French military operations had been successful during the spring of 1862 and in on May 16, 1862 the war-weary Vietnamese Emperor Tu-Duc appointed representatives, Phan Thanh Gian and Lam Duy Hep, to sue for peace.  Following negotiations, the Treaty of Saigon was signed that ceded the wealthy provinces of Biên Hòa, Gia Định and Dinh Tuong to France. The so-called "unequal treaty" also demanded and won, such as the freedom of movement action for the Catholic Church throughout the country.  (By John Osborne) 

Governor for only a few months, Louis P. Powell was leading a group of prominent citizens bringing medical supplies to Wisconsin troops wounded at Shiloh.  Transferring steamboats on a dark and wet night near Savannah, Tennessee, he fell into the Tennessee River and was swept away in the current.  His body was not found until ten days later, sixty miles downsteam, and was buried as an unknown.  It was recovered in early May, 1862 and buried with military honors in Madison.  He was 41 years old and was succeeded by Edward Salomon.  (By John Osborne) 

A massive fire broke out in the small hours of the morning at the busy port and capital of the West Indies island of Jamaica and for the next twenty-four hours consumed six full city blocks and several lives.  Kingston's commercial district was hardest hit with businesses and warehouses burning all the way to the harbor's edge.  Damage of around one and a quarter million dollars was reported.  (By John Osborne) 

The 75th Pennsylvania Volunteers, made up largely of German immigrants from Philadelphia, had been ordered to cross the Shenandoah River at Castleman's Ferry in Clarke County, Virginia and join the pursuit of General Jackson's Confederate forces.  The river was running fast and high and when two companies of the regiment tried using a damaged old ferry boat, it swamped in mid-river and two officers and fifty-one enlisted men drowned.  (By John Osborne) 

Theodore Freylinghusen was a former Whig senator and vice-presidential candidate for Henry Clay in 1844 and the seventh president of Rutgers College. An evangelical Christian best know for his empassioned opposition to Andrew Jackson's Removal Act, he also served as the head of the American Bible Society and the American Tract Union and was also active in the Colonization Movement. He died at his home in New Jersey. He was seventy-five years old.  (By John Osborne)