Alexander Campbell was a Scots-Irish immigrant who played a powerful role in the Restoration Movement that resulted in a proliferation of Christian sects in the United States during the Second Great Awakening.  Campbell and his father themselves founded the Disciples of Christ as well as its main educational site at Bethany College in present-day West Virginia, begun in 1840.  He died at his home in Bethany, aged eighty-seven.  (By John Osborne) 

A mass meeting was held in Kingston in present-day Ontario at the end of which a resolution was passed calling on Canadians to agitate politically for eventual annexation to the United States.  The meeting specifically noted the recent proposal of Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress to admit Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada West, and Canada East as U.S. states.  Neither proposal gained any traction.  (By John Osborne) 

A powerful Canadian delegation had been meeting with representatives of the U.S. Congress to work out a fresh stimulus to commercial exchange between the United States and Canada.  The meeting was unsuccessful, with the Canadian delegation complaining that U.S. proposals concerning Canada's free ports, navigation on the St. Lawrence River, and the opening of Canadian waters to American fisheries were not matched with sufficient reciprocity from Washington.  Existing agreements were maintained without change. (By John Osborne)

Emperor Pedro II of Brazil issued a proclamation opening the 4000 mile long Amazon River and its tributaries, including the Tocantins and the San Francisco, to the commerce of all nations, effective on September 7, 1867.  Bolivia had opened its tributaries to foreign commerce in 1853 but this had been crippled until now by the Brazilian policy of restricting foreign commerce on the Amazon.  (By John Osborne) 

Maria Amalia, widow of the former King Louis Philippe I of France, died at Claremont House in the county of Surrey in southern England where she had lived in exile for many years.  Her husband had lost his throne in the turmoil of 1848 and had died two years later.  A daughter of Ferdinand I of Naples, she and Louis Philippe, then Duc d'Orleans, has produced ten children together.  She was eighty-three years old.  (By John Osborne) 

Following the coup against Prince Alexandra Ioan Cuza three days before, the powers that be in the Romanian Principalities sought a suitable European royal candidate as his successor.  An offer was made to Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and brother of the sitting Belgian monarch which was immediately turned down. Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen later accepted the offer and ruled as King Carol I intil his death in 1914.  (By John Osborne)

In Barrington, Nova Scotia, the two Free Will Baptist sects in the province met in conference with the object of uniting their efforts.  The Free Christian Baptist Conference and the Free Will Baptist Quarterly Meeting had been seperated for decades but emerged from the Barrington meeting as the united Free Will Baptist Conference of Nova Scotia.  (By John Osborne)

After months of fluctuating tensions between Prussia and Austria and several international attempts at negotiation, Austrian troops crossed into Prussia on this day.  The ensuing war, which included Prussia's ally Italy, was a disaster for the Austrian Empire.  Austria was forced to sign an armistice with Prussia by July 26, 1866, and with Italy two weeks later.  Austria gave up valuable territory and heavy indemnities and Prussia was on its way to its eventual forming of the German Empire.  (By John Osborne)

The variable star T Coronae Borealis was first observed this day from the Washington Observatory and two days later from the Cambridge Observatory outshining all stars in the vicinity.  One of only ten recorded variable stars which flare in magnitude at irregular intervals,  "T CrB" flared again in February 9, 1946 for only its second ever variable observation. (By John Osborne)

The new Ordnance Board charged with finding the best quick-loading infantry rifle for issue to the post-Civil War army met in Washington DC with General Winfield Scott Hancock in the chair.  Other members included Colonel J.G. Benton of the Ordnance Department and Lieutenant-Colonels Horace Porter and Wesley Owens.  The board met for several months without making any single specific recommendation but meanwhile the conversion of existing stocks of Springfield rifles to the new technology proceded apace and soon large numbers of units were armed with breech-loaders.  (By John Osborne)