NINETEENTH CENTURY, IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE. 



437 



Nov. 1, William Makepeace Thackeray visited the 

 United States, and delivered his first lecture in 

 New York city. 



Nov. 8, an international commission for construct- 

 ing a canal through the Isthmus of Suez left 

 Marseilles. 



1856. 



Feb. 17, Heinrich Heine died. 



March 26, the first street railroad in New England 

 was opened, between Boston and Cambridge. 



March 30, the treaty of peace between the allies 

 and Russia was signed. 



April 11, the great bridge at Rock Island was 

 completed, and locomotives passed from the Illi- 

 nois to the Iowa side. 



May 22, Charles Sumner, in the United States 

 Senate, was beaten with a heavy cane by Preston 

 S. Brooks. 



July 29, Robert Schumann died. 



Aug. 28, the Dudley Observatory was inaugurated 

 in Albany. 



Nov. 10, the New York and Newfoundland tele- 

 graph line was opened. 



1857. 



Jan. 6, the Vermont State Capitol, at Montpelier, 

 was destroyed by fire. 



March 6, the Dred Scott decision was rendered. 



May 10, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad 

 was opened. 



May 30, the Sepoy mutiny in India began. 



July 16, Pierre Jean de'Beranger died. 



Sept. 14, the English, after a conflict of six days, 

 gained possession of the city of Delhi. 



Oct. 19, Nicaragua declared war against Costa 

 Rica. 



Dec. 4, Gen. Comonfort was declared constitu- 

 tional President of Mexico. 



*. 



1858. 



n. 31, the Great Eastern was launched on the 

 Thames. 



May 11, Minnesota was admitted as a State. 



June 15, the natives at Jeddah massacred all the 

 Christians in that city. Forty-five were slain. 



July 25, 26, the English man-of-war Cyclops bom- 

 barded Jeddah. 



July 30, John Manning Speke discovered the great 

 lake Victoria Nyanza, which is the source of the 

 Nile. 



Aug. 16. messages were exchanged between Queen 

 Victoria and President Buchanan through the 

 first Atlantic cable. 



Sept. 1, the East India Company ceased to exist, 

 and its vast possessions passed into the hands 

 of the English Government. 



Oct. 5, the Crystal Palace, in New York, was de- 

 stroyed by fire. 



1859. 



Jan. 21, Henry Hallam died. 



Jan. 28, William H. Prescott died. 



Feb. 14, Oregon was admitted as a State. 



May 6, Alexander von Humboldt died. 



June 14, the battle of Magenta, Italy, was fought. 



June 24, the battle of Solferino, Italy, was fought. 



June 30, Emile Gravelet Blondin walked across 



Niagara on a tight rope. 

 Aug. 26, oil was first struck in boring at Titus- 



ville, Pa. 

 Oct. 16, John Brown's raid, at Harper's Ferry, 



Va., took place. 



Nov. 28, Washington Irving died. 

 Dec. 8, Thomas De Quincey died. 

 Dec. 28, Lord Macaulay died. 



1860. 



March 24, a treaty between Sardinia and France, 

 for the annexation of Savoy and Nice to France, 

 was signed at Turin. 



March 27, a Japanese embassy, sent to ratify 

 Perry's treaty, arrived at San Francisco. 



July 1, Charles Goodyear, the inventor of vulcan- 

 ized rubber, died. 



Sept. 21, the Prince of Wales visited the United 

 States. 



Nov. 6, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of 

 the United States. 



Dec. 20, South Carolina seceded from the Union. 



1861. 



Jan. 4, the first national fast day in the United 

 States was observed. 



Jan. 9, the first shot of the civil war was fired 

 at the United States steamer Star of the West, 

 off Charleston, S. C. 



Jan. 9, Mississippi seceded from the Union. 



Jan. 10, Florida seceded from the Union. 



Jan. 11, Alabama seceded from the Union. 



Jan. 19, Georgia seceded from the Union. 



Jan. 26, Louisiana seceded from the Union. 



Jan. 29, Kansas was admitted as a State. 



Feb. 1, Texas seceded from the Union. 



Feb. 9, the Confederate Provisional Government 

 was organized at Montgomery, Ala. 



March 3, the emancipation of the serfs in Russia 

 was proclaimed, to be effected two years later. 



March 4, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated 

 President of the United States. 



March 17, Victor Emanuel II became King of 

 unified Italy. 



April 12, the bombardment and capture of Fort 

 Sumter took place. 



April 17, the Virginia Convention passed an ordi- 

 nance of secession, to be submitted to the people 

 in May. 



April 19, a conflict in Baltimore between Massa- 

 chusetts soldiers and a riotous mob caused the 

 first bloodshed of the civil war. 



June 10, the first battle of the civil war took place 

 at Big Bethel, Va. 



June 30, Elizabeth Barrett Browning died. 



July 21, the battle of Bull Run was fought. 



Nov. 8, Capt. Charles Wilkes, commanding the 

 frigate San Jacinto, took the Confederate com- 

 missioners Mason and Slidell from the British 

 mail steamer Trent in the Bahama Channel. 



Dec. 14, Albert, Prince Consort, died. 



Dec. 30, the New York city banks suspended 

 specie payment. 



1862. 

 Jan. 13, Edwin M. Stanton became Secretary of 



War in President Lincoln's Cabinet. 

 Jan. 18, John Tyler died. 



Jan. 19, the battle of Mill Spring, Ky., was fought. 

 Feb. 6, Fort Henry, on Tennessee river, was cap- 

 tured. 

 Feb. 15, Fort Donelson. on Cumberland river, was 



surrendered to Gen. Grant, w r ith its garrison of 



14,000 Confederate soldiers. 



March 8, the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., was fought. 

 March 9, the battle of the Monitor and the Merri- 



mac was fought in Hampton Roads. 

 March 14, the battle of Newbern, N. C., was fought. 

 April 6, 7, the battle of Pittsburg Landing, or 



Shiloh, Tenn., took place. 

 April 11, a bill was passed abolishing slavery in 



the District of Columbia. 

 April 23, New Orleans was captured by Farragut's 



fleet. 



May 5, the battle of Williamsburg, Va., took place. 

 May 31, the battle of Fair Oaks, Va., took place. 



