References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2008 June 28.

1862 January 1 First US income tax (3% of incomes > $600, 5% of incomes > $10,000). [1] January 5 Joseph Frohlich composer, dies at age 81. [1] January 10 Samuel Colt inventor (6 shot revolver), dies at age 47. [1] January 18 John Tyler 10th US President (1841-45), dies in Richmond Virginia at age 71. [1] January 20 General Felix Zollicoffer killed after mistakenly riding into union lines. [1] January 21 Bozena Nemcová [Barnora Panklová], Czechoslovakian author, dies at age 41. [1] January 24 James McIntosh US confederate Brigadier General, dies in battle at about age 33. [1] Romania principality arises under King Alexander Cuza. [1] January 31 Telescope maker Alvin Clark discovers dwarf companion of Sirius. [1] February 1 Julia Howe publishes "Battle Hymn of the Republic". [1] February 3 Jean-Baptiste Biot French physicist/astronomer, dies at age 87. [1] February 7 Frantisek Jan Skroup composer, dies at age 61. [1] February 8 Dion Boucicault's opera "The Lily of Killarney" is produced (London). [1] February 10 Dutch second government of Thorbecke forms. [1] February 21 Justinus A C Kerner German family doctor/poet/writer, dies at age 75. [1] February 24 Bernard S Ingemann Danish author (Holger Danske), dies at age 72. [1] February 25 US Congress establishes the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing. [1] Paper currency (greenbacks) introduced in US by President Abraham Lincoln. [1] February 27 Gabriele dell' Addolorata patron of Italian Catholic youth, dies at age 23. [1] February 28 The opera "La Reine de Saba" premieres (Paris). [1] March 2 Frederick West Lander US Union Brigadier-General/poet, dies at age 40. [1] March 7 Ben McCulloch US Confederate Brigadier-General (KIA), dies at age 50. [1] John Baillie McIntosh US General-Major (Union Army), dies at age 32. [1] William Slack US Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle. [1] March 8 Adrien de La Fage composer, dies at age 56. [1] Nat Gordon last pirate, hanged in New York City, New York for stealing 1,000 slaves. [1] March 10 Great Britain and France recognizes independence of Zanzibar. [1] US issues first paper money ($5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000). [1] March 17 Fromental Halevy [Elie Levy], French opera composer, dies at age 62. [1] March 19 F Wilhelm von Schadow German painter (Modern Vasari), dies at age 73. [1] March 22 San Marino and Italy conclude treaty of friendship and cooperation. [1] March 23 Karl Robert von Nesselrode German chancellor, dies at age 81. [1] April 3 James Clark Ross Arctic explorer, dies. [1] April 4 Harmen S Sytstra Dutch poet/editor (Iduna), dies at age 45. [1] April 6 Adley Hogan Gladden Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at age 51. [1] Albert Sidney Johnston US Confederate General, dies in battle at age 59. [1] April 7 Sydney Nelson composer, dies at age 62. [1] April 8 John D Lynde patents aerosol dispenser. [1] April 9 George W Johnson US planter/Confederate (Governor-Kentucky), dies at about age 50. [1] April 10 William Harvey Lamb Wallace US lawyer/Brigadier-General, dies at age 40. [1] April 19 Louis Powell Harvey US Governor of Wisconsin, drowns. [1] Simon Fraser Canadian explorer, dies. [1] April 21 US Congress establishes US Mint in Denver Colorado. [1] Ellen Price Wood's "East Lynne, premieres in Boston. [1] April 25 Charles Ferguson Smith US Union General-Major, dies of infection at age 55. [1] May 5 French army intervenes in Puebla México: Cinco de Mayo. [1] May 6 Henry David Thoreau, American writer/pacifist (Walden Pond), dies at age 44. [1] [5] May 7 Much of Enschede Netherlands destroyed by fire. [1] May 14 Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patents the chronograph. [1] May 15 Department of Agriculture created. [1] General Benjamin F Butler issues "Woman's Order" - women of New Orleans to be treated as whores as a result of their treatment of Union soldiers. [1] May 16 Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir builds first automobile. [1] Lev A Ms Russian nobleman/poet, dies at age 40. [1] May 18 William H Keim US Union Brigadier-General, dies in battle at age 48. [1] May 19 Homestead Act becomes law provides cheap land for settlement of West. [1] May 20 Homestead Act provides cheap land for settlement of the West. [1] May 24 Westminster Bridge across Thames opens. [1] May 25 Johann N Nestroy Austria; actor (Einmal Keine Sorgen Haben), dies at age 60. [1] May 29 Franciszek Wincenty Mirecki composer, dies at age 71. [1] May 31 Robert Hatton Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at about age 34. [1] June 7 William Mumford first US citizen hanged for treason. [1] July 1 US Congress outlaws polygamy (first time); bad news for Utah. [1] Lincoln appoints Isaac Newton sec of agriculture. [1] July 2 Lincoln signs act granting land for state agricultural colleges. [1] July 4 Lewis Carroll creates Alice in Wonderland for Alice P Liddell. [1] July 7 Land Grant Act endows state colleges with federal land. [1] July 12 US Congress authorizes Medal of Honor. [1] July 16 David G Farragut became first rear admiral in US Navy. [1] July 17 US army authorized to accept blacks as laborers. [1] July 24 Martin Van Buren 8th pres, dies in Kinderhook New York. [1] July 27 Steamer "Golden Gate" burns and sinks off west coast of Mexico. [1] August 14 Lincoln receives first group of blacks to confer with US president. [1] August 28 Belle Boyd released from Old Capital Prison in Washington, DC. [1] August 29 Battle of Aspromonte-Italian royal forces defeat rebels. [1] US Bureau of Engraving and Printing begins operation. [1] September 1 Oliver Tilden of the Bronx, killed in the Civil War in Virginia. [1] September 4 North Beach and Mission Railway Company organized in San Francisco. [1] October 18 James Creighton dies of ruptured bladder hitting home run on October 14th. [1] November 4 Gatling gun patented (Richard J Gatling). [1] November 6 NY-San Francisco direct telegraphic link established. [1] November 11 The opera "La Forza Del Destino" is produced (Saint Petersburg Russia). [1] December 6 President Lincoln orders hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians. [1] December 7 Sylvester Churchill US Union Brigadier-General, dies. [1] December 13 Conrad Feger Jackson US Union Brigadier-General, dies in battle at age 49. [1] Maxcy Gregg US Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at age 48. [1] Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at age 39. [1] December 14 George Dashiell Bayard Union Brigadier-General, dies at age 27. [1] December 16 Kingdom of Nepal accepts its constitution. [1] December 18 Johnson Kelly Duncan architect/Confederate Brigadier-General, dies at age 35. [1] December 24 Joseph Funk composer, dies at age 84. [1] December 26 First US navy hospital ship enters service. [1] 38 Santee Sioux Indians hanged in Mankato Minnesota, due to their uprising. [1] December 28 Joaquim Casimiro Junior composer, dies at age 54. [1] December 31 James Edward Rains lawyer/Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at age 29. [1] Joshua Woodrow Sill US Union Brigadier-General, dies in battle at age 31. [1] 1863 January 1 First homestead under the Homestead Act claimed, near Beatrice Nebraska. [1] Franz Schuberts "Missa Solemnis" premieres in Leipzig. [1] Emancipation Proclamation (ending slavery) issued by President Lincoln. [1] January 2 Roger Weightman Hanson Confederate Brigadier General, dies in battle at age 35. [1] January 9 Ferdinand Huber composer, dies at age 71. [1] January 10 First underground railway opens in London. [1] January-uprising begins in Poland. [1] January 13 Chenille manufacturing machine patented by William Canter, New York City, New York. [1] Thomas Crapper pioneers one-piece pedestal flushing toilet. [1] January 15 First US newspaper printed on wood-pulp paper, Boston Morning Journal. [1] January 17 E J Horace Vernet French painter, dies at age 73. [1] January 19 General Mieroslawski appointed dictator of Poland. [1] January 21 City of Dublin leases part of Cattle Market for 100,000 years. [1] January 26 54th Regiment (Black) infantry forms. [1] January 29 Battle at Bear River Washington: US Army vs Indians. [1] February 2 Samuel Clemens becomes Mark Twain for first time. [1] February 9 Fire extinguisher patented by Alanson Crane. [1] February 10 First US fire extinguisher patent granted to Alanson Crane, Virginia. [1] PT Barnum stages wedding of Tom Thumb and Mercy Lavinia Warren (New York City, New York). [1] February 24 Arizona Territory created. [1] February 25 US Congress creates national banking system, comptroller of currency. [1] February 26 Lincoln signs National Currency Act. [1] March 2 US Congress authorizes track width of 4'8.5" for Union Pacific railroad. [1] March 3 Abraham Lincoln approves charter for National Academy of Sciences. [1] US Congress authorizes a US mint at Carson City Nevada. [1] Free city delivery replaces zone postage; 449 letter carriers hired. [1] Gold certificates (currency) authorized byUS Congress. [1] Idaho Territory forms. [1] March 4 Territory of Idaho established. [1] March 17 John Pelham US Confederate artillery major, dies in battle at age 24. [1] March 21 Edwin Vose Sumner US Union-General-Major (Fair Oaks), dies at age 66. [1] Naval Engagement at Havana Cuba-USS Henrick Hudson vs BR Wild Pigeon. [1] March 25 First Army Medal of Honor awarded. [1] March 27 President Davis calls for this to be a day of fasting and prayer. [1] March 28 James Cooper US attorney/senator/Union-Brigadier-General, dies at age 52. [1] March 30 Danish prince Wilhelm Georg of Sleeswÿk-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg chosen as king George of Greece. [1] April 2 Bread revolt in Richmond Virginia. [1] April 8 Joseph Netherclift composer, dies at age 70. [1] April 10 Giovanni B Amia Italian astronomer/physicist/botanist, dies at age 77. [1] April 13 Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled in New York is first orthopedic hospital. [1] April 14 William Bullock patents continuous-roll printing press. [1] April 15 Jan Nepomuk Kanka composer, dies at age 90. [1] April 17 Daniel Smith Donelson Confederate General/cousin of Andrew Jackson, dies at age 61. [1] April 21 Declaration of Bahá'u'lláh; Bahá'í Feast of Ridván (Jalâl 13, 20). [1] May 8 Confederación Granadina becomes Estados Unidos de Colombia. [1] May 14 Emile Racine Gauthier Prudent composer, dies at age 46. [1] May 22 War Department establishes Bureau of Colored Troops. [1] May 28 First black regiment (54 Massachusetts) leaves Boston to fight in Civil War. [1] Edmund Kirby Jr Union-Brigadier-General, dies of injuries at age 23. [1] May 31 First horse race at Longchamps racecourse in France. [80.186] June 13 Samuel Butler publishes first part of "Erewhon," Christchurch, New Zealand. [1] June 17 Travelers Insurance Co of Hartford chartered (first accident insurer). [1] June 20 First bank chartered in US (National Bank of Davenport Iowa). [1] June 29 Very first First National Bank opens in Davenport, Iowa. [1] July 1 Free city delivery of mail begins in 49 US cities; postage 3 cents per ounce. [1] July 4 Boise, Idaho founded (now capital of Idaho). [1] July 6 Northern Territory passes from New South Wales to South Australia. [1] July 10 Clement Clarke Moore ('Twas the Night Before Xmas), dies at age 83. [1] July 26 Sam Houston, president of Texas, dies at age 70. [1] August 3 Governor Seymour asks Lincoln to suspend draft in New York. [1] Saratoga Racetrack (New York) opens. [1] August 12 First cargo of lumber leaves Burrard Inlet (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada area). [1] September 1 Railroad and ferry connection between San Francisco and Oakland inaugurated. [1] September 17 Pope Pius IX encyclical On persecution in New Grenada. [1] September 27 The united kingdom of Italy is proclaimed. The Lotto is made a legal source of national income. [80.235] September 29 The opera "Pescatori di Perle", more properly known as "Les Pêcheurs de Perles", is produced (Paris). [1] October 3 US President Abraham Lincoln designates last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. [1] October 6 Dr Charles H Sheppard opens the first public bath, in Brooklyn. [1] October 15 Cliff House opens in San Francisco (first of many on the site). [1] October 26 Worldwide Red Cross organized in Geneva. [1] October 29 International Committee of the Red Cross founded (Nobel Prize 1917, 1944, 1963). [1] November 1 Fortifications built on Angel Island (San Francisco Bay) by troops. [1] November 23 Patent granted for a process of making color photographs. [1] December 4 Storm flood ravages Nethe coastal provinces. [1] December 8 Jesuit Church of La Compana in Santiago Chile catches fire, 2,500 die in panic. [1] December 13 Friedrich Hebbel writer, dies at age 50. [1] December 22 Michael Corcoran Union Brigadier-General, dies at age 36. [1] December 24 W M Thackeray writer, dies at age 52. [1] 1864 January 4 Mateo Ferrer composer, dies at age 75. [1] January 8 Victor-Charles-Paul Dourlen composer, dies at age 83. [1] January 11 Charing Cross Station opens in London. [1] January 13 Stephen Foster composer (My Old Kentucky Home), dies in a New York hospital at age 37. [1] January 16 Anton Schindler German violinist/biographer (Beethoven), dies at age 68. [1] January 23 Michele Puccini composer, dies at age 50. [1] January 24 Otto Jonas Lindblad composer, dies at age 54. [1] Stephen Gardner Champlin Brigadier General (Union), dies at about age 36. [1] January 27 Franz von Klenze German architect (palace Leuchtenberg), dies at age 59. [1] January 31 Hamilton Rowan Gamble US judge/Governor of Missouri (1861-64), dies. [1] February 1 Second German-Danish war begins. [1] Austrian/Prussian troops occupy Sleeswijk/Holstein. [1] February 15 Fire in Rotterdam Netherlands damages Museum Boymans. [1] Israel Zangwill writer/Zionist/philanthropist, dies. [1] William Dyce painter, dies. [1] February 16 Vaclav Jindrich Veit composer, dies at age 58. [1] February 19 Knights of Pythias form first lodge in Washington DC (12 members). [1] William Edwin Baldwin US Confederate Brigadier-General, dies. [1] February 21 First US Catholic parish church for blacks dedicated, Baltimore Maryland. [1] Jeffery Forrest US Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle. [1] March 1 Louis Ducos du Hauron patents movie machine (never built). [1] Rebecca Lee (US) becomes first black woman to receive a medical degree. [1] March 3 Ulric Dahlgren Union Colonel, dies in battle at age 21. [1] March 4 Thomas Starr King Unitarian clergyman (Christianity and Humanity), dies. [1] March 5 First track meet between Oxford and Cambridge. [1] March 10 Maximilian II Jozef King of Bayern (1848-64), dies at age 52. [1] March 14 Rossini's "Petite Messe Solennelle" premieres in Paris France. [1] March 17 Alexandre Calamo Swiss painter/etcher/lithographer, dies at age 53. [1] March 18 Dale Dike on Humber River crumbles drowning some 240. [1] March 19 Charles François Gounod's opera "Mireille" is produced (Paris France). [1] March 29 Great Britain gives Isotope Islands back to Greece. [1] March 30 Louis Alexander Balthasar Schindelmeisser composer, dies 52. [1] April 10 Austrian Archduke Maximilian becomes emperor of México. [1] April 12 Thomas Green, US Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at age 50. [1] April 13 Johann Schneider composer, dies at age 74. [1] April 17 Bread revolt in Savannah Georgia. [1] April 22 Birth of Phil May Wortley Yorkshire, cartoonist. [1] US mints 2-cent coin (first appearance of "In God We Trust"). [1] April 29 Charles-Julien Brianchon math (Brianchon's theorem), dies at age 80. [1] April 30 New York becomes first state to charge a hunting license fee. [1] May 2 Giacomo Meyerbeer composer, dies at age 72. [1] May 9 Ship battle at Helgoland, Austria-Denmark. [1] May 16 Lean Bear Cheyenne chief, murdered. [1] May 17 N Hawthorne writer, dies at age 59. [1] May 19 Nathaniel Hawthorne US, writer (Scarlet Letter), dies. [1] May 20 John Clare English poet (Little Trotty Wagtail), dies at age 70. [1] May 26 Ch Sealsfield writer, dies at age 71. [1] Territory of Montana is formed. [1] May 29 Mexican Emperor Maximilian arrives at Vera Cruz. [1] June 7 Abe Lincoln renominated for President by Republican Party. [1] June 11 300' (90 m) of Meigg's Wharf washed away in storm. [1] June 29 Grand Trunk Railway accident; 100 killed. [1] July 2 Statuary Hall in US Capitol established. [1] August 2 Second Saratoga Racetrack (New York) opens. [1] August 5 Spectrum of a comet observed for first time, by Giovanni Donati. [1] August 8 Red Cross Anniversary. [1] August 22 Geneva Convention signed, by 12 nations. [1] August 25 Combination rail and ferry service available from San Francisco to Alameda. [1] August 29 William Huggins discovers chemical composition of nebulae. [1] September 4 Bread riots in Mobile, Alabama. [1] October 4 National black convention meets (Syracuse New York). [1] New Orleans Tribune, first black daily newspaper, forms. [1] October 5 Most of Calcutta destroyed by cyclone (approx 60,000 die). [1] October 11 Slavery abolished in Maryland. [1] October 12 Roger Taney Supreme Court Chief Justice, dies at age 87. [1] October 30 Helena, Montana's capital, founded. [1] October 31 Nevada admitted as 36th state. [1] November 3 Antonio Gonsalves Dias Brazilian national poet, dies at sea. [1] November 8 Abraham Lincoln elected to his second term as President. [1] November 9 First export of goods from Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, Canada to a foreign country. [1] November 10 Austrian Archduke Maximilian became emperor of Mexico. [1] November 15 First US mines school opens in basement of Columbia University, New York. [1] November 29 Colorado militia kills 150 peaceful Cheyenne Indians. [1] December 4 Romanian Jews are forbidden to practice law. [1] December 8 Pope Pius IX publishes encyclical Quanta cura ("Syllabus errorum"). [1] December 21 William Henry Fry composer, dies at age 51. [1] December 29 Fire Department celebrates first annual ball. [1]