1836: Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican army overruns the Texians defending the Alamo.
1861: The Provisionary Confederate Congress creates the Confederate Army.
1862: The Battle of Bentonville, Arkansas, serves as a prelude to the Battle of Pea Ridge, ultimately to be won on the 8th by Union Army of the Southwest under Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis over the Confederate Army of the West under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn and the Missouri State Guard under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price.
1865: In the Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida, a 1,000-man Confederate force under Brig. Gen. William Miller, predominantly made up of elderly volunteers and teenage students of the Florida Military and Collegiate Institute hold and ultimately repulse an attempt by 700 Union troops led by Brig. Gen. John Newton to cross Natural Bridge, a quarter-mile stretch of land spanning the St. Marks River. This victory leaves nearby Tallahassee the only Confederate capital never to fall into Union hands before the Civil War's formal end and also results in the Reserve Officer Training Corps of Florida Military and Collegiate Institute's descendant, Florida State University, being one of only four ROTCs to carry a battle streamer.
1943: An ailing Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's counterattack against the Eighth Army at Medenine ends in a costly failure that leaves even Gen. Bernard L. Montgomery confounded by its poor execution.
1944: The U.S. Eighth Air Force begins daylight bombing of Berlin.
