Timeline May 1864

Events in May 1864 7

• 1791 – 1864 Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) Died 2 May 1864, aged 72 German-born composer whose grand operas, including Robert le diable and Les Huguenots, dominated the Paris Opéra for decades. He died in Paris shortly before the premiere of his final opera, L'Africaine.
• 1793 – 1864 John Clare (1793-1864) Died 20 May 1864, aged 70 English Romantic poet celebrated for his vivid depictions of the rural landscape and lamented enclosure of the English countryside. He died in Northampton after spending his final decades in an asylum.
• 1804 – 1864 Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) Died 19 May 1864, aged 59 American novelist and short-story writer best known for The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. He died in Plymouth, New Hampshire, while on a trip with former president Franklin Pierce.
• 1813 – 1864 John Sedgwick (1813-1864) Died 9 May 1864, aged 50 Union Army general and corps commander popular with his troops, killed by a sniper at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. He was the highest-ranking Union officer killed in the war to that point.
• 1833 – 1864 J.E.B. Stuart (1833-1864) Died 12 May 1864, aged 31 Confederate cavalry general known for his bold reconnaissance raids during the American Civil War. He died in Richmond, Virginia, a day after being mortally wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern.
• 1864 Battle of the Wilderness Opening clash of Grant's Overland Campaign Union and Confederate armies fought a brutal, confused battle in dense Virginia woodland as Ulysses S. Grant began his Overland Campaign against Robert E. Lee. The battle produced heavy casualties on both sides without a decisive result.
• 1864 Battle of Cold Harbor Costly Union assault in Virginia Grant ordered a frontal assault on entrenched Confederate positions near Richmond, resulting in devastating Union casualties within minutes on the main day of fighting. The defeat pushed Grant to shift his campaign toward besieging Petersburg.