1861 in the United States

Events from the year 1861 in the United States. This year marked the beginning of the American Civil War.

Federal government

 * President:
 * James Buchanan (D-Pennsylvania) (until March 4)
 * Abraham Lincoln (R-Illinois) (starting March 4)


 * Vice President:
 * John C. Breckinridge (D-Kentucky) (until March 4)
 * Hannibal Hamlin (R-Maine) (starting March 4)


 * Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney (Maryland)
 * Speaker of the House of Representatives:
 * William Pennington (R-New Jersey) (until March 4)
 * Galusha A. Grow (R-Pennsylvania) (starting July 4)


 * Congress: 36th (until March 4), 37th (starting March 4)

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" ! Governors and lieutenant governors

Governors
• Governor of Alabama: Andrew B. Moore (Democratic) (until December 2), John Gill Shorter (Democratic) (starting December 2)

• Governor of Arkansas: Henry Massey Rector (Democratic)

• Governor of California: John G. Downey (Democratic)

• Governor of Connecticut: William A. Buckingham (Republican)

• Governor of Delaware: William Burton (Democratic)

• Governor of Florida: Madison S. Perry (Democratic) (until October 7), John Milton (Democratic) (starting October 7)

• Governor of Georgia: Joseph E. Brown (Democratic)

• Governor of Illinois: John Wood (Republican) (until January 14), Richard Yates (Republican) (starting January 14)

• Governor of Indiana:

• * until January 14: Abram A. Hammond (Democratic)

• * January 14–16: Henry S. Lane (Republican)

• * starting January 16: Oliver P. Morton (Republican)

• Governor of Iowa: Samuel J. Kirkwood (Republican)

• Governor of Kansas: Samuel Medary (Democratic) (until February 9), Charles L. Robinson (Republican) (starting February 9)

• Governor of Kentucky: Beriah Magoffin (Democratic)

• Governor of Louisiana: Thomas Overton Moore (Democratic) (starting January 23)

• Governor of Maine: Lot M. Morrill (Democratic) (until January 2), Israel Washburn Jr. (Republican) (starting January 2)

• Governor of Maryland: Thomas H. Hicks (Know Nothing)/(Republican)

• Governor of Massachusetts: Nathaniel Prentice Banks (Republican) (until January 3), John Albion Andrew (Republican) (starting January 3)

• Governor of Michigan: Moses Wisner (Republican) (until January 2), Austin Blair (Republican) (starting January 2)

• Governor of Minnesota: Alexander Ramsey (Republican)

• Governor of Mississippi: John J. Pettus (Democratic)

• Governor of Missouri:

• * until January 3: Robert Marcellus Stewart (Democratic)

• * January 3 – July 23: Claiborne Fox Jackson (Democratic)

• * July 23–31: vacant

• * starting July 31: Hamilton Rowan Gamble (Republican)

• Governor of New Hampshire: Ichabod Goodwin (Republican) (until June 2), Nathaniel S. Berry (Republican) (starting June 2)

• Governor of New Jersey: Charles Smith Olden (Republican)

• Governor of New York: Edwin D. Morgan (Republican)

• Governor of North Carolina: John Willis Ellis (Democratic) (until July 7), Henry Toole Clark (Democratic) (starting July 7)

• Governor of Ohio: William Dennison Jr. (Republican)

• Governor of Oregon: John Whiteaker (Democratic)

• Governor of Pennsylvania: William F. Packer (Democratic) (until January 15), Andrew Gregg Curtin (Republican) (starting January 15)

• Governor of Rhode Island: William Sprague IV (Republican)

• Governor of South Carolina: Francis Wilkinson Pickens  (Democratic)

• Governor of Tennessee: Isham G. Harris (Democratic)

• Governor of Texas:

• * until March 18: Sam Houston (Independent)

• * March 18 – November 7: Edward Clark (Democratic)

• * starting November 7: Francis R. Lubbock (Democratic)

• Governor of Vermont: Erastus Fairbanks (Republican) (until October 11), Frederick Holbrook (Republican) (starting October 11)

• Governor of Virginia: John Letcher (Democratic)

• Governor of Wisconsin: Alexander W. Randall (Republican)

Lieutenant governors
• Lieutenant Governor of California: Isaac N. Quinn (Democratic) (until January 7), Pablo de la Guerra (Democratic) (starting January 7)

• Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Benjamin Douglas (Republican) (until month and day unknown),

• Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Francis Hoffmann (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: John R. Cravens (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Nicholas J. Rusch (Republican) (until month and day unknown)

• Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Joseph Pomeroy Root (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: vacant

• Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Henry M. Hyams (Democratic)

• Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts:

• * until January 3: Eliphalet Trask (political party unknown)

• * January 3 – month and day unknown: John Z. Goodrich (political party unknown)

• * starting month and day unknown: vacant

• Lieutenant Governor of Michigan:

• * until month and day unknown: Edmund B. Fairfield (Republican)

• * month and day unknown: James M. Birney (Republican)

• * month and day unknown: Joseph R. Williams (Republican)

• * starting month and day unknown: Henry T. Backus (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Ignatius L. Donnelly (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Missouri:

• * until January 3: Hancock Lee Jackson (Democratic)

• * January 3 – July 23: Thomas Caute Reynolds (Democratic)

• * July 23–31: vacant

• * starting July 31: William Preble Hall (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of New York: Robert Campbell (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Robert C. Kirk (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: J. Russell Bullock (political party unknown) (until month and day unknown), Samuel G. Arnold (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)

• Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: W. W. Harllee (Democratic)

• Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Edward Clark (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), John McClannahan Crockett (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)

• Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Levi Underwood (Republican)

• Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Robert Latane Montague (no political party)

• Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Butler G. Noble (Republican)
 * }

January–March

 * 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 12 – Major Robert Anderson sends dispatches to Washington.
 * January 12 – American Civil War: Florida state troops demand surrender of Fort Pickens.
 * January 18 – American Civil War: Georgia secedes from the Union.
 * January 21 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate. Ordinance of Secession is ratified.
 * January 26 – American Civil War: Louisiana secedes from the Union.
 * January 29 – Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state (see History of Kansas).
 * February 1 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the Union.
 * February 4 – American Civil War: Delegates from six seceded states meet at the Montgomery Convention in Montgomery, Alabama.
 * February 8 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America adopts the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States.
 * 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 18 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.
 * February 23 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after an assassination attempt in Baltimore.
 * February 28 – Colorado Territory is organized.
 * March 2 – Nevada Territory and Dakota Territory are organized.
 * March 4
 * Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as the 16th president of the United States, and Hannibal Hamlin is sworn in as the 15th vice president.
 * American Civil War: The Stars and Bars is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
 * March 11 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States is adopted.

April–June

 * April 12 – Battle of Fort Sumter: The American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
 * April 14 – Battle of Fort Sumter: Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate 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 Maryland.
 * 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 10 – American Civil War – Camp Jackson Affair: Union military forces clash with civilians on the streets of St. Louis, Missouri, resulting in the deaths of at least 28 people and injuries to another 100.
 * May 13 – American Civil War: Queen Victoria issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
 * May 20
 * American Civil War: Kentucky proclaims its neutrality which lasts until September 3, when Confederate forces enter the state.
 * American Civil War: North Carolina secedes from the Union.

July–September

 * 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 aka First Manassas: at Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war ends in a Confederate victory.
 * July 22 – American Civil War: After Union forces led by Nathaniel Lyon capture the Missouri state capital of Jefferson City, the Missouri Constitutional Convention reconvenes and removes pro-secessionist Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson from office, replacing him with a pro-Union governor.
 * 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 10 – American Civil War: The first major battle west of the Mississippi River, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, is fought, with a Confederate victory.
 * 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–December

 * October 9 – American Civil War – Battle of Santa Rosa Island: Confederate forces are defeated in their effort to take the 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 28 – A small pro-secessionist section of the Missouri legislature takes up a bill for Missouri's secession from the Union.
 * October 30 – The bill is passed for Missouri's secession from the Union.
 * October 31
 * Missouri's secession from the Union bill is signed by Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, but by this date Governor Jackson only controls parts of South-Western Missouri. Union forces led by general John C. Frémont have consolidated control over the vast majority of Missouri.
 * American Civil War: Citing failing health, Union General Winfield Scott resigns as Commander of the United States Army.
 * November 1 – American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as commander of the Union Army, replacing the aged General Winfield Scott.
 * November 2 – American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Frémont 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 Mississippi County, 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 – Trent Affair: The USS San Jacinto (1850) stops the United Kingdom mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, James Mason and John Slidell, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the U.K. and U.S.
 * November 21 – American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin Secretary of War.
 * November 28 – American Civil War: Acting on the ordinance passed by the Jackson government, the Confederate Congress admits Missouri as the 12th Confederate state.
 * December 10 – American Civil War: Kentucky is accepted into the Confederate States of America.

Ongoing

 * Secession crisis (1860–1861)
 * American Civil War (1861–1865)

Undated

 * Alonzo E. Deitz founds the A. E. Deitz lock company in Brooklyn, New York.

Births

 * January 7 – Louise Imogen Guiney, poet (died 1920)
 * January 12 – James Mark Baldwin, philosopher and psychologist (died 1934)
 * January 26 – Frank O. Lowden, 25th Governor of Illinois from 1917 and U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1906 to 1911 (died 1943)
 * January 29 – William M. Butler, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1892 to 1895 (died 1937)
 * February 15 – Martin Burns, wrestler and coach (died 1937)
 * February 26 – Godfrey Lowell Cabot, industrialist and philanthropist (died 1962)
 * March 1 – Henry Harland, novelist and editor (died 1905)
 * March 15 – Joseph M. Devine, 6th Governor of North Dakota from 1898 to 1899 (died 1938)
 * March 20 – Wilds P. Richardson, U.S. Army officer (died 1929)
 * April 17 – Willard Saulsbury Jr., U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1913 to 1919 (died 1927)
 * April 19 – John Grier Hibben, minister, philosopher and educator (died 1933)
 * April 20 – James D. Phelan, U.S. Senator from California from 1915 to 1921 (died 1930)
 * April 23 – John Peltz, baseball player (died 1906)
 * April 27 – William Lorimer, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1909 to 1912 (died 1934)
 * May 16 – Herman Webster Mudgett, alias H. H. Holmes, serial killer (died 1896)
 * May 20 – Henry Gantt, project engineer (died 1919)
 * May 25 – Julia Boynton Green, poet (died 1947)
 * June 2 – Helen Herron Taft, First Lady of the U.S. as wife of the 27th president, William Howard Taft (died 1943)
 * June 6 – Joseph M. Terrell, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1910 to 1911 (died 1912)
 * June 29 – William James Mayo, physician, medic, co-founder of Mayo Clinic (died 1939)
 * July 7 – Nettie Stevens, geneticist (died 1912)
 * July 9 – James M. Beck, politician (died 1936)
 * July 11 – George W. Norris, U.S. Senator from Nebraska from 1913 till 1943 (died 1944)
 * July 22
 * Joseph L. Bristow, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1909 to 1915 (died 1944)
 * James Speyer, banker (died 1941)
 * July 26 – James K. Vardaman, politician (died 1930)
 * August 3 – Samuel M. Shortridge, U.S. Senator from California from 1921 till 1933 (died 1952)
 * August 4 – Jesse W. Reno, inventor, builder of the first working escalator (died 1947)
 * August 6 – Edith Roosevelt, née Carow, First Lady of the U.S. (died 1948)
 * August 9
 * L. B. Hanna, 11th Governor of North Dakota from 1913 till 1917 (died 1948)
 * Dorothea Klumpke, astronomer (died 1942)
 * August 20 – Anna Shelton, businesswoman (died 1939)
 * September 20 – Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress (died 1955)
 * September 21 – L. Heisler Ball, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1919 to 1925 (died 1932)
 * September 30 – William Wrigley Jr., chewing gum industrialist (died 1932)
 * October 4 – Frederic Remington, painter, illustrator, sculptor and writer (died 1909)
 * October 19 – William J. Burns, detective and director of Bureau of Investigation (died 1932)
 * November 2 – Charles W. Waterman, U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1927 to 1932 (died 1932)
 * November 6
 * Thomas Watt Gregory, U.S. Attorney General (died 1933)
 * James Naismith, Canadian-born inventor of basketball (died 1939)
 * November 10 – Bessie Alexander Ficklen, doggerel poet and hand puppet specialist (died 1945)
 * November 14 – Frederick Jackson Turner, historian (died 1932)
 * November 26 – Albert B. Fall, U.S. Senator from New Mexico from 1912 to 1921 and Secretary of the Interior from 1921 to 1923 under President Warren G. Harding (died 1944)
 * December 8 – William C. Durant, businessman (died 1947)
 * December 15 – Charles Duryea, engineer and manufacturer of motor vehicles (died 1938)
 * December 30 – Charles Hanford Henderson, educator and author (died 1941)

Deaths

 * April 4 – John McLean, U.S. Postmaster General from 1823 to 1829, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1829 to 1861 (born 1785)
 * April 8 – Elisha Otis, industrialist, founder of the Otis Elevator Company (born 1811)
 * April 15 – Isaiah Stillman, U.S. Army Major in the Black Hawk War (born 1793)
 * May 21 – Benjamin Paul Akers, sculptor (born 1825)
 * May 24 – Elmer E. Ellsworth, first Union officer to die in the Civil War (born 1837)
 * June 3 – Stephen A. Douglas, Senator from Illinois from 1847 till 1861 and presidential candidate (born 1813)
 * June 5 – John Garland, Bvt. Brigadier General in the Union Army (born 1793)
 * June 13 – Richard Lawrence, failed assassin of Andrew Jackson (born c. 1800–1801)
 * July 7 – John Willis Ellis, 35th Governor of North Carolina from 1859 to 1861 (born 1820)
 * July 13 – Robert S. Garnett, Confederate brigadier general (born 1819)
 * July 22 – Barnard Elliott Bee Jr., Confederate general (born 1824)
 * August 10 – Nathaniel Lyon, Union Army brigadier general, first general to be killed in the Civil War (born 1818)
 * August 12 – Eliphalet Remington, gunmaker (born 1793)
 * August 17 – Alcée Louis la Branche, politician (born 1806)
 * October 5 – Kinsley S. Bingham, U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1859 to 1861 (born 1808)
 * October 20 – William Woodbridge, Governor of Michigan from 1840 to 1841 and U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1841 to 1847 (born 1780)
 * October 21 – Edward Dickinson Baker, U.S. Senator from Oregon from 1860 to 1861 (born 1811)
 * October 26 – Edward "Ned" Kendall, bandleader and instrumentalist (keyed bugle) (born 1808)
 * November 28 – Richard M. Young, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1837 to 1843 (born 1798)