With thousands of people in attendance on a pleasant day in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the cornerstone of the projected national monument to the Pilgrim Fathers was laid. Governor Banks, Senator Hale and Governor Chase of Ohio all gave speeches and memorials were received from President Buchanan, Senator Douglas, and others.  A banquet followed.  (By John Osborne)

African-American representatives from all over New England met in Boston.  The stated aims of the meeting were to determine a course of action in the upcoming presidential election and more generally to advance the race morally, socially, and politically. (By John Osborne)

Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen had married the young King of Portugal, Pedro V in May 1858.  Just over a year later, the young queen, known as Estafania in Portugal, died of diptheria in Lisbon.  Pedro, although he was also twenty-two years old, made no attempt to remarry and himself died in 1861 of cholera.  (By John Osborne) 

The New York Times pronounced the city "healthy" after a period of unseanably cool weather.  The paper noted the small number of summer deaths in the report of the City Inspector.  (By John Osborne) 

Located in Union County, near Elizabethtown, the New Jersey State Fair enjoyed crowds of around 30,000 on its third day.  The gathering was treated to boys equestrian races, a ploughing contest, and a display of colt breaking from a horse tamer known as "Lone Star."  (By John Osborne)

A group of more than 150 "Anti-Vigilance" outlaws had gathered and fortified a house on Bayou Tortue in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana.  The Vigilance Committee of Lafayette, with help from surrounding parishes, assembled a force of around five hundred mounted men, equipped with a brass cannon, and put them to flight.  This ended the virtual civil war between "forces of order" and the criminal and unruly element that has plagued the area all year.  (By John Osborne)

 In March 1859, citizens of several central Louisiana parishes had formed "Vigilance Committees" to put down what they saw as untrammeled criminal activity in their area, known as the Attakapas Country.  State authorities became dismayed at the summary justice these groups were dispensing and on May 28, 1859, Governer Robert C. Wickliffe "invited" these groups to disband.  His order was largely ignored.  (By John Osborne)

The leading citizens of Avoyelles Parish in Louisiana met in Marksville and formed a Vigilance Committee to counter what they saw as a wave of violent criminals, including "free negroes," entering the area.  Similar committees in southern parishes, they said, had driven these elements into less protected areas like Avoyelles and defensive efforts needed to be organized.  (By John Osborne)