Heavy and violent rains from the Chesapeake Bay to Ohio caused widespread flooding and destruction. Reports from Pittsburgh had the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers near record flood stages and the surrounding lowlands inundated.  In Ohio several stretches of railroad track were washed away and the town of Columbus was cut off by flooded roads.  (By John Osborne)

A sizable earthquake took place on the island of Haiti to the west of Port Au Prince.  Heavy shocks were felt in the city and buildings were destroyed or damaged.  At Anse á Veau, the sea withdrew during the earthquake and then returned to smash against the coast.  (By John Osborne)

The plebiscite through which inhabitants of Nice could confirm or reject their planned transfer from Piedmont-Sardinia to France took place over a Sunday and Monday, April 15 and 16, 1860, with a simple "yes" or "no" the only response on the ballot.  The results for Nice were announced on April 28, 1860 with 6,810 "yes" votes against only 11 "no' votes confirming the transfer to French control.  (By John Osborne)

The Provisional Governor of Nice published the instructions for the plebiscite through which inhabitants could confirm or reject Piedmont-Sardinia's planned transfer of the area to France.  The vote was to take place over a Sunday and Monday, April 15 and 16, 1860, with a simple "yes" or "no" the only response on the ballot. The voting in Savoy on the same question was set for April 22.  Results showed an overwhelming vote in both elections confirming the transfer to French control.  (By John Osborne)

Count Cavour, the Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, assured the Swiss Government that the planned transfer of Nice from Italy to France would not take place before the population there had been able to express its own wishes in a plebiscite.  The Swiss were not happy with the transfer since it disrupted long existing trade patterns and preferences.  (By John Osborne)

Sicilian nobleman Francesco Riso led an ill-fated revolt in Palermo against the Bourbon crown.  Discovered by police spies, the insurgents were surrounded in the Gancia Convent and were killed or captured after a sharp gun battle.  The surviving rebels were executed several days later.  The rising, while a failure, began a pattern of Sicilian resistance that resulted in Garibaldi's simple conquest of the island in May 1860. (By John Osborne)

The Virginia House of Delegate in Richmond ended its 1859-1860 session, having sat from December 5, 1859, with William F. Gordon as Speaker.  Its main business during the session had involved the reaction to John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry.  (By John Osborne)

Frank B. Sanborn had been called to testify before the Senate Committee investigating the Harpers Ferry Raid and had refused to do so.  At nine o'clock in the evening of this day, a U.S. Marshal and a Deputy Sergeant at Arms of the Senate attempted to arrest him at his house in Concord, Massachusetts.  He resisted, a crowd gathered, and he was removed from the federal officials and turned over to the local authorities under a positive court ruling on a writ of habeas corpus and released.  (By John Osborne)