James Longstreet (1821-1904)
Jan 8 American Confederate general (1st Corps, ANV), born in Edgefield, South Carolina
- Jan 15 Lafayette McLaws, United States Army officer and Confederate general, born in Augusta, Georgia (d. 1897)
- Jan 21 John C. Breckinridge, American politician (14th US VP (1857-61 at just 36) and Confederate general, born near Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1875)
- Jan 27 John Chivington, American officer, (d. 1892)
- Jan 29 Isaac Ferdinand Quinby, American General (Union Army), born in Morristown, New Jersey (d. 1891)
Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910)
Feb 3 English-American physician who was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, born in Bristol, England
- Feb 10 William Read Scurry, (Confederate Army Brigadier General, (d. 1864))
- Feb 11 Auguste-Édouard Mariette, French Egyptologist (d. 1881)
- Feb 11 Hermann Allmers, writer
- Feb 15 Abraham de Amorie van der de Have, Dutch theologist and poet, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1848)
- Feb 16 Heinrich Barth, German geographer and explorer (Central Africa), born in Hamburg, Germany (d. 1865)
- Feb 19 Francis Preston Blair Jr., (Rep-Missouri), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1875)
- Feb 21 Charles Scribner, American magazine and book publisher, born in New York City (d. 1871)
- Mar 1 Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Catholic bishop (d. 1896)
John Abbott (1821-1893)
Mar 12 3rd Prime Minister of Canada (Conservative: 1891-92), born in Saint-Andre, Quebec
- Mar 12 Luitpold von Bayern, Prince-regent of Bayern
- Mar 14 Jens Worsaae, Danish archaeologist, historian and politician, born in Vejle, Denmark (d. 1885)
- Mar 15 Eduard Heine, German mathematician (d. 1881)
- Mar 15 Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian scientist (d. 1895)
- Mar 15 William Milligan, Scottish theologian (d. 1892)
- Mar 16 Ernest Feydeau, French author (Georges Feydeau)
- Mar 19 Francis Barretto Spinola, American politician and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Old Field, New York (d. 1891)
Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)
Mar 19 English explorer and translator (Arabian Nights), born in Torquay, Devon
- Mar 19 William Allingham, Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Irish poet (The Fairies, Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland)
- Mar 23 Aleksej F Pisemski, Russian writer (Clodhopper)
- Mar 24 Elisa Felix [Rachel], tragedienne
- Mar 24 [George] Hector Tyndale, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1880)
- Mar 26 Ernst Engel, German statistician and economist (Law of Engel), born in Dresden, Germany (d. 1896)
- Mar 29 Joshua Thomas Owen, British-American educator, politician, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Carmarthen, United Kingdom (d. 1887)
- Apr 3 T. Pelham Dale, Anglican clergyman prosecuted for Ritualist practices in the 1870s, born in Greenwich (d. 1892)
- Apr 4 Linus Yale Jr., American portrait painter and inventor (Yale cylinder lock), born in Salisbury, New York (d. 1868)
- Apr 9 Charles-Pierre Baudelaire, French poet and translator (Les Fleurs du mal), born in Paris, France (d. 1867)
- Apr 15 Joseph E. Brown, American attorney and politician (42nd Governor of Georgia), born in Pickens, South Carolina (d. 1894)
- Apr 16 Ford Madox Brown, British painter, born in Calais, France (d. 1893)
- Apr 19 Mortimer Dormer Leggett, American Major General (Union Army), born in Ithaca, New York (d. 1896)
- May 2 Abram Sanders Piatt, American farmer, publisher, poet, politician, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1908)
- May 8 William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman, member of the Vanderbilt family, born in New Brunswick, New Jersey (d. 1885)
- May 11 [Carlos] Charles John Stolbrand, Swedish-American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Skåne, Sweden (d. 1894)
- May 16 Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician (d. 1894)
- May 17 Sebastian Kneipp, Bavarian priest and naturopathist (known for "Kneipp Cure" form of hydrotherapy), born in Stephansried, Germany (d. 1897)
- May 21 John F. Loudon, Dutch sugar and indigo manufacturer, whose Deft collection was left to the Rijksmuseum, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1895)
- May 22 Alfred Sully, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1879)
- Jun 2 Ion Bratianu, (Lib), premier of Romania (1876-88)
- Jun 4 Apollon Maykov, Russian poet, born in Moscow, Imperial Russia (d. 1897)
- Jun 8 John Dunlap Stevenson, American attorney, politician, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Staunton, Virginia (d. 1897)
- Jun 8 Samuel White Baker, English explorer (Ceylon & Egypt), born in London, England (d. 1893)
- Jun 12 Henry Moses Judah, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Snow Hill, Maryland (d. 1866)
- Jun 13 Albert, 4th duc de Broglie, Prime Minister of France (1873-74, 1977), born in Paris (d. 1901)
- Jun 13 Gustavus Fox, U.S. Navy officer (Mexican–American War), born in Saugus, Massachusetts (d. 1883)
- Jun 26 Bartolomé Mitre [Martínez], Argentine general, author, statesman and President (1862-1868), born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 1906)
Charles Tupper (1821-1915)
Jul 2 6th Prime Minister of Canada (Conservative: 69-day term in 1896), born in Amherst, Nova Scotia
- Jul 6 Edward Pettus, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Athens, Alabama (d. 1907)
- Jul 8 Jozef Lies, Flemish painter, born in Antwerp (d. 1865)
- Jul 8 William Harvey Lamb Wallace, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Urbana, Ohio (d. 1862)
- Jul 10 Christopher Columbus Augur, American Major General (Union Army), born in Kendall, New York (d. 1898)
- Jul 12 Daniel Harvey Hill, Confederate General (American Civil War), born in York District, South Carolina (d. 1889)
Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877)
Jul 13 American slave trader, Confederate lieutenant general and KKK Grand Wizard, born in Chapel Hill, Tennessee
Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910)
Jul 16 American founder of the religious movement, Christian Science (Science & Health), born in Bow, New Hampshire
- Jul 21 Vasile Alecsandri, Romanian foreign minister, diplomat and poet, born in Bacau, Moldova (d. 1890)
Bill the Butcher (1821-1855)
Jul 24 American gang member (New York City's Bowery Boys), born in Sussex County, New Jersey
- Aug 4 James Springer White, American theologian (co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church), born in Palmyra, Maine (d. 1881)
Louis Vuitton (1821-1892)
Aug 4 French founder of the Louis Vuitton brand of leather goods now owned by LVMH, born in Anchay, France
- Aug 10 Jay Cooke, American financier (d. 1905)
- Aug 14 Clement H. Stevens, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Norwich, Connecticut (d. 1864)
- Aug 21 William Barksdale, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Smyrna, Tennessee (d. 1863)
- Aug 29 Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet, French anthropologist who was the first to organize and classify Stone Age cultures into a chronological sequence of epochs, born in Meylan, France (d. 1898)
- Aug 30 Anita Garibaldi, Brazilian warrior; Garibaldi's wife (War of Tatters), born in Laguna, Santa Catarina, Brazil (d. 1849)
- Aug 31 Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician and physicist, born in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1894)
- Sep 8 Henry Baxter, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Sidney, New York (d. 1873)
- Sep 11 Erastus Flaval Beadle, American publisher (Beadle's Dime Novels), born in Oswego County, New York (d. 1894)
- Sep 24 Cyprian Norwid, Polish painter, poet and playwright (Wanda), born in Głuchy, Poland (d. 1883)
- Sep 26 Alvin Peterson Hovey, American judge, 21st Governor of Indiana (1889-1891), andBrevet Major General (Union Army), born in Mount Vernon, Indiana (d. 1891)
- Sep 27 Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Swiss writer (Grains de Mil), born in Geneva, Switzerland (d. 1881)
- Sep 28 Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, American politician (Secretary of State and Superintendent of Public Instruction of Florida) and Presbyterian minister, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1874)
- Oct 2 Alexander P. Stewart, American Lieutenant General (Confederate Army), born in Rogersville, Hawkins County, Tennessee (d. 1908)
- Oct 7 Richard Heron Anderson, Lt Gen (Confederate Army), (d. 1879)
- Oct 7 William Still, African-American abolitionist, businessman and conductor of the Underground Railroad, born in Shamong Township, New Jersey (d. 1902)
George Williams (1821-1905)
Oct 11 English philanthropist and founder of YMCA, born in Dulverton, West Somerset, England
Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902)
Oct 13 German politician, anthropologist and pathologist (cell pathology), born in Schivelbein, Prussia
Collis P. Huntington (1821-1900)
Oct 22 American business tycoon and railroad executive (Central Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Railroad), born in Harwinton, Connecticut
- Nov 2 Sir George Bowen, British provincial governor and 5th Governor of New Zealand (1868-73), born in Taughboyne, County Donegal, Ireland (d. 1899)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)
Nov 11 Russian novelist (Crime and Punishment, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man) who helped shape literary modernism and existentialism, born in Moscow, Russian Empire
- Nov 23 Charles Meryon, British-French etcher who was color blind, born in Paris (d. 1868)
- Nov 30 Frederick Temple, 95th Archbishop of Canterbury, born in Levkás, Greece (d. 1902)
- Nov 30 Gustavus Woodson Smith, American Major General (Confederate States Army), born in Georgetown, Kentucky (d. 1896)
- Dec 2 Rufus Barringer, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina (d. 1895)
- Dec 10 Nikolay Alekseyevich Nekrasov, Russian poet, writer and publisher (Russkije Zjenjshiny), born in Nemyriv, Russian Empire (d. 1877)
- Dec 12 Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (Madame Bovary), born in Rouen, France (d. 1880)
- Dec 17 Frederick West Lander, American poet and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Salem, Massachusetts (d. 1862)
- Dec 19 Mary Ashton Livermore, American social reformer and women's suffrage leader (President of American Woman Suffrage Association 1878-95) born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1905)
Clara Barton (1821-1912)
Dec 25 American nurse and founder of the American Red Cross, born in North Oxford, Massachusetts
- Dec 27 Jane Wilde, Irish poet, nationalist and mother of Oscar Wilde, born in Wexford (d. 1896)