1861 - What happened in 1861 ?

January 1861

Thursday 03:

American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States

Wednesday 09:

Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union, preceding the American Civil War.

Thursday 10:

American Civil War: Florida secedes from the United States.

Friday 11:

Alabama secedes from the United States.

Friday 18:

Georgia joins the Confederacy.

February 1861

Monday 04:

American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama the Confederate States of America is formed by delegates from six break-away United States.

Friday 08:

American Civil War: The Confederate States of America are formed. Jefferson Davis is selected as first president.

Saturday 09:

American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.

Monday 11:

American Civil War: United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.

Saturday 23:

President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.

March 1861

Saturday 02:

Emancipation reform of 1861 in Russia: Tsar Alexander II signed the emancipation reform into law.

Monday 11:

American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.

Saturday 16:

Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.

Sunday 17:

The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.

Tuesday 19:

The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.

April 1861

Friday 12:

American Civil War: The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina

Saturday 13:

American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders

Sunday 14:

At the start of the American Civil War, the battle of Fort Sumter ended after the Confederates under Beuaregard bombarded the fort with 4,000 shells. The first causualty of the Civil War died when his cannon backfired.

Saturday 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.

Saturday 27:

President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.

May 1861

Monday 06:

American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.

Monday 13:

American Civil War: Queen Victoria of Britain issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.

Tuesday 14:

The Canellas meteorite, an 859-gram chondrite-type meteorite strikes the earth near Barcelona, Spain.

Monday 20:

American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.

Friday 24:

American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.

June 1861

Saturday 08:

American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.

Monday 24:

Tennessee becomes the 11th and last state to secede from the US.

July 1861

Saturday 20:

American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States of America begins sitting in Richmond, Virginia.

Sunday 21:

At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins (Confederate victory).

Thursday 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.

Friday 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.

August 1861

Monday 05:

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).

Tuesday 06:

British annexation of Lagos, Nigeria.

Saturday 10:

The war enters Missouri when a band of raw Confederate troops defeat Union forces in the southwestern part of the state.

Tuesday 27:

Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

September 1861

Tuesday 03:

American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.

Friday 06:

American Civil War: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant bloodlessly capture Paducah, Kentucky, which gives the Union control of the mouth of the Tennessee River.

October 1861

Monday 21:

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.

Thursday 24:

The first transcontinental telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express.

Friday 25:

The Toronto Stock Exchange was created.

Thursday 31:

American Civil War: Citing failing health, Union General Winfield Scott resigns as Commander of the United States Army.

November 1861

Friday 01:

American Civil War: US President Abraham Lincoln appoints George McClellan as commander of the Union Army, replacing the aged General Winfield Scott.

Saturday 02:

American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Fremont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.

Monday 04:

The University of Washington opens in Seattle, Washington as the Territorial University

Wednesday 06:

American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America.

Friday 08:

American Civil War: The "Trent Affair" – The USS San Jacinto stops the United Kingdom mailship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.

December 1861

Monday 09:

Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War created by the U.S. Congress

Saturday 21:

Lord Lyons, the British minister to the United States, meets with United States Secretary of State William Seward concerning Confederate envoys arrested by the United States Navy in order to prevent war between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Thursday 26:

Confederate diplomatic envoys James Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and Britain