Events during 1861
What was happening during 1861?
Queen Victoria’s mother, Princess Victoria of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, aged 74, dying during March. Poet, campaigner of the abolition of slavery
and reform of child labour, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, aged 55, died June,
Florence, Italy.
The confederate also sees victory at the first major battle,
Battle of Wilson’s Creek, west of the Mississippi River, 10th
August.
Listed below are a few events that occurred during the year
January, the first steam-powered carousel was recorded in in
Bolton. February, Chatham Dockyard, 850
convicts take over the prison in a riot.
President-elect, Abraham Lincoln, after an assassination attempt in
Baltimore, secretly taken to Washington.
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| Abraham Lincoln |
March, Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as the 16th President of
the United States. In New Zealand, the First
Taranak War ends.
The Taranak War, part of the New Zealand wars of 1845 –
1875, was a conflict over the ownership and sovereignty of land between the
Maori, the indigenous Polynesian people and the New Zealand government, the
North Island’s Taranaki district. The
conflict lasting a year and a day. The result
was an indecisive result.
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| William Crookes |
The end of March, Sir William Crookes, a British chemist
made the discovery of Thallium. It is a
post-transition metal that is not found free in nature.
April, the 1816 Census, is carried out, to record the people
whereabouts on the night of the 7th April. The census had not changed since the 1851
Census. The census was the result of the Census Act, 1800 or as it was known as
the Population Act, 1800. The Act was
passed on the 3rd December, and given its Royal Assent, having been presented
to Parliament on the 20th November.
The first census was held on the 12th March the following
year. There had not been a population
count since publication of the Domesday Book, in 1086. The Population of the United Kingdom at the time of the Census was 20,066,224.
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| 1861 British Census |
Meanwhile, 12th April the American
Civil War begins.
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| Thomas Cook |
May, Thomas Cooks, runs his first package holiday from
London to Paris.
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| Martin Doyle |
August 1861, the first “modern” Welsh National Eisteddfod
takes places in Aberdare. The poem by Nai’r Rhen Ddyrnwr was published in
Y Gwladgarwr, to welcome everyone to the Eisteddfod. Chester Prison, a week later, Martin Doyle
was the last person to executed for attempt murder of his partner, Jane
Brogine.
September, Post Office Saving Bank opens. The aims of the bank were to allow ordinary
workers a facility “to provide for themselves against and ill-health”. During the First World War, certificates were
issued to help to finance the war effect.
It wasn’t until 1957, when Premimun Bonds were drawn with the use of E.R.N.I.E.
(the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment machine)
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| HMS Warrior |
October, HMS Warrior, the first ocean-going iron-hulled
armoured battleship, is completed at the cost of £377,292 and commissioned into
the Royal Navy. HMS Warrior was
finally decommissioned in 1883. Today,
HMS Warrior is a Museum Ship, berthed at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Also, during October, Canada, the Toronto
Stock Exchange, is established.
November, Edinburgh, in the Old Town, a tenement block
collapses, and killing 35 residents and 15 surviving.
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| Crimean War Memorial London |
Dates unknown during 1861, saw the end of the slave trade,
after the British Empire establishes bases at Lagos, and the unveiling of the
Crimean War Memorial, London.
Notable people born during 1861, included
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| Edmund Allenby, left Douglas Haig, right |
Field Marshals, Edmund Allenby, born during April and Douglas Haig, born during June
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| Amy Levy |
Novelist and essayist Amy Levy, born during November. The first Jewish woman to attend Cambridge
University.
Notable people to die during 1861, included
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| Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, left Elizabeth Barrett Browning, right |
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| John Forbes, left Albert, Prince Consort, right |
The inventor of the stethoscope, John Forbes, aged 74, dying
during November. Queen’s Victoria’s husband, Albert, Prince
Consort, aged 42, died from typhoid, at Windsor Castle, during December 1861.
Major books to be released during 1861, included Great
Expectation by Charles Dickens; Framley Parsonage and Orley Farm
by Anthony Trollope. Also published was Mrs.
Beeton’s Book of Household Management.
However, it is the events of America during the American
Civil War, that will make sense to the end of this blog.
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| Bombardment of Fort Sumter by Currier & Ives |
The first battle, of the American Civil, Battle of Fort
Sumter, 12th April, beings the Civil War.
Battle of Fort Sumter, which lasts for a day, 12th
– 13th April 1861, was the bombardment of Fort Sumter, near
Charleston, South Carolina, by the South Carolina militia. There was no return fire by the Confederate
Army, as it did not exist. This resulted
in the surrender of the United States Army.
After Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the presidential election
1860, South Carolina adopted an ordinance declaring its secession from the
United States of America. February 1861,
6 Southern States followed South Carolina. In similar ordinances of secession.
A peace conference met in Washington but failed to resolve the crisis. Preparations for war were carried out during
the winter of 1860-61.
Later in April 1861, the Union Army arrives at Washington. Other states during May, including Arkansas
and Tennessee join the Confederate States. During
May, Richmond, Virginia is named capital of the Confederate States of America.
Queen Victoria, during May, “proclamation of neutrality”
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| The Battle of Corrick's Ford 13th July 1861 |
13th July The Battle of Corrick’s Ford, on the
Cheat River, West Virginia. The Battle
was minor skirmish. Days later the first
major battle, First Battle of Bull Run, Virginia. By the end of the Battle, resulting in a
Confederate victory.
August 1861, in order to pay for the war
effort, the United States government issues its first income tax, as part of
the Revenue Act, 1861. The US Army
abolishes flogging.
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| Battle of Wilson's Creek 10th August 1861 |
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| Battle of Santa Rosa Island 9th October 1861 |
October, the Confederate are defeated at the Battle of Santa
Rosa Island, 9th October, further defeats follow in the Battle of
Ball’s Bluff, 21st October.
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| Battle of Ball's Bluff 21st October 1861 |
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| General Ulysses S. Grant |
November, General Ulysses S. Grant, led the Union forces to override
a Confederate Camp in the Battle of Belmont, 7th November but soon
retreat when reinforcements for the Confederate arrive.
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| Battle of Belmont 7th November 1861 |
During November, a diplomatic crisis between the United
Kingdom and the United States of America, which could have threatened a war
between the two countries. The crisis
was ended in the Trent Affair.
The year of 1861 ends when Kentucky is accepted into the
Confederate States of America.
The American Civil War, lasted until 1865.
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| The Cambria Daily Leader 15th January 1915 |
50 years after it ended, The Cambria Daily Leader, announces
on 15th January 1915, the death of David James, aged 72, who had
seen action in the American Civil War. His
funeral took place at Babell Cemetery.
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