What was the most significant event on May 7 during the U.S. Civil War?

Thursday, May 7, 1863 Alexandria, Louisiana: Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks and his Army of the Gulf entered the town of Alexandria. They captured the city without any opposition. The Confederate forces that had been at Alexandria had earlier withdrew to Shreveport.
Saturday, May 7, 1864 Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia: Ulysses S. Grant [US] is badly beaten on the field by Robert E. Lee [CS] but rather than retreat, Grant advances to Spotsylvania Court House.
Saturday, May 7, 1864: Battle of Walthall Junction, Day 2: This morning, Major General Benjamin Butler sends a large division of 8,000 men back to Walthall Junction, where they strike Johnson Hagood’s brigade and Bushrod Johnson’s brigades back, and the Yankees cut the railroad at Port Walthall Junction. Confederate defenders retired behind Swift Run Creek and awaited reinforcements.
Pictures: Grants Vicksburg Campaign; 1862; 1864 Western Confederates; 1863 C.S.A. Major General Earl Van Dorn (1820-1863); 1863 Tombstone CSA MG Earl Van Dorn
Since RallyPoint truncates survey selection text I am posting events that were not included and then the full text of each survey choice below:
A. Wednesday, May 7, 1862 Peninsula Campaign, Eltham's Landing, Barhamsville, West Point, Virginia: Brigadier General William B. Franklin's Union division landed at Eltham's Landing and was attacked by two brigades of Major General Gustavius W. Smith's command, reacting to the threat to the Confederate army's trains on the Barhamsville Road. General Franklin's movement occurred while the Confederate army was withdrawing from the Williamsburg line. Result(s): Inconclusive
Estimated Casualties: 242 total (US 194; CS 48)
B. Wednesday, May 7, 1862: Eastern Theater, Shenandoah Valley Campaign - Stonewall Jackson, now reinforced by Gen. Allegheny Johnson’s brigade, marches rapidly westward over the mountains to the small hamlet of McDowell, where Robert Milroy’s Federal brigade is camped. Milroy is becoming aware that Jackson has more men with him than had been assumed, and he sends to Fremont for help and reinforcements. Gen. Robert Schenker begins a march with his brigade to help Milroy. As the Rebels approach, Milroy shells their advance with his artillery, and then retreats, leaving his baggage train behind. That evening, Jackson enters McDowell, and Milroy camps a little further west.
C. Saturday, May 7, 1864: The race to Spotsylvania. Grant's orders to Meade were to march the night of May 7–8 over two routes, reaching Spotsylvania Court House, 10 miles (16 km) to the southeast, with at least one corps the morning of May 8. Warren's V Corps would take the Brock Road, followed by Hancock's II Corps. Sedgwick's VI Corps would head toward Chancellorsville on the Orange Plank Road, and then turn south, followed by Burnside's IX Corps.
Meade began by ordering Sheridan's Cavalry Corps to clear the Brock Road for the infantry, but the troopers soon bogged down. The brigade of Col. J. Irvin Gregg (David Gregg's division), was stopped at Corbin's Bridge on the Catharpin Road by cavalrymen under Wade Hampton and Rooney Lee. Gregg's men withdrew to a field west of Todd's Tavern, constructed rudimentary earthworks, and repulsed a series of Confederate attacks. Wesley Merritt's Union division encountered Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry behind barricades on the Brock Road about a mile south of Todd's Tavern. Sharp fighting resulted in the late afternoon, and by nightfall, Sheridan decided against continuing in the dark and ordered his men to bivouac at Todd's Tavern. The first Union infantry began moving at 8 p.m. and their advance was plagued by traffic jams. When Meade reached Todd's Tavern after midnight he was infuriated to see Sheridan's sleeping cavalrymen and ordered them to resume their road clearing operation.
Lee was unsure of Grant's plan. Reconnaissance told him that the river crossing equipment had been removed from Germanna Ford, so Grant would not be withdrawing as his predecessors had. The Union Army could either be heading east to Fredericksburg or moving south. In either event, the crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House would play an important role, so Lee ordered his artillery chief, Brig. Gen. William N. Pendleton, to begin constructing a road through the woods from the Confederate position at the Wilderness due south to the Catharpin Road. He also ordered Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson, who had replaced Lt. Gen. James Longstreet in command of the First Corps following that officer's wounding on May 6, to move out along that road. Lee did not indicate any need for haste, but Anderson and his men desired to leave the stench of burning forest and dead bodies in the Wilderness, so they began marching about 10 p.m.
D. Saturday, May 7, 1864: Beginning of the Atlanta Campaign. With three Union armies under his command, General William T. Sherman marched south from Tennessee into Georgia against the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Joseph Johnston, the objective being the city of Atlanta.
1. Thursday, May 7, 1863 — Pres. Lincoln and Gen Halleck arrive at the HQ for the Army of the Potomac at Falmouth, Virginia, soon after Hooker and his troops arrive there. In conference with Hooker, the President emphasizes that he does not blame anyone, but just wants the army to whip itself into shape for the next campaign—soon. Several corps commanders, notably Couch and Slocum, and perhaps Meade and Sedgwick, want Hooker to resign and someone else put in his place. Couch and Slocum want Meade, but Meade is less eager to pursue this. Lincoln writes to Hooker: "The recent movement of your army is ended without effecting its object. . . . What next? Have you already in your mind a plan wholly, or partially formed? If you have, prosecute it without interference from me. If you have not, please inform me, so that I, incompetent as I may be, can try [to] assist in the formation of some plan for the Army.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+7%2C+1863
2. Thursday, May 7, 1863 Alexandria, Louisiana: Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks and his Army of the Gulf entered the town of Alexandria. They captured the city without any opposition. The Confederate forces that had been at Alexandria had earlier withdrew to Shreveport. http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.html#sthash.cc0bIPQE.dpuf
3. Thursday, May 7, 1863 — On this date, in Guiney Station, Virginia, General Stonewall Jackson, recovering from his amputation, contracts pneumonia, and Dr. McGuire begins to administer mustard plasters, warm blankets, and bleeding.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+7%2C+1863
4. Thursday, May 7, 1863 — In Mississippi, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant sends his three corps on two roads, from Rocky Springs and Hankinson’s Ferry on a quick march toward Fourteen-Mile Creek. His aim is to cut and disrupt the supply lines to Vicksburg by taking the railroads and the state capital of Jackson, where the railroads all meet.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+7%2C+1863
5. Thursday, May 7, 1863 — Sergeant Alexander G. Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry Regiment in Grant’ army, writes in his journal about recent action in Mississippi, and longs for his rear-echelon regiment to go to the front: Thursday, 7th—One hundred and fifty prisoners captured at Grand Gulf were taken past here this morning; they all looked quite downhearted. A large train of provisions passed here for the army below. The roads are drying fast, which is making the hauling and marching better. The boys are all anxious to leave this place and move to the front. This is a low, unhealthy locality. An old negro here has picked up more than a thousand overcoats and blankets and is storing them away in his hut. These are thrown aside by the men marching out from the landing. On becoming warm and getting tired of their loads, they begin to unload about the first day’s march.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+7%2C+1863
6. Thursday, May 7, 1863 — Osborne H. Oldroyd, of the Union Army, speculates on the regular devastation that visits the Southern people in the course of the war: They are just beginning to open their eyes to war’s career of devastation. They must not complain when they go out to the barnyard in the morning and find a hog or two missing at roll-call, or a few chickens less to pick corn and be picked in turn for the pot. I think these southern people will be benefited by the general diffusion of information which our army is introducing; and after the war new enterprise and better arts will follow—the steel plow, for instance, in place of the bull-tongue or old root that has been in use here so long to scratch the soil. The South must suffer, but out of that suffering will come wisdom.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+7%2C+1863
7. Thursday, May 7, 1863: Major General Earl van Dorn [CS] is killed by a jealous husband.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186305
8. Thursday, May 7, 1863 — Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, ever the dashing cavalier and "framed to make all women false" (Shakespeare, Othello), was sitting at his desk at his headquarters in Spring Hill, Tennessee, when Dr. James Bodie Peters came in and shot Van Dorn in the back of the head, because Van Dorn had been having an affair with his wife, Jessie. Although Dr. Peters is arrested for the shooting, he is never put on trial or convicted for the crime.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+7%2C+1863
9. Thursday, May 7, 1863: Despite the fact that Van Dorn was a married man with two children, he was what one author called "a serial adulterer." Another of his contemporaries called him the "terror of ugly husbands." Van Dorn's reputation preceded him to Spring Hill. One young Southern widow admonished him to "let the women alone until after the war is over." He replied, "I cannot do that, for it is all I am fighting for." This character flaw would prove fatal.
At some point in 1863, Van Dorn met Mrs. Jessie McKissack Peters, the beautiful and much younger third wife of a Dr. George Peters. The doctor was a wealthy landowner and retired physician. Her husband had been gone for months attending to his duties as a member of the Tennessee state legislature. During the doctor's absence, his beautiful bride was often seen at Van Dorn's headquarters under circumstances that left little doubt about the nature of her visits.
As described in an online biography, "Van Dorn proved to be a Southern cavalier incarnate, with his slim-waisted, broad-shouldered physique. His handsome face, blue eyes, light chestnut hair and mustache were much admired by the ladies. Added to his physical characteristics, he was also an accomplished painter, amateur poet, a dedicated romantic, and considered one of ‘the finest horseman in the cavalry of the old United States Army.'"
Mrs. Peters's unsupervised visits to Van Dorn's headquarters – and their unchaperoned carriage rides – set the local gossips' tongues wagging. In his own words, Dr. Peters later stated: "I arrived at home on the 12th of April and was alarmed at the distressing rumors which prevailed in the neighborhood in relation to the attentions paid by General Van Dorn to my wife." In addition, the doctor caught one of Van Dorn's servants delivering a note to Jessie: Peters told the message carrier to "...tell his whiskey-headed master, General Van Dorn, that I would blow his brains out, or any of his staff that stepped their foot inside of the lawn..."
Determined to catch the general in the act, Peters pretended a trip to Shelbyville, TN but never left the area, doubling back to Spring Hill instead. Peters claims he: "came upon the creature, about half-past two o'clock at night, where I expected to find him..." According to Peters' later statement to the Nashville police, when he threatened to kill the general, Van Dorn begged for his life and then promised to write out a public statement exonerating Mrs. Peters from any guilt if the doctor would spare his life.
Early on the morning of May 7, 1863, a number of Confederate officers were standing on the wide front lawn of the Cheairs mansion. The officers barely noted the arrival of Dr. Peters on horseback. As the doctor dismounted and tied his horse to the north gate, one of the officers mumbled a laconic greeting to him before resuming their conversation. There was nothing unusual about the visit, as the doctor was a frequent visitor, often stopping at headquarters to obtain a pass to go through Confederate lines. It wasn't long before the doctor returned to his horse, mounted and rode off eastward at a leisurely pace towards his home.
Only a few minutes passed before the loud sobs of a female were heard. It was the daughter of the mansion's owner, Martin Cheairs, crying out: "The doctor has shot the general!" The officers found Van Dorn slumped over at his writing desk, a bullet wound in the back of his head. Upon closer inspection it was found that the small-caliber ball had lodged itself behind the general's forehead but hadn't killed him instantly. For four and one half hours, the general lay in a comatose state, unable to utter a word before he died.
Footnote #1: Dr. Peters rode to Nashville, where he turned himself in to the local police. He gave a complete confession about the incident, and was never prosecuted for the crime. Soon afterwards, the doctor made his way to Arkansas and settled on some of the land he owned – and was joined shortly thereafter by his wife, apparently forgiven for her dalliances. Mrs. Peters steadfastly denied any wrongdoing with "Buck" Van Dorn.
Footnote #2: During his tenure as commander of the Trans-Mississippi District, Van Dorn designed a flag which he ordered the units under his command to fly as regimental colors. It had a red field, a white crescent moon in the upper left corner, and thirteen white five-pointed stars arranged in five rows.
Footnote #3: Military historian David L. Bongard described Van Dorn as "aggressive, brave, and energetic but lacked the spark of genius necessary for successful high command in combat." Further, Van Dorn has been regarded by a number of historians as the equal of other Confederate cavalrymen such as Jeb Stuart, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and John Hunt Morgan.
Footnote #4: Van Dorn was buried initially in Spring Hill. In 1899, his family exhumed his body and moved it to the family plot near Port Gibson, MS.
http://www.burnpit.us/2013/05/confederate-general-earl-van-dorn-murdered-cuckolded-husband
10. Saturday, May 7, 1864 Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia: Ulysses S. Grant [US] is badly beaten on the field by Robert E. Lee [CS] but rather than retreat, Grant advances to Spotsylvania Court House.
Losses: Union: 17,666; Confederate: 7,750
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186405
11. Saturday, May 7, 1864: Battle of Rocky Face Ridge (Dalton), Georgia
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186405
12. Saturday, May 7, 1864 --- Georgia: Union troops from Gen. George Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland make contact with Confederate cavalry at Tunnel Hill, just outside of Dalton, Georgia. The bluecoats eventually drive off the gray riders. Thomas is now in position to strike at Johnston’s army.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+7%2C+1864
13. Saturday, May 7, 1864: Army of the James briefly seizes the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad before retiring
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186405
Wednesday, May 7, 1862 Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Eltham's Landing, West Point, Virginia
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186205
A Wednesday, May 7, 1862 Peninsula Campaign, Eltham's Landing, Barhamsville, West Point, Virginia: Brigadier General William B. Franklin's Union division landed at Eltham's Landing and was attacked by two brigades of Major General Gustavius W. Smith's command, reacting to the threat to the Confederate army's trains on the Barhamsville Road. General Franklin's movement occurred while the Confederate army was withdrawing from the Williamsburg line. Result(s): Inconclusive
Estimated Casualties: 242 total (US 194; CS 48)
http://americancivilwar.com/statepic/va/va011.html
A+ Wednesday, May 7, 1862 Peninsula Campaign: Confederate general John B. Hood's brigade halts a flanking attempt by Union general William B. Franklin at Eltham's Landing on the York River.
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/peninsula_campaign
A++ Wednesday, May 7, 1862: Eastern Theater, Peninsula Campaign - Two days ago, ignoring the battle at Williamsburg, McClellan supervises the boarding of William Franklin’s division aboard transports, to be followed by Sedgwick’s division. McClellan’s plan is to steam these divisions up the York River and land them behind Confederate lines, and thus trap Johnston’ army and destroy it. Today, Franklin lands his troops and finds that he is immediately clashing with Rebel troops nearby, which means he is not behind the Rebels, and that Johnston is able to continue marching by, northwest towards Richmond. Franklin skirmishes all day with Gen. John B. Hood’s troops, to no avail.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+7%2C+1862
B Wednesday, May 7, 1862—Eastern Theater, Shenandoah Valley Campaign - Stonewall Jackson, now reinforced by Gen. Allegheny Johnson’s brigade, marches rapidly westward over the mountains to the small hamlet of McDowell, where Robert Milroy’s Federal brigade is camped. Milroy is becoming aware that Jackson has more men with him than had been assumed, and he sends to Fremont for help and reinforcements. Gen. Robert Schenker begins a march with his brigade to help Milroy. As the Rebels approach, Milroy shells their advance with his artillery, and then retreats, leaving his baggage train behind. That evening, Jackson enters McDowell, and Milroy camps a little further west.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+7%2C+1862
C Saturday, May 7, 1864: The race to Spotsylvania. Grant's orders to Meade were to march the night of May 7–8 over two routes, reaching Spotsylvania Court House, 10 miles (16 km) to the southeast, with at least one corps the morning of May 8. Warren's V Corps would take the Brock Road, followed by Hancock's II Corps. Sedgwick's VI Corps would head toward Chancellorsville on the Orange Plank Road, and then turn south, followed by Burnside's IX Corps.
Meade began by ordering Sheridan's Cavalry Corps to clear the Brock Road for the infantry, but the troopers soon bogged down. The brigade of Col. J. Irvin Gregg (David Gregg's division), was stopped at Corbin's Bridge on the Catharpin Road by cavalrymen under Wade Hampton and Rooney Lee. Gregg's men withdrew to a field west of Todd's Tavern, constructed rudimentary earthworks, and repulsed a series of Confederate attacks. Wesley Merritt's Union division encountered Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry behind barricades on the Brock Road about a mile south of Todd's Tavern. Sharp fighting resulted in the late afternoon, and by nightfall, Sheridan decided against continuing in the dark and ordered his men to bivouac at Todd's Tavern. The first Union infantry began moving at 8 p.m. and their advance was plagued by traffic jams. When Meade reached Todd's Tavern after midnight he was infuriated to see Sheridan's sleeping cavalrymen and ordered them to resume their road clearing operation.
Lee was unsure of Grant's plan. Reconnaissance told him that the river crossing equipment had been removed from Germanna Ford, so Grant would not be withdrawing as his predecessors had. The Union Army could either be heading east to Fredericksburg or moving south. In either event, the crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House would play an important role, so Lee ordered his artillery chief, Brig. Gen. William N. Pendleton, to begin constructing a road through the woods from the Confederate position at the Wilderness due south to the Catharpin Road. He also ordered Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson, who had replaced Lt. Gen. James Longstreet in command of the First Corps following that officer's wounding on May 6, to move out along that road. Lee did not indicate any need for haste, but Anderson and his men desired to leave the stench of burning forest and dead bodies in the Wilderness, so they began marching about 10 p.m.
Saturday, May 7, 1864 --- Battle of Walthall Junction, Day 2: This morning, Butler sends a large division of 8,000 men back to Walthall Junction, where they strike Hagood’s brigade and Bushrod Johnson’s brigades back, and the Yankees cut the railroad at the junction.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+7%2C+1864
Saturday, May 7, 1864 --- Virginia: During this day, Grant’s army maneuvers, attempting to gain some advantage over Lee, and failing at that. As Grant and his staff ride to the junction of the roads in the rear, Union soldiers watch, expecting him to turn left, going north, indicating another retreat back over the Rappahannock River. But when Grant turns his horse to the right, and heads south, the watching troops break out in a cheer. The Army of the Potomac is advancing. Grant has broken the rules: instead of retreating after a defeat, he is advancing.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+7%2C+1864
D Saturday, May 7, 1864: Beginning of the Atlanta Campaign. With three Union armies under his command, General William T. Sherman marched south from Tennessee into Georgia against the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Joseph Johnston, the objective being the city of Atlanta.
https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/civil-war-timeline.htm
FYI CSM Charles Hayden SGT Tiffanie G. SGT Mary G.CPL Ronald Keyes Jr SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D MAJ Roland McDonald SSG Franklin BriantCPO William Glen (W.G.) Powell1stSgt Eugene Harless PO3 (Join to see)MSG Greg KellyMSG Joseph Christofaro]CPL Ronald Keyes Jr LTC Greg Henning CPT (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell LTC John Griscom LTC Thomas Tennant MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca SFC George Smith

I love those maps with the colored bars indicating whose unit was participating. As always, thanks LTC Stephen F. .

Great read - thank you.