1861

Year 1861 (MDCCCLXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1861

January - March

• January 1 - Benito Juárez captures Mexico City.
• January 2 - Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia dies and is succeeded by Wilhelm I.
• January 3 - American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the Union.
• January 9 - Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union, preceding the American Civil War.
• January 10 - American Civil War: Florida secedes from the Union.
• January 11 - American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the Union.
• January 18 - American Civil War: Georgia secedes from the Union.
• January 21 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
• January 26 - American Civil War: Louisiana secedes from the Union.
• January 29 - Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.
• February 1 - American Civil War: Texas secedes from the Union.
• February 4 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama the Confederate States of America is formed by representatives from six break-away United States.
• February 8 - American Civil War: The Confederate States of America are formed.
• February 9 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Weed Convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
• February 11 - American Civil War: The U.S. House unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.
• February 13 - The Siege of Gaeta, last stronghold of the Neapolitan King Francis II, is ended by Piedmontese forces. Francis goes into exile.
• February 18
  • American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.
  • Victor Emmanuel of Piedmont-Sardinia becomes King of Italy. See: Italian unification

• February 19 - Serfdom is abolished in Russia.
• February 23 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.
• February 27 - Russian troops fire upon a crowd in Warsaw protesting Russian rule over Poland, killing 5 protesters.
• February 28 - Colorado is organized as a United States territory.
• March 2 - Nevada is organized as a United States territory.
• March 3 - The emancipation of the serfs is formalized in Imperial Russia.
• March 4
  • President Abraham Lincoln takes office, succeeding James Buchanan.
  • American Civil War: The Stars and Bars is adopted as the flag of the United Confederate States of America.
• March 10 - El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, destroying the Bambara Empire of Mali.
• March 11 - American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
• March 17 - The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed, with Victor Emmanuel II as its king.
• March 19 - The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
• March 20
  • An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina.
  • The surrender of Civitella del Tronto ends the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
• March 30 - Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of Thallium (see Discovery of the chemical elements).

April - June

• April 12 - The American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
• April 13 - Fort Sumter surrenders to Southern forces.
• April 17 - The state of Virginia secedes from the Union.
• April 20 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
• April 25 - American Civil War: The Union Army arrives in Washington, D.C.
• April 27 - American Civil War:
  • President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in the United States.
  • West Virginia secedes from Virginia.
• May 6 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
• May 7 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
• May 8 - American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.

• May 13
  • American Civil War: Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
  • Comet C/1861 J1 (the "Great Comet of 1861") is discovered in Australia.
• May 14 - The Canellas meteorite, an 859 gram chondrite type meteorite, strikes Earth near Barcelona, Spain.
• May 20 - American Civil War: Kentucky proclaims its neutrality which lasts until September 3, when Confederate forces enter the state. North Carolina secedes from the Union.
• June 9 - Lebanon is separated from Syrian administration and reunited under an Ottoman governor with the approval of the European powers.
• June 15 - Benito Juárez is formally elected President of Mexico; he temporarily stops the payments of foreign debt.
• June 25 - Abd-ul-Mejid, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1839-1861) dies and is succeeded by Abd-ul-Aziz (1861-1876).

July - September

• July 1 - The first issue of the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano is published.
• July 2 - Ivan Kasatkin lands on Hakodate and introduces the Eastern Orthodox Church into Japan.
• 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: At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war ends in a Confederate victory.
• 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
  • American Civil War: 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).
  • The U.S. Army abolishes flogging.
• August 19 - First ascent of Weisshorn, fifth highest summit in the Alps.
• August 27 - Martin Doyle's is the last execution in Britain for attempted murder.
• 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.