| January 1 | Slavery ends of in Netherlands Indies |
| January 20 | Dutch troops conquer Watampone in Celebes |
| January 28 | Britain formally returns Mosquito Coast to Nicaragua |
| January 29 | American College established in Rome by Pope Pius IX |
| February 1 | 1st rabbi to open House of Representatives, Morris Raphall of New York City |
| February 3 | Thomas Clemson takes office as 1st U.S. superintendent of agriculture |
| February 10 | John Brahms' 2nd Serenade in A, premieres |
| February 13 | King Basse Kajuara departs Boni South-Celebes |
| February 16 | Dutch Rochussen/Van Bosse government resigns |
| February 22 | Organized baseball played in San Francisco for 1st time |
| February 22 | Shoe-making workers of Lynn Ms, strike successfully for higher wages |
| March 9 | 1st Japanese ambassador arrives in San Francisco en route to Washington |
| March 12 | Congress accepts Pre-emption Bill: free land in West for colonists |
| March 17 | Japanese embassy arrives aboard Candinmarruh |
| March 21 | U.S. extradition treaty with Sweden |
| March 24 | Clipper Andrew Jackson arrives in SF, 89 days out of NY |
| March 27 | M L Byrn patents "covered gimlet screw with a 'T' handle" (corkscrew) |
| March 29 | Dion Boucicault's "Colleen Bawn," premieres in New York City |
| April 2 | 1st Italian Parliament met at Turin |
| April 3 | Pony Express began between St. Joseph Missouri and Sacramento California |
| April 7 | Grand duke Frederik I liberalizes laws in Bathe |
| April 13 | 1st Pony Express reaches Sacramento, California |
| April 14 | 1st Pony Express rider arrives in San Francisco from St. Joseph, Missouri |
| April 23 | Dem convention in Charleston South Carolina divided over slavery |
| April 27 | Thomas J. Jackson is assigned to command Harpers Ferry |
| April 30 | Navaho indians attack Fort Defiance (Canby) |
| May 6 | San Francisco Olympic Club, 1st U.S. athletic club forms |
| May 18 | Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for president |
| May 26 | Garibaldi occupies Palermo Italy |
| June 3 | Comanche, Iowa completely destroyed by 1 of a series of tornadoes |
| June 7 | 1st U.S. "dime novel" published: "Malaseka, The Indian Wife of the White Hunter," by Mrs. Ann Stevens |
| June 7 | Workmen start laying track for Market Street Railroad, San Francisco |
| June 9 | 1st "dime" novel issued "Malaesk The Indian Wife of the White Hunter" |
| June 15 | 1st White settlement in Idaho, Franklin |
| June 23 | Congress establishes Government Printing Office |
| June 23 | U.S. Secret Service created |
| July 9 | Temperature hits 115 degrees F in Ft. Scott and 112 degrees F in Topeka Kansas |
| July 19 | 1st railroad reaches Kansas |
| July 25 | 1st U.S. intercollegiate billiard match, Harvard vs. Yales |
| August 8 | Queen of Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) arrives in New York City |
| August 11 | Nation's 1st successful silver mill, Virginia City, Nevada |
| August 30 | 1st British tram opens (Birkenhead) |
| September 7 | Excursion steamer "Lady Elgin" drowns 340 in Lake Michigan |
| September 8 | Loss of steamer, "Lady Elgin" |
| September 20 | 1st British royalty to visit U.S., Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) |
| October 8 | Telegraph line between Los Angeles and San Francisco opens |
| October 12 | British and French troops capture Beijing |
| October 13 | 1st aerial photo taken in U.S. (from a balloon), Boston |
| October 15 | 11-year-old Grace Bedell writes to Lincoln, tells him to grow a beard |
| October 17 | 1st British Golf Open: Willie Park shoots a 164 at Prestwick Club |
| October 17 | 1st pro golf tournament held (Scotland) (Willie Park wins) |
| November 6 | Abraham Lincoln, born in Kentucky, Representative-R-Illinois 1847 - 1849, elected 16th president 1861 - 1865 |
| December 17 | Anaheim Township created in Los Angeles County |
| December 20 | South Carolina votes 169-0 for Ordinace of Secession, 1st state to secede |
| December 24 | Joseph Jefferson's "Rip Van Winkle," premieres in New York City |
| December 26 | Maiden voyage of 1st steamship owned by 1 man (C Vanderbilt) |
| December 26 | Major Robert Anderson, under cover of darkness, concentrated his small force at Ft. Sumter |
