| Education/Culture |
|
In New York, British champion runner Jack White wins a challenge ten miles race on Long Island |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
In York County, Virginia, Confederate troops repulse a Union attack at the Battle of Big Bethel |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Mining disaster in England claims the lives of twenty-one men and boys |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Confederate forces evacuate Harpers Ferry and other western Virginia towns along the Potomac |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
Philadelphia man arrested on a charge of inciting riot then freed on First Amendment grounds |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
In downtown St. Louis, Missouri, nervous Union troops, thinking they were shot at, fire on civilians, killing six |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
In Virginia, Confederate artillery attacks a moving Union troop train and forces its soldiers to detrain and retreat |
| Education/Culture |
|
Nation's first fly casting tournament held in Utica, New York |
| Education/Culture |
|
In England, Jem Mace defeats Sam Hurst over eight rounds to win the British bare-knuckle championship |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
The Philadelphia press reports that more than ten thousand Philadelphians are now in the field |
| Business/Industry |
|
The Times of London catches up on it backlog of contracted advertisements with a one-off triple sized issue |
| Crime/Disasters |
-
|
In London, a massive fire burns millions in goods and kills the head of the London Fire Brigade |
| US/the World |
|
The Sultan of Turkey dies of tuberculosis in Constantinople, aged thirty-nine |
| Legal/Political |
-
|
Orville Hickman Browning serves in the United States Senate |
| US/the World |
|
Giant steamer Great Eastern used as troopship as Britain reinforces Canada |
| Battles/Soldiers |
-
|
On Chesapeake Bay, a bold stroke captures a Baltimore ferry and turns it into a Confederate privateer |
| Education/Culture |
|
Famous British poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning dies in Italy after a lingering illness |
| Science/Technology |
-
|
The Great Comet of 1861 visible to the naked eye over North America and Europe |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Federal troops arrest Baltimore's four Police Commissioners in pre-dawn raids on their homes |
| Business/Industry |
|
Near Omaha, Edward Creighton digs in the first pole of the final link in the trans-continental telegraph |
| Education/Culture |
|
Britain's National Rifle Association holds its annual Shooting Competition on Wimbledon Common |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
The 37th Congress opens in Washington, DC |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
-
|
The 37th Congress is in session in Washington, DC, sitting from early July, 1861 till early August, 1861 |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Across the river from the New York capital, a huge fire in East Albany destroys two freight depots |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Confederate privateer encounters the loaded Boston schooner "Enchantress" and takes her as a prize |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Advancing Union troops skirmish with retreating Virginia troops at Laurel Hill in western Virginia |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
In Baltimore, the War Department, to secure local shipping from hijack, seizes two Chesapeake ferries |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Fanny Longfellow, wife of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow dies of burns suffered in her home |
| Carlisle/Dickinson |
|
Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies |
| Personal |
-
|
John W. Forney serves as secretary of the United States Senate |
