This week in Delaware history

Complied by Roger Martin
Special to the Coastal Point

May 26

1862 — The 3rd Delaware Infantry, raised in Kent and Sussex Counties and based at Camp Fisher in Camden, was ordered by water and rail to Harpers Ferry, W. Va.

May 27

1854 — The Right Rev. Alfred Lee, Bishop of Delaware, laid the cornerstone to the present-day St. Peters Church in Lewes.

May 28

1945 — Chief Water Tender Richard Prendergast of Camden, recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal and Purple Heart, was killed off Okinawa during a kamikaze attack.

May 29

1811 — Trusten Polk, relative of Delaware Govs. Charles Polk and Peter Causey, and future governor of Missouri who was expelled later from the U.S. Senate because he became a Confederate, was born in Bridgeville.

May 30

1942 — The first attempt to pick up airmail by gliders was conducted by Richard C. duPont on the DuPont Airfield near Centre Road in Wilmington.

May 31

1991 — The Delaware Air National Guard returned from Saudia Arabia and the first Gulf War.