Major Events
- Mar 3 Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs and granting them the full rights of free citizens [O.S. Feb 19]
- Mar 4 Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th US President
- Mar 10 West African political leader El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, destroying the Bambara Empire of Mali
- Mar 17 Italy is unified into a single kingdom under Victor Emmanuel II following the campaigns led by Giuseppe Garibaldi
- Apr 12 Fort Sumter in South Carolina is attacked by the Confederacy, beginning the American Civil War
- Apr 15 Federal army of 75,000 volunteers is mobilized by President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the American Civil War
- Apr 23 Robert E. Lee named commander of Virginia Confederate forces (US Civil War)
- May 17 First color photograph, of a tartan ribbon is shown by Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell to the Royal Institution in London
- Jul 21 First Battle of Bull Run [Battle of First Manassas], 1st major battle of the US Civil War is fought near Manassas, Virginia, Confederate victory
- Oct 26 Pony Express (Missouri to California) ends after 19 months
- Dec 31 A then world record 22,990mm of rain falls in a single year in Cherrapunji, Assam in India
- More 1861 Events
Did You Know?
President Lincoln signs the first US personal Income Tax into law (3% of incomes over $800)
Rabindranath Tagore
H. H. Holmes
José Rizal
Douglas Haig
Fridtjof Nansen
Albert B. Fall
Ernest Renshaw
Richard Sears
James NaismithMore People Born in 1861
Fun Fact About 1861
Abraham Lincoln stops his train at Westfield on his way to Washington to thank 11-year old Grace Bedell in person for her advice to grow a beard to gain more votes
Elisha Otis
Elizabeth Barrett BrowningMore 1861 Deaths
Articles About 1861
Emancipation of the Serfs
Peasants Reading the Emancipation Manifesto, an 1873 painting by Grigory MyasoyedovMarch 3
Battle of Fort Sumter
The Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter, the first battle of the American Civil WarApril 12
First Color Photograph
The first durable color photograph, a tartan ribbon was taken by Thomas Sutton using James Clerk Maxwell's three-color methodMay 17
Pony Express
San Francisco Pony Express to New York coverAugust 10
Charles Dickens
Giuseppe Verdi
Abraham Lincoln
Henry John Temple