Robert Smalls, a slave and the pilot aboard the 313 ton Confederate side-wheeler dispatch boat Planter, waited till her white captain visited ashore and then in the early hours of the morning, with the African-American crew, steamed the vessel out of Charleston Bay, picking up family members on the way. The defectors surrendered the Planter to the USS Onward of the blockading Federal fleet and subsequently received a portion of prize money for this, the first Confederate naval vessel captured in the Civil War.  Smalls later served in the U.S. Congress.  (By John Osborne)

Mary Ashton Rice Livermore covers the Republican National Convention in Chicago for the New Covenant periodical, becoming the first woman to report from a political convention. (By John Osborne)

The New York Infirmary for Woman and Children is incorporated in New York City.  It will open in May 1857 with a completely female staff of physicians. (By John Osborne)

The first holder of the new post of Comptroller of the Currency, Hugh McCulloch began his service at a salary of $5000 per year. Two years later President Lincoln appointed him as Treasury Secretary. (By John Osborne)

The federal post of Comptroller of the Currency was created.  The following May, Hugh McCulloch began service as the first holder of the position. (By John Osborne)

The Constitutional Union Party held its first and only national party convention in Baltimore, Maryland.  On the second ballot, on the second day of the meeting, it nominated John Bell of Tennessee for President and Edward Everett of Massachusetts as Vice-President. (By John Osborne)

Englishman Robert William Thompson is awarded a U.S. patent for his rubber tires for carriage wheels.  He had patented the invention in London the previous year. (By John Osborne)

Robert William Thompson patented a rubber tire for carriage wheels in London. He gained a United States patent the following year. (By John Osborne)

Dr. John Corrie patented his mechanical refrigerator in Apalachicola, Florida.  He installed an early version of it in the U.S. Marine Hospital in Apalachicola. (By John Osborne)