istoryworld
All Events
Garibaldi crosses from Sicily to the mainland and by September is in Naples
Work starts on the Temperate House (after the contractor William Cubitt has altered Burton's designs) and the main block and the octagons are completed by 1863. The government then halts the project because of severe cost overruns.
Mortlake’s brewery becomes prosperous through contracts supplying beer (India Pale Ale) to the British army in India
US adventurer William Walker, thrown out of Nicaragua in 1857, is executed in Honduras
British and French forces occupy Beijing and burn the imperial summer palace, at the end of the Second Opium War
Republican contender Abraham Lincoln is elected US president with only 39% of the popular vote and no electoral votes in eleven southern states
South Carolina becomes the first southern state to secede from the Union in response to Lincoln's election
Charles Dickens begins serial publication of his novel "Great Expectations" (in book form 1861)
George Eliot publishes The Mill on the Floss, her novel about the childhood of Maggie and Tom Tulliver
The Liberals recover Mexico City and elect Benito Juarez as president
Seven southern states, meeting in Montgomery, Alabama, agree to form the Confederate States of America
The seven members of the newly formed Condederacy elect Jefferson Davis as their provisional president
Lagos, on the coast of Nigeria, is annexed as a British colony when the royal family prove unable or unwilling to end the slave trade
Victor Emmanuel II is proclaimed king of a united Italy, with only Rome and Venetia remaining outside his realm
After four years of consultation, Alexander II issues a decree freeing Russia's millions of serfs
George Eliot publishes Silas Marner, the story of a miser who loses his gold but finds happiness in adopting a child
English chemist and physicist William Crookes isolates a new element, thallium
Richmond, the state capital of Virginia, becomes the capital of the Southern Confederacy
Shots are fired against the Federal military garrison in Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbour, launching the American Civil War
Chinese immigrants to Australia are the victims of violent racial attacks at Lambing Flat
An official National Eisteddfod is held for the first time in Wales, in Aberdare
Queen Victoria likes Adam Bede so much that she commissions Edward Henry Corbould to paint for her two scenes from the novel
Mathew Brady sends teams ot photographers to the various battle fronts to ensure a thorough photographic record of the American Civil War
Benito Juarez, president of a bankrupt Mexico, suspends interest payment on the nation's foreign debt
The first battle of the American Civil War, fought near Manassas and the Bull Run Creek, is a clear Confederate victory
