1861

1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday.

Events

January

• January 1 – Benito Juárez captures Mexico City
• 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 United States
• January 9 – Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union, preceding the American Civil War.
• January 10 – American Civil War: Florida secedes from the United States
• January 11 – American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the United States
• January 18 – American Civil War: Georgia joins the Confederacy
• 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

• February 1 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
• February 4 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama the Confederate States of America is formed by delegates from six break-away United States.
• February 8 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America are formed.
• 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.
• February 11 – American Civil War: US House unanimously passes resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.
• February 18 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.
• February 18 – Victor Emmanuel of Savoy becomes King of Italy. See: Kingdom of Italy
• February 19 – Serfdom is abolished in Russia.
• February 23 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.
• February 27 – A crowd in Warsaw protesting Russian rule over Poland is fired upon by Russian troops killing five protesters.
• February 28 – Colorado is organized as a United States territory.

March-April

• March 2 – Nevada is organized as a United States territory.
• March 3 – Formal emancipation of the serfs in Imperial Russia
• March 4 – End of term for President of the United States James Buchanan. He is succeeded by Abraham Lincoln.
• March 4 – American Civil War: The "Stars and Bars" is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
• March 11 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
• March 17 – Proclamation of the kingdom of Italy with Victor Emanuel II as its king
• March 19 – First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand
• March 30 – Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of Thallium (see Discovery of the chemical elements)
• April 12 – American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina
• April 27 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in the United States.
• April 27 – American Civil War: West Virginia secedes from Virginia.

May-June

• 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 – American Civil War: Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
• May 14 – The Canellas meteorite, an 859 gram chondrite type meteorite struck earth near Barcelona, Spain.
• 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
• June 8 – American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
• June 9 – Lebanon separated from Syrian administration and reunited under Ottoman governor with the approval of European powers
• June 15 – Benito Juárez formally elected president of Mexico; he temporarily stops the payments of foreign debt
• June 25 – Abd-ul-Mejid, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1839-1861) dies and is succeeded by Abd-ul-Aziz (1861-1876).

July-August

• July 1 – First issue of Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano was published.
• July 2 – Ioan Kasatkin lands on Hakodate and introduces the Eastern Orthodox church into Japan.
• July 21 – American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run – At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins (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 McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.
• 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).
• August 27 – Last execution in Britain for attempted murder – Martin Doyle in Chester

September-October

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

November

• November 1 – American Civil War: US President Abraham Lincoln appoints George McClellan as commander of the Union Army, replacing the aged General Winfield Scott.
• November 2 – American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Fremont 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 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: 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.
• November 21 – American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin secretary of war.

unknown dates

• News of Henri Mouhot's discovery of Angkor Wat published.
• In Britain, the death penalty is limited to murder, embezzlement, piracy and to acts of arson perpetrated upon docks or ammunition depots.
• British Empire establishes bases in Lagos to stop the slave trade.

Births

• January 14 – Sultan Mehmed VI of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1926)
• January 30 – Charles Martin Loeffler, American composer (d. 1935)
• February 12 – Lou Andreas-Salome, Russian-born author (d. 1937)
• February 26 – King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1948)
• February 27 – Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher (d. 1925)
• April 8 – Son, Byong-Hi, Korean nationalist (d. 1922)
• April 15 – Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (d. 1929)
• May 6 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer (d. 1941)
• June 12 – William Attewell, English cricketer (d. 1927)
• October 16 – J. B. Bury, British historian (d. 1927)
• October 30 – Antoine Bourdelle, French sculptor (d. 1929)
• December 4 – Lillian Russell, American singer and vaudeville star (d. 1922)
• November 6 – James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (d. 1939)
• December 8 – Georges Méliès, French film director (d. 1938)
• December 15 – Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Prime Minister and President of Finland (d. 1944)
• December 16 – Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (d. 1917)
• December 20 – Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926)

Deaths

• January 2 – Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia (b. 1795)
• January 17 – Lola Montez, Irish-born Spanish dancer and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1821)
• 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 – Abd-ul-Mejid, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1823)
• June 29 – Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (b. 1806)
• July 25 – Jonas Furrer, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1805)
• August 24 – Pierre Berthier, French geologist (b. 1782)
• December 14 – Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, husband of Queen Victoria (b. 1819)