Daily Archives: April 5, 2012

Siege of Yorktown begins 150 years ago today (1862)


Video: April 5, 1862 (at 24:25)

(Saturday, April 5, 1862,  part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War) — The monthlong Siege of Yorktown began today in Virginia when the Union commander, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, overestimated the enemy’s strength and insisted on preparations for a full-scale assault.