1861

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	18th century 19th century 20th century
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s
Years:	1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864

1861 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1861 MDCCCLXI
Ab urbe condita	2614
Armenian calendar	1310 ԹՎ ՌՅԺ
Assyrian calendar	6611
Baháʼí calendar	17–18
Balinese saka calendar	1782–1783
Bengali calendar	1268
Berber calendar	2811
British Regnal year	24 Vict. 1 – 25 Vict. 1
Buddhist calendar	2405
Burmese calendar	1223
Byzantine calendar	7369–7370
Chinese calendar	庚申年 (Metal Monkey) 4558 or 4351     — to — 辛酉年 (Metal Rooster) 4559 or 4352
Coptic calendar	1577–1578
Discordian calendar	3027
Ethiopian calendar	1853–1854
Hebrew calendar	5621–5622
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1917–1918
- Shaka Samvat	1782–1783
- Kali Yuga	4961–4962
Holocene calendar	11861
Igbo calendar	861–862
Iranian calendar	1239–1240
Islamic calendar	1277–1278
Japanese calendar	Man'en 2 / Bunkyū 1 (文久元年)
Javanese calendar	1789–1790
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 12 days
Korean calendar	4194
Minguo calendar	51 before ROC 民前51年
Nanakshahi calendar	393
Thai solar calendar	2403–2404
Tibetan calendar	阳金猴年 (male Iron-Monkey) 1987 or 1606 or 834     — to — 阴金鸡年 (female Iron-Rooster) 1988 or 1607 or 835

Year 1861 (MDCCCLXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar.

Events

January–March

• January 1
  • Benito Juárez captures Mexico City.
  • President-elect of the United States Abraham Lincoln declares slavery in Confederate states unlawful
  • First steam-powered carousel recorded, in Bolton, England.
• January 2 – Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia dies and is succeeded by Wilhelm I.
• January 3 – American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the Union.
• January 9 – American Civil War: Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union.
• January 10 – American Civil War: Florida secedes from the Union.
• January 11 – American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the Union.
• January 12 – American Civil War: Major Robert Anderson sends dispatches to Washington.
• January 16 – Karl Marx, in London, writes to Ferdinand Lassalle in Berlin: "Darwin's book is very important and serves me as a basis in natural science for the class struggle in history."
• January 19 – American Civil War: Georgia secedes from the Union.
• January 21 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
• January 26 – American Civil War: Louisiana secedes from the Union.
• January 29 – Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.
• February 1 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the Union.
• February 4 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, the Provisional Confederate States Congress is formed by representatives from the first six break-away states.
• February 8 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America are formed, comprising the first six break-away States.
• February 9 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Weed Convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
• February 11
  • American Civil War: The U.S. House unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.
  • About 850 convicts at Chatham Dockyard in England take over their prison in a riot.
• February 13 – Italian unification: The Siege of Gaeta, stronghold of the Neapolitan King Francis II, is ended by Piedmontese forces. Francis goes into exile.
• February 18 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.
• February 20 – In Britain, storms damage the Crystal Palace and cause the collapse of the steeple of Chichester Cathedral.
• February 23 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. after an assassination attempt in Baltimore.
• February 24 – Battle of Ky Hoa: the French and the Spanish defeat the Vietnamese.
• February 27 – Russian troops fire upon a crowd in Warsaw protesting Russian rule over Poland, killing 5 protesters.
• February 28 – Colorado is organized as a United States territory.
• March 2
  • Nevada is organized as a United States territory.
  • American Civil War: Texas is admitted to the Confederate States of America.
  • (February 19 O.S.) – Serfdom is abolished in Imperial Russia.
• March 4
  • President Abraham Lincoln takes office, succeeding James Buchanan.
  • American Civil War: The "Stars and Bars" is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
• March 10 – El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali.
• March 11 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
• March 13 – The Russian corvette Posadnik arrives at Tsushima Island in the Korea Strait, Japan, provoking a reaction from the Japanese Shogunate.
• March 17 – Italian unification: The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed by the new Parliament, with Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia becoming its king.
• March 19 – The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
• March 20
  • An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina.
  • Italian unification: The surrender of Civitella del Tronto ends the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
• March 21 – Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy, gives the infamous Cornerstone Speech in Savannah, Georgia, in which he declares that slavery is the natural condition of blacks and the foundation of the Confederacy.
• March 30 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.

March 4: Lincoln inaugurated

March 4: Confederate flag

American Civil War: in 1861

April–June

• April 7 – A population census is taken in the United Kingdom.
• April 12 – The American Civil War begins with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
• April 13 – American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders to Southern forces.
• April 15 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln issues a Proclamation calling for 75,000 men to confront in the South, "combinations too powerful to be suppressed in the ordinary way".
• April 17 – American Civil War: The state of Virginia secedes from the Union.
• April 20 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
• April 24 (N.S.) – Bezdna in Russia is the scene of a peasant uprising; the military open fire and nearly 5000 are killed.
• April 25 – American Civil War: The Union Army arrives in Washington, D.C.
• April 26 – Giovanni Schiaparelli discovers the asteroid 69 Hesperia.
• April 27 – American Civil War:
  • President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in the United States.
• May 6 – American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
• May 7 – American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
• May 8 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
• May 13
  • North Star Affair: The British merchant ship North Star leaves Hong Kong for Nagasaki, Japan. Chinese pirates board the vessel, kill an officer, and escape with a large quantity of gold.
  • American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
  • Comet C/1861 J1 (the "Great Comet of 1861") is discovered in Australia.
• May 14 – The Canellas meteorite, an 859 gram chondrite type meteorite, strikes Earth near Barcelona, Spain.
• May 20 – American Civil War: Kentucky proclaims its neutrality which lasts until September 3, when Confederate forces enter the state. North Carolina secedes from the Union.
• May 21 – Russian sailors clash with a group of Japanese samurai and farmers at Tsushima island.

April 12–April 13: Fort Sumter

May 13: Great Comet

• May 23 – American Civil War: The state of Virginia's ordinance of secession from the United States is ratified in a referendum held on May 23, 1861.
• June 9 – Lebanon is separated from Syrian administration and reunited under an Ottoman governor with the approval of the European powers.
• June 15 – Benito Juárez is formally elected President of Mexico; he temporarily stops the payments of foreign debt.
• June 22 – Tooley Street fire starts and takes the life of James Braidwood first director of the London Fire Brigade.
• June 25 – Abdülmecid I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1839–1861) dies and is succeeded by Abdülaziz (1861–1876).

July–September

• July 1
  • The first issue of the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano is published.
  • Taiping Rebellion: French and Imperial Chinese troops defeat Taiping forces at the Battle of Shanghai.
• July 2 – Ivan Kasatkin lands on Hakodate and introduces the Eastern Orthodox Church into Japan.
• July 13 – American Civil War: The Battle of Corrick's Ford takes place in western Virginia.
• July 21 – American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run: At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war ends in a Confederate victory.
• July 25 – American Civil War: The Crittenden–Johnson Resolution is passed by the U.S. Congress, stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.
• July 26 – American Civil War: George B. McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following the disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.

June 25: Abdülaziz

• August 5
  • American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government issues the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US$800; rescinded in 1872).
  • The U.S. Army abolishes flogging.
• August 10 – American Civil War: The first major battle west of the Mississippi River, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, is fought, with a Confederate victory.
• August 19 – First ascent of Weisshorn, fifth highest summit in the Alps.
• August 27 – Martin Doyle's is the last execution in Britain for attempted murder.
• September – The first complete identified remains of Archaeopteryx are discovered in Germany.
• September 3 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.
• September 6 – American Civil War: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant bloodlessly capture Paducah, Kentucky, which gives the Union control the mouth of the Tennessee River.

Battle of Santa Rosa Island

October–December

• October 9 – American Civil War: Battle of Santa Rosa Island – Confederate forces are defeated in their effort to take the island.
• October 21 – American Civil War: Battle of Ball's Bluff – Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed in the fighting.
• October 24 – HMS Warrior, the world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled armored battleship, is completed and commissioned into the British Royal Navy.
• October 26 – The Pony Express announces its closure.
• October 28 – American Civil War: The Missouri legislature takes up a bill for Missouri's secession from the Union.
• October 30 – American Civil War: The bill for Missouri's secession from the Union is passed.
• October 31
  • The Spanish, French and British governments sign a tripartite agreement to intervene in Mexico, in the hope of recovering unpaid debts.
  • The Missouri secession bill is signed by Governor Jackson.
  • American Civil War: Citing failing health, Union General Winfield Scott resigns as Commander of the United States Army.
• November 1 – American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as commander of the Union Army, replacing the aged General Winfield Scott.
• November 2 – American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Frémont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.
• November 6 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America.
• November 5 – The first Melbourne Cup horse race is held in Melbourne, Australia.
• November 7 – American Civil War: Battle of Belmont – In Belmont, Missouri, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant overrun a Confederate camp but are forced to retreat when Confederate reinforcements arrive.
• November 8 – American Civil War: Trent Affair – The USS San Jacinto stops the United Kingdom mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, James Mason and John Slidell, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the U.K. and U.S.
• November 10 – Following the death of Henri Mouhot, his servant Phrai begins shipping his diaries and specimens back to the west; they include accounts of Mouhot's discovery of Angkor Wat.
• November 21 – American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin Secretary of War.
• November 25 – A tenement collapses in the Old Town, Edinburgh killing 35 with 15 survivors.
• November 28 – Acting on the ordinance passed by the Jackson government, the Confederate Congress admits Missouri as the 12th Confederate state.
• December 10
  • American Civil War: Kentucky is accepted into the Confederate States of America.
  • In southern French Indochina, resistance forces led by Nguyễn Trung Trực ambush, board and sink the French lorcha (boat) L'Esperance on the Nhat Tao canal.

Date unknown

• The British Empire establishes bases in Lagos to stop the slave trade.
• Perpetual Truce of Peace and Friendship signed between Bahrain and the United Kingdom.
• First industrial meat packing plant in Uruguay established at Fray Bentos.

Births

January–June

• January 6 – János Zsupánek, Slovene (Prekmurian) poet and writer (d. 1951)
• January 14 – Mehmed VI, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1926)
• January 30 – Charles Martin Loeffler, American composer (d. 1935)
• February 12 – Lou Andreas-Salomé, Russian-born author (d. 1937)
• February 15 – Charles Édouard Guillaume, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1938)
• February 17 – Princess Helena, Duchess of Albany, (d. 1922)
• February 26 – King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1948)
• February 27 – Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher (d. 1925)
• March 12 – József Konkolics, Hungarian Slovene writer (d. 1941)
• April 2 – Iván Persa, Hungarian Slovene writer and Catholic priest (d. 1935)
• April 6 – Stanislas de Guaita, French poet (d. 1897)
• April 8 – Son Byong-hi, Korean independence activist (d. 1922)
• April 15 – Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (d. 1929)
• April 23
  • Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, British soldier and administrator (d. 1936)
  • John Peltz, professional baseball player (d. 1906)
• May 7 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
• May 11 – Frederick Russell Burnham, American scouter(d. 1947)
• May 14 – Harro Magnussen, German sculptor (d. 1908)
• May 24 – Gerald Strickland, 4th Prime Minister of Malta, 23rd Governor of New South Wales, 15th Governor of Western Australia and 9th Governor of Tasmania (d. 1940)
• June 12 – William Attewell, English cricketer (d. 1927)
• June 19 – Doctor José Rizal, Philippine national hero (d. 1896)
• June 20 – Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1947)
• June 22 – Maximilian von Spee, German admiral (d. 1914)

July–December

• August 7 – Spencer S. Wood, United States Navy rear admiral (d. 1940)
• September 2 – Henrietta Crosman, American stage & film actress (d. 1944)
• September 10 – Niels Hansen Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and ceramist (d. 1941)
• September 11 – Juhani Aho, Finnish author and journalist (d. 1921)
• September 23 – Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, British poet and novelist (d. 1907)
• September 30 – William Wrigley, Jr., U.S. chewing gum industrialist (d. 1932)
• October 4 – Frederic S. Remington, cowboy artist and sculptor (d. 1909)
• October 16
  • Arvid Järnefelt, Finnish author (d. 1932)
  • J. B. Bury, British historian (d. 1927)
• October 24 – Alexey Kaledin, Russian general (d. 1918)
• October 30 – Antoine Bourdelle, French sculptor (d. 1929)
• November 4 – Dimitrios Ioannou, Greek general (d. 1926)
• November 6 – James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (d. 1939)
• December 4
  • Lillian Russell, American singer and vaudeville star (d. 1922)
  • Hannes Hafstein, 1st Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1922)
• December 8 – Georges Méliès, French film director (d. 1938)
• December 10 – Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1930)
• December 15
  • Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Prime Minister and President of Finland (d. 1944)
  • Charles Duryea, manufacturer of motor vehicles (d. 1938)
• December 16 – Antonio de La Gándara, French painter (d. 1917)
• December 20 – Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926)

Date unknown

• Dixie Haygood, American magician (d. 1915)
• William H. Stayton, American founder of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (d. ? )
• Vengayil Kunhiraman Nayanar, Malayali journalist and short story writer (d. 1914)

Deaths

January–June

• January 2 – King Frederick William IV of Prussia (b. 1795)
• January 17 – Lola Montez, Irish-born dancer and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1821)
• March 10 – Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet (b. 1814)
• March 16 – Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria (b. 1786)
• April 15 – Isaiah Stillman, U.S. Army Major in the Black Hawk War (b. 1793)
• May 29 – Joachim Lelewel, Polish nationalist historian (b. 1786)
• June 3 – Stephen A. Douglas, U.S. Senator from Illinois and Presidential candidate (b. 1813)
• June 25 – Abdülmecid I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1823)
• June 29 – Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (b. 1806)

July–December

• July 22 – Barnard Elliott Bee, Jr., Confederate general (b. 1824)
• July 25 – Jonas Furrer, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1805)
• August 12 – Eliphalet Remington, gunsmith and founder of Remington Arms (b. 1793)
• August 17 – Alcée Louis la Branche, American politician (b. 1806)
• August 22 – Xianfeng Emperor, Qing dynasty the 9th emperor (b. 1831)
• August 24 – Pierre Berthier, French geologist (b. 1782)
• October 5 – Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish bishop (b. 1778)
• October 26 – Edward "Ned" Kendall, American bandleader and instrumentalist (keyed bugle) (b. 1808)
• November 11 – King Pedro V of Portugal (b. 1837)
• December 14 – Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria (b. 1819)

Further reading

• American Annual Cyclopaedia for 1861 (N.Y.: Appleton's, 1864), an extensive collection of reports on each country in the world and each American state, Congress, and US Civil War; and many other topics