The first diplomatic mission to the United States left Japan on February 22, 1860 with a seventy-four person staff aboard the USS Powhatan.  They arrived in Hawaii on March 5, 1860 for a two week visit and then sailed for California.  The Powhatan, under Commodore Josiah Tatnall, arrived with the group at the Mare Island Naval Base north of San Francisco a little over a week later.  The embassy then traveled to Washington, D.C. via the Panama route and concluded its visit in late June 1860. (By John Osborne)

The first diplomatic mission to the United States left Japan with a seventy-four person staff aboard the USS Powhatan.  They arrived in Hawaii on March 5, 1860 and were hosted by King Kamehameha IV at the Iolani Palace.  The party left the islands on March 18, 1860 and arrived at the Mare Island Naval Base in San Francisco a little over a week later.  They then traveled to Washington, D.C. via the Panama route.  The embassy concluded its visit in late June 1860 sailing for home aboard the U.S.S. Niagara. (By John Osborne)

The first diplomatic mission to the United States, numbering seventy-four people, left Japan aboard the USS Powhatan.  In Hawaii, they were hosted by King Kamehameha IV at the Iolani Palace.  The party left Honolulu on March 18, 1860 and arrived at the Mare Island Naval Base in San Francisco a little over a week later.  The embassy then traveled to Washington, D.C. via Panama and concluded its visit in late June 1860. (By John Osborne)

Moses Horner, a fugitive slave from Virginia, had been captured near Harrisburg and taken to Philadelphia. There, a group of black men tried to rescue him on Chestnut Street as he was being moved by coach.  Police beat off the attempt and arrested several of the attackers.  Horner was returned to Virginia in April and five black Philadelphians were convicted in June 1860 of affray and spent thirty days in prison. (By John Osborne)

Three hundred men, mostly businessmen, met in Boston to begin officially the presidential campaign of the new Constitutional Union Party.  Founded the previous December, the party appealed to Whigs and Know-Nothings loathe to join either the Republican or the Democrats and espoused the simple platform of  "The Constitution of the Country, The Union of the States, and the Enforcement of the Laws."  John Bell of Tennessee later emerged as their candidate for president.  (By John Osborne)

The Elwood and Marysville Railroad commenced construction near Elwood in Doniphan County and in the afternoon the very first piece of railroad track put down in Kansas was laid.  This later became a part of the St. Joseph and Western Division of the Union Pacific Railroad. (By John Osborne) 

For a second time in a matter of weeks, New York City saw a fatal tenement house fire.  A row of buildings on West Forty-Fifth Street burned in an early morning fire and ten people, including eight children, died.  A coroner's inquest followed that afternoon at which the building's owners were censured for not providing ladders as a means of escape.  Soon after, a New York state law would mandate fire escapes in tenements.  (By John Osborne)