reported.  (By John Osborne)  

A massive fire broke out on a covered railroad bridge over the Hudson in Troy, New York around noon and, driven by a strong wind, burned large portions of the city until it was controlled around sundown. News estimates gave the buildings destroyed at around five hundred, including some of the best private residences in the city, several churches, and the Rensselaer Institute.  The Union Station was completely gutted. Damages amounted to around $3,000,000 and perhaps a dozen people lost their lives.  (By John Osborne) 

James M. Chenoweth had been indicted in the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati during its previous session for treason in aiding the Confederacy.  Out on bail, Cheneoweth had appealed on the grounds that "aid to the enemy" under the Constitution did not apply to a rebellion, only to foreign enemies.  New Supreme Court Justice Noah Swayne, sitting for the District Court, reluctantly agreed that despite the current popular excitement the strict interpretation of the law dictated the indictment be quashed and Chenoweth freed.  (By John Osborne)

Following their surprise abandonment of Yorktown, the sizeable Confederate army retreated towards Richmond.  Elements of General McClellan's Army of the Potomac pursued along muddy roads and a portion of the Confederate forces entrenched themselves as a rearguard near Williamsburg.  In the first pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign, forty thousand Union men fought thirty thousand Confederates.  The battle was inconclusive, except for those among four thousand men killed or wounded there, and the Confederate retreat continued.  (By John Osborne)   

Ohioan D. B. Lathrop, a Union Army telegraph supervisor in Major General Samuel Heintzelman's III Corps headquarters, had hurried into Yorktown on the morning after the Confederate withdrawal to secure the telegraph office and any remaining documents there.  He tripped the wire of a booby-trap and set off an explosion that dealt him fatal wounds to his legs and lower body.  He died in hospital in the following night, one of several victims of hidden booby-traps the Confederate left scattered through their vacated positions.  (By John Osborne)

Supremely cautious Union General George McClellan slowly built up his forces around Yorktown and planned a full scale heavy artillery attack for May 5, 1862.  Confederate commander General Joseph E. Johnston knew that he could not resist such a bombardment and overnight evacuated the remainder of his 57,000 man garrison towards Richmond and Williamsburg. The withdrawal was a complete tactical success and not discovered till late morning.  Shocked Union forces took possession of deserted fortifications and a demilitarized town.  (By John Osborne)

The U.S.S. Santiago de Cuba, under Commander Daniel Ridgely, patroling between Charleston, South Carolina and the Bahamas, chased and captured the schooner Isabel, now renamed the Ella Warley, on April 25, 1862, and discovered that she was filled with war supplies, including rifles and ammunition, together with thirty-five passengers Ridgely described as "desperate and wily characters."  He assigned a prize crew and immediately dispatched his valuable find to New York for confiscation.  (By John Osborne)