In a message to all foreign legations in the United States, Secretary of State William H. Seward announced that full  federal postal services had been restored to New Orleans and its vicinity.  Reinforcing the message with commercial information, Seward stated that a customs collector was being appointed and that the federal blockade at the mouth of the Mississippi would soon be adjusted to once again permit foreign trade.  (By John Osborne) 

The U.S. Navy contracted French submarine designer Brutus DeVilleroi to build a submersible that could defend Union ships from the new Confederate iroclads. Launched by the Philadelphia firm of  Neafie & Levy after delays that saw DeVilleroi leave the project,  the 275-ton vessel was tubular, 30 feet long, and driven by oars when submerged at around seven feet with crew of twelve.  Accepted by the Navy and considered its first ever submarine, Alligator never saw active service and was lost in a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on April 3, 1863.  (By John Osborne)

General McClellan's seige of Yorktown reached a climax with the completion of the painstaking artillery preparations.  Almost two hundred heavy guns, at ranges of 1500 to 2000 yards were ready to begin to reduce the fortifications of the Confederate-held city.  On this day, the first battery opened up on the Yorktown docks in final preparation for the full barrage, scheduled for May 4, 1862.  Before then, however, the Confederate garrison slipped away and left deserted positions for the Union to occupy on May 3, 1862.  (By John Osborne)  

Flag Officer David Faragut's naval forces had take possession of New Orleans a few days earlier.  Major General Benjamin Butler, one of President Lincoln's "political generals," had landed with five thousand men to replace Farragut's U.S. Marines in the defiant city.  Butler immediately declared martial law and issues a stern warning to all those who would insult the Union.  He backed up those promises energetically over the following eight months earning himself the epithet "Beast Butler" across the Confederacy.  (By John Osborne)