1861 in the United States explained
Events from the year 1861 in the United States. This year marked the beginning of the American Civil War.
Incumbents
James Buchanan (D-Pennsylvania) (until March 4)
Abraham Lincoln (R-Illinois) (starting March 4)
John C. Breckinridge (D-Kentucky) (until March 4)
Hannibal Hamlin (R-Maine) (starting March 4)
William Pennington (R-New Jersey) (until March 4)
Galusha A. Grow (R-Pennsylvania) (starting July 4)
Events
January–March
The Stars and Bars is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
April–June
Kentucky proclaims its neutrality which lasts until September 3, when Confederate forces enter the state.
North Carolina secedes from the Union.
July–September
In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government issues the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US$800; rescinded in 1872).
October–December
Citing failing health, Union General Winfield Scott resigns as Commander of the United States Army.
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
Notes and References
- Web site: Historical Events in January 1861 . OnThisDay.com . 6 December 2018 . en.