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1890 - Kaiser Wilhelm II gives Otto von Bismark the old heave-ho. Idaho and Wyoming become the 43rd and 44th U.S. States. Vincent van Gogh, greatest painter the world has ever seen, commits suicide. Corrugated cardboard is invented. Ho Chi Minh, Grouch Marx, Dwight Eisenhower and Jelly Roll Morton are born.
1889 - March 31
The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated
1887 - In one of the most serious miscariages of justice in US history, August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, and Samuel Fielden are hanged for inciting riot and murder in the Haymarket Riot, in which a bomb thrown by persons unknown killed eight policemen. No evidence was ever presented that any of them had anything to do with the bomb and one of them, Spies, was not present at the demonstration. They were, plain and simple, executed for organising the Haymarket rally and for being anarchists. All seven are pardoned by Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld six years later when they are dead and it is of no use to them.
1886 - Chicago - The Haymarket Riots
1887 - The Japanese company Yamaha is founded.
1888>>>>>>>>>>>nice one!
1886
Can't believe 1888 went by without a reference to Jack the Ripper!
The Year at a glance:
January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.
January 29 - Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.
February 14 - First trainload of oranges left Los Angeles via the transcontinental railroad.
March ? - Linfield F.C. is formed in Belfast
March 17 - Carrollton Massacre: 20 African Americans are killed in Mississippi.
April 25 - Easter occurs on latest possible date (next in 1943)
May 1 - the start of the general strike in the United States which escalated into Haymarket Riot and eventually won the eight-hour workday in the U.S.
May 4 - Emil Berliner started working on inventing the gramophone.
May 8 - Pharmacist Dr. John Stith Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that would be named "Coca-Cola."
May 10 - The Football Association approves N. L. Jackson's proposal that each player be awarded a cap for each international match in which he plays.
May 29 - Chemist John Pemberton begins to advertise Coca-Cola (ad in the Atlanta Journal).
June 2 - U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the first and only president to wed in the executive mansion. She is 27 years his junior.
June 10 - Eruption of Mount Tarawera volcano in New Zealand, resulting in the deaths of over 150 people and the destruction of the famous Pink and White Terraces.
June 30 - Royal Holloway, University of London opened by Queen Victoria in Surrey United Kingdom.
July 25 ? Steve Brodie fakes a jump from the Brooklyn Bridge
June 13 - A fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia.
August 4 ? William Ewart Gladstone fails to secure enough support for the Irish Home Rule in the British parliament
August 20 - A massive hurricane demolishes the town of Indianola, Texas
August 31 - Huge Earthquake hits South Carolina USA. Earthquake rods installed afterwards... Much Damage.
September 4 - Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo surrenders with his last band of warriors to General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.
September 15 - First day of school in the newly founded Alhambra School District.
October 7 - Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba.
October 28 - In New York Harbor, US President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.
November 30 - Folies Bergère stages its first revue.
1885
Jan 26 - Death of General Gordon in Khartoum, Soudan.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 11, 1884, daughter of lovely Anna Hall and Elliott Roosevelt, younger brother of Theodore.
1883
Feb. 28. 1st US vaudeville theater opens (Boston)
May 6 Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Speckled Band" (BG)
July 3 Franz Kafka born on Czech, author (Metamorphosis, Trial, Amerika)
Aug. 1 Inland postal service begins in Great Britain
Aug 26 Krakatoa erupts with increasingly large explosions kills 36,000
1882
April 3 - Old West outlaw Jesse James, passing under the name of Howard, is shot in the back and killed in his own home by Robert Ford for a $5,000 reward. Strangely, Bob Ford and his brother put on a stage play entitled "How I Killed Jesse James." It was not a success. Bob Ford lived to hear himself vilified as " The dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard and laid poor Jesse in his grave." Ford was latter shot and killed himself for mouthing off to the wrong man while drunk.
1881:
Louis Pasteur discovers a vaccine for anthrax
January 25 - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.
April 28 - Billy the Kid escapes from New Mexico jail.
July 20 - Indian Wars: Sioux chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana.
October 26 - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona, USA.
November 19 - A meteorite struck earth near the village of Großliebenthal, a few kilometers southwest of Odessa, Ukraine.
1880
February 2 - The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana.
May 13 - In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
July 1 - First performance of O Canada, the song that would become the national anthem of Canada.
July 16 - First woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada - Dr. Emily Howard Stowe.
August 30 - First complete railroad trip made from Houston to New Orleans on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad.
October - terrible winter storm in North America, the "Blizzard of 1880".
October 15 - Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
November - James Garfield defeats Winfield S. Hancock in the U.S. presidential election.
November 4 - The first cash register was patented by James and John Ritty of Dayton, Ohio.
November 11 - Australian bushranger and bank robber Ned Kelly is hanged in Melbourne. Known as "The Knight in Rusty Armor" for the bullet-proof armor he had made for himself and his gang. Kelly was the only man strong enough to wear a full suit. They got him by shooting him in the unprotected legs.
December 20 - Action at Bronkhorstspruit, the first major action of the First Boer War.
1879................
....... Jan 8 - General Roberts occupies Kandahar
Jan 22 - Zulus trounce British at Isandhwala
June 26 - Khedive of Egypt deposed
Aug 28 - Cetewayo, king of Zulus, captured
Oct 12 - Roberts occupies Kabul
Dec 28 - Tay bridge disaster
1877 - November 21
Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph
1878
October 1 - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. (This is of local interest, as Virginia Tech is about 75 miles away in Blacksburg, VA. and many of us are dedicated Hokie fans!) http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...d-Football.jpg
1876 - July 4
The United States celebrates its centennial
1875
February 25 - The majority of the Yavapai (Wipukyipai) and Tonto Apache (Dil Zhéé) tribes were forced by the U.S. Calvary under command of Brigadier General George Crook to walk at gunpoint from the Arizona's Verde Valley, now named the towns of Camp Verde and Clarkdale and the cities of Cottonwood and Sedona to the San Carlos Indian Reservation, 180 miles to the southeast. The two tribes were not allowed to return to the Verde Valley until 1900.
1874
July 1- The first public zoo in the U.S. opens, at Philadelphia.
July 24 - Mathew Evans and Henry Woodward patent the first incandescent lamp with an electric light bulb.
October 19 - Modern University of Zagreb founded in Zagreb
November 4 - Democrats regain the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 1860.
November 7 - Harper's Weekly publishes a cartoon by Thomas Nast considered the first important use of an elephant as a symbol for the Republican Party.
November 10 - John Ernst Worrell Keely demonstrates his "induction resonance motion motor" (later investigation reveals fraud behind another perpetual motion machine).
November 25 - The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party made primarily of farmers financially hurt by the Panic of 1873.
1873
January 17 - Indian Wars: First Battle of the Stronghold during the Modoc War. (Modoc War. Interesting title. As anyone who has read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee would probably agree.)
April 15 - 17 - Indian Wars: Second Battle of the Stronghold
June 4 - Indian Wars: The Modoc War ends with the capture of Captain Jack. (How did they capture Captain Jack? The very members of his tribe that urged him to fight and persuaded him to kill an army general turned tratior and turned him in. He was hanged.)
1872 - December 12
Meteorite strikes Earth near Banbury, England
1871
October 8 - Four major fires break out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, Holland, Michigan, and Manistee, Michigan. The Great Chicago Fire is the most famous of these, having left nearly 100,000 people homeless, although the Peshtigo Fire killed as many as 2,500 people making it the deadliest fire in United States history.
1870
Buffalo hunters begin moving onto the plains, brought there by the expanding railroads and the growing market for hides and meat back east. In little more than a decade, they reduce the once numberless herd to an endangered species.
Railroad companies begin massive advertising campaigns to attract settlers to their land grants in the West, sending agents to rural areas in the eastern states and throughout Europe to distribute handbills, posters and pamphlets that tout the rich soil and favorable climate of the region. But the higher costs of railroad land compared to public lands, and the fact that railroads pay no taxes on their lands, soon stirs charges of extortion, leading to state laws controlling railroad rates and land sale practices by the decade's end.
1869
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:):)
somthing is wrong with the smilies!!!*gasp**
1868
April: Magdala in Ethiopia captured by British - Emperor Theodore commits suicide
June: Michael III of Serbia assassinated
September: Queen Isabella II of Spain deposed
1867 - July 1
The Dominion of Canada is created by the British North America Act
1866
Austro-Prussian war.
Austro-Italian war.
Gen Crook (and my great-grandpa) start fighting Snake River Indians.
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1865
Lewis Carroll publishes Alice's adventures in Wonderland
Gregor Mendel formulate his theories of Mendelian inheritance-they are mainly ignored for years....and then I go and study them! :)
In the market square of Springlefield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots Dave Tutt dead in what is regarded as the first true western showdown
1864
February 27 - American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia. also george bush made his first sandwitch (This place was hell on earth.)
May 5 - American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
May 7 - American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
May 11 - American Civil War: Battle of Yellow Tavern - Confederate General JEB Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern, Virginia.
May 12 - American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: The "Bloody Angle" - thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die.
May 13 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca - the battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
May 15 - American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia - Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
May 18 - Civil War gold hoax - New York World and the New York Journal of Commerce publish a fake proclamation that president Abraham Lincoln has issued a draft of 400,000 more soldiers
May 20 - American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church - In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory
June 5 - American Civil War: Battle of Piedmont - Union forces under General David Hunter defeat a Confederate army at Piedmont, West Virginia, taking nearly 1,000 prisoners.
June 10 - American Civil War: Battle of Brice's Crossroads - Confederate troops under Nathan Bedford Forrest defeat a much larger Union force led by General Samuel D. Sturgis in Mississippi.
June 12 - American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor: - General Ulysses S. Grant pulls his troops from their positions at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south.
June 15 - Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres (0.8 km²) of the grounds of Robert E. Lee's home Arlington House are officially set-aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
June 15 - American Civil War: Battle of Petersburg begins - Union forces under General Grant and troops led by Confederate General Robert E. Lee battle for the last time
July 18 - President Lincoln issues a true proclamation of conscription of 500.000 men for the US Civil War
July 20 - American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek - Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
July 22 - American Civil War: Battle of Atlanta - Outside of Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate General Hood leads an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General Sherman on Bald Hill.
July 24 - American Civil War: Battle of Kernstown - Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep the Yankees out of the Shenandoah Valley.
July 28 - American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church begins - Confederate troops led by General Hood make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces under General Sherman from Atlanta, Georgia.
July 29 - American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC.
July 30 - American Civil War: Battle of the Crater - Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.
August 5 - American Civil War: Battle of Mobile Bay begins - At Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
August 18 - American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern - Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Weldon Railroad, forcing the Confederates to use wagons.
August 31 - American Civil War: Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
September 1 - American Civil War: Confederate General Hood evacuates Atlanta after a four month siege mounted by Union General Sherman.
September 2 - American Civil War: Union forces under General Sherman enter Atlanta a day after the Confederate defenders fled the city.
September 7 - American Civil War: Atlanta, Georgia is evacuated on orders of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman
October 2 - American Civil War: Battle of Saltville - Union forces attack Saltville, Virginia but are defeated by Confederate troops. (Just across the mountain from the house!)
October 9 - American Civil War: Battle of Tom's Brook - Union cavalrymen in the Shenandoah Valley defeat Confederate forces at Tom's Brook, Virginia.
October 28 - American Civil War: Second Battle of Fair Oaks ends - Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant withdraw from Fair Oaks, Virginia, after failing to breach the Confederate defenses around Richmond, Virginia.
November 4 - American Civil War: Battle of Johnsonville - At Johnsonville, Tennessee, troops under the command of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest bombard a Union supply base with artillery and destroy millions of dollars in materiel.
November 8 - U.S. presidential election, 1864: Abraham Lincoln is reelected in an overwhelming victory over George McClellan.
November 15 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea begins - Union General Sherman burns Atlanta and starts to move south, destroying everything in his path in order to punish the Confederates for starting the war.
November 22 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate General John Bell Hood invades Tennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General Sherman from Georgia.
November 29 - Indian Wars: Sand Creek Massacre - Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington massacre at least 400 Cheyenne and Arapahoe noncombatants at Sand Creek, Colorado (where they had been given permission to camp).(This was the most despicable act of many done by the white people against Native Anericans!)
November 30 - American Civil War: Battle of Franklin - The Army of Tennessee led by General Hood mounts a dramatically unsuccessful frontal assault on Union positions around Franklin, Tennessee (Hood lost six generals and almost a third of his troops).
December 4 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea - At Waynesboro, Georgia, forces under Union General Judson Kilpatrick prevent troops led by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler from interfering with Union General Sherman's campaign of destroying a wide swath of the South on his march to Savannah, GA (Union forces did suffer more than three times the casualties as the Confederates, however).
December 15-16 - American Civil War: Union forces decisively defeat the Confederate Army of Tennessee at the Battle of Nashville
1863
January 1 - Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the second year of the American Civil War making slavery's abolition in the rebel states an official war goal.
January 10 - The first section of the London Underground Railway opens (Paddington to Farringdon Street).
January 21 - Adam Opel founded Opel AG.
April 30 - the Battle of Camarón in Mexico - 65 soldiers of the French Foreign Legion fight 2000 Mexicans - three of them survive the battle.
May 1 – May 4 - American Civil War: General Robert E. Lee defeats Union forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville with 13,001 Confederate casualties, among them Stonewall Jackson lost to friendly fire, and 17,500 Union casualties.
July 1 - 3 - American Civil War: Union forces under George G. Meade turn back a Confederate invasion by Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg, the largest battle of the war. 28,000 Confederate casualties, 23,000 Union.
August 17 - American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter. Bombardment will not end until Thursday, December 31
October 15 - American Civil War: The first successful (?) submarine, the CSS Hunley sinks during a test, killing Horace Lawson Hunley (its inventor) and a crew of seven.
Forget trying to edit! :flare:
1862
January 30 - The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.
February 1 - Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is published for the first time (Atlantic Monthly).
February 6 - American Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant gives the United States its first victory of the war, by capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee, known as the Battle of Fort Henry.
February 15 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee and captures it the next day.
February 22 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis officially inaugurated in Richmond, Virginia, to a six-year term as president of the Confederate States of America.
March 7 - American Civil War: Confederates shut out of Missouri at The Battle of Pea Ridge.
March 8 - American Civil War: The iron-clad CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) is launched at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
March 9 - American Civil War: First battle between two ironclad warships USS Monitor v CSS Virginia
March 13 American Civil War: The US federal government forbids all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
March 28 - American Civil War: Battle of Glorieta Pass - In New Mexico Union forces succeed in stopping the Confederate invasion of New Mexico territory. The battle began on March 26.
April 5 - American Civil War: Battle of Yorktown - The battle begins when Union forces under General George McClellan close in on the Confederate capital Richmond, Virginia.
April 6 - American Civil War: In Tennessee, the Battle of Shiloh begins.
April 7 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh - Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeats the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee.
April 12 - American Civil War: Andrew's Raid - Union The Great Locomotive Chase
May 11 - American Civil War: The ironclad CSS Virginia is scuttled in the James River northwest of Norfolk, Virginia.
May 15 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture (later renamed USDA).
May 20 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
June 1 - American Civil War: Battle of Fair Oaks ends - Both sides claim victory.
June 4 - American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.
June 6 - American Civil War: Battle of Memphis - Union forces capture Memphis, Tennessee from the Confederates
June 8 - American Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys - Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson save the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by General George McClellan.
July 1 - Marriage of Princess Alice, second daughter of Queen Victoria to Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine.
July 1 - United States president Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Pacific Railway Acts authorizing construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad.
July 2 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Morrill Land Grant Act into law, creating land-grant colleges to teach agricultural and mechanical sciences across the United States.
July 16 - American Civil War: David G. Farragut becomes the first United States Navy rear admiral.
July 19 - American Civil War: Morgan's Raid - At Buffington Island in Ohio, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan's raid into the north is mostly thwarted when a large group of his men are captured while trying to escape across the Ohio River.
July 23 - American Civil War: Henry W. Halleck takes command of the Union Army.
August 2 - American Civil War: Skirmish at Taberville, MO -Union forces force Confederate troops to march south, near Taberville, Missouri
August 5 - American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge - Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city.
August 6 - American Civil War: The Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering damage in a battle with the USS Essex near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
August 9 - American Civil War: Battle of Cedar Mountain - At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union forces under General John Pope.
August 17 - Indian Wars: Lakota (Sioux) uprising begins in Minnesota as desperate Lakota attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. They will be overwhelmed by the US military six weeks later.
August 19 - Indian Wars: During an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily-defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.
August 28-August 30 - American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run (If you're a Yankee, that's Manasas!)
......* September 1 - American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly - Confederate General Robert E. Lee leads his forces in an attack on retreating Union troops in Chantilly, Virginia, driving them away.
September 2 - American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Second Bull Run.
September 5 - American Civil War: In the Confederacy's first invasion of the North, General Robert E. Lee leads 55,000 men of the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River at White's Ford near Leesburg, Virginia, into Maryland.
September 12 - American Civil War: Battle of Harpers Ferry - Confederates capture the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
September 17 - American Civil War: Battle of Antietam - Union forces defeat Confederate troops at Sharpsburg, Maryland, in the bloodiest day in U.S. history (with over 22,000 casualties). (Us Southerners never heard of Sharpsburg-- Antienam, we knew.)
September 19 - American Civil War: Battle of Iuka - Union troops under Major General William Rosecrans defeat a Confederate force commanded by Major General Sterling Price at Iuka, Mississippi.
September 22 - American Civil War: Preliminary announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln
October 8 - American Civil War: Battle of Perryville - Union forces under General Don Carlos Buell halt the Confederate invasion of Kentucky by defeating troops led by General Braxton Bragg at Perryville, Kentucky.
October 11 - American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north.
November 5 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln removes George McClellan as commander of the Union Army.
November 5 - Indian Wars: In Minnesota, more than 300 Santee Sioux are found guilty of rape and murder of white settlers and are sentenced to hang.
November 14 - American Civil War: Union President Abraham Lincoln approves General Ambrose Burnside's plan to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia (this led to a dramatic Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13).
November 28 - American Civil War: Battle of Cane Hill - Union troops led by General John Blunt push back Confederate forces commanded by General John Marmaduke into northwestern Arkansas' Boston Mountains.
December 2 - First US Navy hospital ships enter service
December 18 - General Order No. 11 is issued by General Ulysses S. Grant.
December 26 – William D. Duly hangs 38 Dakota Sioux in Minnesota
December 26 -December 29 - American Civil War: Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.
December 30 - The USS Monitor sinks off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (I go there on vacation, The Graveyard of the Atlantic!)
December 31 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union (thus dividing Virginia in two); meanwhile, the Battle of Stones River is fought near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. (We didn't mind!)
1861
March 17: Victor Emmanuel recognised as King of Italy
June 6: Death of Count Cavour
1860
1860 AD -2nd Maori War Begins -The Second Maori war was fought from 1860-1872 between British colonist and native New Zealanders on the North Island. At the end of the largely guerilla war the natives were granted half the island.
1860 Garibaldi's men invade Sicily.
May- J. M. Barrie, writer of Peter Pan, born
June- Great Eastern arrives in New York
August-Prince of Wales visits United States
November-Abraham Lincoln elected sixteenth president of United States
1859
January 24 - Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexander John Cuza under the name Romania (see December 1, 1918 for the final unification, Transylvania and other regions were still missing at this time).
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February 14 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
February 27 - US congressman Daniel Sickles shoots Philip Barton Key for having an affair with his wife
March 26 - French amateur astronomer claims to have noticed a planet closer to the Sun than Mercury - later named Vulcan
April 25 - Ground is broken for the Suez Canal
May 21 - The bell Big Ben first activated
June 6 - The British Crown colony of Queensland in Australia is created by devolving part of the territory of New South Wales
July 6 - Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales.
July 11 - Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, faced with an expensive war against France and the Kingdom of Sardinia and potential revolution in Hungary, meets Napoleon III, who also worries at the costs of extending the war and fears the effects of Italian nationalism, at Villafranca. By the preliminary treaty signed there, hostilities cease. Lombardy is ceded to the French (who immediately cede it to Sardinia), while the Austrians keep Venetia and the French promise to restore the Central Italian rulers expelled in the course of the war. This brings the Austro-Sardinian War effectively to a close.
August 27 - Edwin Drake drills the first oil well in the United States, near Titusville, Pennsylvania
[September 2 - Peak of the great auroral storm seen nearly worldwide in the northern hemisphere.
September 18 - Joshua A. Norton proclaims himself "Emperor of These United States" (A very colorful character, well worth reading about!)
October 6 - Thomas Austin takes 24 rabbits and 5 hares to Australia in order to release them there as a game. They will multiply exponentially. (And how!)
October 12 - Self-described "Emperor of the United States" Joshua A. Norton 'orders' the U.S. Congress to dissolve.
October 16 - John Brown raids Harper's Ferry in Virginia, the signal for a general slave rebellion.
October 18 - Troops under Colonel Robert E. Lee overpower Brown at the Federal arsenal.
November 1 - The current Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse was lighted for the first time. Its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for nineteen miles.
November 24 - British naturalist Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, a book which argues that organisms gradually evolve through natural selection. (It immediately sold out its initial print run.)
December 2 - Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16th raid on Harper's Ferry.
1858 - July 29
The United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty
1857 -
Great Indian Mutiny
Sir Charles Wheatstone (inventer of the accordion) introduces "ticker tape" for use with telegraph.
Jan 9: Earthquake in San Francisco
Feb 22: Robert Baden-Powell, founder of Scout movement, born
Dec 3: Joseph Conrad born
1856 - January 29
Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross
1855 - The Great Train Robbery, in which several thousand pounds worth of gold, destined for the Crimean War, was stolen from a moving freight car on the Ashford-Folkestone rail line.