| Personal |
|
Samuel Swartwout, the notorious former collector of customs at the Port of New York, dies |
| Personal |
|
Stephen Douglas marries Adele Cutts in Washington, DC |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
American warships bombard Chinese forts in Canton Province |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Powder magazine explodes on the island of Rhodes, killing hundreds |
| Business/Industry |
|
Newfoundland and New York linked by telegraph thanks to new cable under the Gulf of St. Lawrence |
| Personal |
|
Senator John Middleton Clayton, negotiator of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, dies in Delaware |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Massive fire in Syracuse, New York |
| Campaigns/Elections |
|
James Buchanan is elected President |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Collision at sea sinks French steamer with significant loss of life |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Snowstorms hit western New York State |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Hurricane strikes the Philippine Island of Luzon |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Gale-force winds pound Lake Michigan |
| Personal |
-
|
Moncure Conway serves as minister at Unitarian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Personal |
|
William Sprague, former Rhode Island governor and senator, dies in Providence |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
A serious earthquake rocks most of the eastern Mediterranean |
| Religion/Philosophy |
|
Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement |
| Foreign |
|
A dispute over a British vessel sailing in Chinese waters leads to the second Anglo-Chinese War |
| Campaigns/Elections |
|
Serious rioting disrupts the municipal elections in Baltimore |
| Personal |
|
George Steers, famous maritime designer, dies in Brooklyn, New York, aged 35 |
| Science/Technology |
|
First day of Autumn |
| Slavery/Abolition |
|
William Walker's filibuster government in Nicaragua repeals the abolition of slavery in that country |
| Campaigns/Elections |
|
Millard Fillmore nominated as Whig candidate for President in Baltimore |
| Campaigns/Elections |
|
Whig National Convention opens in Baltimore |
| Foreign |
|
Spanish Prime Minister Enrique O'Donnell attempts to restore liberal constitution |
| Campaigns/Elections |
|
Political riot in Baltimore kills two |
| Legal/Political |
|
John White Geary officially takes up his position as Territorial Governor of Kansas |
| Foreign |
|
Alexander II is crowned as Emperor of the Russian Empire |
| Personal |
|
John Brown's 1856 daguerreotype image captured in Kansas |
| Legal/Political |
|
The special session of both houses of Congress adjourns in Washington, DC |
| Legal/Political |
-
|
The House and the Senate are both sitting in a special session that will last till the end of the month |
