1862
This page is about the year 1862. For the board game, see 1862.1862 was a
common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).
January
*
January 1 -
Britain annexes
Lagos island in modern-day
Nigeria*
January 10 - End of term for
John Gately Downey, 7th
Governor of California. He is succeeded by
Amasa Leland Stanford.
*
January 30 - The first American
ironclad warship, the
USS Monitor is launched.
February
*
February 1 -
Julia Ward Howe's "
Battle Hymn of the Republic" is published for the first time (
Atlantic Monthly).
*
February 6 -
American Civil War:
Ulysses S. Grant gives the
United States its first victory of the war, by capturing
Fort Henry, Tennessee, known as the
Battle of Fort Henry.
*
February 15 - American Civil War: General
Ulysses S. Grant attacks
Fort Donelson,
Tennessee and captures it the next day.
*
February 22 - American Civil War:
Jefferson Davis officially inaugurated in
Richmond, Virginia, to a six-year term as president of the
Confederate States of America.
March
*
March 7 - American Civil War: Confederates shut out of
Missouri at
The Battle of Pea Ridge.
*
March 8 - American Civil War: The iron-clad
CSS Virginia (formerly USS
Merrimack) is launched at
Hampton Roads,
Virginia.
*
March 9 - American Civil War: First battle between two ironclad warships
USS Monitor v
CSS Virginia*
March 13 American Civil War: The US federal government forbids all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
*
March 28 - American Civil War:
Battle of Glorieta Pass - In
New Mexico Union forces succeed in stopping the
Confederate invasion of
New Mexico territory. The battle began on
March 26.
April
*
April 5 - American Civil War:
Battle of Yorktown - The battle begins when Union forces under General
George McClellan close in on the Confederate capital
Richmond, Virginia.
*
April 6 - American Civil War: In
Tennessee, the
Battle of Shiloh begins.
*
April 7 - American Civil War:
Battle of Shiloh -
Union Army under General
Ulysses S. Grant defeats the
Confederates near
Shiloh, Tennessee.
May
*
May 2 - The
California State Normal School (now
San Jose State University) is created by an Act of the California Legislature.
*
May 5 -
Battle of Puebla,
Mexican General
Ignacio Zaragoza defeats the
French Army; commemorated as the
Cinco de Mayo.
*
May 11 -
American Civil War: The ironclad
CSS Virginia is scuttled in the
James River northwest of
Norfolk, Virginia.
*
May 15 - U.S. President
Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture (later renamed
USDA).
*
May 20 - U.S. President
Abraham Lincoln signs the
Homestead Act into law.
June
*
June 1 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Fair Oaks ends - Both sides claim victory.
*
June 4 - American Civil War:
Confederate troops evacuate
Fort Pillow on the
Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for
Union troops to take
Memphis, Tennessee.
*
June 6 - American Civil War:
Battle of Memphis -
Union forces capture
Memphis, Tennessee from the
Confederates*
June 8 - American Civil War:
Battle of Cross Keys -
Confederate forces under General
Stonewall Jackson save the
Army of Northern Virginia from a
Union assault on the
James Peninsula led by General
George McClellan.
July
*
July 1 - Marriage of
Princess Alice, second daughter of
Queen Victoria to
Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine.
* July 1 -
United States president
Abraham Lincoln signs into law the
Pacific Railway Acts authorizing construction of the
First Transcontinental Railroad.
* July 1 -
Russian State Library is founded
*
July 2 - U.S. President
Abraham Lincoln signs the
Morrill Land Grant Act into law, creating land-grant colleges to teach agricultural and mechanical sciences across the United States.
*
July 16 -
American Civil War:
David G. Farragut becomes the first
United States Navy rear admiral.
*
July 19 - American Civil War:
Morgan's Raid - At
Buffington Island in
Ohio,
Confederate General
John Hunt Morgan's raid into the north is mostly thwarted when a large group of his men are captured while trying to escape across the
Ohio River.
*
July 23 - American Civil War:
Henry W. Halleck takes command of the
Union Army.
August
*
August 2 - American Civil War:
Skirmish at Taberville, MO -
Union forces force
Confederate troops to march south, near
Taberville, Missouri*
August 5 - American Civil War:
Battle of Baton Rouge - Along the
Mississippi River near
Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
Confederate troops drive
Union forces back into the city.
*
August 6 - American Civil War: The
Confederate ironclad
CSS Arkansas is scuttled on the
Mississippi River after suffering damage in a battle with the
USS Essex near
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
*
August 9 - American Civil War:
Battle of Cedar Mountain - At
Cedar Mountain, Virginia,
Confederate General
Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats
Union forces under General
John Pope.
*
August 17 -
Indian Wars:
Lakota (Sioux) uprising begins in
Minnesota as desperate Lakota attack white settlements along the
Minnesota River. They will be overwhelmed by the US military six weeks later.
*
August 19 - Indian Wars: During an uprising in
Minnesota,
Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily-defended
Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of
New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.
*
August 21 - The
Vienna Stadtpark opens its gates.
*
August 28-
August 30 -
American Civil War:
Second Battle of Bull RunSeptember
*
September 1 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Chantilly -
Confederate General
Robert E. Lee leads his forces in an attack on retreating
Union troops in
Chantilly, Virginia, driving them away.
*
September 2 -
American Civil War: President
Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores
Union General
George McClellan to full command after General
John Pope's disastrous defeat at the
Battle of Second Bull Run.
*
September 5 -
American Civil War: In the
Confederacy's first invasion of the North, General
Robert E. Lee leads 55,000 men of the
Army of Northern Virginia across the
Potomac River at
White's Ford near
Leesburg, Virginia, into
Maryland.
*
September 12 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Harpers Ferry -
Confederates capture the
Union garrison at
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
*
September 17 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Antietam -
Union forces defeat
Confederate troops at
Sharpsburg, Maryland, in the bloodiest day in U.S. history (with over 22,000 casualties).
*
September 19 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Iuka -
Union troops under Major General
William Rosecrans defeat a
Confederate force commanded by Major General
Sterling Price at
Iuka, Mississippi.
*
September 22 -
Otto von Bismarck becomes prime minister of
Prussia.
*
September 22 -
American Civil War: Preliminary announcement of the
Emancipation Proclamation by
President Abraham Lincoln*
September 29 - Bismarck's "Blood and Iron" speech
October
*
October 8 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Perryville -
Union forces under General
Don Carlos Buell halt the
Confederate invasion of
Kentucky by defeating troops led by General
Braxton Bragg at
Perryville, Kentucky.
*
October 11 -
American Civil War: In the aftermath of the
Battle of Antietam,
Confederate General
J.E.B. Stuart and his men loot
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north.
*
October 25 - In
New Granada, rebels troops of southern states defeat the government troops
November
*
November 5 - American Civil War:
Abraham Lincoln removes
George McClellan as commander of the
Union Army.
* November 5 -
Indian Wars: In
Minnesota, more than 300 Santee
Sioux are found guilty of
rape and
murder of white settlers and are sentenced to hang.
*
November 13 -
Ludwig Uhland, German poet dies of a mysterious disease.
Germans are taken aback.
*
November 14 -
American Civil War:
Union President
Abraham Lincoln approves General
Ambrose Burnside's plan to capture the
Confederate capital at
Richmond, Virginia (this led to a dramatic Union defeat at the
Battle of Fredericksburg on
December 13).
*
November 28 - American Civil War:
Battle of Cane Hill -
Union troops led by General
John Blunt push back
Confederate forces commanded by General
John Marmaduke into northwestern
Arkansas'
Boston Mountains.
December
*
December 2 - First
US Navy hospital ships enter service
*
December 18 -
General Order No. 11 is issued by General
Ulysses S. Grant.
*
December 26 –
William D. Duly hangs 38 Dakota Sioux in Minnesota
* December 26 -
December 29 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.
*
December 30 - The
USS Monitor sinks off
Cape Hatteras,
North Carolina*
December 31 -
American Civil War:
Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits
West Virginia to the Union (thus dividing Virginia in two); meanwhile, the
Battle of Stones River is fought near
Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Undated
*
Richard Jordan Gatling patents the
Gatling gun.
* The
United States passes the
Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act* A
smallpox epidemic in California.
* Bureau of Internal Revenue, forefunner of
IRS, founded
*
Francisco Solano López becomes
Paraguayan dictator
*
Donald McIntyre builds a property in northwest
Queensland, which will later become the town of
Julia Creek.
*The
American Civil War (
1861-
1865)
January
*
January 15 -
Loie Fuller, American dancer (d.
1928)
*
January 24 -
Edith Wharton, American writer (d.
1937)
*
January 29 -
Frederick Delius, English composer (d.
1934)
February
*
February 4 -
George Ernest Morrison, Australian adventurer and journalist (d.
1920)
March
*
March 8 -
George Frederick Phillips, Canadian-born military hero (d.
1904)
*
March 13 -
Jane Delano, American founder of the American Red Cross Nursing Service (d.
1919)
*
March 17 -
Silvio Gesell, economist (d.
1930)
*
March 28 -
Aristide Briand, French politician, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1932)
April
*
April 2 -
Nicholas M. Butler, American president of Columbia University, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1947)
*
April 6 -
Georges Darien, French writer (d.
1921)
*
April 11 -
Charles Evans Hughes, American jurist and statesman (d.
1948)
*
April 26 -
Edmund Charles Tarbell, American artist (d.
1938)
May
*
May 15 -
Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian dramatist and narrator (d.
1931)
*
May 27 -
John Kendrick Bangs, American author and satirist (d.
1922)
June
*
June 5 -
Allvar Gullstrand, Swedish ophthalmologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1930)
*
June 7 -
Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1947)
*
June 21 -
Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince and historian (d.
1943)
*
June 27 -
May Irwin, Canadian actress and singer (d.
1938)
July
*
July 2 -
William Henry Bragg, English physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1942)
*
July 14 -
Gustav Klimt, Austrian artist (d.
1918)
*
July 16 -
Ida B. Wells, American journalist, suffragist, and anti-lynching crusader (d.
1931)
August
*
August 5 -
Joseph Carey Merrick, English oddity (d.
1890)
*
August 21 -
Emilio Salgari, Italian writer (d.
1911)
*
August 22 -
Claude Debussy, French composer (d.
1918)
*
August 26 -
Herbert Booth, the third son of
William and
Catherine Booth (d.
1926)
*
August 29 -
Andrew Fisher, fifth
Prime Minister of Australia (d.
1928)
* August 29 -
Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1949)
September
*
September 11 -
O. Henry, American writer (d.
1910)
*
September 25 -
Billy Hughes, seventh
Prime Minister of Australia (d.
1952)
October
*
October 3 -
Johnny Briggs, English cricketer (d.
1902)
*
October 19 -
Auguste Lumière, French inventor (d.
1954)
November
*
November 14 -
George Washington Vanderbilt, American businessman (d.
1914)
*
November 15 -
Gerhart Hauptmann, German writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1946)
*
November 16 -
Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (d.
1944)
*
November 19 -
Billy Sunday, American baseball player, evangelist, prohibitionist (d.
1935)
December
*
December 8 -
Georges Feydeau, French playwright (d.
1921)
*
William E. Johnson, American leader of
Anti-Saloon League (d.
1950)
*
January 10 -
Samuel Colt, American firearms inventor (b.
1814)
*
January 18 -
John Tyler, 10th
President of the United States (b.
1790)
*
February 7 -
Prosper Meniere, French scientist (b.
1799)
*
April 10 -
W.H.L. Wallace, American Civil War general (b.
1821)
*
April 19 -
Louis P. Harvey, Governor of Wisconsin (b.
1820)
*
May 6 -
Henry David Thoreau, American author and philosopher (b.
1817)
*
July 24 -
Martin Van Buren, eighth
President of the United States (b.
1782)
*
August 10 -
Shusaku Honinbo, Japanese Go player (b.
1829)
*
November 13 -
Ludwig Uhland, German poet (b.
1787)
*
December 18 -
Barbara Fritchie, U.S. patriot in Civil War (b.
1766)
*
December 31 -
Freeman Towns, U.S. Entrepreneur. (b.
1800)
*
John Bird Sumner,
Archbishop of Canterbury (b.
1780)
*
1862 Coin Pictures
