Birthdays
Charles Henry Davis
Turns 59 on this date
Henry Wager Halleck
Turns 51 on this date
Robert Roberts Hitt
Turns 32 on this date
Thomas Edwin Massey
Turns 44 on this date
William Alexander Richardson
Turns 55 on this date
James Phillip Sims
Turns 29 on this date
John Palmer Usher
Turns 50 on this date
James David Watters
Turns 32 on this date
Events
| Crime/Disasters | In Oregon and Idaho, winter weather is causing great disruption and suffering |
01/16/1866 to 01/18/1866 |
| Campaigns/Elections | In Trenton, Republican stalwart Marcus Ward is inaugurated as the twenty-first governor of New Jersey | 01/16/1866 |
| Settlers/Immigrants | The 1866 shipment of "Mercer Girls" departs New York City for Washington Territory | 01/16/1866 |
| Campaigns/Elections | The American Colonization Society holds its forty-ninth annual meeting in Washington, D.C. | 01/16/1866 |
| Legal/Political | The first session of the 39th Congress is sitting in Washington DC from early January to late July, 1866 |
01/07/1866 to 07/27/1866 |
| Campaigns/Elections | With Republicans taking power in New Jersey, the New York Times announces the state's "Reconstruction" | 01/16/1866 |