Historical Events
- Apr 2 Skirmish at Crump's Hill (Piney Woods), Louisiana
- Apr 2 Skirmish at Spoonville, Antoine, Arkansas
- Apr 3 Skirmish at Okolona, Arkansas
- Apr 4 Skirmish at Elkin's Ford (Little Missouri River), Arkansas
- Apr 8 Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana; Federals routed by General Richard Taylor
- Apr 9 Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, Confederate assault repulsed by Union side with high cost of estimated 3,100 causalities
- Apr 9 Union surgeon Mary Edwards Walker is captured by Confederate troops and arrested as a spy during US Civil War
Maximilian I
Apr 10 Austrian Archduke Maximilian becomes Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico
- Apr 12 Battle of Blair's Landing, Louisiana
Battle of Fort Pillow
Apr 12 Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest captures Fort Pillow, Tennessee
- Apr 15 General Steeles' Union troops occupies Camden, Arkansas
- Apr 17 Battle of Plymouth, North Carolina
- Apr 17 Bread revolt in Savannah, Georgia
- Apr 17 Grant suspends prisoner-of-war exchanges
- Apr 18 Battle of Dybbøl: Denmark is defeated by Prussian and Austrian forces storming Dybbol fort in the deciding battle of the Second Schleswig War
- Apr 18 Battle of Poison Springs, Arkansas (Camden Expedition)
- Apr 22 US mints 2 cent coin (1st appearance of "In God We Trust")
- Apr 23 Battle of Cane River, Louisiana (Red River Expedition, Monett's Ferry)
- Apr 25 Battle of Marks' Mill, Arkansas (Camden Expedition)
- Apr 29 -30] Skirmish at Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas
Battle of Gate Pā
Apr 29 Battle of Gate Pā (Pukehinahina): 1,700 British troops suffer their worst defeat of the New Zealand Wars at the hands of 230 entrenched Māori warriors in Tauranga
- Apr 29 The Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York
- Apr 30 Battle of Jenkin's Ferry, Arkansas; General W R Scurry is killed
- Apr 30 New York becomes 1st state to charge a hunting license fee
Famous Birthdays
- Apr 1 Marie Jungius, Dutch fairy tale writer and feminist (d. 1908)
- Apr 9 Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, English electrical engineer and inventor, born in Liverpool, England (d. 1930)
- Apr 10 Eugene Francis Charles D'Albert, German pianist and composer (Golem), born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1932)
- Apr 10 Tully Marshall, American actor (Let's Go, Red Dust), born in Nevada City, California (d. 1943)
- Apr 18 Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (Soldiers of Fortune, The King's Jackal), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1916)
Max Weber (1864-1920)
Apr 21 German sociologist, economist and historian (Ancient Judaism), born in Erfurt, Province of Saxony, Prussia
- Apr 22 Phil May, English cartoonist, born in Wortley, Leeds (d. 1903)
- Apr 24 George August Alexander Alting von Geusau, Dutch Minister of War (1918-20), born in Arnhem, Netherlands (d. 1937)
- Apr 24 George Foottit, English clown, born in Manchester, United Kingdom (d. 1921)
- Apr 28 William Frederick Archdall Ellison, Irish clergyman and astronomer (director of the Armagh Observatory), born in Thomastown, Ireland (d. 1962)
- Apr 30 Frans Netscher, Dutch writer and journalist (Studies of nude model), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1923)
- Apr 30 Juhan Liiv, Estonian poet (I Saw Estonia Yesterday), born in Allatzkiwwi, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire (d. 1913)
Famous Deaths
- Apr 2 Princess Hildegard of Bavaria, seventh child and fourth daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, dies at 38
- Apr 4 Joseph Pitty Couthouy, American naval officer (b. 1808)
- Apr 12 Thomas Green, US Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at 50
- Apr 13 Johann Schneider, German composer and organist, dies at 74
- Apr 16 Thomas Blanchard, American machinist and inventor, dies at 75
- Apr 22 Joseph Gilbert Totten, US Union general-major, dies at 75
Abraham Gesner (1797-1864)
Apr 29 Canadian geologist (inventor of kerosene), dies at 66
- Apr 29 Charles-Julien Brianchon, French mathematician (Brianchon's theorem), dies at 80
