| June 2, 1783 At the urging of General George Washington, the United States Congress agreed to gradually disband the Revolutionary army following the end of the war. Subject only to the signing of a final peace treaty with Great Britain, all soldiers and non-commissioned officers were discharged; additionally, a full pardon was granted to privates and non-coms in confinement. |
| June 2, 1863 Abolitionist and former slave James Montgomery led 300 African-American troops of the Union Army’s 2nd South Carolina Volunteers on a raid of plantations along the Combahee River. Meanwhile, backed by three gunboats, Harriet Tubman’s forces set fire to the plantations and freed 750 slaves.  Harriet Tubman More on General Tubman |
| June 2, 1936 General Anastasio Somoza, head of the U.S. Marine-trained National Guard, forced the resignation of Nicaragua’s elected President, Juan Bautista Sacasa. This followed a seven-year U.S. occupation of the country and was followed by Somoza family control of the country for the next four decades. More about Somoza and other U.S.-friendly Central American dictators |
| June 2, 1952 The U.S. Supreme court ruled illegal President Truman’s order two months earlier for the Army to seize the nation’s steel mills in order to avert a strike during the Korean war. The decision |
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