- Jan 3 Konrad Duden, German linguist (the Duden dictionary), born in Lackhausen, Rhineland (d. 1911)
- Jan 5 Sir Roger Tichborne, missing U.K. heir who was the subject of the longest criminal trial in British history (d. c.1854)
- Jan 9 Adolf Schlagintweit, German botanist and explorer (Tarimbekken, executed after being mistaken for a spy), born in Munich, Germany (d. 1857)
- Jan 9 Thomas William Robertson, English playwright (Caste), born in Newark-on-Trent, England (d. 1871)
Catherine Booth (1829-1890)
Jan 17 Co-founder of the Salvation Army known as the 'Army Mother', born in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England [1]
- Jan 18 Louis van Haecke, Belgian chaplain and author (Blood to Bridge) (d. 1912)
- Jan 21 Oscar II Frederik, King of Sweden (1872-1907), King of Norway (1872-1905) and poet, born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1907)
- Jan 30 Alfred Cummings, American Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), born in Augusta, Georgia (d. 1910)
- Feb 1 John Potts Slough, American politician, lawyer and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1867)
- Feb 2 Alfred Brehm, German zoologist (d. 1884)
- Feb 11 William Anderson Pile, American politician, minister, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Indianapolis, Indiana (d. 1889)
- Feb 13 Gerard Keller, Dutch writer (Netherlands Spectator) (d. 1899)
- Feb 14 Alfred Iverson Jr., Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Clinton, Georgia (d. 1911)
- Feb 15 Silas Weir Mitchell, American physician (discovered causalgia, erythromelalgia) and author (Roland Blake, Hugh Wynne), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1914)
- Feb 18 Jean Jacques Alfred Mouton, American Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), born in Opelousas, Louisiana (d. 1864)
- Feb 21 Johnson Hagood, American politician (Governor of South Carolina 1880-82) and Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Barnwell, South Carolina (d. 1898)
Levi Strauss (1829-1902)
Feb 26 German-born American clothing designer who founded the 1st company to manufacture blue jeans (Levi Strauss & Co.), born in Buttenheim, Bavaria
- Mar 2 Carl Schurz, German-American journalist and Major General (Union Army), born in Erftstadt, Germany (d. 1906)
- Mar 14 Charles Charlesworth, English boy who died of old age (Progoria) before he was 7 years old, born in Straffordshire, England (d. 1836)
- Mar 18 William R Boggs, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army) and chief of engineers, born in Augusta, Georgia (d. 1911)
- Mar 19 Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish financier and industrialist (d. 1901)
- Mar 24 George Francis Train, American businessman (d. 1904)
- Mar 24 Ignacio Zaragoza, Mexican general (d. 1862)
- Mar 29 Ritta & Christina Parodi, Siamese twins, born in Sassare, Sardinia (d. 1829)
- Mar 29 Robert Emmet Rodes, American Civil War Confederate Army Major General, born in Lynchburg, Virginia (d. 1864)
William Booth (1829-1912)
Apr 10 English preacher and founder of the Salvation Army, born in Sneinton, Nottingham, England [1]
- Apr 15 Mary Harris Thompson, 1st American woman surgeon, born in Fort Ann, New York (d. 1895)
- Apr 24 George Peabody Estey, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire (d. 1881)
- May 1 José de Alencar, Brazilian writer (O Guarani), born in Fortaleza, Ceará, Empire of Brazil (d. 1877)
- May 6 Phoebe Ann Coffin Hanaford, 1st female ordained minister in New England, born in Siasconset, Massachusetts (d. 1921)
- May 30 Levin Goldschmidt, German business law expert, born in Gdańsk, Poland (d. 1897)
Charles Brooke (1829-1917)
Jun 3 2nd White Rajah of Sarawak (1868-1917), born in Burnham-on-Sea, England
- Jun 6 Hon'inbō Shūsaku, Japanese professional Go player, born in Innoshima, Bingo Province, Japan (d. 1862)
- Jun 6 John Baillie McIntosh, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Fort Brooke, Florida Territory (d. 1888)
- Jun 8 John Everett Millais, English painter (Order of Release), born in Southampton, Hampshire, England (d. 1896)
- Jun 11 Hendrik Gerhard, Founder (Dutch Social-Democratic), born in Delft, Netherlands (d. 1886)
Geronimo (1829-1909)
Jun 16 Apache leader and resistance fighter, born in No-doyohn Canon, Mexico
- Jul 5 Ignacio Mariscal, Mexican lawyer and diplomat (Secretary of Foreign Affairs), born in Oaxaca, Mexico (d. 1910)
- Jul 8 Pierre Alexis de Ponson du Terrail, French serial writer (Rocambole), born in Montmaur, France (d. 1871)
- Jul 16 Robert Brown Potter, American lawyer and Major General (Union Army), born in Schenectady, New York (d. 1887)
- Jul 26 Auguste Beernaert, 14th Prime Minister of Belgium (1884-94) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate 1909, born in Ostend, Belgium (d. 1912)
- Aug 5 Milo Smith Hascall, American banker, real estate executive, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Le Roy, New York (d. 1904)
- Aug 7 Thomas Ewing Jr, American attorney, 1st chief justice of Kansas, congressman, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Lancaster, Ohio (d. 1896)
- Aug 12 John Horace Forney, Major General (Confederate Army), (d. 1902)
- Aug 23 Moritz B. Cantor, German historian of mathematics, born in Mannheim, Germany (d. 1920)
- Sep 1 James Conner, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1883)
- Sep 6 Marie Zakrzewska, Polish physician, born in Berlin, Germany (d. 1902)
- Sep 7 August Kekule von Stradonitz, German chemist who discovered structure of benzene ring, born in Darmstadt, Hesse (d. 1896)
- Sep 7 Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, American geologist (Geograph Survey 1859-86), born in Westfield, Massachusetts (d. 1887)
- Sep 8 George Crook, American Major General (Union Army), born in Taylorsville, Ohio (d. 1890)
- Sep 8 Seth Barton, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Fredericksburg, Virginia (d. 1900)
- Sep 12 Anselm Feuerbach, German painter, born in Speyer, Germany (d. 1880)
- Sep 12 Charles Dudley Warner, American novelist (Being a Boy), born in Plainfield, Massachusetts (d. 1900)
- Sep 22 Tự Đức, Emperor of Vietnam (1847-1883) (d. 1883)
- Sep 22 William Worth Belknap, American lawyer and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Newburgh, New York (d. 1876)
- Sep 24 Charles S. West, American jurist and politician, born in Camden, South Carolina (d. 1885)
- Sep 24 James St Clair Morton, American engineer, author, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1864)
- Sep 25 William Michael Rossetti, English writer and civil servant, born in London, England (d. 1919)
- Sep 29 Bradley Tyler Johnson, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1903)
- Sep 29 Giles Alexander Smith, American Major General (Union Army), born in Jefferson County, New York (d. 1876)
Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886)
Oct 5 21st President of the United States (1881-85), born in Fairfield Vermont
- Oct 10 Dandridge McRae, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Baldwin County, Alabama (d. 1899)
- Oct 15 Asaph Hall, American astronomer who discovered satellites of Mars (Phobos & Deimos), born in Goshen, Connecticut (d. 1907)
- Oct 18 Charles Sidney Winder, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1862)
- Oct 18 Lucius Marshall Walker, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1863)
- Oct 27 Christopher Columbus Andres, American diplomat, newspaperman, author, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire (d. 1922)
- Oct 30 Roscoe Conkling, American politician (U.S. Senator from New York 1867-81), born in Albany, New York (d. 1888)
- Nov 8 Samuel Wylie Crawford, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania (d. 1892)
- Nov 15 Petrus Abraham Samuel van Limburg Brouwer, Dutch politician and critic (Akbar), born in Liège, Belgium (d. 1873)
- Nov 21 Petrus Augustus de Génestet, Dutch vicar and poet, born in Amsterdam (d. 1861)
- Nov 24 William Passmore Carlin, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Greene County, Illinois (d. 1903)
- Dec 3 Green Berry Raum, American lawyer, politician, author, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Golconda, Illinois (d. 1909)
- Dec 5 Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, French-Canadian politician (7th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia), born in Épernay, France (d. 1908)
- Dec 14 John Mercer Langston, 1st African-American to hold US political office, born in Louisa County, Virginia (d. 1897)
- Dec 27 James Clay Rice, American lawyer and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Worthington, Massachusetts (d. 1864)