Historical Events
- Aug 9 Austria & Sardinia sign cease fire
Event of Interest
Aug 9 US Barnburners (anti-slavery) party merges with Free Soil Party nominating Martin Van Buren for president
Discovery of Gold in California
Aug 19 New York Herald is the first major eastern newspaper to report the discovery of gold in California
- Aug 22 The United States annexes New Mexico
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 1 František Kmoch, Czech composer and conductor, born in Zásmuky, Austrian Empire (d. 1912)
- Aug 4 Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general (d. 1926)
- Aug 10 William Harnett, Irish-American painter (Old Violin), born in Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland (d. 1892)
- Aug 12 Macellus Emants, Dutch writer and poet (Along the Nile), born in Voorburg, Netherlands (d. 1923)
- Aug 19 Gustave Caillebotte, French painter (Rue de Paris) and member of Impressionists, born in Paris (d. 1894)
- Aug 22 Melville E. Stone, American newspaper publisher (Founder of Chicago Daily News), born in Hudson, Illinois (d. 1929)
- Aug 30 Andrew Onderdonk, American railway contractor (Canadian Pacific Railway), born in New York City (d. 1905)
Famous Weddings
Samuel Morse
Aug 10 American telegraph Inventor Samuel Morse (57) weds second wife, American Sarah Elizabeth Griswold in Utica, New York
Ulysses S. Grant
Aug 22 Soldier and later US President Ulysses S. Grant (26) marries Julia Dent
Famous Deaths
George Stephenson (1781-1848)
Aug 12 English engineer known as the "Father of Railways" (Locomotion No. 1, Standard Gauge), dies of pleurisy at 67
- Aug 15 Timothy Olmstead, American fifer and composer, dies at 88
