Despite the efforts to fortify his base at Bowling Green in Warren County, Kentucky over the previous months, Confederate General Albert S. Johnston determined that the attack on Fort Donelson and the continued advance of Union forces under General Don Carlos Buell after the victory at Mills Spring made his headquarters there untenable.  He burned the town's two bridges over the Barren River and began evacuating the town.  Four days later the retreat was complete and Buell's men took possession of the town and its impressive defenses.  (By John Osborne)  

A friend of the Parson and Smith's Hotel in Camden, New Jersey had recently sent an unexploded Confederate shell from Virginia as a souvenir.  Assured that the charge had been withdrawn, the proprietors displayed the shell in a hotel parlor.  In the evening, two prominent young men of the town, Remington Ackley and Charles Hamell, the son of Camden's mayor, were handling it when it exploded, killing Hamell immediately and fatally wounding Ackley.  The room was demolished and fragments of the shell damaged buildings nearby.  (By John Osborne)

A violent explosion in a speciality lacquer manufacturers behind Sixth Street near Diamond in Philadelphia killed the owner, James L. Wright, and severely injured his assistant, a man named Adam Herbott.  The firm specialized in making Japan varnish for laquerware.  (By John Osborne) 

In a demonstative example of how the Union victory at Fort Donelson in Tennessee lifted the collective spirits of the North, the arrival of the news in Philadelphia in the morning was met with celebration all day.  Both the Court of Quarter Sessions and the District Court judges, for example, interupted their proceedings to have the news announced in their courtrooms, to extended cheering.  (By John Osborne)  

Philadelphia's veterans of the War of 1812 had determined earlier to form a militia unit.  In the evening they held their first official meeting at the armoury of the Philadelphia Grays to elect a committee and officers.  Colonel John S. Warner was in the chair.  Known as the Philadelphia Veterans, the first gathering saw their numbers at seventy-six men.  (By John Osborne) 

In Philadelphia, the large brewery of Joseph Lips behind 17th and Buttonwood Streets was struck by fire and suffered extensive damage costing around $70,000.  No injuries were reported.  The concern produced lager for the city.  (By John Osborne) 

The House of Representatives had voted overwhelmingly in February 1862 for an amendment to establish a Department of Agriculture seperate from farming's former home in the Patent Office.  Only seven representatives voted against it, with 125 in favor.  President Lincoln signed the final bill on this day and the new department, without cabinet status, came into being six weeks later on July 1, 1863. Isaac Newton of Pennsylvania was named as its first Commissioner.  (By John Osborne)  

The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly for an amendment to establish a Department of Agriculture seperate from farming's former home in the Patent Office.  Only seven representatives voted against it, including two Democrats from Indiana and the Republican Frederick Conkling from New York City's Sixth District.  President Lincoln signed the final bill on May 15, 1862 and the new department, without cabinet status, came into being six weeks later on July 1, 1863 with Isaac Newton of Pennsylvania as its first Commissioner.  (By John Osborne)