May 8
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
1864: Following the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5–6) during the American Civil War, Union General Ulysses S. Grant moved his left flank forward, engaging the Confederate forces of General Robert E. Lee at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, on this day. The battle raged for about a week and a half, and on May 20 Grant continued his march southeastward in a flanking movement toward the Confederate capital of Richmond. The Union's failure to smash or outflank the Confederate forces left Grant with casualties of 18,000; Confederate casualties numbered 11,000.
1942: The USS Lexington became the first U.S. aircraft carrier to be sunk during World War II, in the Battle of the Coral Sea.
1903: French Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin died in Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands.
1880: French novelist Gustave Flaubert died in Croisset.
1846: U.S. troops under General Zachary Taylor defeated a Mexican force under General Mariano Arista in the Battle of Palo Alto, the first clash of the Mexican War (1846–48).
1737: English historian Edward Gibbon was born in Putney, Surrey.
May 8
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman, born this day in 1884, was the 33rd president of the United States (1945–53). He led his nation into international confrontation with Soviet and Chinese communism and defended the New Deal reforms.
"No government is ever perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy, however, is that its defects are always visible and under democratic processes can be pointed out and corrected."
U.S. President Harry S. Truman, 1947
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