1856

From Free net encyclopedia

Years: 1853 1854 1855 - 1856 - 1857 1858 1859
Decades: 1820s 1830s 1840s - 1850s - 1860s 1870s 1880s
Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century Template:C19YearInTopic

1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

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Events

January - The first free public school west of the Mississippi River was established in Tipton, Iowa.
January 8 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
January 29 - Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross
February - The only month in recorded history to not have a full moon.
February - The Tintic War in Utah.
February 4 - The Mormon Trail begins as wagons cross the Mississippi River into Iowa.
February 1 - Auburn University is first chartered as the East Alabama Male College.
February 18 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
March 5 – Fire destroys Covent Garden Theatre
March 9 - National Fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL.
March 20 - Costa Rican troops rout Walker's soldiers
March 30 - The Treaty of Paris (1856) is signed, ending the Crimean War
April 7 - Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand
April 10 - Theta Chi Fraternity founded at Norwich University
May 16 - the Vigilance Committee founded in San Francisco, California. It lynches two gangsters, arrests most Democratic Party officials and disbands itself in August 18
May 21 - Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
May 22 - Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas"). Sumner was unable to return to duty for three years while he recovered. Brooks became a hero across the South.
May 24 - The Pottawatomie Massacre - group of followers of radical abolitionist John Brown kill five homesteaders in Franklin County, Kansas
June 9 - 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
July 31 - Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.
August 10 – A hurricane destroys Last Island, Louisiana - 400 dead. The whole island was broken up into several smaller islands by the storm.
November 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1856: Democrat James Buchanan defeats former President Millard Fillmore, representing a coalition of "Know-Nothings" and Whigs, and John C. Frémont of the fledgling Republican Party to become the 15th President of the United States.
November 17 - American Old West: On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.
November 21 - Niagara University founded in Niagara Falls, New York.
December 9 - Bushehr surrenders to the British.

British Country and Borough Police Act extends London police model to all of England and Wales
Western Union founded
Kate Warner, the first female private detective, begins to work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency
Pre-human remains found in the Neanderthal valley in Germany
Gregor Mendel starts his research on genetics.
National Portrait Gallery in London opened.
Sale of Land starts suburb of Ashgrove, Queensland.
The first session concludes at Saint Paul's School, the prestigious New England Prep School in Concord, NH.
Founding year of St. Paul's School, Camp, Belgaum.St._Paul's_School,(Belgaum)