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| Marshall House Inn |
- 13,000 Federal troops quietly cross the Potomac River and occupy Arlington Heights and Alexandria, Virginia, ostensibly to defend Washington. A party from the USS Pawnee (which had been part of the Fox Expedition to Fort Sumter) demanded and received the surrender of Alexandria, Virginia. The Virginia Militia offers little resistance. U.S. Col. Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth (age 24) of the 11th New York Fire Zouaves is killed in the Marshall House Inn in Alexandria, Virginia, after he and his men attempt to remove a Confederate flag from the hotel roof. The hotel keeper, James Jackson, shoots Ellsworth who then in turn is shot by Union soldier Francis E. Brownell. Ellsworth is generally regarded as the first officer killed on duty in the War between the States, but both sides now have martyrs for their causes. Learning of Col. Ellsworth’s death through a War Dept. telegram, Lincoln weeps openly over death of his young friend. Later he and Mrs. Lincoln drive to the Washington Navy Yard to view his body./1861
- Major General Joseph E. Johnston arrives at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, to take command of the Confederate Department of the Shenandoah. Up to this time Virginia Militia Colonel Thomas J. Jackson has been in command. The transition of power will take power on June 8./1861
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| Col. Ellsworth killed |
- In Missouri, Sterling Price refuses to disband his troops./1861
- US Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler holds three slaves at Fort Monroe, Virginia. He uses the term "contraband" to describe slaves who have crossed into the Northern camps and wants to use them for laborers himself. The issue of whether slaves can be classified contraband of war becomes increasingly controversial, and Secretary of War Simon Cameron will ultimately have to rule on it./1861
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| Cartoon about slaves at Fort Monroe |
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