Union occupation commander Major General Benjamin Butler had William Bruce Mumford arrested and tried for treason for an incident in which he had torn down an American flag flying over the U.S. Mint during the tumultuous naval capture of the city.  Even though it was unclear that New Orleans was legally in Union hands at the time of the crime, Mumford  was found guilty of treason and hanged at noon from the Mint building.  Dying with eloquence and dignity, Mumford quickly became a Confederate martyr and Butler a Confederate bête noir. (By John Osborne)

During the tumultuous occupation of New Orleans by U.S. naval units in late April 1862, a mob had torn down a national flag marines had hoisted over the U.S. Mint in the city. Later, Union occupation commander Major General Benjamin Butler heard of the incident and had the mob's ringleader, William Bruce Mumford, arrested and tried for treason.  Even though it was unclear that New Orleans was legally in Union hands at the time, Mumford was found guilty and hanged in the grounds of the Mint on June 7, 1862.   (By John Osborne)

The day before, New Orleans mayor John Monroe had refused to surrender the helpless city to Union Commodore David Farragut's naval forces. Farragut acted with great forebearance but a subordinate the next day ordered a United States flag hoisted over the United States Mint in the city which a mob immediately tore down.  The mob's ringleader, William B. Mumford, was later arrested and hanged for treason on June 7, 1862.   (By John Osborne)

Union Commodore David Farragut's arriving naval units had run past Fort Jackson, New Orleans the day before and the city was now defenceless.  In the afternoon, defiant city officials and a mob, which tore down any United States flag hoisted, refused to surrender to naval officers.  Farragut acted with great forebearance but the defiant city was under Union control when General Benjamin Butler arrived with an Army occupation force a week later.  (By John Osborne)

In the early morning hours, Union Commodore David Farragut's entire naval force made a successful effort to run past Fort Jackson, the main strongpoint on the Mississippi River, along with Fort St. Philip, defending New Orleans to the north.   The forty-year old fort, already suffering from flooding from the rising river and battered by a massive five day barrage, could not halt the advance.  Confederate naval forces fared no better and suffered heavy losses as Farragut's ships moved on New Orleans, arriving the next day.  (By John Osborne)  

At nine in the morning, a Union mortar fleet of twenty-one vessels opened fire on Fort Jackson, the main strongpoint on the Mississippi River, along with Fort St. Philip, defending New Orleans to the north from the forces advancing from the Gulf of Mexico.   The forty-year old Fort Jackson, already suffering from flooding from the rising river, had no artillery capable of countering the barrage.  The shelling continued for five days.  The fort's commander counted 2,997 Union shells fired at his positions on that first day alone.  (By John Osborne)  

Major General Charles Ferguson Smith, an experienced and impressive leader of men throughout his professional army career, succumbed from the effects of a lingering leg fracture and chronic dysentery the day after his fifty-fifth birthday.  A pre-war commander of the Department of Utah and a division commander under Ulysses Grant, who he had taught at West Point, his condition had kept him out of the Shiloh encounter where he was sorely missed.  He is buried in the Laurel Cemetery in Philadelphia.  (By John Osborne) 

On March 18, 1862, the British sailing vessel Emily St. Pierre had been seized by the U.S.S. John Adger and taken as a prize to be sailed to Philadelphia. Three days later the British captain, 47 year-old Scot William Wilson, and the only two remaining crewmen aboard, his cook and a German steward, recaptured the ship from its twelve man American prize crew by stealth and sailed to Liverpool in England, arriving there to British celebration on April 21, 1862. This touched off a brief international incident concerning the legality of the recapture.  (By John Osborne)