Historical Events
Eruption of Mount Tambora
Apr 5 Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies, has its first violent eruption after several centuries of dormancy
- Apr 6 British prison guards shoot disorderly American POWs, killing seven and injuring between 31 and 60 in the Dartmoor Massacre [1]
- Apr 10 Austria declares war on Kingdom of Naples
- Apr 10 Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies experiences a cataclysmic eruption, one of the most powerful in history, killing around 71,000 people, causes global volcanic winter
Famous Birthdays
Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)
Apr 1 German chancellor (1866-90) who helped unify Germany, born in Schönhausen, Prussia
- Apr 6 Robert Volkmann, German composer and pedagogue, born in Lommatzsch, Kingdom of Saxony (d. 1883)
- Apr 11 Clara Fey, German Roman Catholic Nun and the founder of the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus, born in Aachen, Prussia (d. 1894)
- Apr 12 Henry Hugo Pierson, English composer, born in Oxford, England (d. 1873)
- Apr 24 Anthony Trollope, English novelist and poet (Barchester Towers), born in London (d. 1882)
- Apr 24 James E. Harrison, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Greenville District, South Carolina (d. 1875)
- Apr 28 Andrew Jackson Smith, American Major General (Union Army), born in Livingston County, Kentucky (d. 1897)
- Apr 29 Abram Duryée, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in New York City (d. 1890)
Famous Deaths
- Apr 21 Joseph Winston, U.S. Congressman from North Carolina (b. 1746)
