5 September in military history: the Battles of the Chesapeake, 1781, and the Marne, 1914

Rear Admiral Thomas Graves's British fleet of 19 ships of the line found the Comte de Grasse's French fleet at anchor inside the capes of Chesapeake Bay. The French came out with 24 ships of the line, and from late afternoon until sunset the leading ships of both fleets fought, while the British rear stayed almost out of range.

The American Battlefield Trust counts it a French victory. After several days in sight of the French, Graves took his fleet back to New York, the French kept Chesapeake Bay, and Cornwallis at Yorktown could no longer be relieved by sea. He surrendered on 19 October 1781.

The British lost 90 killed and 246 wounded. The National Park Service gives 209 French casualties and the American Battlefield Trust 210; the Gale encyclopedia writes that the French reported slightly over 200 and that some estimates go as high as 400.

The French Sixth Army under General Maunoury advanced toward the Ourcq and in the afternoon met the German IV Reserve Corps between Meaux and Saint-Soupplets, a day before the Allied offensive on the Marne. The British Expeditionary Force ended its retreat from Mons the same day.

According to Victor Boudon, who served under him in the 276th Reserve Infantry Regiment, Lieutenant Péguy stayed on his feet directing his men's fire in an attack near Villeroy on 5 September 1914 until a bullet struck him in the forehead.