On This Day

Historical Events in July 1865

  • Jul 2 One-time Methodist Reform Church minister William Booth and his wife Catherine found the Salvation Army (Army of the Salvation) as the East London Christian Mission

Book releaseHistoric Publication

Jul 4 First edition of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll is published

Author and Mathematician Lewis Carroll
Author and Mathematician
Lewis Carroll
  • Jul 5 Great Britain creates world's 1st speed limit law
  • Jul 5 US Secret Service begins operating under the Treasury Department

ExecutionExecution of Lincoln's Assassins

Jul 7 Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt are executed for their role in the conspiracy to assassinate US President Abraham Lincoln

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Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt are hung for their part in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt are hung for their part in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
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  • Jul 13 Horace Greeley, founder and editor of the "New-York Tribune" reputedly advises his readers to "Go west young man"

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jul 13 P. T. Barnum's museum burns down

Circus Showman and Businessman P. T. Barnum
Circus Showman and Businessman
P. T. Barnum
  • Jul 14 English mountaineer Edward Whymper leads first expedition to climb the Matterhorn (four die on the descent)
  • Jul 14 The Chickasaw Nation is the last of the Five Tribes to surrender to the Union following the Confederate defeat

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jul 21 In market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first true western showdown

Folk Hero of the American Old West Wild Bill Hickok
Folk Hero of the American Old West
Wild Bill Hickok
  • Jul 22 Underarm slow right arm bowler V E Walker takes 10-104 in an innings for Middlesex v Lancashire in a county cricket match at Old Trafford, Manchester
  • Jul 26 Patrick Francis Healy is 1st African American awarded PhD (from University of Leuven, Belgium)
  • Jul 26 The capital of New Zealand moves from Auckland to Wellington
  • Jul 27 Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina.
  • Jul 30 Pope Pius IX visits Suriname
  • Jul 31 The first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Australia

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