Event of Interest
Jan 1 General Sherman's Union army begins its Carolinas campaign (lasts until Apr 26th)
- Jan 2 Welterweight Con Orem & heavyweight Hugh O'Neill brawl for 185 rounds before darkness ends legendary bare knuckle boxing match in Virginia City, Montana
- Jan 4 New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad St, near Wall Street in New York City
- Jan 11 Battle of Beverly, West Virginia, Confederate forces attack Union post
- Jan 13 Second Battle of Fort Fisher: A force of 58 Union ships and over 8,000 troops converge on Fort Fisher, North Carolina
- Jan 15 Second Battle of Fort Fisher: Union Navy bombards Fort Fisher, North Carolina, allowing Union troops to capture Confederacy's last remaining seaport [1]
- Jan 16 General William Sherman issues Field Order #15 (land for blacks)
- Jan 16 Munitions magazine explodes at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, killing or injuring 200 soldiers, carelessness of drunken soldiers blamed. [1]
- Jan 16 San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle starts
- Jan 18 Battle of Ft Moultrie, South Carolina
- Jan 19 NV Suriname Bank established
- Jan 19 Union occupies Fort Anderson, North Carolina
- Jan 23 -Jan 25th) Battle of City Point, Virginia (James River, Trent's Reach)
- Jan 25 CSS Shenandoah arrives in Melbourne, Australia
Confederate Peace Commissioners
Jan 28 Confederate President Jefferson Davis names his three commissioners to negotiate for peace with the Union
General Lee Commander-in-Chief
Jan 31 General Robert E. Lee named Commander-in-Chief of Confederate Armies during US Civil War
- Feb 1 JS Rock, 1st African American lawyer to practise in US Supreme Court, admitted to bar
- Feb 1 US President Lincoln signs 13th Amendment of US Constitution, abolishing slavery in US; celebrated as National Freedom Day [1]
- Feb 3 Hampton Roads Peace Conference, Lincoln & Stephens reach an impasse
- Feb 4 Hawaiian Board of Education formed
- Feb 4 Robert E. Lee is named general-in-chief of Confederate forces
- Feb 5 Battle of Hatcher's Run, Virginia (Armstrong's Mill, Dabney's Mill)
- Feb 6 2nd day of battle at Dabney's Mills (Hatcher's Run)
- Feb 8 Martin Robison Delany, 1st black major in US Army appointed during US Civil War
- Feb 12 Henry Highland Garnet becomes the 1st African American minister to preach to the US House of Representatives, he talks about the end of slavery
- Feb 17 -18] Battle of Charleston, South Carolina
- Feb 17 Columbia in South Carolina burns down during the American Civil War
- Feb 18 Battle of Fort Moultrie, SC occupied by Federals
- Feb 18 Evacuation of Charleston, South Carolina
- Feb 18 Union troops force Confederates to abandon Ft Anderson, NC
- Feb 20 Massachusetts Institute of Technology forms 1st US collegiate architectural school
- Feb 22 Battle of Wilmington, NC (Fort Anderson) occupied by Federals
- Feb 22 Tennessee adopts a new constitution abolishing slavery
- Feb 27 Civil War skirmish near Sturgeon, Missouri
- Mar 2 British newspaper "Morning Chronicle" begins publishing
- Mar 2 Conferate General Early's army is defeated at the battle of Waynesboro, Virginia, during American Civil War
- Mar 2 Freedman's Bureau founded for Black Education, 1865
- Mar 2 Second Taranaki War: The Volkner Incident in New Zealand.
- Mar 3 Opening of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the founding member of the HSBC Group.
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, & Abandoned Lands
Mar 3 US Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, & Abandoned Lands established by Abraham Lincoln to help destitute free blacks
Booth Attends Lincoln Inauguration
Mar 4 Abraham Lincoln inaugurated for his 2nd term as US President. The man who would assassinate him weeks later, John Wilkes Booth, is photographed attending the inauguration.
- Mar 4 US Confederate congress approves final design of "official flag"
- Mar 6 Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida
- Mar 6 US President Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Ball
- Mar 7 -10] Battles around Kinston, North Carolina
- Mar 8 27th Grand National: Captain Henry Coventry wins aboard French outsider Alcibiade at 100/7
- Mar 8 Battle of Kingston, North Carolina (Wilcox's ridge, Wise's Forks)
- Mar 10 Battle of Monroe's Crossroads, North Carolina
- Mar 11 General William T. Sherman's Union forces occupies Fayetteville, North Carolina
- Mar 13 Confederate President Jefferson Davis signs bill authorizing use of slaves as soldiers during last weeks of the US Civil War
- Mar 16 Battle of Averasboro North Carolina (1,500 casualties)
- Mar 18 Battle of Wilson's raid to Selma, Alabama
- Mar 18 Congress of Confederate States of American adjourns for last time
- Mar 19 Battle of Bentonville, Confederates retreat from Greenville North Carolina
- Mar 20 2nd day of Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina
- Mar 20 Michigan authorizes workers' cooperatives
- Mar 21 Battle of Bentonville ends, last Confederate effort to stop Sherman
- Mar 22 Wilson's Raid: 13,480 cavalry troops led by Union General James H. Wilson destroys most of Confederate Alabama and Georgia's arms-manufacturing and rail capabilities; raid lasts through mid-April [1] [2]
- Mar 23 General Sherman and Cox' troops reach Goldsboro, North Carolina
- Mar 25 Battle of Bluff Spring, Florida
- Mar 25 Battle of Mobile, Alabama (Spanish Fort, Fort Morgan, Fort Blakely)
- Mar 25 Battle of Petersburg: Confederate forces launch an unsuccessful counterattack on Fort Stedman
- Mar 25 SS General Lyon at Cape Hatteras catches fire & sinks, killing 400
- Mar 27 Siege of Spanish Fort, AL-captured by Federals
- Mar 29 -Apr 9th], Appomattox campaign, Virginia, 7582 killed
- Mar 29 Battle of Lewis's Farm [alt. Quaker Road, Gravelly Run], in Dinwiddie County, Virginia begins (Union victory)
- Mar 30 -4] Battle at 5 Forks, Virginia
- Mar 31 Battle of Boydton, Virginia (White Oaks Roads, Dinwiddie C H)
- Mar 31 General Pickett moves to 5 Forks, abandoning the defense of Petersburg
- Apr 1 -9] Battle at Blakely Alabama
- Apr 1 Battle of Five Forks: Union forces defeat Confederate force in Virginia and capture important railway supply line for General Robert E. Lee's army
- Apr 2 Battle of Fort Blakely Alabama, last major battle of the US Civil War
- Apr 2 Battle of Petersburg ends as the Army of Northern Virginia is forced to retreat under heavy fire from a general Union offensive
- Apr 2 Battle of Selma, Alabama, Union forces break Confederates defenses to secure the town
- Apr 2 Confederate President Jefferson Davis flees Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia (US Civil War)
- Apr 3 Battle at Namozine Church, Virginia (Appomattox Campaign)
- Apr 3 Union forces occupy Confederate capital of Richmond & Petersberg, Virginia
- Apr 4 General Robert E. Lee's Confederate army arrives at Amelia Courthouse, Amelia County, Virginia
- Apr 5 Battle at Amelia Springs, Jetersville Virginia (Appomattox Campaign)
- Apr 6 Battle of High Bridge, fought near Farmville, Virginia (Appomattox Campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
- Apr 6 Battle of Sayler's Creek, fought near Farmville, Virginia (Appomattox Campaign), 1/4 of General Robert E. Lee's army cut off, Union victory (US Civil War)
- Apr 7 Battle of Farmville, Virginia
- Apr 9 Confederate General Robert E. Lee and 26,765 troops surrender at Appomattox Court House to US Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant ending the Civil War in North Virginia
- Apr 10 At Appomattox, Confederate General Robert E. Lee issues General Order #9, his last
- Apr 11 Abraham Lincoln urges a spirit of generous conciliation during reconstruction
- Apr 11 Battle of Mobile, Alamaba evacuated by Confederates
- Apr 13 Raleigh, North Carolina, captured by Union forces
Assassination Attempt on William Seward
Apr 14 U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked in his home by Lewis Powell as part of the same conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln
Deadly Performance of a Twisted Actor
Apr 14 US President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington; he dies a day later
The Death of Abraham Lincoln
Apr 15 Abraham Lincoln dies nine hours after he is shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington
- Apr 15 Mobile, Alabama is captured by Union forces after a siege led by General Canby
Bismarck Made a Count
Apr 15 Otto von Bismarck elevated to rank of Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen
Johnston Surrenders to Sherman
Apr 18 Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to General William T. Sherman in North Carolina
- Apr 20 Crosby Opera House opens in Chicago, Illinois; destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871
- Apr 21 Abraham Lincoln's funeral train leaves Washington
- Apr 24 Fire alarm & police telegraph system put into operation in San Francisco
- Apr 26 Confederate General J E Johnston surrenders remaining forces to Union General William Sherman at Bennett Place in Durham, North Carolina, ending the US Civil War
- Apr 27 Cornell University (Ithaca NY) is chartered
- Apr 27 Steamboat "SS Sultana" explodes in the Mississippi River, killing up to 1,800 of the 2,427 passengers in the greatest maritime disaster in United States history. Most were paroled Union POWs on their way home.
- Apr 28 Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera "L'Africaine" premieres in Paris
- May 2 US President Andrew Johnson offers $100,000 reward for capture of Jefferson Davis
- May 4 Battle of Citronelle, Alabama; Richard Taylor surrenders
- May 5 1st US train robbery at North Bend, Ohio
End of the American Civil War
May 9 President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring armed resistance in the South is virtually at an end; this is the commonly accepted end date of the American Civil War
- May 10 Confederate President Jefferson Davis captured by Union troops at Irwinsville Georgia (US Civil War)
- May 10 Major General Sam Jones, the Confederate military leader in Florida, South Carolina and South Georgia, surrenders to Union forces
- May 11 Confederate Brigadier General Meriwether Jeff Thompson surrenders at Jacksonport, Arkansas
- May 12 Last land action of Civil war at Palmito Ranch, Texas
- May 13 Battle of Palmito Ranch, near Brownsville, Texas: final engagement of the American Civil War, Private John Jefferson Williams of B Company, 34th Regiment Indiana Infantry is last man killed
- May 17 The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established
- May 23 -24] Victory parade in Washington, D.C. (Grand Review)
- May 23 Flag flown at full mast over White House for the first time since Lincoln was shot
- May 26 US Civil War Battle of Galveston, (Texas) - Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith negotiates a surrender
- Jun 2 Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith surrenders his Trans-Mississippi Department to Union forces at Galveston, Texas; he then flees to Mexico to avoid charges of treason
Tristan und Isolde
Jun 10 Richard Wagner's opera "Tristan und Isolde" premieres in Munich, Germany
- Jun 13 President Andrew Johnson proclaims reconstruction of confederate states
Juneteenth
Jun 19 Union General Gordon Granger declares slaves are free in Texas, now the date the end of slavery is celebrated across the US as Juneteenth
W. G. Grace
Jun 22 Acknowledged as 1st Class Cricket debut of Dr W. G. Grace; as a 16-year-old he is dismissed for 0 playing for Gentlemen of South v Players of South at Kennington Oval, London
- Jun 22 The CSS Shenandoah fires the last shot of the American Civil War in the Bering Strait to indicate surrender
- Jun 23 At Fort Towson, General Stand Watie surrenders last sizeable confederate army
- Jun 28 The Army of the Potomac is disbanded
- Jun 30 8 alleged conspirators in assassination of Lincoln are found guilty
Salvation Army Founded
Jul 2 One-time Methodist Reform Church minister William Booth and his wife Catherine Booth found the East London Christian Mission, now known as the Salvation Army
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Jul 4 First edition of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll is published
- Jul 5 Great Britain creates world's 1st speed limit law
- Jul 5 US Secret Service begins operating under the Treasury Department
Execution of Lincoln's Assassins
Jul 7 Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt are executed for their role in the conspiracy to assassinate US President Abraham Lincoln
- Jul 13 Horace Greeley, founder and editor of the "New-York Tribune" reputedly advises his readers to "Go west, young man"
Barnum Museum Fire
Jul 13 P. T. Barnum's museum in New York burns down, giantess Anna Haining Swan just escapes
- Jul 14 English mountaineer Edward Whymper leads first expedition to climb the Matterhorn (four die on the descent)
- Jul 14 The Chickasaw Nation is the last of the Five Tribes to surrender to the Union following the Confederate defeat
Event of Interest
Jul 21 In market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first true western showdown
- Jul 22 Underarm slow right arm bowler V E Walker takes 10-104 in an innings for Middlesex v Lancashire in a county cricket match at Old Trafford, Manchester
- Jul 26 Patrick Francis Healy is 1st African American awarded PhD (from University of Leuven, Belgium)
- Jul 26 The capital of New Zealand moves from Auckland to Wellington
- Jul 27 Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina.
- Jul 30 Pope Pius IX visits Suriname
- Jul 31 The first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Australia
- Aug 2 Lewis Carroll publishes "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
- Aug 2 Trans Atlantic Cable being laid by SS Great Eastern between Great Britain and America snaps and is lost
Event of Interest
Aug 12 Joseph Lister performs 1st antiseptic surgery
- Aug 15 Battle of Lone Jack, Missouri: fierce fighting between Union soldiers and Confederate forces prompted by bushwacker attacks destroys town of Lone Jack
- Aug 16 Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic regains its independence after 4 years of fighting against the Spanish Annexation.
- Aug 20 President Andrew Johnson proclaims an end to "insurrection" in Texas
- Aug 22 William Sheppard is issued the first US patent for liquid soap
- Sep 3 Army commander in SC orders Freedmen's Bureau to stop seizing land
British Golf Open
Sep 14 British Open Men's Golf, Prestwick GC: Scotsman Andrew Strath wins his first title; beats 2-time champion Willie Park Sr. by 2 strokes
Billiard Ball Patented
Oct 10 John Wesley Hyatt patents the billiard ball made from cellulose nitrate (celluloid) in Albany, New York (patent US50359A)
- Oct 11 Paul Bogle led hundreds of black men and women in a march in Jamaica, starting the Morant Bay rebellion
Stephens Paroled
Oct 11 US President Andrew Johnson paroles Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens
- Oct 14 Cheyennes & Arapahos sign "peace treaty" then chased out Colorado
- Nov 1 Zutphen-Fishing Dutch railway opens
- Nov 6 American Civil War: CSS Shenandoah is the last Confederate combat unit to surrender after circumnavigating the globe, on its cruise that sank or captured 37 vessels
- Nov 6 Maastricht-Venlo railway opens in Netherlands
- Nov 11 Mary Edward Walker, the first US Army female surgeon, awarded Medal of Honor
- Nov 11 Thomas William Robertson's play "Society" premieres in London
- Nov 11 Treaty of Sinchula is signed in which Bhutan ceded the areas east of the Teesta River to the British East India Company.
- Nov 13 US issues 1st gold certificates
Celebrated Jumping Frog
Nov 18 Mark Twain publishes the short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" in The New York Saturday Press
- Nov 21 Shaw University forms in Raleigh NC
- Nov 26 "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll is published in America
- Nov 26 Battle of Papudo: The Spanish navy engages a combined Peruvian-Chilean fleet north of Valparaiso, Chile
- Dec 5 Chincha Islands War: Peru allies with Chile against Spain.
- Dec 6 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery (except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted) [1]
Unfinished Symphony
Dec 17 Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8, "Unfinished Symphony", premieres in Vienna with Johann von Herbeck conducting
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