Today in New Jersey history:
May 4, 1862: The Second New Jersey Brigade, composed of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th New Jersey Infantry Regiments, fought its first battle, a vicious fight against the rear guard of a retreating Confederate army, in a driving rainstorm at Williamsburg, Virginia, losing 536 men killed, wounded and missing.
May 4, 1900: A thirty-foot long whale washed up on the beach near Brigantine Life Saving Station, where the carcass became a local tourist attraction.
