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List of events
Events from the year 1861 in the United States . This year marked the beginning of the
American Civil War .
Incumbents
Governors and
lieutenant governors
Governors
Governor of Alabama :
Andrew B. Moore (
Democratic ) (until December 2),
John Gill Shorter (
Democratic ) (starting December 2)
Governor of Arkansas :
Henry Massey Rector (
Democratic )
Governor of California :
John G. Downey (
Democratic )
Governor of Connecticut :
William A. Buckingham (
Republican )
Governor of Delaware :
William Burton (
Democratic )
Governor of Florida :
Madison S. Perry (
Democratic ) (until October 7),
John Milton (
Democratic ) (starting October 7)
Governor of Georgia :
Joseph E. Brown (
Democratic )
Governor of Illinois :
John Wood (
Republican ) (until January 14),
Richard Yates (
Republican ) (starting January 14)
Governor of Indiana :
Governor of Iowa :
Samuel J. Kirkwood (
Republican )
Governor of Kansas :
Samuel Medary (
Democratic ) (until February 9),
Charles L. Robinson (
Republican ) (starting February 9)
Governor of Kentucky :
Beriah Magoffin (
Democratic )
Governor of Louisiana :
Thomas Overton Moore (
Democratic ) (starting January 23)
Governor of Maine :
Lot M. Morrill (
Democratic ) (until January 2),
Israel Washburn Jr. (
Republican ) (starting January 2)
Governor of Maryland :
Thomas H. Hicks (Know Nothing)/(
Republican )
Governor of Massachusetts :
Nathaniel Prentice Banks (
Republican ) (until January 3),
John Albion Andrew (
Republican ) (starting January 3)
Governor of Michigan :
Moses Wisner (
Republican ) (until January 2),
Austin Blair (
Republican ) (starting January 2)
Governor of Minnesota :
Alexander Ramsey (
Republican )
Governor of Mississippi :
John J. Pettus (
Democratic )
Governor of Missouri :
Governor of New Hampshire :
Ichabod Goodwin (
Republican ) (until June 2),
Nathaniel S. Berry (
Republican ) (starting June 2)
Governor of New Jersey :
Charles Smith Olden (
Republican )
Governor of New York :
Edwin D. Morgan (
Republican )
Governor of North Carolina :
John Willis Ellis (
Democratic ) (until July 7),
Henry Toole Clark (
Democratic ) (starting July 7)
Governor of Ohio :
William Dennison Jr. (
Republican )
Governor of Oregon :
John Whiteaker (
Democratic )
Governor of Pennsylvania :
William F. Packer (
Democratic ) (until January 15),
Andrew Gregg Curtin (
Republican ) (starting January 15)
Governor of Rhode Island :
William Sprague IV (
Republican )
Governor of South Carolina :
Francis Wilkinson Pickens (
Democratic )
Governor of Tennessee :
Isham G. Harris (
Democratic )
Governor of Texas :
Governor of Vermont :
Erastus Fairbanks (
Republican ) (until October 11),
Frederick Holbrook (
Republican ) (starting October 11)
Governor of Virginia :
John Letcher (
Democratic )
Governor of Wisconsin :
Alexander W. Randall (
Republican )
Lieutenant governors
Events
January–March
Confederate States of America
March 4:
Abraham Lincoln becomes the 16th U.S. president
Hannibal Hamlin becomes the 15th U.S. vice president
April–June
April 12–14:
Battle of Fort Sumter , the beginning of the
American Civil War
July–September
July 21: Confederate victory at the
First Battle of Bull Run
July 13 –
American Civil War : The
Battle of Corrick's Ford takes place in western
Virginia .
July 21 –
American Civil War –
First Battle of Bull Run aka First Manassas: at Manassas Junction,
Virginia , the first major battle of the war ends in a
Confederate victory.
July 22 –
American Civil War : After Union forces led by
Nathaniel Lyon capture the Missouri state capital of
Jefferson City , the
Missouri Constitutional Convention reconvenes and removes pro-secessionist Governor
Claiborne Fox Jackson from office, replacing him with a pro-Union governor.
July 25 –
American Civil War : The
Crittenden–Johnson Resolution is passed by the
U.S. Congress , stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end
slavery .
July 26 –
American Civil War :
George B. McClellan assumes command of the
Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the
First Battle of Bull Run .
August 5
August 10 –
American Civil War : The first major battle west of the
Mississippi River , the
Battle of Wilson's Creek , is fought, with a
Confederate victory.
September 3 –
American Civil War :
Confederate General
Leonidas Polk invades neutral
Kentucky , prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.
September 6 –
American Civil War : Forces under Union General
Ulysses S. Grant bloodlessly capture
Paducah, Kentucky , which gives the Union control the mouth of the
Tennessee River .
October–December
November 6:
Jefferson Davis elected
President of the CSA
Ongoing
Undated
Births
January 7 –
Louise Imogen Guiney , poet (died 1920)
January 12 –
James Mark Baldwin , philosopher and psychologist (died 1934)
January 26 –
Frank O. Lowden , 25th Governor of Illinois from 1917 and U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1906 to 1911 (died 1943)
January 29 –
William M. Butler , U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1892 to 1895 (died 1937)
February 15 –
Martin Burns , wrestler and coach (died
1937 )
February 26 –
Godfrey Lowell Cabot , industrialist and philanthropist (died 1962)
March 1 –
Henry Harland , novelist and editor (died 1905)
March 15 –
Joseph M. Devine , 6th Governor of North Dakota from 1898 to 1899 (died 1938)
March 20 –
Wilds P. Richardson , U.S. Army officer (died 1929)
April 17 –
Willard Saulsbury Jr. , U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1913 to 1919 (died 1927)
April 19 –
John Grier Hibben , minister, philosopher and educator (died 1933)
April 20 –
James D. Phelan , U.S. Senator from California from 1915 to 1921 (died 1930)
April 23 –
John Peltz , baseball player (died 1906)
April 27 –
William Lorimer , U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1909 to 1912 (died 1934)
May 16 –
Herman Webster Mudgett , alias H. H. Holmes, serial killer (died
1896 )
May 20 –
Henry Gantt , project engineer (died 1919)
May 25 –
Julia Boynton Green , poet (died 1947)
June 2 –
Helen Herron Taft ,
First Lady of the U.S. as wife of the 27th president,
William Howard Taft (died
1943 )
June 6 –
Joseph M. Terrell , U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1910 to 1911 (died 1912)
June 29 –
William James Mayo , physician, medic, co-founder of
Mayo Clinic (died 1939)
July 7 –
Nettie Stevens , geneticist (died 1912)
July 9 –
James M. Beck , politician (died 1936)
July 11 –
George W. Norris , U.S. Senator from Nebraska from 1913 till 1943 (died 1944)
July 22
July 26 –
James K. Vardaman , politician (died 1930)
August 3 –
Samuel M. Shortridge , U.S. Senator from California from 1921 till 1933 (died 1952)
August 4 –
Jesse W. Reno , inventor, builder of the first working escalator (died 1947)
August 6 –
Edith Roosevelt , née Carow,
First Lady of the U.S. (died
1948 )
August 9
August 20 –
Anna Shelton , businesswoman (died 1939)
September 20 –
Herbert Putnam ,
Librarian of Congress (died 1955)
September 21 –
L. Heisler Ball , U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1919 to 1925 (died 1932)
September 30 –
William Wrigley Jr. , chewing gum industrialist (died 1932)
October 4 –
Frederic Remington , painter, illustrator, sculptor and writer (died 1909)
October 19 –
William J. Burns , detective and director of
Bureau of Investigation (died 1932)
November 2 –
Charles W. Waterman , U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1927 to 1932 (died 1932)
November 6
November 10 –
Bessie Alexander Ficklen , doggerel poet and hand puppet specialist (died 1945)
November 14 –
Frederick Jackson Turner , historian (died 1932)
November 26 –
Albert B. Fall , U.S. Senator from New Mexico from 1912 to 1921 and Secretary of the Interior from 1921 to 1923 under President Warren G. Harding (died 1944)
December 8 –
William C. Durant , businessman (died 1947)
December 15 –
Charles Duryea , engineer and manufacturer of motor vehicles (died 1938)
December 30 –
Charles Hanford Henderson , educator and author (died 1941)
Deaths
April 4 –
John McLean ,
U.S. Postmaster General from 1823 to 1829, Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court from 1829 to 1861 (born
1785 )
April 8 –
Elisha Otis , industrialist, founder of the
Otis Elevator Company (born
1811 )
April 15 –
Isaiah Stillman , U.S. Army Major in the
Black Hawk War (born
1793 )
May 21 –
Benjamin Paul Akers , sculptor (born
1825 )
May 24 –
Elmer E. Ellsworth , first
Union officer to die in the
Civil War (born
1837 )
June 3 –
Stephen A. Douglas , Senator from Illinois from 1847 till 1861 and presidential candidate (born
1813 )
June 5 –
John Garland ,
Bvt.
Brigadier General in the
Union Army (born
1793 )
June 13 –
Richard Lawrence , failed assassin of
Andrew Jackson (born c. 1800–1801)
July 7 –
John Willis Ellis , 35th
Governor of North Carolina from 1859 to 1861 (born
1820 )
July 13 –
Robert S. Garnett ,
Confederate
brigadier general (born
1819 )
July 22 –
Barnard Elliott Bee Jr. , Confederate general (born
1824 )
August 10 –
Nathaniel Lyon ,
Union Army brigadier general, first general to be killed in the
Civil War (born
1818 )
August 12 –
Eliphalet Remington , gunmaker (born
1793 )
August 17 –
Alcée Louis la Branche , politician (born
1806 )
October 5 –
Kinsley S. Bingham , U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1859 to 1861 (born
1808 )
October 20 –
William Woodbridge , Governor of Michigan from 1840 to 1841 and U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1841 to 1847 (born
1780 )
October 21 –
Edward Dickinson Baker , U.S. Senator from Oregon from 1860 to 1861 (born
1811 )
October 26 –
Edward "Ned" Kendall , bandleader and instrumentalist (keyed bugle) (born
1808 )
November 28 –
Richard M. Young , U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1837 to 1843 (born
1798 )
See also
References
Further reading
External links