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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.

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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 delegates 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 Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.

February 11 - American Civil War: US House unanimously passes resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.

February 13 - End of the Siege of Gaeta, last stronghold of the Neapolitan King Francis II, 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.

February 18 - 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, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.

February 27 - A crowd in Warsaw protesting Russian rule over Poland is fired upon by Russian troops killing five protesters.

February 28 - Colorado is organized as a United States territory.

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March 2 - Nevada is organized as a United States territory.

March 3 - Formal emancipation of the serfs in Imperial Russia.

March 4 - End of term for President of the United States James Buchanan. He is succeeded by Abraham Lincoln.

March 4 - 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 - Proclamation of the kingdom of Italy with Victor Emanuel II as its king.

March 19 - First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.

March 20 - An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, a city on western Argentina.

March 20 - Surrender of Civitella del Tronto. End of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

March 30 - Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of Thallium (see Discovery of the chemical elements).

April 12 - American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.

April 27 - American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in the United States.

April 27 - American Civil War: West Virginia secedes from Virginia.

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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.

May 13 - Comet C/1861 J1 (the "Great Comet of 1861") discovered in Australia.

May 14 - The Canellas meteorite, an 859 gram chondrite type meteorite struck earth near Barcelona, Spain.

May 20 - American Civil War: Kentucky proclaims its neutrality which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. North Carolina secedes from the Union

June 8 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.

June 9 - Lebanon separated from Syrian administration and reunited under Ottoman governor with the approval of European powers

June 15 - Benito Juárez 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).

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July 1 - First issue of Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano was published.

July 2 - Ioan Kasatkin lands on Hakodate and introduces the Eastern Orthodox church into Japan.

July 21 - American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run - At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins (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 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).

August 5 - US Army abolishes flogging

August 27 - Last execution in Britain for attempted murder - Martin Doyle in Chester

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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.

October 9 - the Battle of Santa Rosa Island

October 21 - American Civil War: Battle of Ball's Bluff - Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed in the fighting.

October 24 - The ''HMS Warrior'', the world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled armored battleship was completed and commissioned.

October 31 - American Civil War: Citing failing health, Union General Winfield Scott resigns as Commander of the United States Army.

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November 1 - American Civil War: US President Abraham Lincoln appoints George McClellan as commander of the Union Army, replacing the aged General Winfield Scott.

November 2 - American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Fremont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.

November 6 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America.

November 7 - American Civil War: Battle of Belmont - In Belmont, Missouri, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant overrun a Confederate camp but are forced to retreat when Confederate reinforcements arrive.

November 8 - American Civil War: The "Trent Affair" - The USS San Jacinto stops the United Kingdom mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, James Mason and John Slidell, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.

November 21 - American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin secretary of war.

November 25 - Tenement collapses in the Old Town of Edinburgh and buries 50 - rescuers find 15 of them alive

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News of Henri Mouhot's discovery of Angkor Wat published.

In Britain, the death penalty is limited to murder, embezzlement, piracy and to acts of arson perpetrated upon docks or ammunition depots.

British Empire establishes bases in Lagos to stop the slave trade.

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management published.

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January 14 - Mehmed VI, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1926)

January 30 - Charles Martin Loeffler, American composer (d. 1935)

February 12 - Lou Andreas-Salome, Russian-born author (d. 1937)

February 15 - Charles Edouard Guillaume, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1938)

February 26 - King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1948)

February 27 - Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher (d. 1925)

April 8 - Son, Byong-Hi, Korean nationalist (d. 1922)

April 15 - Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (d. 1929)

May 7 - Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)

June 12 - William Attewell, English cricketer (d. 1927)

June 19 - Doctor Jose Rizal, Philippine national hero (d. 1896)

June 20 - Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (d. 1947)

September 10 - Niels Hansen Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and ceramist (d. 1941)

September 23 - Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, British poet and novelist (d. 1907)

October 16 - J. B. Bury, British historian (d. 1927)

October 30 - Antoine Bourdelle, French sculptor (d. 1929)

December 4 - Lillian Russell, American singer and vaudeville star (d. 1922)

November 6 - James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (d. 1939)

December 8 - Georges Méliès, French film director (d. 1938)

December 10 - Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1930)

December 15 - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Prime Minister and President of Finland (d. 1944)

December 16 - Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (d. 1917)

December 20 - Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926)

William H. Stayton - American founder of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (d. ?)

Vengayil Kunhiraman Nayanar - Malayali Journalist and Short story writer (d. 1914)

Harro Magnussen - German sculptor (d. 1908)

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January 2 - Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia (b. 1795)

January 17 - Lola Montez, Irish-born dancer and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1821)

March 10 - Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet, nationalist, and founder of Ukrainian literature (b. 1814)

May 29 - Joachim Lelewel, Polish nationalist historian (b. 1786)

June 3 - Stephen A. Douglas, U.S. Senator from Illinois and Presidential candidate (b. 1813)

June 25 - Abd-ul-Mejid, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1823)

June 29 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (b. 1806)

July 25 - Jonas Furrer, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1805)

August 24 - Pierre Berthier, French geologist (b. 1782)

October 5 - Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish bishop (b. 1778)

November 11 - King Pedro V of Portugal (b. 1837)

December 14 - Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, husband of Queen Victoria (b. 1819)