- Jan 1 1st US income tax (3% of incomes > $600, 5% of incomes > $10,000)
Romney Campaign
Jan 3 Romney Campaign: Stonewall Jackson moves north from Winchester, Virginia
- Jan 4 Romney Campaign: Stonewall Jackson occupies Bath, West Virginia
- Jan 7 Romney Campaign: Stonewall Jackson march towards Romney, West Virginia
- Jan 9 The first petroleum shipment (1,329 barrels) from the U.S. to Europe arrives at Victoria Docks, London, England aboard the Elizabeth Watts
- Jan 10 Battle of Big Sandy River, KY (Middle Creek)
- Jan 10 Romney expedition, Confederate Army military expedition begins in Romney, West Virginia (US Civil War)
- Jan 16 Hartley Colliery disaster results in 204 deaths
- Jan 17 -Jan 22nd) BBT Ft Henry, Tennessee by USS Lexington
- Jan 18 Confederate Territory of Arizona forms
- Jan 19 Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky (Fishing Creek, Logan's Crossroads)
- Jan 22 Confederate government raises premium for volunteers from $10 to $20
- Jan 23 Agoston Haraszthy, 1st vintner in Sonoma Valley, California imports 10,000 grape vine cuttings
- Jan 24 Romanian principality arises under King Alexander Cuza. Bucharest proclaimed its capital.
Battle of Interest
Jan 26 Lincoln issues General War Order #1, calling for a Union offensive, General George McClellan ignores order
Event of Interest
Feb 1 Ralph Waldo Emerson and Charles Sumner meet with President Abraham Lincoln at The White House, Washington
- Feb 6 American Civil War: Naval engagement on Tennessee River, USS Conestago vs CSS Appleton Belle
Battle of Fort Henry
Feb 6 General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Henry in Tennessee
Lily of Killarney Premieres
Feb 10 Julius Benedict and Dion Boucicault's opera "Lily of Killarney" premieres at Convent Garden in London
- Feb 13 -Feb 16th) Siege of Ft Donelson, Tennessee
- Feb 14 Galena, 1st US iron-clad warship for service at sea, launched, Connecticut
- Feb 15 Grant's major assault on Ft Donelson, Tennessee
- Feb 16 Fort Donelson is captured by General Ulysses S. Grant following the surrender of around 12,000 Confederate soldiers
Battle of Valverde
Feb 21 Texas Rangers win Confederate victory at Battle of Valverde, Confederate Arizona (now New Mexico)
- Feb 21 US Confederate Constitution and presidency come into effect, last until the end of the Civil War in 1865
1st US One-Dollar Notes
Feb 25 Congress forms US Bureau of Engraving and Printing to print newly issued US paper currency, the United States Notes
Legal Tender Act
Feb 25 First Legal Tender Act 1862 is passed by the US Congress, authorizing the United States Note (greenback) into circulation, the first fiat paper money that was legal tender in America
- Feb 26 Battle of Woodburn, Kentucky
- Feb 28 Charles Gounod's opera "La Reine de Saba" premieres in Paris
- Mar 3 Union forces under General Pope lay siege to New Madrid, Missouri (US Civil War)
- Mar 5 Union troops under Brigadier General Wright occupy Fernandina, Florida (US Civil War)
- Mar 6 Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas (Elkhorn Tavern)
- Mar 7 US Civil War: Battle of Pea Ridge (aka Elkhorn Tavern) (Arkansas), Day 2, Confederate Generals Ben McCulloch & James McIntosh killed
- Mar 8 Battle of Elkhorn Tavern ends with Confederate withdrawal
- Mar 8 Confederate ironclad "Merrimack" launched
- Mar 8 Naval Engagement at Hampton Roads, VA CSS Virginia, Jamestown & Yorktown vs USS Cumberland, Congress & Monitor
- Mar 9 USS Monitor and CSS Merrimack battle in Hampton Roads
- Mar 10 Great Britain & France recognise independence of Zanzibar
- Mar 10 US issues 1st paper money in the form of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000 notes
- Mar 11 Abraham Lincoln removes George McClellan as General-in-Chief of the US Army
- Mar 11 Confederate General Stonewall Jackson begins evacuation of Winchester, Virginia
- Mar 12 24th Grand National: Harry Lamplugh wins aboard The Huntsman; first French trained winner; only human fatality recorded in the event, jockey Joe Wynne
- Mar 14 Battle of New Bern North Carolina: General Burnside conquers New Bern
- Mar 15 General John Hunt Morgan begins 4 days of raids near Gallatin, Tennessee
- Mar 16 Battle at Pound Gap, Kentucky: Confederates separate battles
- Mar 22 San Marino & Italy conclude treaty of friendship & cooperation
- Mar 23 Battle of Kernstown Virginia, Jackson begins his Valley Campaign
- Mar 26 Battle of La Glorieta Pass, New Mexico Territory (Apache Canyon, Pigeon's Ranch)
- Mar 28 Skirmish at Bealeton Station, Virginia
- Mar 31 Civil War action at Island #10 on Mississippi River
- Apr 1 Shenandoah Valley campaign, Jackson's Battle of Woodstock, Virginia
- Apr 4 Peninsular Campaign, launched in southeastern Virginia, aimed at capturing Richmond during US Civil War begins, Confederate victory (US Civil War)
- Apr 4 Siege of Yorktown, fought in York County and Newport News, Virginia begins (Yorktown campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
- Apr 5 Siege of Yorktown, fought in York County and Newport News, Virginia ends (Yorktown campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
- Apr 6 Battle of Shiloh, Union defeats Confederacy near Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee
- Apr 7 Grant defeats Confederates at Battle of Shiloh, Tenn, Island #10 falls
- Apr 8 John D. Lynde patents aerosol dispenser
- Apr 11 Confederates surrender at Fort Pulaski, Georgia
- Apr 12 James Andrews steals Confederate train (General) at Kennesaw, Georgia
- Apr 12 Union troops occupy Fort Pulaski, Georgia
- Apr 14 Battle of Fort Pillow, Tennessee
Event of Interest
Apr 15 American poet Emily Dickinson first corresponds with author and future literary mentor Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a relationship that lasts the rest of her life
Event of Interest
Apr 20 First pasteurization test completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard
- Apr 21 Congress establishes US Mint in Denver, Colorodo
- Apr 21 Ellen Price Wood's "East Lynne" premieres in Boston
Event of Interest
May 1 Major General Benjamin Butler's Union forces occupy New Orleans (US Civil War)
- May 4 -5] Battle at Williamsburg, Virginia
- May 4 Yorktown, VA - Mcclellan halted his troop before town as it is full of armed torpedoes left by CS Brigadier General Gabrial Rains
- May 5 French army intervenes in Puebla, Mexico: Cinco de Mayo
- May 5 Peninsular Campaign-Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia
- May 7 Battle of West Point, Virginia (Eltham's Landing, Barnhamsville)
- May 7 Much of Enschede, Netherlands, destroyed by fire
- May 8 Valley Campaign: Federals repulsed at Battle of McDowell, Virginia
- May 9 Battle of Farmington, Mississippi
- May 9 Battle of Fort Pickens, Florida, Pensacola evacuated by Confederates
- May 9 US Naval Academy relocated from Annapolis Maryland to Newport, Rhode Island
- May 10 Battle of Plum Run Bend, Tennessee
- May 11 Confederates scuttle CSS Virginia off Norfolk, Virginia
- May 12 Federal troops occupies Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- May 14 Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patents chronograph
- May 15 -May 17] Battle of Princeton, West Virginia
- May 15 Battle of Drewry's Bluff (Fort Darling), Virginia
- May 15 Confederate ship Alabama launched as the Enrica at Birkenhead, England, where she had been built in secret
- May 15 First baseball enclosure opens at Union Grounds, Brooklyn
- May 15 Major General Benjamin Butler issues order (New Orleans) that Confederate women abusing Union soldiers be treated as whores
- May 15 US Department of Agriculture created
- May 16 Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir builds 1st automobile
- May 17 Battle of Princeton West Virginia, ends with about 128 causalities
- May 20 US President Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Homestead Act to provide cheap land for the settlement of the American West (80 million acres by 1900)
- May 23 Valley Campaign: Stonewall Jackson takes Fort Royal, Virginia
- May 24 Beardslee field telegraph used for 1st time
Westminster Bridge Defies a King and the Church
May 24 Westminster Bridge across The Thames in London opens, becoming the second such bridge after an earlier bridge fell into decay
- May 25 First Battle of Winchester, Virginia: Stonewall Jackson's Confederate forces achieve major victory
- May 27 Battle of Hanover Court House, Virginia (Slash Church, Peake's Station)
- May 30 Battle of Booneville MS - captured Gen Beauregard evacuates Corinth
- May 31 Battle of Seven Pines Virginia (Fair Oaks)
- Jun 1 2nd/last day of battle at Fair Oaks/7 Pines Virginia (11,165 casualties)
- Jun 1 African Slave Trade Treaty Act: Bilateral treaty between the US and UK abolishing the slave trade in all US possessions
Event of Interest
Jun 1 General Robert E. Lee assumes command after Joe Johnston is injured at Seven Pines
- Jun 2 Raid at Early's: Maryland towards Washington, D.C.
- Jun 2 Robert E. Lee takes command of Confederate armies of North Virginia during the American Civil War
- Jun 4 Confederates evacuate Fort Pillow, Tennessee
- Jun 6 Battle of Memphis fought on the Mississippi River, Union forces defeat Confederate fleet leading to the city's surrender
- Jun 6 Skirmish at Harrisonburg, Virginia, sees the Confederates win a minor victory in the Battle of Good's Farm
- Jun 7 General B. Butler orders William Mumford hanged after he removed and destroyed US flag on display over New Orleans Mint
- Jun 7 Skirmish at Union Church, Virginia (Peninsular)
- Jun 7 The United States and Britain agree to suppress the slave trade
- Jun 8 Valley Campaign-Battle of Cross Keys, Virginia
- Jun 9 Battle of Port Republic, last of 5 battles in Stonewall Jacksons Shenandoah Valley campaign, won by the Confederates
Event of Interest
Jun 15 Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart completes his "ride around McClellan"
- Jun 19 Slavery outlawed in US territories
- Jun 20 Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, is assassinated
- Jun 25 Battle of Oak Grove, Virginia (Orchard, Henrico, French's Field) (Kings's Schoolhouse) Day 1 of 7 Days
- Jun 26 Battle of Beaver Dam Creek-Union repulses Confederacy in Virginia
- Jun 26 Day 2 of 7 Days-Battle of Mechanicsville VA (Meadow Bridge)
- Jun 26 US Army of Virginia established under Gen John Pope
- Jun 27 -28] Battle at Garnett's/Golding's Farms, Virginia
- Jun 27 Battle of Gaines's Mill, VA (Cold Harbor, Chickahominy Bluffs) Day 3
- Jun 28 Day 4 of 7 Day Battle of Savage's Station [Garnett's Farm] in Virginia
- Jun 29 Day 5 of 7 Days-Battle of Savage's Station, Virginia
- Jun 30 Battle of Glendale [Frayser's Farm], day 6 of 7 days battles, Virginia Confederate assault attack (US Civil War)
- Jun 30 French writer Gustave Flaubert completes his novel "Salammbo"
Event of Interest
Jul 1 Alexander II of Russia grants Jews right to publish books
- Jul 1 Battle at Booneville Mississippi: Confederate superior power driven out
- Jul 1 Battle of Malvern Hill [Poindexter's Farm], day 7 of 7 days battles, Union forces repel Confederate attack, Tactical Union victory (US Civil War)
- Jul 1 The Russian State Library is founded in Moscow
- Jul 1 US Internal Revenue Law imposes 1st federal taxes on inheritance, tobacco and on incomes over $600 (progressive rate)
- Jul 2 Lincoln signs act granting land for state agricultural colleges
Event of Interest
Jul 4 Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) creates Alice in Wonderland for Alice Liddell on a family boat trip on the river Isis (Thames) in Oxford
- Jul 4 R Morgan's: Tomkinsville, KY to Somerset, KY [->JUL 28]
- Jul 6 Skirmish at Devall's Bluff, Arkansas (106 casualties)
- Jul 7 Land Grant Act endows state colleges with federal land
- Jul 8 Theodore R. Timby is granted a US patent for discharging guns in a revolving turret, using electricity
- Jul 8 US Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act signed by Abraham Lincoln (not enforced)
- Jul 9 General John Hunt Morgan captures Tompkinsville, Kentucky
Event of Interest
Jul 10 US begins construction of Central Pacific Railroad
- Jul 11 Lincoln appoints General Halleck general-in-chief
- Jul 12 Federal troops occupy Helena, Arkansas
- Jul 12 US Congress authorizes Medal of Honor
- Jul 13 Battle of Murfreesboro, fought in Rutherford County, Tennessee begins (Forrest's Raid), Confederate victory (US Civil War)
- Jul 15 CSS Arkansas vs USS Carondelet & Queen of the West engage at Yazoo River
- Jul 16 David Farragut is 1st Rear Admiral in US Navy
- Jul 17 John Hunt Morgan's raid reaches Cynthiana, Kentucky
- Jul 17 Naval Engagement at Pascagoula River Mississippi: USS Potomac Expedition
- Jul 17 United army officially divides corps
- Jul 17 US army authorized to accept African-Americans as laborers
- Jul 18 Battle of Newburgh, Indiana - captured by Union forces
- Jul 20 Guerrilla campaign in Georgia (Porter's & Poindexter's) [->SEP 20]
- Jul 23 President Lincoln names Army of the Potomac Gen. Henry Halleck as US Army General-in-Chief
- Jul 27 Massive typhoon hits Canton and Whampoa in China; at least 40,000 die
- Jul 27 Steamer "Golden Gate" burns and sinks off west coast of Mexico
- Jul 28 Confederate forces defeated at More's Hill, Missouri
- Jul 29 American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.
- Aug 4 US government collects its 1st income tax
- Aug 5 Battle of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Union forces prevent Confederate attempts to capture the city
- Aug 6 Confederate ironclad "Arkansas" is badly damaged in Union attack
- Aug 9 Battle of Cedar Mountain [Slaughter's Mountain], fought in Culpeper County, Virginia, Confederate victory (US Civil War)
Music Premiere
Aug 9 Hector Berlioz's opera "Beatrice et Benedict" premieres in Baden-Baden, Germany
- Aug 10 Battle of Nueces River TX
- Aug 12 Gen John Hunt Morgan & his raiders capture Gallatin, TX
- Aug 14 Abraham Lincoln receives the first group of African Americans to confer with a US president
- Aug 17 Confederate troops under Kirby Smith enter Kentucky
- Aug 18 General Lee's adjutant Major Stuart captured
- Aug 18 Sioux Indians begin uprising in Minnesota (it is later crushed)
- Aug 21 The Vienna Stadtpark opens its gates.
- Aug 22 Battle of Catlett's Station, VA
- Aug 22 Santee Sioux indian attack Fort Ridgely
- Aug 23 Skirmish at Big Hill, Kentucky (2 Federal regiments)
- Aug 25 US Secretary of War authorizes Gen Rufus Saxton to arm 5,000 slaves
- Aug 28 Battle of Groveton, Virginia (Manassas Plains) [->AUG 19]
- Aug 28 Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, Virginia
- Aug 28 Belle Boyd released from Old Capital Prison in Washington, D.C.
- Aug 29 Battle of Aspromonte; Italian royal forces defeat rebels
Second Battle of Bull Run
Aug 29 Second Battle of Bull Run, fought in Manassas, Virginia begins, Confederate victory (US Civil War)
- Aug 29 US Bureau of Engraving & Printing begins operation
- Aug 30 Battle of Altamont-Confederates beat Union forces in Tennessee
- Aug 30 Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia, ends with a Confederate victory over Union forces
- Sep 1 Battle at Chantilly (Ox Hill) Virginia (2100 casualties)
- Sep 1 Federal tax levied on tobacco
- Sep 4 General Lee begins the Maryland Campaign invading the North with 50,000 Confederate troops (US Civil war)
- Sep 4 North Beach & Mission Railway Company organized in San Francisco
- Sep 5 General Lee crosses Potomac & enters Maryland
- Sep 6 Stonewall Jackson occupies Frederick, Maryland
- Sep 9 Robert E. Lee splits his army & sends Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry
- Sep 11 British Open Men's Golf, Prestwick GC: Tom Morris Sr retains his title; beats Willie Park Sr. by 3 strokes
- Sep 12 Battle of Harpers Ferry VA
- Sep 14 Battle at Crampton's Gap: Union troops win a tactical victory over Confederate forces