1861

Events

January

• January 1
• * Benito Juárez captures Mexico City.
• * The first steam-powered carousel is recorded, in Bolton, England.
• January 2 - Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia dies, and is succeeded by Wilhelm I.

• * January 3 - Delaware votes not to secede from the Union.
• * January 9 - Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union.
• * January 10 - Florida secedes from the Union.
• * January 11 - Alabama secedes from the Union.
• * January 12 - Major Robert Anderson sends dispatches to Washington.
• * January 19 - Georgia secedes from the Union.
• * January 21 - Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
• * January 26 - Louisiana secedes from the Union.
• January 29 - Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state, being admitted as a free state.
• January 31 - Kukis raid the Chhagalnaiya plains in eastern Bengal, murdering and kidnapping hundreds of people, particularly women.

  February

• * February 1 - Texas secedes from the Union.
• * February 4 - In Montgomery, Alabama, the Provisional Confederate States Congress is formed by representatives from the first seven break-away states.
• * February 8 - The Confederate States of America are formed, comprising the first seven break-away States.
• * February 9 - Jefferson Davis is elected Provisional President of the Confederate States of America, by the Weed Convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
• February 11
• * American Civil War: The U.S. House unanimously passes a resolution, guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.
• * About 850 convicts at Chatham Dockyard in England take over their prison in a riot.
• February 13 - Unification of Italy: The Siege of Gaeta, stronghold of the Neapolitan King Francis II, is ended by Piedmontese forces. Francis goes into exile.
• February 18 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.
• February 20 - In Britain, storms damage the Crystal Palace and cause the collapse of the steeple of Chichester Cathedral.
• February 21 - Mariehamn, the capital of Åland, is founded.
• February 23 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. in light of suspicions of a conspiracy in Baltimore to kill him.
• February 24 - Battle of Ky Hoa: the French and the Spanish defeat the Vietnamese.
• February 27 - Russian troops fire upon a crowd in Warsaw protesting Russian rule over Poland, killing 5 protesters.
• February 28 - Colorado is organized as a United States territory.
• March 2
• * Nevada is organized as a United States territory.
• * American Civil War: Texas is admitted to the Confederate States of America.

  March

• March 3 - Emancipation reform of 1861: Alexander II abolishes serfdom in the Russian Empire.

• March 4
• * Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as the 16th president of the United States.
• *American Civil War: The "Stars and Bars" is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
• March 10 - El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali.
• March 11 - American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
• March 13 - Tsushima incident: The Russian corvette Posadnik arrives at Tsushima Island in the Korea Strait, Japan, provoking a reaction from the Japanese Shogunate.
• March 17 - Unification of Italy: The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed by the new Parliament, with Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia becoming its king.
• March 19 - The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
• March 20
• * Unification of Italy: The surrender of Civitella del Tronto ends the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
• * An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina.
• March 21 - Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy, gives the infamous Cornerstone Speech in Savannah, Georgia, in which he declares that slavery is the natural condition of blacks, and the foundation of the Confederacy.
• March 28 - Confederate Arizona: A convention in modern-day Tucson ratifies the ordinance of secession of the southern part of New Mexico Territory.
• March 30 - Discovery of the chemical elements: British chemist William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.

  April

• April 7 - A population census is taken in the United Kingdom. The population is more than double that of 1801 and those living in urban areas are in a majority.

• * April 12 - The American Civil War begins with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
• * April 13 - Fort Sumter surrenders to Southern forces.File:Bombardment of Fort Sumter, 1861.png|thumb|200px|right| April 12–13: Fort Sumter
• * April 15 - President Abraham Lincoln issues a Proclamation calling for 75,000 men to confront in the South, "combinations too powerful to be suppressed in the ordinary way".
• * April 17 - The state of Virginia secedes from the Union.
• * April 20 - Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army, in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
• April 24 - Bezdna unrest: Bezdna in Russia is the scene of a peasant uprising; the military open fire and about 90 are killed.
• April 25 - American Civil War: The Union Army arrives in Washington, D.C.
• April 26 - Giovanni Schiaparelli discovers the asteroid 69 Hesperia.
• April 27 - American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in the United States.

  May

• * May 6 - Arkansas secedes from the Union.
• * May 7 - Tennessee secedes from the Union.
• * May 8 - Richmond, Virginia, is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
• May 10 - The Royal Seminary is granted its constitution as the first public institution of higher academic learning open to women in Sweden.
• May 13
• * North Star affair: The British merchant ship North Star leaves Hong Kong for Nagasaki, Japan. Chinese pirates board the vessel, kill an officer, and escape with a large quantity of gold.
• * American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality", which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
• * Comet C/1861 J1 is discovered from Australia.File:Great Comet 1861.jpg|thumb|200px|right| May 13: Great Comet
• May 14 - The Canellas meteorite, an 859 gram chondrite type meteorite, strikes Earth near Barcelona, Spain.
• May 17
• * A 7-day working men's package holiday to Paris, organised by Thomas Cook, sets out from London Bridge station.
• * Scottish-born physicist James Clerk Maxwell demonstrates the principle of permanent three-colour photography in a lecture at the Royal Institution in London using a photograph captured by Thomas Sutton.
• May 20 - American Civil War:
• *Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which lasts until September 3, when Confederate forces enter the state.
• *North Carolina secedes from the Union.
• May 21 - Russian sailors clash with a group of Japanese samurai and farmers at Tsushima Island.
• May 23 - American Civil War: The state of Virginia's ordinance of secession from the United States is ratified in a referendum.
• May 29 - The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is established.
• May 31 - The Perpetual Truce of Peace and Friendship is signed between Bahrain and the United Kingdom.

  June

• June 9 - Règlement Organique: With the approval of European powers, the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate is established as a semi-autonomous sub-division separate from the Sidon Eyalet. An Ottoman Armenian, Davud Pasha, is appointed Mutasarrıf by the Ottoman Sultan.
• June 15 - Benito Juárez is formally elected President of Mexico; he temporarily stops the payments of foreign debt.
• June 22 - Tooley Street fire breaks out and takes the life of James Braidwood, first superintendent of the London Fire Brigade.
• June 25 - Abdülmecid I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by Abdülaziz.File:Abdul-aziz.jpg|thumb|140px|right| June 25: Abdülaziz
• June 30 - Lambing Flat riots: White miners attack Chinese in the Australian goldfields.

  July

• July 1
• * The first issue of the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano is published.
• * Taiping Rebellion: Battle of Shanghai - French and Imperial Chinese troops defeat Taiping forces.
• * In Cologne, the Wallraf–Richartz Museum of art opens.
• July 2 - Ivan Kasatkin lands on Hakodate, and introduces the Eastern Orthodox Church into Japan.
• American Civil War:
• * July 12 - The Confederate States sign a Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws in Indian Territory.
• * July 13 - The Battle of Corrick's Ford takes place in western Virginia.
• * July 21 - First Battle of Bull Run - At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war ends in a Confederate victory.
• * July 25 - 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 - George B. McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac, following the disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.