1861
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Years: 1858 1859 1860 -
1861 -
1862 1863 1864 \n|-\n| align="center" colspan=2 |
Decades: 1830s 1840s 1850s -
1860s -
1870s 1880s 1890s \n|- \n| align="center" |
Centuries: 18th century -
19th century -
20th century
\n1861 in art
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1861 in literature \n
1861 in music\n
1861 in science\n
1861 in sports\n----\n
List of state leaders in 1861\nList of religious leaders in 1861\n|}
Events
\n* January 1 - Benito Juárez captures Mexico City\n* January 2 - Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia dies and is succeeded by Wilhelm I\n* January 3 - American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States\n* January 9 - Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union, preceding the American Civil War.\n* January 10 - American Civil War: Florida secedes from the United States\n* January 11 - American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the United States\n* January 18 - American Civil War: Georgia joins the Confederacy\n* January 21 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate\n* January 26 - American Civil War: Louisiana secedes from the Union.\n* January 29 - Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.\n* February 1 - American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.\n* February 4 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama the Confederate States of America is formed by delegates from six break-away United States.\n* February 8 - American Civil War: The Confederate States of America are formed.\n* February 9 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.\n* February 11 - American Civil War: US House unanimously passes resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.\n* February 18 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the first and only President of the Confederate States of America.\n* February 18 - Victor Emmanuel of Savoy becomes King of Italy\n* February 19 - Serfdom is abolished in Russia.\n* February 23 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.\n* February 27 - A crowd in Warsaw protesting Russian rule over Poland is fired upon by Russian troops killing five protesters.\n* February 28 - Colorado is organized as a United States territory.\n* March 2 - Nevada is organized as a United States territory.\n* March 3 - Formal emancipation of Russiann serfs\n* March 4 - End of term for President of the United States James Buchanan. He is succeeded by Abraham Lincoln.\n* March 4 - American Civil War: The "Stars and Bars" is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.\n* March 11 - American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.\n* March 17 - Proclamation of the kingdom of Italy with Victor Emanuel II as its king\n* March 19 - First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand\n* April 12 - United States Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina\n* April 27 - American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in the United States.\n* April 27 - American Civil War: West Virginia secedes from Virginia. \n* May 6 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.\n* May 7 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.\n* May 8 - American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.\n* May 13 - American Civil War: Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.\n* May 20 - American Civil War: Kentucky proclaims its neutrality which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. North Carolina secedes from the United States\n* June 8 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.\n* June 9 – Lebanon separated from Syrian administration and reunited under Ottoman governor with the approval of European powers\n*June 25 - Abd-ul-Mejid, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1839-1861) dies and is succeeded by Abd-ul-Aziz (1861-1876).\n*July 2 - Ioan Kasatkin lands on Hakodate and introduces the Eastern Orthodox church into Japan.\n* July 21 - American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run - At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins (Confederate victory).\n* July 25 - American Civil War: The Crittenden-Johnson Resolution is passed by the United States Congress stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.\n*July 26 - American Civil War: George McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run. \n* 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).\n* August 27 - Last execution in Britain for attempted murder - Martin Doyle in Chester\n* September 3 - American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.\n* 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.\n* 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.\n* October 31 - American Civil War: Citing failing health, Union General Winfield Scott resigns as Commander of the United States Army.\n* November 1 - American Civil War: US President Abraham Lincoln appoints George McClellan as commander of the Union Army, replacing the aged General Winfield Scott.\n* November 2 - American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Fremont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.\n* November 6 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America.\n* 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.\n* November 8 - American Civil War: The "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 UK and US.\n* November 21 - American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin secretary of war.
\n* Kansas becomes 34th state in the United States\n* Sir William Crookes discovers Thallium (see Discovery of the chemical elements)\n* Henri Mouhot finds Ankor Vat\n* Benito Juarez becomes the president of Mexico; he temporarily stops the payments of foreign debt\n* In Britain, the death penalty is limited to murder, embezzlement, piracy and arson in a docks or in an ammunition depot\n* British Empire establishes bases in Lagos to stop the slave trade
Births
\n* January 14 - Sultan Mehmed VI of the Ottoman Empire (+ 1926)\n* February 12 - Lou Andreas-Salome, author (+ 1937)\n* February 26 - King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (+ 1948)\n* February 27 - Rudolf Steiner, anthroposoph (+ 1925)\n* April 8 - Son, Byong-Hi, one of the leaders of the Samil, or March 1st Movement in Korea\n* April 15 - Bliss Carman, poet\n* May 6 - Rabindranath Tagore\n* October 16 - J. B. Bury\n* October 30 - Antoine Bourdelle, sculptor\n* December 4 – Lillian Russell, singer, vaudeville star (d. 1922)\n* November 6 - James Naismith, inventor of basketball\n* December 8 - Georges Méličs , French film director, allegedly the first.\n* December 16 - Antonio de La Gandara, painter\n* December 20 - Ivana Kobilca, Slovene painter (+ 1926)
Deaths
\n* January 2 - Friedrich Wilhelm IV, king of Prussia\n* January 17 - Lola Montez (adventurer)\n* June 25 - Abd-ul-Mejid, Ottoman sultan\n* July 25 - Jonas Furrer, Swiss Federal Councilor\n* December 14 - Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria
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