1876: The 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer departs Fort Lincoln to chastise the Lakota and Cheyenne. This will not end well. Want to know what happened and learn more about Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's service? Visit HistoryNet.com for more.

Also today in history, in the U.S. and elsewhere: 

1756: Britain declares war on France (so what else is new?), this time starting the Seven Years War. Go to HistoryNet.com for more on the Seven Years War.

1862: In the Battle of Princeton Court House, West Virginia, troops of Brig. Gen. Jacob Dolson Cox's Kanawha Division are bloodily whipped and driven out by Confederate Brig. Gen. Humphrey Marshall's Army of East Kentucky.

1863: In the Battle of Big Black River Bridge, Mississippi, Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand's XIII Corps inflicts a bloody defeat on the Confederates under Brig. Gen. John S. Bowen (276 casualties to 1,751), who retreat and burn the railroad bridge behind them. Sergeant William Wesley Kendall of the 49th Indiana Volunteer Infantry was subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor for outstanding heroism during the 3-minute Union charge that routs the Rebs. 

1944: Allies land in Dutch New Guinea. Chinese and U.S. Army forces seize the airfield at Myitkyina, Burma, from the Japanese. In England, General Dwight D. Eisenhower sets D-Day, the day for the Allied landings in France, for June 5.

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