Operation Overlord begins as Allied forces land on Normandy beaches and drop into Nazi-occupied France. The operation included the largest amphibious landing in military history as nearly 160,000 Allied soldiers cross the English Channel to invade France.
A combined Union naval and civilian fleet defeats a Confederate fleet at the Battle of Memphis, as Memphis falls to Federal forces. Memphis was one of the largest Confederate cities but many of its coastal defenses along the Mississippi River had been abandoned prior to the naval battle.
Andrew Jackson rides a train
Andrew Jackson becomes the first U.S. President to ride on a locomotive as he rides from Ellicott Mills, Maryland to Baltimore on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
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