| Slavery/Abolition |
-
|
Two South Carolina slaves stow away aboard Boston bound steamer; one escapes, one does not |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Two steamboats collide on the Mississippi River above Memphis, one sinks in minutes |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Two steamboats collide on the St. Clair River in Michigan and one sinks with loss of life. |
| Crime/Disasters |
-
|
Two very destructive fires strike the commercial district of Poughkeepsie, New York |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
U.S. Army in action against hostile Indians in Utah Territory |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
U.S. Army Signal Corps established |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
U.S. Army skirmish with the Mescalero Apache in west Texas goes badly |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
U.S. Army units defeat a Native American force in the Battle of Four Lakes in Oregon |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
U.S. Coast Survey steamship sinks off New Jersey coast with heavy loss of life |
| US/the World |
|
U.S. Commissioner James Bowlin arrives in Paraguay to negotiate a commerce and navigation treaty |
| US/the World |
|
U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry anchors his ships in Edo Bay near Tokyo and delivers a letter from President Millard Fillmore |
| Military/Violent |
|
U.S. forces defeat a large Mexican contingent at Palo Alto in Texas |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
U.S. General Weitzel arrives in Bagdad, Mexico to restore order and declares martial law. |
| Slavery/Abolition |
|
U.S. Government contracts with American Colonization Society to transport rescued African slaves to Liberia |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
U.S. Government takes over the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Delaware Railroad |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
U.S. House censures former Secretary of War Simon Cameron for his lax fiscal dealings while in office |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
U.S. Infantry and Comanche clash at Hatch's Ranch in New Mexico |
| Education/Culture |
|
U.S. Naval Academy opens as a four year institution |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
U.S. naval units controversially capture the notorious raider C.S.S. Florida in neutral waters off the coast of Brazil |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
U.S. naval units drive off a Confederate attempt to capture Donaldsonville, Louisiana |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
U.S. naval units secure the forts of the Florida Keys against secessionist takeover |
| Slavery/Abolition |
|
U.S. Navy captures American slave ship off the coast of Cuba with 507 African slaves aboard |
| Slavery/Abolition |
|
U.S. Navy captures American slaveship with 318 slaves aboard |
| Slavery/Abolition |
|
U.S. Navy captures Baltimore owned slave ship off Cuban coast with five hundred slaves aboard |
| Slavery/Abolition |
|
U.S. Navy captures New Orleans owned slave ship off the coast of Cuba |
| Slavery/Abolition |
|
U.S. Navy captures unregistered slave ship off the north coast of Cuba |
| Slavery/Abolition |
|
U.S. Navy delivers captured American slave ship with 507 African slaves aboard to Key West, Florida |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
U.S. Navy gunboats demand the surrender of Natchez, Mississippi |
| Battles/Soldiers |
-
|
U.S. Navy intercepts and destroys Confederate blockade-runner crossing the bar in Charleston Harbor |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
U.S. Navy monitor besieging Charleston sinks in heavy weather and over thirty crewmen are lost |
