5 May, 1862: Monday

Union - Government
In the evening, President Lincoln with Cabinet Ministers Stanton and Chase, leave by ship for Fort Monroe, to take a personal look at the advance into Virginia.

Union - Military
Virginia
Advancing units of McClellan's Army of the Potomac under Joseph Hooker and Phil Kearney clash with rearguard divisions of the Confederates, led by James Longstreet and D.H. Hill, just east of the old capital of Williamsburg.

There was heavy fighting for a line of defensive redoubts built earlier by Confederate General John B. Magruder.

At first the Union attack was unsuccessful, but eventually as more troops arrived, they were able to occupy a part of the line, and Winfield S. Hancock's division outflanked the Confederates.

In the evening the last of the Confederates pulled out as Johnston's army continued its retreat westward toward Rockhmond.

Union: 40,000 troops engaged
Confederates: 31,000

Union losses. 456 killed, 410 wounded, 373 missing for 2239

Confederate losses: 1770 killed and wounded, 133 missing, total 1703, "heavy casualties for what was essentially a delaying and probing action."

Elswhere in Virginia, there was a skirmish at Columbia Bridge.

Tennessee
There is a skirmish at Lebanon

Western VirginiaThere are skirmishes at Princeton and Franklin





Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971