The Church of God, founded in 1830 by Dickinson College, class of 1818 alumni John Winebrenner, met in its eighth triennial general eldership in Decatur, Illinois. A.F. Shoomaker was chosen as chair and elderships from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan.  Communication was received from the church's Texas Eldership which had seperated during the Civil War years but a vote for its recognition was defeated.  (By John Osborne)  

The U.S. Bureau of Statistics sought responses from fifty-three American cities and towns and all U.S. Army posts for a count of the deaths suffered in the ongoing cholera epidemic over the past four months.  Combined fugures gave this total of deaths as 10,805. This included around 800 in New York City,  889 in Memphis, Tennessee, and 1,200 in Cincinnati, Ohio.  St. Louis, Missouri reported the highest number, 3,532.  (By John Osborne)

A powerful outbreak of cholera in London killed 2,661 people during the week ending August 4, 1866.  The week before that at least 2,600 died of the deadly disease. From the spring through the autumn, outbreaks had killed thousands across the Channel, too, notably in Paris.  Antwerp, Berlin, Vienna, and scores of other European cities suffered similarly. By coincidence, cholera in New York in these same week killed 239 people. (By John Osborne)

Authorities in Hong Kong had been acting strongly against Chinese pirates in the area but these gangs struck back against the American commercial schooler Lubra which was attacked soon after it sailed from Hong Kong bound for Japan.  Taking the vessel with ease, thirty pirates plundered the vessel and then deliberately murdered the captain and one the American sailors, reportedly telling the survivors not to return to Chinese waters. (By John Osborne)

New Hampshire born Democratic Party legend Lewis Cass had served as a general in the War of 1812, as territorial governor of Michigan, U.S. Senator from Michigan, and in the cabinets of Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. His final service came when as Buchanan's Secretary of State he resigned in protest of that president's inaction in resisting the secession of the Southern states and their threat to federal property.  He died in Detroit, Michigan aged eighty-three. (By John Osborne)

The local population of Crete had been engaged in very heavy fighting against their Turkish occupiers. Turkish reinfocements from the mainland and Egypt beseiged the ancient monastery of Arkadi, the headquarters of the revolt with about 250 defenders and more than 700 refugees, mostly women and children.  When the Turks broke in the monks touched off the powder magazine killing most of the refugees. The Turks then murdered the 114 prisoners taken in the battle.  The heavy loss of life in "the Holocaust of Arkadi" brought heavy western condemnation and sympathy.  (By John Osborne)

The local population of the Ottoman Empire's province of Crete, represented in its General Assembly, decided to take up arms against their occupiers when demands for further reforms were refused.  The Assembly addressed a diplomatic note entitled "Protest of the Cretans on Taking Up Arms" to the foreign consuls on the island stating their intentions.  The revolt would last for three violent years with sympathy but no support from the western powers until Turkish forces gained complete control in early 1869.  (By John Osborne)