Events in History
- Jan 7 HMS Beagle anchors off Chonos Archipelago
- Jan 8 US national debt is $0 for the first and only time in history
Assassination Attempt
Jan 30 Richard Lawrence misfires at President Andrew Jackson in Washington, D.C. in 1st attempted assassination of a US President
Andrew Jackson
- Feb 20 Concepcion, Chile, destroyed by earthquake; 5,000 die
- Feb 24 Siwinowe Kesibwi (Shawnee Sun) is 1st Indian language monthly magazine
- Feb 28 Dr Elias L"nnrot publishes Finnish poem "Kalevala"
- Mar 3 Congress authorizes a US mint at New Orleans Louisiana
- Mar 4 HMS Beagle moves into Bay of Concepcion
Event of Interest
Mar 6 Volume One of Thomas Carlyle's famous work "The French Revolution: A History" is accidentally burnt by a maid using it as fire starter before its publication. Carlyle re-writes it.
Thomas Carlyle
Election of Interest
Apr 18 William Lamb (Lord Melbourne) becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after Robert Peel resigns out of frustration
William Lamb
Robert Peel
- May 5 King Leopold I of Belgium opens Brussels-Mechelen railway
Historic Publication
May 6 James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald (price 1 cent).
James Gordon Bennett
Historic Publication
May 8 1st installment of Hans Christian Andersen "Fairy Tales" published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark
Hans Christian Andersen
Event of Interest
May 12 Charles Darwin visits the Panuncillo Copper Mine in North Chile
Charles Darwin
Event of Interest
Jun 2 P. T. Barnum & his circus begin 1st tour of US
P. T. Barnum
- Jul 9 St Etienne-Lyons railway opens in France
Historic Invention
Jul 13 Swedish-American inventor John Ericsson files for a patent for his screw propeller design
John Ericsson
Event of Interest
Jul 22 Smolny Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, Russia is consecrated, originally commissioned by Elizabeth of Russia
Elizabeth of Russia
- Jul 25 Ibrahim Pasha's army attacks Jewish settlers of Hebron Palestine
- Jul 26 1st sugar cane plantation started in Hawaii
- Jul 29 1st sugar plantation in Hawaii begins
- Aug 10 Mob of whites & oxen pulled black school to a swamp out of Canaan NH
- Aug 11 George B Airy begins 46-year reign as England's Astronomer Royal
- Aug 17 Solymon Merrick of Springfield, Massachusetts patents the first wrench
- Aug 18 Last Pottawatomie Indians leave Chicago
- Aug 25 New York Sun publishes Moon hoax story about John Herschel
- Aug 30 Melbourne, Australia is founded
- Sep 15 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin on board reaches the Galapagos Islands
- Sep 17 Charles Darwins lands on Chatham in Galapagos archipelago
- Sep 20 Farroupilha's Revolution begins in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
- Sep 23 HMS Beagle sails to Charles Island in Galapagos archipelago
- Oct 2 Battle of Gonzales fought between Texan settlers and Mexican forces. First engagement of the Texas revolution
- Oct 3 Staedtler Company founded by J.S. Staedtler in Nuremberg, Germany
- Oct 9 The Royal College, Colombo, established with the name Hillstreet Academy in Sri Lanka
- Oct 20 HMS Beagle leaves Galapagos Archipelago to sail to Tahiti
- Nov 2 2nd Seminole War begins in Osceola
- Nov 15 Charles Darwin reaches Tahiti on board HMS Beagle, the location where he would formulate his ideas later written in The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs
- Nov 16 Extracts from Letters to Henslow, a collection of letters written by Charles Darwin during his voyage on the Beagle, is published
- Nov 19 A ship carrying 500 armed Maori from Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga arrives on the Chatham Islands; those Moriori (indigenous people of the Chatham Islands) that are not killed are enslaved
- Nov 23 Henry Burden patents horseshoe manufacturing machine (Troy, NY)
- Nov 24 Texas Rangers, mounted police force authorized by Texas Provisional Government
- Nov 26 HMS Beagle leaves Tahiti for New Zealand
- Dec 3 First US mutual fire insurance company issues first policy (Rhode Island)
- Dec 5 - 10th: Assault on Mexican-held San Antonio by Texan rebels
- Dec 7 Bavarian Ludwig railway opens - first German steam railway
- Dec 16 Fire consumes over 600 buildings in NYC
- Dec 19 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin aboard arrives in New Zealand
- Dec 21 HMS Beagle sails into Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Trail of Tears
Dec 29 Treaty of New Echota is signed between the US government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction to cede all lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States
Learn More
- Dec 30 Georgia gold rush forces the Cherokees to move across the Mississippi River
Birthdays in History
- Jan 2 Charles Russell Lowell Jr, American railroad executive and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1864)
- Jan 3 Larkin Goldsmith Mead, sculptor
- Jan 5 Hendrik van Rijgersma, Dutch naturalist & physician, born in Lemmer, Netherlands (d. 1877)
- Jan 13 Gustaaf Rolin-Jaequemyns, Belgian jurist/minister of the Interior
- Jan 17 Antanas Baranauskas, Lithuanian bishop/poet/dialectologist
- Jan 18 Jan van Droogenbroeck, Flemish poet
- Jan 30 Oliver Edwards, American inventor & Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 1904)
- Jan 31 William Charles Lunalilo, Monarch of Hawaii (d. 1874)
- Feb 13 Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (d. 1908)
- Feb 14 Francois Haverschmidt, Dutch writer (Snikken en grimlachjes), born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands (d. 1894)
- Feb 15 Alexander Stuart Webb, Major General (Union Army), (d. 1911)
- Feb 15 Demetrius Vikelas, Greek author (d. 1908)
- Feb 20 Allessandro d'Ancona, Italian philologist
- Feb 26 Richard Andree, German geography, etnologist (Andree's Handatlas)
- Feb 27 Charles Cartuyvels, Belgian pulprit orator
- Feb 27 Richard Garnett, English author (Ananda the Miracle Worker)
- Mar 1 Matthias J Scheeben, German theologist (Natur und Gnade)
- Mar 4 John Hughlings Jackson, English neurologist (d. 1911)
- Mar 6 Charles Ewing, American attorney and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Lancaster, Ohio (d. 1883)
- Mar 12 Simon Newcomb, American scientist/mathematician/astronomer
- Mar 14 Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer (discovered canals of Mars), born in Savigliano, Italy (d. 1910)
- Mar 15 John Henrie Kagi, American abolitionist (d. 1859)
- Mar 24 Josef Stefan, Austrian physicist (Stefan-Boltzmann law)
- Mar 31 John La Farge, American painter
- Apr 9 Leopold II, King of Belgium (1865-1909), born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1909)
- Apr 27 John Murray Corse, American politician and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania [or 9/27] (d. 1893)
- May 1 Alfred Napoleon Alexander "Natti" Duffié, French-American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Paris, France (d. 1880)
- May 21 Newton Martin Curtis, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in De Peyster, New York (d. 1910)
- May 21 František Chvostek, Moravian physician (d. 1884)
- May 26 Edward Porter Alexander, Brigadier General (Confederate Army) and military engineer, born in Washington, Georgia (d. 1910)
- May 30 Alfred Austin, English poet laureate of England (Garden), born in Headingley, Yorkshire, England (d. 1913)
- May 31 Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese military leader, born in Hino, Tokyo, Japan (d. 1869)
- Jun 2 Pius X [Giuseppe Sarto], 257th Roman Catholic pope (1903-14)
- Jun 10 Constant A Serrure, Flemish historian
- Jun 10 Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany, born in Florence (d. 1908)
- Jun 10 Rebecca Latimer Felton, American writer and politician (first woman to serve as U.S. Senator (Georgia)), born in Decatur, Georgia (d. 1930)
- Jun 12 George Atzerodt, American conspirator who failed to attempt an assassination of Vice President Andrew Johnson on the night Abraham Lincoln was murdered, born in Dorna, German Confederation (d. 1865)
- Jul 27 Giosuè Carducci, Italian writer and Nobel Prize Laureate 1906 regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy, born in Pietrasanta, Italy (d. 1907)
- Jul 31 Henri Brisson, French statesman (d. 1912)
- Jul 31 Paul du Chaillu, French explorer (d. 1903)
- Aug 2 Elisha Grey, American electrical engineer and inventor (Telephone), born in Barnesville, Ohio
- Aug 8 James William Forsyth, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Maumee, Ohio (d. 1906)
- Aug 26 Theodore Washington Brevard, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
- Aug 27 Albijn van de Abeele, Flemish author and painter, born in Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium (d. 1918)
- Sep 3 William Gaston Lewis, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1901)
- Sep 11 William Wirt Allen, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in NYC, New York (d. 1894)
- Sep 14 Joseph Hayes, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in York County, Maine (d. 1912)
- Sep 14 Y de Smit-Rog, oldest citizen of Netherlands (d. 1940 at 104)
- Sep 27 John Murray Corse, American politician and Major General (Union Army), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1893 [or 4/27])
- Oct 1 Robert H. Anderson, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Savannah, Georgia (d. 1888)
- Oct 1 William Hicks "Red" Jackson, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Paris, Tennessee (d. 1903)
- Oct 1 Ádám Politzer, Hungarian-Austrian physician, born in Albertirsa, Pest, Hungary (d. 1920)
- Oct 2 Louis-Antoine Ranvier, French anatomist and historian, born in Lyon, France (d. 1922)
- Oct 11 Hunter McGuire, American physician and Med Director (Confederate Army), born in Winchester, Virginia (d. 1900)
- Oct 23 Adlai Stevenson, (D) 23rd VP (1893-97)
- Oct 31 Adelbert Ames, American soldier and politician, Bvt Major General (Union Army), born in Rockland, Maine (d. 1933)
- Oct 31 Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist (Nobel 1905), born in Berlin (d. 1917)
- Oct 31 Krišjānis Barons, Latvian writer, born in Jaunpils Parish, Latvia (d. 1923)
- Nov 1 Godfrey Weitzel, German-American Major General (Union Army), born in Pirmasens, Germany (d. 1884)
- Nov 4 Lunsford L. Lomax, American Major General (Confederate Army), born in Newport, Rhode Island (d. 1913)
- Nov 5 Moritz Szeps, Austrian journalist and newspaper publisher, born in Busk, Austrian Galicia (d. 1902)
- Nov 6 Cesare Lombroso, Italian psychiatrist and criminologist, born in Verona, Lombardy–Venetia (d. 1909)
- Nov 16 Elliott Warren Rice, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Allegheny, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1887)
- Nov 16 Eugenio Beltrami, Italian mathematician (non-Euclidean geometry), born in Cremona, Lombardy, Austrian Empire (d. 1900)
- Nov 17 Andrew L. Harris, governor of Ohio (d. 1915)
- Nov 18 Americus Vespucius Rice, American politician, banker, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Perrysville, Ohio (d. 1904)
- Nov 19 Fitzhugh Lee, American Major General (Confederate Army) and 40th Governor of Virginia, born in Fairfax County, Virginia (d. 1905)
- Nov 19 Lakshmi Bai, Indian Queen of the princely state of Jhansi in North India and leader of the Indian Mutiny (1857-58), born in Benares, Kingdom of Kashi-Benares (Varanasi) (d. 1858)
- Nov 22 Frank Crawford Armstrong, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Choctaw Agency, Indian Territory (d. 1909)
Andrew Carnegie
Nov 25 Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American industrialist, steel tycoon, philanthropist and one of the richest Americans ever, born in Dunfermline, Scotland (d. 1919)
Andrew Carnegie
- Nov 29 Empress Dowager Cixi, Chinese ruler (d. 1908)
Mark Twain
Nov 30 Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens], American author (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn), born in Florida, Missouri (d. 1910)
Mark Twain
- Dec 1 Micah Jenkins, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1864)
- Dec 4 Samuel Butler, English author (Erewhom, Way of All Flesh), born in Langar, Nottinghamshire, England (d. 1902)
- Dec 6 Rudolf Fittig, German chemist (synthesizing organic compounds), born in Hamburg, Germany (d. 1910)
- Dec 11 Adolf Stoecker, German conservative politician, and reformer who founded the German Christian Social Party, born in Halberstadt, Germany (d. 1909)
- Dec 17 Alexander Agassiz, American biologist and geologist, born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland (d. 1910)
- Dec 18 George Dashiell Bayard, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Seneca Falls, New York (d. 1862)
- Dec 18 Lyman Abbott, American author (d. 1922)
- Dec 28 Archibald Geikie, British geologist
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
Jun 17 Soldier and politician Jefferson Davis (27) weds Sarah Knox Taylor (21) in Louisville, Kentucky
Jefferson Davis
Wedding of Interest
Jul 8 Mathematician Ada Lovelace [Ada Byron] (19) weds Earl of Lovelace, William King (30)
Ada Lovelace
Wedding of Interest
Sep 14 American leading transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson (33) marries 2nd wife Lydia (Lidian) Jackson in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Deaths in History
- Feb 15 Henry Hunt, British politician, dies
- Mar 2 Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1768)
- Mar 18 Christian Gunther von Bernstorff, Danish-Prussian statesman and diplomat, dies at 65
- Mar 20 Louis-Leopold Robert, French painter (b. 1794)
- Apr 17 William Henry Ireland, English forger (Shakespearean manuscripts), dies
- May 13 John Nash, British town planner/architect (Regent's Park), dies
- Jun 8 Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Italian physicist (b. 1761)
- Jun 18 William Cobbett, English journalist and author, dies at 72
- Jun 24 Andreas Vokos Miaoulis, Greek admiral and politician, commander of Greek naval forces in Greek War of Independence (b. 1769)
John Marshall
Jul 6 John Marshall, 4th Chief Justice of the United States (1801-35), dies at 79
John Marshall
- Jul 28 Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French marshal (b. 1768)
- Aug 25 Ann Rutledge, said to be Abraham Lincoln's true love, dies at 22
- Sep 15 Sarah Knox Taylor, wife of Jefferson Davis (b. 1814)
- Oct 19 Henry Doeff, translator (Dutch-Japanese dictionary), dies at 57
- Nov 16 Louis Angely, German comedic poet (Paris in Pommern), dies at 48
- Dec 5 August von Platen, German poet, dies at 39
- Dec 13 John Storm, American Revolutionary soldier (b. 1760)