| Crime/Disasters |
|
Boiler explosion kills two workers in Philadelphia |
| Personal |
|
Thomas Wildey, founder of the Order of Odd Fellows in the United States, dies at his home in Baltimore |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Union troops suffer a heavy defeat at Ball's Bluff on the Virginia side of the Potomac |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes survives a near-fatal wound at Ball's Bluff |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Union forces defeat Missouri State Guardsmen outside of Fredericktown in Madison County, Missouri |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
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|
In Philadelphia, the piracy trial of privateer William Smith results in guilty verdict and a death sentence |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
In Maine, a small earthquake shakes Calais but no injuries or serious damage is reported |
| Business/Industry |
|
The telegraph line between Omaha and Sacramento is completed linking coast to coast |
| US/the World |
|
In Russia, authorities reopen the University of St. Petersburg, shut down earlier by student riots |
| Science/Technology |
|
At Greenpoint, New York, John Ericsson lays the keel for his revolutionary ironclad |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
In Missouri, Union cavalry disperses Missouri Confederates outside Springfield with a spirited charge |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Captured blockade runner arrives at Philadelphia Naval Yard - her cargo includes 400,000 Cuban cigars |
| Business/Industry |
|
Two days after the first coast to coast telegraph message the Pony Express ceases operations |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
The Confederate commerce raider Nashville runs the blockade at Charleston and heads for the North Atlantic |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
At Tahlequah in Indian Territory, the Cherokee Nation publishes its Declaration of Causes for alliance with the South |
| Business/Industry |
|
In Philadelphia, the Cooper Shop Hospital opens |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Largest U.S. Fleet ever assembled sails from Norfolk, Virginia to blockade and harass the Confederate coast |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
In Philadelphia, an costly fire destroys a woolen mill |
| Personal |
|
Lieutenant General Winfield Scott retires from the Army after fifty-three years service, twenty as general-in-chief |
| US/the World |
|
In London, Britain, France, and Spain agree to a military intervention in Mexico to force payment of debts |
| Crime/Disasters |
-
|
The South Atlantic Blockading Squadron runs into a storm on its way to South Carolina and ships are lost |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Mining disaster in northern England kills ten coal miners |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
Major General George B. McClellan is appointed general-in-chief of the U.S. Army, replacing Winfield Scott |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
The "Stone Fleet" sets sail from New Bedford, Massachusetts |
| Battles/Soldiers |
|
In Missouri, Major General John C. Frémont resigns as head of the Western Department of the Army |
| Crime/Disasters |
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|
All twenty-four passengers aboard a Boston bound ship drown when she hits rocks outside the harbor |
| Education/Culture |
|
In Seattle, the University of the Territory of Washington holds its first classes with thirty students |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
On E Street in the capital, the Washington Infirmary, now a military hospital, burns to the ground |
| Battles/Soldiers |
-
|
In South Carolina, the U.S. South Atlantic Blockading Squadron takes Port Royal by naval bombardment |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
In Philadelphia, U.S. Justice Grier rebels against piracy cases interrupting U.S. District Court business |
