On the Upper Red River in Arkansas, the steamboat Cam Howell was destroyed by fire, taking with it 760 bales of cotton and tons of animal hides. No-one was reported killed.  (By John Osborne)

Count Cavour had resigned as prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia six months before over the terms of the treaty ending the war between France and Austria.  With a restored reputation, Cavour immediately set about to negotiate with the French, notably exchanging Savoy and Nice for freedom to annex Tuscany and Emilia to the emerging united Italian state.  (By John Osborne)  

After the Pemberton Mills Disaster, a Committee of Relief was set up to seek funds for the dependents of the 80 or 90 people killed, the hundreds of injured, and the more that 1000 people thrown out of work.  Less that two weeks after the fire, the Committee had raised over $65,000 and announced its thanks to the public with the news that all needs of the survivors would now be met.  The appeal was then closed.  (By John Osborne) 

Charles Curtis was born in Topeka, Kansas and grew up on the Kaw Indian reservation in the care of his mother's Native American relatives after the loss of his parents   He studied law, took up politics and rose to become Vice-President of the United States under Herbert Hoover.  He was the first person of non-European ancestry to serve as an executive officer of the United States and the last before Barack Obama.  (By John Osborne)

The Tennessee Democratic Convention met in Nashville.  It elected delegates to Charleston and nominated Tennessee Senator Andrew Johnson as its candidate for president.  Johnson was seeking the nomination but garnered little support for his bid at the national convention and withdrew.  (By John Osborne)

The Convention of Manufacturers of Connecticut met in Meriden with around three hundred businessmen in attendance.  A main object was to affirm support for the Union but debate grew heated as Republicans and Democrats attempted to control the convention.  Republicans eventually succeeded and Democrats assembled elsewhere.  The result was two sets of resolutions with varying reasons to support the Union.  (By John Osborne)

In his farewell message, retiring Louisiana governor Robert C. Wickliffe decried northern anti-slavery attacks and recommended economic self-defense.  The North, he said, had a "dependent" economy and that "if the cotton crop of the South were to fail, for a single year, there would not be a solvent bank capitalist, manufacturer, or ship owner in the entire North."  New Orleans should exert its power, he concluded.  (By John Osborne)