Birthdays
Benjamin Franklin Cheatham
Turns 39 on this date
James Wilson Grimes
Turns 43 on this date
Gazaway Bugg Lamar
Turns 61 on this date
Daniel Edgar Sickles
Turns 40 on this date
George Jerrison Stannard
Turns 39 on this date
Mason Weare Tappan
Turns 42 on this date
Events
| Lawmaking/Litigating | John Brown and his fellow prisoners are held at Charlestown, Virginia pending trial |
10/20/1859 to 10/24/1859 |
| Cultural | John Dewey, American philosoper and reformer, born in Vermont | 10/20/1859 |
| Foreign | With Vietnamese resistance continuing, the French commander in Indo-China asks to be relieved | 10/20/1859 |
Documents
| Newspaper | Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, “Negro Insurrection!," October 20, 1859 | 10/20/1859 |
| Letter | Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln, October 20, 1859 | 10/20/1859 |
| Newspaper | Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “So Perish All The Enemies of Our Country!,” October 20, 1859 | 10/20/1859 |