1861

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century

Decades: 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s - 1860s - 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s

Years: 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 - 1861 - 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866

• January 1 - Benito Juarez captures Mexico City
• January 3 - American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States
• January 9 - Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union, preceding the American Civil War.
• January 10 - Florida secedes from the United States
• January 11 - Alabama secedes from the United States
• January 14 - Mehmed VI, future Ottoman sultan.
• January 18 - Georgia joins the Confederacy
• 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.
• February 1 - American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
• 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 noninterference with slavery in any state.
• February 18 - In Montgomery, Alabama Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the first and only President of the Confederate States of America.
• February 18 - Victor Emmanuel of Savoy becomes King of Italy
• 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 Sates territory[?].
• March 2 - Nevada is organized as a United States territory[?].
• March 4 - The "Stars and Bars" is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
• March 11 - The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
• March 17 - Proclamation of the kingdom of Italy.
• March 19 - Maori War[?] ends in New Zealand
• April 12 - United States Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina
• April 27 - President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in the United States.
• April 27 - American Civil War: West Virginia secedes from Virginia.
• 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 20 - American Civil War: Kentucky proclaims its neutrality which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.

• Abraham Lincoln succeeds James Buchanan as President of the United States of America
• Kansas becomes 34th state in the United States
• Victor Emmanuel becomes first king of Italy
• Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Abd-ul-Mejid (1839-1861) to Abd-ul-Aziz (1861-1876)
• Sir William Crookes discovers Thallium (see Discovery of the chemical elements)

Arts, Sciences, Literature and Philosophy

• 1861 in literature:

Births

• January 14 - Sultan Mehmed VI of the Ottoman Empire (+ 1926)
• February 12 - Lou Andreas-Salome[?], author (+ 1937)
• February 26 - King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (+ 1948)
• February 27 - Rudolf Steiner, anthroposoph (+ 1925)
• April 15 - Bliss Carman, poet
• May 6 - Rabindranath Tagore
• October 30 - Antoine Bourdelle, sculptor
• November 6 - James Naismith, inventor of basketball
• December 8 - Georges Méliès , French film director, allegedly the first.
• December 16 - Antonio de La Gandara, painter

Deaths

• January 17 - Lola Montez (adventurer)
• June 25 - Abd-ul-Mejid, Ottoman sultan
• December 14 - Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria