American Life and Culture

    Date Event
    The first comic weekly paper in the United States is published in Philadelphia
    Verdi's opera "Nabucco" has its United States premiere in New York City
    - The first National Women's Rights Convention held in Worcester, Massachusetts
    "Miss Leslie," America's most popular cooking writer, dies in New Jersey
    Yale students and local volunteer firemen battle in New Haven and a young fireman is fatally shot
    Admission charged to a Baseball Park for the first time
    Louisiana Vigilance Committee forces disperse massed "Anti-Vigilance" outlaws at Bayou Tortue
    New York City sleigh-riders complain that the salting of Broadway is ruining their outings after the snow-storm
    The Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania opens
    Congressman Daniel Sickles is acquitted in his trial for the murder of Philip Barton Key
    Searing winds hit Santa Barbara, California, destroying birds, small animals, and all foliage in the town
    Inmate burns the Massachusetts State Reform School at Westboro to the ground
    - The touring All-England Cricket Team plays against a United States team in Hoboken
    Famous trotting horse Flora Temple breaks world record for the mile in Kalamazoo, Michigan
    Pennsylvania has a public debt of more than thirty-eight million dollars
    Rabbi gives opening prayer in the House of Representatives for the first time
    Continental Hotel, biggest in the land, opens for business in Philadelphia
    The first official baseball game in California is played in San Francisco
    Unindentified white men murder scores of Wiyot Indians in northern California
    Christopher Spencer receives a patent for his magazine-fed, lever action rifle
    California enacts law to protect young dancing girls
    Last survivor of the 1778 Wyoming Massacre dies in Ohio
    The Pony Express begins its first run
    J. W. Richardson rides into St. Joseph, Missouri ending the first west to east run of the Pony Express
    In Boston, Henry Longfellow completes his famous poem, "Paul Revere's Ride"
    In New York, a clandestine prizefight on Ryker's Island ends in a sixty-one round draw
    Angry mob of gamblers in Pennsylvania ransack the offices of the Scranton morning newspaper
    Bret Harte publishes his first short story in San Francisco, California
    The town of Olathe in Kansas plans a free meal for a thousand for the Fourth of July but two thousand show up
    In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Northwestern Mutual Life makes its first real estate loan
    Harvard College graduates its largest ever class, watched by Stephen Douglas and Charles Sumner
    In San Francisco, Emperor Norton I dissolves the United States republic and declares an absolute monarchy
    On the California coast, J. C. Gore sells the ranch that will become Pebble Beach Golf Course
    New York teachers debate the place of black children in the state's public schools
    - Hurricane kills forty-seven people in Louisiana
    T.D. Rice, black-face minstrel originator of the "Jim Crow" character, dies in New York City
    Landing in Detroit, Prince Albert begins his historic visit to the United States
    "Grizzly" Adams dies at his home in Neponset, Massachusetts
    The wedding of Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren in New York City makes headline news
    The New York Yacht Club holds its annual regatta around Manhattan
    Henry Ford, who will transform American industry and transportation, is born on a farm in Michigan
    In New York York's Central Park, the cornerstone of the Shakespeare Monument is dedicated
    - The German-American gymnastics movement, the Turn Verein, holds a large festival in New York
    In a spectacular and destructive fire, P.T. Barnum's American Museum burns to the ground in New York City
    - The ninth German-American Saengerfest, a massive week-long choral convention is held in New York City
    On the Hudson River off Poughkeepsie, New York, a boat race for a purse of $6000 ends in controversy
    In Springfield, Missouri, "Will Bill" Hickok duels with Davis Hutt in the town square, shooting him in the heart
    - In Maryland, thousands of German-Americans are attending a three day "Schutzen Fest" held in Baltimore
    In Philadelphia, the city's boat clubs, "the Schuylkill Navy," hold their first regatta since the outbreak of the Civil War
    The annual North American festival of German-American "Turner" clubs is held in Cincinnati, Ohio
    - Two New York yachts with very wealthy owners compete in an ocean race off Long Island
    Sensational rumors of a church being haunted by demons causes turmoil in Jersey City, New Jersey.
    Two four-man crews race on the Hudson River for a national rowing championship and two thousand dollars
    Famous daredevil Harry Leslie performs while suspended from a balloon flying 2000 feet over New York City
    Two heavy early afternoon tremors strike San Francisco, California but start no fires and cause no fatalities
    At the Union Grounds in Brooklyn, the Atlantic baseball club defeats the Eckford Club 35-8
    In Philadelphia, 20,000 firemen march in an unprecedented gala parade
    A significant lunar eclipse of the Sun is visible in the morning over much of the eastern United States
    Two of the country's best baseball clubs meet in Philadelphia with Brooklyn's "Atlantics" victorious
    In New York's East River, Blackwell Island Asylum celebrates new buildings with a ball for the patients
    In New York, newlyweds celebrate with a two hour balloon flight from Central Park to Mount Vernon
    The third annual celebration of Thanksgiving Day takes place across the country
    In Chicago, convicted murderers Patrick Fleming and William Corbett die on the gallows
    The 1866 shipment of "Mercer Girls" departs New York City for Washington Territory
    - Off New York City, naval engine designs compete in a race between the "Winooski" and the "Algonquin"
    In New York City, John Deery defeats John McDevitt for the American National Billiards Championship final
    New York City and New Jersey boat clubs hold a large regatta on the Hudson River
    Newark, New Jersey celebrates the bicentennial of its founding with a large street parade.
    - A massive fire destroys much of Portland, Maine, leaving 10,000 homeless but killing only two.
    In Johnstown, Pennsylvania, disaster strikes for hundreds when a viewing platform collapses.
    On the edge of the Bronx, the new Jerome Park Race Course opens with its first race meeting.
    Crowding and spectator disturbances at the Philadelphia Athletics end with the game being called.
    Mississippi steamboat catches fire in the middle of the night and forty-three people are drowned.
    - In New York City, the English Rackets Champion wins an international match with leading U.S. player Frederick Foulkes.
    Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery sponsors a day to decorate the graves of thousands of C.S.A. veterans buried there.
    The first International Caledonian Games in North America is under way in New York City
    - The Tenth National Saengerfest for German-American Choral Societies is held in Philadelphia.
    - In New York, the summer horse racing meeting at Saratoga is under way.
    On Long Island, the Queens Agricultural Society successfully completes its twenty-fifth annual exhibition.
    Edward Payson Weston sets out to walk from Portland, Maine to Chicago in thirty days.
    Along the Monongahela River, large crowds turn out to watch a five-mile sculling race for $2000.
    In Lafayette, Indiana, a wood-sawing contest between baseball teams raises money for charity
    Edward Payson Weston reaches Connecticut on his 1200 mile walk from Portland, Maine to Chicago.
    In Madison, New Jersey, Drew Theological Seminary is formally opened
    Edward Payson Weston reaches Chicago on his 1238 mile walk from Portland, Maine with a day to spare.
    How to Cite This Page: "American Life and Culture," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/47565.