| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
Vermont repeals its Personal Liberty Law |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
In Missouri, Federal forces arrest 639 pro-secession St Louis militiamen and face city mobs in response |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Violence continues on the streets of St. Louis as pro-Union militia battle with pro-Confederate mobs |
| US/the World |
|
A royal proclamation from London declares Britain neutral in the American war |
| Science/Technology |
|
The Great Comet of 1861 first discovered in the skies over Australia |
| Science/Technology |
|
Meteorite shower strikes in northern Spain |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
In Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania legislature enacts pensions for war widows with children |
| Religion/Philosophy |
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|
The Presbyterian General Assembly is meeting in Philadelphia and its decisions will split the Church |
| Business/Industry |
|
With war in the United States underway, the Bank of England raises its discount rate again |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
In Montgomery, Alabama, the special session session of the Confederate States Congress ends |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Union soldiers publish their own newspaper in the field |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, a former law student of President Lincoln, is killed in Alexandria, Virginia |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
The Kentucky Senate votes for neutrality but resolves to hold with the Union |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
John Merryman arrested in Maryland |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Union General Benjamin Butler declares slaves as "contraband of war" |
| Business/Industry |
|
In Philadelphia, the Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon opens |
| Business/Industry |
|
The Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon opens in Philadelphia |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
Chief Justice Taney finds against martial law and orders the release of John Merryman |
| Battles/Soldiers |
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|
On the Potomac, U.S. Navy gunboats shell the railroad depot at Aquia Creek, Virginia |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
General Beauregard attempts to rally Virginians against "the tyrant" Lincoln and his "Abolition hosts" |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
In Virginia, Captain John Quincy Marr becomes the first Confederate officer to die in the Civil War. |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
At Fairfax Court House, the first Confederate officer to die falls and the first Medal of Honor is won |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
After Philippi, nineteen years old James Edward Hanger becomes the first amputee of the Civil War |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
In western forces, Union and Confederate forces fight the first planned engagement of the war at Philippi |
| Personal |
|
Stephen A. Douglas dies at his home in Chicago, Illinois |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Thirty-five people drown when Canadian mail steamer strikes ice and sinks off the coast of Labrador |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
John Cuddy enlists with the 36th Pennsylvania Infantry |
| Education/Culture |
|
In London, the Prince Consort opens the new gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society in South Kensington |
| US/the World |
|
Camillo, Count Cavour, Prime Minister and architect of the new Kingdom of Italy dies in Turin aged fifty |
| US/the World |
|
In London, the British Parliament overwhelming rejects a call for debate on recognizing the Confederacy |
