Directory

1861 CE

This year saw significant progress in the Unification of Italy, the outbreak of the American Civil War, and the emancipation reform abolishing serfdom in the Russian Empire.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 9 – Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union.source
  • January 10 – Florida secedes from the Union.source
  • January 11 – Alabama secedes from the Union.source
  • February 1 – Texas secedes from the Union.source
  • February 4 – In Montgomery, Alabama, the Provisional Confederate States Congress is formed by representatives from the first seven break-away states.source
  • March 4 – Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as the 16th president of the United States.source
  • March 11 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.source
  • March 17 – Unification of Italy: The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed by the new Parliament, with Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia becoming its king.source
  • March 21 – Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy, gives the infamous Cornerstone Speech in Savannah, Georgia, in which he declares that slavery is the natural condition of blacks, and the foundation of the Confederacy.source
  • March 28 – Confederate Arizona: A convention in modern-day Tucson ratifies the ordinance of secession of the southern part of New Mexico Territory.source
  • April 17 – Virginia secedes from the Union.source
  • May 6 – Arkansas secedes from the Union.source
  • May 7 – Tennessee secedes from the Union.source
  • May 13 – American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality", which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.source
  • May 23 – American Civil War: The state of Virginia's ordinance of secession from the United States is ratified in a referendum.source
  • May 31 – The Perpetual Truce of Peace and Friendship is signed between Bahrain and the United Kingdom.source
  • Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which lasts until September 3, when Confederate forces enter the state.source
  • North Carolina secedes from the Union.source
  • July 12 – The Confederate States sign a Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws in Indian Territory.source
  • August 6 – Lagos Treaty of Cession between the British Empire and Dosunmu, Oba of Lagos, by which the latter, under threat of military bombardment, cedes Lagos Island to Britain, whilst retaining his title and powers, subject to English law, and allowing the British Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron to have a base there to prevent the slave trade.source
  • October 28 – The Missouri legislature takes up a bill for Missouri's secession from the Union.source
  • November 8 – Trent Affair – The stops the United Kingdom mail ship Trent, and arrests two Confederate envoys, James Mason and John Slidell, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the U.K. and U.S.source
  • November 11 – The Tongzhi Emperor succeeds to the throne of China at the age of 5. His mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, becomes co-regent and will be the power behind the imperial throne for almost 50 years.source
  • December 10 – American Civil War: A rebel government representing Kentucky is accepted into the Confederate States of America, although Kentucky officially remains part of the United States.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 13 – Unification of Italy: The Siege of Gaeta, stronghold of the Neapolitan King Francis II, is ended by Piedmontese forces. Francis goes into exile.source
  • February 23 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. in light of suspicions of a conspiracy in Baltimore to kill him.source
  • March 4 – American Civil War: The "Stars and Bars" is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.source
  • March 10 – El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali.source
  • March 13 – Tsushima incident: The Russian corvette Posadnik arrives at Tsushima Island in the Korea Strait, Japan, provoking a reaction from the Japanese Shogunate.source
  • March 20 – Unification of Italy: The surrender of Civitella del Tronto ends the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.source
  • April 12 – The American Civil War begins with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, South Carolina.source
  • April 27 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in the United States.source
  • May 21 – Russian sailors clash with a group of Japanese samurai and farmers at Tsushima Island.source
  • July 21 – First Battle of Bull Run – At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war ends in a Confederate victory.source
  • July 25 – The Crittenden–Johnson Resolution is passed by the U.S. Congress, stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union, and not to end slavery.source
  • July 26 – George B. McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac, following the disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.source
  • August 10 – American Civil War: The first major battle west of the Mississippi River, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, is fought, with a Confederate victory.source
  • September 3 – Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.source
  • September 6 – Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant bloodlessly capture Paducah, Kentucky, which gives the Union control of the mouth of the Tennessee River.source
  • September 17 – Argentine Civil War: Battle of Pavón: Victory of Buenos Aires over the Argentine Confederation, and the re-unification of Argentina.source
  • October 17 – Australian frontier wars: Cullin-la-ringo massacre – 19 white settlers are murdered by indigenous Australians, following which more than 300 of the latter are killed in retaliation.source
  • October 21 – American Civil War: Battle of Ball's Bluff – Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops, in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is also killed in the fighting.source
  • November 2 – American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Frémont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.source
  • November 7 – Battle of Belmont – In Belmont, Missouri, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant (in his first combat leadership role) overrun a Confederate camp, but are forced to retreat when Confederate reinforcements arrive.source
  • November 19 – Battle of Round Mountain in Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma).source
  • November 21 – Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah P. Benjamin Secretary of War.source
  • November 25 – At a battle in the Sundarbans of Bengal, the house of Rahimullah of Baraikhali is attacked and he and 33 others are killed.source
  • December 1 – American Civil War: Trent Affair – The British government dispatches its response, partly drafted by Prince Albert (a fortnight before his death).source

Religion & Belief

  • February 20 – In Britain, storms damage the Crystal Palace and cause the collapse of the steeple of Chichester Cathedral.source
  • July 2 – Ivan Kasatkin lands on Hakodate, and introduces the Eastern Orthodox Church into Japan.source

Economy & Finance

  • May 29 – The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is established.source
  • In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government issues the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US$800; rescinded in 1872).source
  • October 25 – The Toronto Stock Exchange is established in Canada.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 1 – The first steam-powered carousel is recorded, in Bolton, England.source
  • May 17 – A 7-day working men's package holiday to Paris, organised by Thomas Cook, sets out from London Bridge station.source
  • October 24 – , the world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled armored battleship, is completed and commissioned into the British Royal Navy.source
  • October 24 – Western Union completes the first transcontinental telegraph line across the United States.source
  • The first industrial meat packing plant in Uruguay is established, at Fray Bentos.source

Science & Discovery

  • March 30 – Discovery of the chemical elements: British chemist William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.source
  • April 26 – Giovanni Schiaparelli discovers the asteroid 69 Hesperia.source
  • May 13 – Comet C/1861 J1 (the "Great Comet of 1861") is discovered from Australia.source
  • May 17 – Scottish-born physicist James Clerk Maxwell demonstrates the principle of permanent three-colour photography in a lecture at the Royal Institution in London using a photograph captured by Thomas Sutton.source
  • June 9 – Règlement Organique: With the approval of European powers, the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate is established as a semi-autonomous sub-division separate from the Sidon Eyalet. An Ottoman Armenian, Davud Pasha, is appointed Mutasarrıf by the Ottoman Sultan.source
  • August 1 – The first public weather forecast: measured and predicted correctly by Admiral Robert FitzRoy in Britain.source
  • August 15 – First description of Archaeopteryx, based on a feather found in Bavaria; in September the first complete identified skeleton is found near Langenaltheim in Germany.source
  • August 19 – Weisshorn, the fifth highest summit in the Alps, is first ascended.source

Health & Medicine

  • April 7 – A population census is taken in the United Kingdom. The population is more than double that of 1801 and those living in urban areas are in a majority.source

Crime & Justice

  • January 31 – Kukis raid the Chhagalnaiya plains in eastern Bengal, murdering and kidnapping hundreds of people, particularly women.source
  • May 13 – North Star affair: The British merchant ship North Star leaves Hong Kong for Nagasaki, Japan. Chinese pirates board the vessel, kill an officer, and escape with a large quantity of gold.source
  • August 27 – Martin Doyle is the last person executed in Britain for attempted murder.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • June 22 – Tooley Street fire breaks out and takes the life of James Braidwood, first superintendent of the London Fire Brigade.source
  • June 30 – Lambing Flat riots: White miners attack Chinese in the Australian goldfields.source
  • November 25 – A tenement collapses in the Old Town, Edinburgh (Scotland), killing 35 people, while 15 others survive.source
  • December 10 – In southern French Indochina, resistance forces led by Nguyễn Trung Trực ambush, board and sink the French lorcha (boat) L'Esperance on the Nhat Tao canal.source

Climate & Environment

  • March 20 – An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina.source
  • May 14 – The Canellas meteorite, an 859 gram chondrite type meteorite, strikes Earth near Barcelona, Spain.source
  • October 26 – The Pony Express American transcontinental mail service announces its closure.source
  • Statistically, this year is considered the end of the whale oil industry and (in replacement) the beginning of the petroleum oil industry.source

Culture & Society

  • February 21 – Mariehamn, the capital of Åland, is founded.source
  • March 3 (February 19 O.S.) – Emancipation reform of 1861: Alexander II abolishes serfdom in the Russian Empire.source
  • May 10 – The Royal Seminary is granted its constitution as the first public institution of higher academic learning open to women in Sweden.source
  • July 1 – The first issue of the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano is published.source
  • July 1 – In Cologne, the Wallraf–Richartz Museum of art opens.source
  • August 20–22 – The first modern Welsh National Eisteddfod takes place in Aberdare.source
  • November 4 – The University of Washington is founded in Seattle.source
  • November 5 – The first Melbourne Cup horse race is held in Melbourne, Australia.source

Births

  • February 15 – Alfred North Whitehead, English mathematician and philosopher (d. 1947)source
  • February 27 – Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher, social reformer and author (d. 1925)source
  • April 23 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, British soldier, administrator (d. 1936)source
  • May 7 – Rabindranath Tagore, Poet, novelist, dramatist, essayist, story-writer, composer, painter, philosopher, social reformer, educationist, linguist, grammarian, and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate for the collection of poems Gitanjali. (d. 1941)source
  • May 11 – Frederick Russell Burnham, American scouter (d. 1947)source
  • May 16 – Herman Webster Mudgett (alias H. H. Holmes), American serial killer (d. 1896)source
  • June 19 – José Rizal, Filipino national hero (d. 1896)source
  • June 20 – Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1947)source
  • July 7 – Nettie Stevens, American geneticist credited with the discovery of sex chromosomes (d. 1912)source
  • August 6 – Edith Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (d. 1948)source
  • August 9 – Dorothea Klumpke, American astronomer, Director of the Bureau of Measurements at the Paris Observatory (d. 1942)source
  • October 4 – Frederic Remington, American cowboy artist, sculptor (d. 1909)source
  • October 10 – Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, scientist and humanitarian, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1930)source
  • November 6 – James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (d. 1939)source

Deaths

  • January 17 – Lola Montez, Irish-born dancer, mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1821)source
  • March 10 – Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet (b. 1814)source
  • March 16 – Princess Victoria, Duchess of Kent and Strathearn, mother of Queen Victoria (b. 1786)source
  • April 15 – Isaiah Stillman, U.S. Army Major in the Black Hawk War (b. 1793)source
  • June 3 – Stephen A. Douglas, American senator from Illinois, Democratic presidential candidate (b. 1813)source
  • June 13 – Richard Lawrence, failed assassin of Andrew Jackson (b. 1800)source
  • June 25 – Abdülmecid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1823)source
  • June 25 – Abdülmecid I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1839–1861) dies and is succeeded by Abdülaziz (1861–1876).source
  • June 29 – Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (b. 1806)source
  • August 10 – Nathaniel Lyon, first Union Army General to die in combat in the American Civil War (b. 1818)source
  • August 12 – Eliphalet Remington, American gunsmith, founder of Remington Arms (b. 1793)source
  • August 22 – Xianfeng Emperor, 9th emperor of the Qing dynasty (b. 1831)source
  • August 28 – William Lyon Mackenzie, Scottish journalist, 1st Mayor of Toronto (b. 1795)source
  • November 10 – Death of French explorer Henri Mouhot, following which his servant Phrai begins shipping his diaries and specimens back to the west; they include accounts of Mouhot's discovery of Angkor Wat.source