Today in History for Year 1861

Months in Year 1861: January February March April May June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 273

Jan 1st - Porfirio Diaz conquers Mexico City
Jan 1st - President Lincoln declares slavery in Confederate states unlawful
Jan 2nd - SC seizes inactive Ft Johnson in Charleston Harbor
Jan 2nd - Colonel Charles Stone is put in charge of organizing DC militia
Jan 3rd - Delaware legislature rejects proposal to join Confederacy
Jan 3rd - US Ft Pulaski & Ft Jackson, Savannah, seized by Georgia
Jan 4th - Pres Buchanan appoints a fast on account of threatened succession
Jan 4th - US Ft Morgan, Mobile, seized by Alabama
Jan 5th - 250 Federal troops are sent from New York to Ft Sumter
Jan 5th - Alabama troops seize Forts Morgan & Gaines at Mobile Bay
Jan 6th - Florida troops seize Federal arsenal at Apalachicola
Jan 6th - NYC mayor proposes NY become a free city, trading with N & S
Jan 7th - Florida troops takeover Ft Marion at St Augustine
Jan 9th - 1st hostile act of Civil War; Star of West fired on, Sumter, SC
Jan 9th - Mississippi becomes 2nd state to secede
Jan 10th - Ft Jackson & Ft Philip are taken over by LA state troops
Jan 10th - US forts & property seized by Mississippi
Jan 10th - American Civil War: Florida becomes 3rd state to secedes from the Union.
Jan 11th - Alabama becomes 4th state to secede from the Union
Jan 11th - Mexico City captured by Juarez (Lib) in War of Reform
Jan 12th - FL state troops demand surrender of Ft Pickens
Jan 14th - Ft Pikens, FL falls into state hands
Jan 15th - Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis
Jan 17th - Flush toilet patented by Mr Thomas Crapper (Honest!)
Jan 18th - American Civil War - Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in seceding from the United States.
Jan 19th - Georgia becomes 5th state to secede
Jan 19th - MS troops take Ft Massachusetts an Ship Island
Jan 21st - Jefferson Davis of Mississippi & 4 other southern senators resign
Jan 24th - Arsenal at Augusta, Ga seized by Confederacy
Jan 24th - Federal troops from Ft Monroe are sent to Ft Pikens
Jan 26th - Louisiana becomes 6th state to secede
Jan 29th - Kansas becomes 34th state
Jan 31st - Friedrich Hebbel's "Siegfrieds Tod," premieres in Weimar
Jan 31st - State of Louisiana takes over US Mint at New Orleans
Feb 1st - Dike breaks in Gelderland Netherlands
Feb 1st - American Civil War: Texas becomes the 7th state to secede from the United States.
Feb 4th - Confederate constitutional convention meets for 1st time, Montgomery Ala, Ga, Fla, La, Miss & SC elect Jefferson Davis pres of Confederacy
Feb 5th - 1st moving picture peep show machine is patented by Samuel Goodale
Feb 5th - Kinematoscope patented by Coleman Sellers, Phila
Feb 5th - Louisiana delegation except Mr Bouligny withdraws from Congress
Feb 6th - 1st meeting of Provisional Congress of Confederate States of America
Feb 6th - English Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy issues 1st storm warnings for ships
Feb 8th - Confederate States of America organizes in Montgomery, Ala
Feb 9th - Jefferson Davis & Alexander Stephens elected president & VP of CSA
Feb 9th - Tennessee votes against secession
Feb 9th - Confederate Provisional Congress declares all laws under the US Constitution were consistent with constitution of Confederate states
Feb 11th - President-elect Lincoln takes train from Spingfield IL to Wash DC
Feb 11th - US House unanimously passes resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state
Feb 12th - State troops seize US munitions in Napoleon, AK
Feb 13th - 1st military action to result in Congressional Medal of Honor, AZ
US President Abraham Lincoln Feb 13th - Abraham Lincoln declared president
Feb 13th - Col Bernard Irwin attacks & defeats hostile Chiricahua Indians
Feb 15th - Ft Point completed & garrisoned (but has never fired cannon in anger)
Feb 18th - Confederate President Jefferson Davis inaugurated at Montgomery Ala
Feb 18th - King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia becomes 1st King of Italy
Feb 19th - Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom [NS=Mar 3]
Feb 20th - Dept of Navy of Confederacy forms
Feb 20th - Steeple of Chichester Cathedral blown down during a storm
Feb 21st - Navaho indians elect Herrero Grande as chief
Feb 22nd - On a bet Edward Weston leaves Boston to walk to Lincoln's inauguration
Feb 23rd - By popular referendum, Texas becomes 7th state to secede from US
Feb 23rd - Dutch Premier Floris A van Hall resigns
Feb 23rd - Pres-elect Lincoln arrives secretly in Wash DC to take office
Feb 27th - Russians shoot at Poles protesting Russian rule of Poland in Castle Square, Warsaw
Feb 27th - US Congress authorizes 1st stamped newspaper wrappers for mailing
King of Sardinia and Italy Victor Emmanuel II Feb 28th - Territories of Nevada & Colorado created
Mar 2nd - Government Printing Office purchases 1st printing plant, Washington
Mar 2nd - US creates Dakota & Nevada Territories out of the Nebraska & Utah ter
Mar 3rd - Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs [OS=Feb 19].
Mar 4th - Confederate States adopt "Stars & Bars" flag
Mar 4th - Lincoln's inaugurated as 16th pres; 1st time US has 5 former pres
Mar 4th - Pres Lincoln opens government Printing Office
Mar 6th - Provisionary Confederate Congress establishes Confederate Army
Mar 8th - St Augustine Florida surrenders to Union armies
Mar 9th - Confederate currency authorized-$50, $100, $500, $1,000
Mar 10th - El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, destroying the Bambara Empire of Mali.
Mar 11th - Confederate convention in Montgomery, adopts constitution
Mar 16th - Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union
Mar 16th - Confederate government appoints commissioners to Britain
Mar 16th - Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.
Mar 17th - Italy declares independence; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed
Mar 19th - The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
Mar 20th - An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina.
Mar 22nd - 1st US nursing school chartered
Mar 23rd - London's 1st tramcars, designed by Mr Train of NY, begins operating
Mar 31st - Confederacy takes over mint at New Orleans
Apr 5th - Federals abandon Ft Quitman, Tx
Apr 8th - US mint at Dahlonega, Georgia seized by confederacy
Apr 12th - Fort Sumter, SC is shelled by Confederacy, starting Civil War
Apr 13th - After 34 hours of bombardment, Ft Sumter surrenders to Confederates
Apr 14th - Formal Union surrender of Ft Sumter
Confederate General Robert E Lee Apr 14th - Robert E Lee resigns from Union army
Apr 15th - Federal army (75,000 volunteers) mobilized by US President Lincoln
Apr 16th - US president Lincoln outlaws business with confederate states
Apr 17th - Indianola TX - "Star of West" taken by Confederacy
Apr 17th - Virginia is 8th state to secede
Apr 18th - Battle of Harpers Ferry, VA
Apr 18th - Col Robert E Lee turns down offer to command Union armies
Apr 19th - Baltimore riots-4 soldiers, 9 civilians killed
Apr 19th - Lincoln orders blockade of Confederate ports (Civil War)

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 109

Jan 2nd - Helen Herron Taft, 1st lady (1909-12)
Jan 3rd - William Renshaw, British champion tennis player (d. 1904)
Jan 6th - Heinrich Gottlieb Noren, composer
Jan 6th - George Exton Lloyd, Anglican bishop and theologian (d. 1940)
Jan 13th - Max Nonne, German neurologist (d. 1959)
Jan 14th - Wilhelm von Polenz, German writer (Der Pfarrer von Breitendorf)
Jan 18th - Hans Goldschmidt, German chemist
Jan 18th - Raymond Huntington Woodman, composer
Jan 22nd - Karel Stecker, composer
Jan 30th - Charles Martin Tornow Loeffler, Mulhouse Alsace, composer
Feb 2nd - Mehmed VI, last sultan of Ottoman Empire (1918-22)
Feb 2nd - Solomon R Guggenheim, philanthropist (Guggenheim Museum NYC)
Feb 12th - Lou [Andreas-]Salome, Russian/German author (Im Kampf um Gott)
Feb 13th - Uchimura Kanzo, Tokyo, religious writer (How I Became a Christian)
Feb 15th - Alfred North Whitehead, Engl mathematician/philosopher (Adv of Ideas)
Feb 15th - Halford John Mackinder, Gainsborough Lincolnshire, geographer
Feb 17th - Princess Helena, Duchess of Albany (d. 1922)
Feb 20th - Nicolaas van Meeteren, Curacao, folklorist
Feb 21st - Pierre Breville, composer
Feb 26th - Ferdinand I, Vienna, 1st tsar of modern Bulgaria (1908-18)
Feb 27th - Rudolph Steiner, Kraljevic Aust, founder (doctrine of anthroposophy)
Mar 19th - Lomer Gouin, Quebec politician (d. 1929)
Apr 9th - Charles Holroyd, painter/etcher
Apr 14th - Bion Joseph Arnold, electrical engineer/inventor
Apr 15th - Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (d. 1929)
Apr 16th - Isaac Murphy, US jockey (won 628 races)
Apr 19th - Warden Oncle, [Edward Vermeulen], Flemish farmer/writer
Apr 23rd - Edmund Henry Hynman, 1st viscount Allenby of Megiddo/Fieldmarshal
Apr 27th - Georgy L'vovich Catoire, composer
Apr 27th - Johan M Skjoldborg, Danish writer (Dynaes-Digte)
May 3rd - Emmett Dalton, American outlaw (d. 1937)
May 6th - Radindranath Tagore, Hindu poet/mystic/composer (Nobel 1913)
May 6th - Motilal Nehru, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1931)
May 11th - Frederick Russell Burnham, father of the international scouting movement (d. 1947)
May 19th - Dame Nellie Melba, Australian opera singer (d. 1931)
May 27th - Victoria E Matthews, educator
May 31st - Emily Perkins Bissell, welfare worker (1st christmas seal drive, 1907)
Jun 9th - Floris H Verster, [van Wulverhorst], painter/cartoonist/etcher
Jun 10th - Josephus T J Cuypers, Dutch architect (St Bavo, Haarlem)
Jun 10th - Pierre M M Duhem, French naturalist/philosopher/historian
Jun 11th - Sigismund Vladislavovich Zaremba, composer
Jun 12th - William Attewell, English cricketer (d. 1927)
Jun 16th - Scato Gocko de Vries, Dutch paleographer/librarian
Jun 17th - Sidney James Jones, composer
Jun 17th - Pete Browning, American baseball player (d. 1905)
Jun 17th - Omar Bundy, U.S. army general and soldier (d. 1940)
Jun 18th - Jose FdT Coelho, Portuguese writer (Os Meus Amores)
Jun 19th - Douglas Haig, British fieldmarshal (Sudan, WW I)
Jun 19th - Jose Protasio Rizal, Philippine optician/author/nationalist
Jun 20th - Arthur Battelle Whiting, composer
Jun 22nd - Maximilian von Spee, German admiral (d. 1914)
Jun 29th - William James Mayo, surgeon/co-founder Mayo clinic in Minnesota
Jul 1st - Samuel D Riddle, horse owner (Man 'o War)
Jul 3rd - Peter Jackson, heavyweight boxer (hall of famer)
Jul 11th - Anton Stepanovich Arensky, composer
Jul 11th - George William Norris, (Rep/Sen-Neb) (Lame duck-amendement)
Jul 12th - Anton Stepanovich Arensky, composer
Jul 23rd - Alexander W F Idenburg, gov-gen of Neth Indies (1909-16)
Jul 29th - Alica Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, 1st wife of Theodore Roosevelt
Jul 29th - Sergei D Sazonov, Russian minister of Foreign Affairs (1910-16)
Aug 1st - Sam Jones, cricketer (Australian batsman of 1880's)
Aug 6th - Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, 2nd wife of Theodore Roosevelt
Aug 8th - William Bateson, English biologist (originator of term "genetics")
Aug 9th - Wilhelm Berger, composer
Aug 10th - Almroth Wright, Yorkshire England, bacteriologist
Sep 10th - Niels Hansen Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and ceramist (d. 1941)
Sep 11th - Juhani Aho, Fins journalist/writer (Panu, Tuomio)
Sep 17th - Owen Seaman, poet/editor (Punch)
Sep 20th - Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress (d. 1955)
Sep 23rd - Edmond H H Allenby, English fieldmarshal/high director (Egypt)
Sep 23rd - Robert Bosch, German inventor and industrialist (d. 1942)
Sep 28th - Pedro De Cordoba, NYC, actor (Club Havana, Swamp Fire, Saboteur)
Sep 28th - Amélie of Orléans, queen of Portugal (d. 1951)
Sep 30th - William Wrigley Jr., American industrialist (Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company) (d. 1932)
Oct 4th - Frederic Remington, US, artist/sculptor of American West
Oct 4th - Joao Marcellino Arroyo, composer
Oct 8th - Theodore Roberts, SF CA, actor (Roaring Road, 10 Commandments)
Arctic explorer/Nobel Laureate Fridtjof Nansen (Oct 10th) Oct 10th - Fridtjof Nansen, Store Frøen, Christiania, Norway, Arctic explorer/humanitarian (Nobel 1922), (d. 1930)
Oct 14th - Bjarni Thorsteinsson, composer
Oct 14th - Artur Gavazzi, Croatian geographer (d. 1944)
Oct 16th - J. B. Bury, Irish historian (d. 1927)
Oct 26th - Richard D Sears, Boston, tennis champ, US Open (1881)
Oct 29th - Andrei Ryabushkin, Russian painter (d. 1904)
Oct 30th - Antoine Bourdelle, French sculptor (d. 1929)
Nov 3rd - Johann Peter Kirsch, Luxembourg church historian/archaeologist
Nov 6th - James Naismith, Almonte, Canada, inventor (basketball, football helmet), (d.1939)
Nov 7th - Jeff Milton, American lawman (d. 1947)
Nov 10th - Robert T A Innes, Edinburgh Scotland, astronomer (Proxima Centauri)
Nov 14th - Frederick Jackson Turner, Wisc, historian/educator (Harvard U)
Nov 16th - Vaclav Suk, composer
Nov 18th - Dorothy Dix, pseudonym of US journalist Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (d. 1951)
Nov 21st - Joao da Cruz, Brazilian poet
Inventor James Naismith (Nov 6th) Nov 23rd - Konstantin Korovin, Russian painter (d. 1939)
Nov 30th - French Gailliard, Belgian painter (Zeustempel in Athens)
Nov 30th - Ludwig Thuille, composer
Dec 4th - Lillian Russell, [Helen Leonard], US, singer/actress (Great Mogul)
Dec 5th - Armando V Diaz, Italian marshal/minister of War (1922-24)
Dec 8th - Aristide Maillol, France, painter/sculptor (Seated Woman)
Dec 8th - William Crapo Durant, founded General Machine
Dec 15th - Charles Edgar Duryea, inventor (1st auto built & operated in US)

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Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 52 of 52

Jan 2nd - Frederik Willem IV, King of Prussia (1840-61)/Germ (1849-61), dies at 65
Jan 17th - Lola Montez, Irish-born adventurer (b. 1821)
Jan 31st - Franciscus J van Vree, Dutch Catholic foreman, dies at 53
Feb 10th - Francis Danby, Exmouth, painter, dies
Feb 12th - Hippolyte-Andre-Baptiste Chelard, composer, dies at 72
Feb 18th - Louis C Luzac, Dutch minister of Internal affairs, dies at 74
Mar 10th - Josepf Francois Snel, composer, dies at 67
Mar 10th - Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet (b. 1814)
Mar 14th - Abraham Louis Niedermeyer, composer, dies at 58
Mar 17th - Petter Conrad Boman, composer, dies at 56
Apr 4th - John McLean, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1785)
Apr 8th - Elisha G Otis, US elevator builder (Otis), dies at 50
Apr 11th - Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet (b. 1824)
Apr 18th - Heinrich August Neithardt, composer, dies at 67
May 3rd - Anthony Philip Heinrich, composer, dies at 80
May 9th - Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philosopher and writer (b. 1805)
May 12th - Christian Heinrich Hohmann, composer, dies at 50
May 24th - Elmer Ellsworth, US warrior (Chicago Zouaves), shot to death at 23
May 24th - James T Jackson, US landlord (doodde EE Ellsworth), shot dead)
Jun 1st - John Q Marr, US Confederate captain, dies in battle at Fairfax Courthouse, the first Confederate death of the war
Jun 3rd - Stephen A Douglas, "Little Giant", senator (Lincoln Debates), dies
Jun 5th - John Garland, US Union colonel/brig-general, dies in battle
Jun 5th - Tomas Genoves y Lapetra, composer, dies at 55
Jun 6th - Giuseppe Concone, Italian singing teacher, dies at 59
Jun 6th - Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1810)
Jun 25th - Abd-ul-Mejid, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1823)
Jun 29th - Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, writer, dies at 55
Jul 2nd - Peter A de Genestet, vicar/poet, dies at 31
Jul 7th - John Willis Ellis, US governor of NC (1858-61), dies
Jul 13th - Robert Selden Garnett, US Confederate brig-general, dies at 41
Jul 21st - Francis Stebbins Bartow, Confederate colonel, dies in battle at 44
Jul 22nd - Barnard Elliot Bee, US Confederate brig-general, dies at 37
Jul 25th - Jonas Furrer, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1805)
Aug 10th - Nathaniel Lyon, US Union brig-gen, dies in battle at 43
Aug 12th - Eliphalet Remington, American inventor, designer of the Remington rifle (b. 1793)
Aug 17th - Alcée Louis la Branche, American Politician (b. 1806)
Aug 22nd - Xianfeng, Emperor of China (b. 1831)
Aug 29th - Franz Joseph Glaser, composer, dies at 63
Sep 14th - Fortunato Santini, composer, dies at 83
Oct 5th - Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish bishop (b. 1778)
Oct 6th - Elias Canneman, liberal minister of Finance (1813-14), dies at 84
Oct 21st - Edward Dickinson Baker, US attorney/senator, dies in battle at 50
Oct 21st - John Breckinridge Grayson, Confederate brig-general, dies
Oct 25th - Friedrich C von Savigny, German lawyer, dies at 82
Nov 11th - Pedro V van Alcantara, King of Portugal (1853-61), dies at 24
Nov 28th - Robert Fuhrer, composer, dies at 54
Dec 14th - Albert, Prince consort of England and husband of Queen Victoria, dies at 42
Dec 14th - George HG earl of Aberdeen, Engl Minister of Foreign affairs, dies at 76
Dec 14th - Heinrich August Marschner, composer, dies at 66
Dec 15th - Gualtiero Sanelli, composer, dies at 45
Dec 16th - Karol Joseph Lipinski, composer, dies at 71
Dec 26th - Philip St George Cocke, Confederate brig-gen, commits suicide at 52