1860 CE

Expedition of the Thousand – Battle of Calatafimi: Troops under Giuseppe Garibaldi defeat the army of Naples in Sicily. The Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses, the first nursing school based on the ideas of Florence Nightingale, is opened at St Thomas' Hospital in London. John Hanning Speke and James Augustus Grant leave Zanzibar, to search for the source of the Nile River.

In the 1860s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 20 – Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour is recalled as Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia.source
February 27 – Abraham Lincoln makes his Cooper Union speech in New York, which is largely responsible for his election to the presidency.source
March 22 – The Grand Duchy of Tuscany is annexed to the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.source
April 2 – The first Italian Parliament meets at Turin.source
1 May – Joaquim António de Aguiar takes over as Prime Minister, succeeding António José Severim de Noronha, 1st Duke of TerceiraPortugal source
May 1 – The seat of the South African Republic (ZAR) government is officially transferred from Potchefstroom to Pretoria.South Africa source
June 12 – (May 31 O.S.) – The State Bank of the Russian Empire is established.source
July 28 — Zeng Guofan sets up headquarters in Qimen.China source
August 13 – José Ignacio Pavón (1791-1866) becomes unconstitutional interim President of Mexico, replacing Miguel Miramón. Two days later Miramón becomes president again.source
September 1 – In Ottawa, the cornerstone of the Centre Block building is laid by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, signalling the beginning of the building of the Parliament of Canada buildings.Canada source
November 6 – 1860 United States presidential election: Abraham Lincoln elected as the 16th President of the United States, the first Republican to hold that office, defeating John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas, and John Bell.source
November 6 – 1860 United States presidential election: Abraham Lincoln beats John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas, and John Bell and is elected as the 16th president of the United States, the first Republican to hold that office.United States source
December 20 – American Civil War: South Carolina, led by Governor Francis Pickens, becomes the first state to secede from the United States.source
In Buenos Aires, leader Bartolomé Mitre subverts the Argentine Confederation and begins to establish a new centralist government, with the help of Uruguayan Colorado party leader Venancio Flores.source
China agrees, in an unequal treaty (the Convention of Peking) imposed on it, to allow missionaries to proselytize throughout the country.source
The town of Sandnes is founded.Norway source
A.E. Schwabitz and A.E. Rudberg produces a proposal for the regulation of Gamla stan.Sweden source
Thomas Phillips — The Welsh Revival: Its Origin and DevelopmentWales source

Conflict & Security

January 13 – Battle of Tétouan, Morocco: Spanish troops under General Leopoldo O'Donnell, 1st Duke of Tetuan defeat the Moroccan Army.source
February 26 – The Wiyot Massacre takes place at Tuluwat Island, Humboldt Bay in northern California.source
March 6 – Reform War: Battle of Anton LizardoMexico source
March 17 – The First Taranaki War begins at Waitara, New Zealand, when Māori refuse to sell land to British settlers.source
17 March: The assault on Te Kohia pā marks the beginning of the First Taranaki War.New Zealand source
March 24 – Sakuradamon Incident: Rōnin samurai of the Mito Domain in Japan assassinate tairō (Chief Minister) Ii Naosuke outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle, disaffected with his role in the opening of Japan to foreign powers.source
March–August – The second rout of the Jiangnan Daying destroys the Qing dynasty's army of 180,000.source
April 4 – A new uprising erupts in Palermo.source
May 15 – Expedition of the Thousand – Battle of Calatafimi: Troops under Giuseppe Garibaldi defeat the army of Naples in Sicily.source
May 27 – Garibaldi's forces take Palermo, the capital of Sicily.source
July 16 — Frederick Townsend Ward's militia captures SongjiangChina source
July 20 – Battle of Milazzo: The forces of Giuseppe Garibaldi defeat royal Neapolitan forces near Messina, bringing nearly all of Sicily under Garibaldi's control.source
August 25 – The Stone's Prairie Riot takes place in Payson and Plainville, Illinois between the Republican Wide Awakes and armed Democratic supporters of Stephen A. Douglas.United States source
September 7 – Giuseppe Garibaldi's forces capture Naples.source
September 10 – Piedmontese forces invade the Papal States, hoping to link up with Garibaldi in Naples.source
September 18 – Battle of Castelfidardo: The Piedmontese decisively defeat the Papal forces, allowing them to continue their march into Neapolitan territory, and effectively reducing the Papal States to the territory around Rome.source
September 24 – Battle of Guayaquil: Ecuadorian forces, led by Juan José Flores and Gabriel García Moreno, take the port of Guayaquil from Supreme Chief Guillermo Franco, who is backed by Peruvian forces.source
October 1 – Battle of Volturnus: Garibaldi defeats the last organized army of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.source
October 5 – Austria, Britain, France, Prussia and the Ottoman Empire form a commission to investigate the causes of the massacres of Maronite Christians, committed by Druzes in Lebanon earlier in the year.source
October 18 – The first Convention of Peking formally ends the Second Opium War.source
October 19 – A new Māori revolt begins in New Zealand.source
October 26 – Garibaldi again defeats the Neapolitan forces, advancing on Gaeta, the last remaining Neapolitan strong-point.source
October 26 – Meeting at Teano: Giuseppe Garibaldi gives Naples to King Victor Emmanuel II, recognizing him as King of Italy.source
November 3 – The combined forces of Giuseppe Garibaldi and King Victor Emmanuel II besiege King Francis II of the Two Sicilies in Gaeta, his last remaining stronghold.source
12 December – Initial riots on the Lambing Flat goldfields near present-day Young, New South Wales.Australia source
December 24 – Mexico's interim president Miguel Miramón flees the country after being defeated in battle.source
Christians and Druzes clash in Damascus, Syria.source
Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, and Empress Eugénie visit Algiers and stay at the Casbah of Algiers.source
A new treaty between the Nizam of Hyderabad (a loyal ally during the rebellion of 1857) and the British.India source
Dmitry Milyutin was appointed deputy war ministerRussia source
John Ceiriog Hughes — Oriau'r HwyrWales source

Exploration & Expansion

8 January: Julius von Haast begins his journey of exploration of the West Coast.New Zealand source
April 3 – In the U.S., the Pony Express begins its first run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, with riders carrying a small Bible.source
May 6 – Expedition of the Thousand: Giuseppe Garibaldi and his troops depart from Quarto.source
26 June – Natal – Durban to Point, 2 mi.South Africa source
18 July – Duties charged on goods brought from the countryside into towns abolished.Belgium source
August 2 — Joseph Edkins and Griffith John arrive in Suzhou to meet Hong Rengan.China source
20 August – Burke and Wills expedition sets off from Royal Park, Melbourne at about 4 p.m. watched by around 15,000 spectators.Australia source
August 22 – Assisted by the British Navy, the troops of Giuseppe Garibaldi cross from Sicily to the Italian mainland.source
October – John Hanning Speke and James Augustus Grant leave Zanzibar, to search for the source of the Nile River.source
December 18 – Senator John J. Crittenden proposes the so-called Crittenden Compromise hoping to resolve the U.S. secession crisis.United States source
Two month tour of Canada by Albert Edward, Prince of WalesCanada source
The internal passport, until then needed to travel inside the country, is abolished.Sweden source

Religion & Belief

25 February – £11,000 collected at church doors in Dublin to finance the Pope's defence against the Risorgimento in Italy; £80,000 collected nationwide (the equivalent of several millions of modern-day Euros).Ireland source
May 8 – Roman Catholic Diocese of Chatham (later renamed Roman Catholic Diocese of Bathurst (Canada)) erected.Canada source
23 August — Consecration of Marble Church, Bodelwyddan.Wales source
September 15 – Johannes Hermanus Grobler becomes acting President of the Executive Council of the South African Republic.South Africa source
December 7 – After a fiercely contested campaign, Monier Monier-Williams is elected as the new Boden Professor of Sanskrit, at Oxford University.source
21 December – St Mary's Cathedral, Aberdeen (Roman Catholic) is dedicated.Scotland source
26 December – The first Rules derby is held between Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C., the oldest football fixture in the world.United Kingdom source
The Canterbury Vocal Union is formed by nine men in Christchurch. It shortly afterwards merges with the St. Cecilia Society and will eventually become the Royal Christchurch Music Society.New Zealand source
The Dissenter Acts (Sweden) allow citizens to leave the state church.Sweden source

Economy & Finance

TAG Heuer watchmaker founded in Bern Canton, Switzerland.source
National income - ₹4,100 millionIndia source
Indian Securities Act (British statute)India source
Superannuation Act (British statute)India source
State Bank of the Russian EmpireRussia source
Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club is founded.Sweden source
Sedalia, Missouri is incorporated.United States source
Founding of the Danygraig Copperworks.Wales source
Principality Building Society established in Cardiff as the Principality Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society.Wales source

Technology & Infrastructure

7 March — HMS Howe, the Royal Navy’s last, largest and fastest wooden first-rate three-decker ship of the line, is launched at Pembroke Dockyard but never completed for sea service.Wales source
20 March – The Cape Town Railway and Dock Company takes delivery of eight broad gauge 0-4-2 tender locomotives for service on the Cape Town-Wellington line, which is still under construction.South Africa source
August 25 – Montreal's Victoria Bridge opens.Canada source
17 October – The first professional golf tournament is held at Prestwick in Scotland, sometimes regarded as the first Open, although it is not truly open until the following year.United Kingdom source
October – the Royal National Lifeboat Institution stations the first Thurso life-boat at Scrabster.Scotland source
12 November – The Victorian College for the Deaf is opened in a small house in Peel Street Windsor.Australia source
December 29 – The world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled and armoured battleship, the (British) HMS Warrior, is launched.source
The first indenture of Indian workers arrive in Natal to work in the sugar industry.South Africa source
The Russian Empire has c. 1,250 mi of railroads.source
Cologne Zoological Garden is opened.Germany source

Science & Discovery

January 2 – The astronomer Urbain Le Verrier announces the discovery of a hypothetical planet Vulcan at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France.source
25 January – HMS Prince of Wales, a 121-gun screw-propelled first-rate ship of the line is launched at Portsmouth Dockyard.United Kingdom source
April 9 – French typesetter Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville creates a recording of the French folk song Au clair de la lune with his phonautograph, producing the world's earliest known intelligible sound recording of the human voice (however, it was not rediscovered until 2008).source
9 April - Typesetter Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville sings "Au clair de la lune" into his phonautograph, producing the world's earliest known sound recording of a song. However, it would not be converted back into audible sound until 2008.France source
20 November – The frigate Jylland is launched at Holmen in Copenhagen.Denmark source
29 December – The world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled and armoured battleship, HMS Warrior is launched on the Thames.United Kingdom source
Discovery of the chemical elements: Robert Bunsen discovers caesium and rubidium.source
German chemist Albert Niemann makes a detailed analysis of the coca leaf, isolating and purifying the alkaloid, which he calls cocaine.source
Chalon head postage stamp issued in New BrunswickCanada source
8–14 July – The 8th Scandinavian Scientist Conference is held in Copenhagen.Denmark source
Erlenmeyer flask is created by Emil Erlenmeyer.Germany source
Folklorist John Francis Campbell begins publication of Popular Tales of the West Highlands in Edinburgh.Scotland source

Health & Medicine

March – The Food and Drink Act 1860 prohibits the adulteration of certain foodstuffs.United Kingdom source
9 July – The Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses, the first nursing school based on the ideas of Florence Nightingale, is opened at St Thomas' Hospital in London.United Kingdom source
October 6 – Section 377 of the British Indian penal code was enacted in British India.source
October 15 – 11-year-old Grace Bedell writes to Abraham Lincoln telling him to grow a beard.United States source
Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, opens.Scotland source

Crime & Justice

28 February – The Artists Rifles is established, as the 38th Middlesex (Artists) Rifle Volunteer Corps, with headquarters at Burlington House in London.United Kingdom source
16 November – Execution of Jan Coucke and Pieter Goethals.Belgium source
Mukkuthi Samaram led by Arattupuzha Velayudha Panicker in Alleppey, Travancore.India source
Admiralty Offences (Colonial) Act (British statute)India source
St. Petersburg River Yacht ClubRussia source
The American South has c. 4 million slaves.United States source
William Rowlands — Dammeg y Mab AfradlonWales source
Discovery of Gwynfynydd Gold Mine gold mine at Dolgellau.Wales source

Disasters & Accidents

January 10 – The Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts collapses, killing at least 77 workers.source
January 10 – The Pemberton Mill collapses in Lawrence, Massachusetts, killing at least 77 workers.United States source
February 20 – Canadian Royal Mail steamer SS Hungarian (1859) is wrecked on Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, on passage from the British Isles to the United States with all 205 onboard lost.source
February 20 – 205 killed when the SS Hungarian (Allan Line) is wrecked at Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.Canada source
May 1 – A Chondrite-type meteorite falls to earth in Muskingum County, Ohio, near the town of New Concord.source
9 July – Belgian consulate in Damascus destroyed during anti-Christian pogroms.Belgium source
September 7 – The PS Lady Elgin is accidentally rammed and sunk in Lake Michigan, drowning at least 300 people.source
7 October – One of the monks sets fire to the church and one of the dormitories at Scourmont Priory.Belgium source
October 18–21 – Beijing's Old Summer Palace is burned to the ground by orders of British general Lord Elgin, in retaliation for mistreatment of several prisoners of war, during the Second Opium War.source
October 18 Destruction of the Old Summer PalaceChina source
18 October – Lord Elgin orders his forces to set fire to the huge complex of Beijing's Old Summer Palace, known as the Gardens of Perfect Brightness, which burns to the ground.United Kingdom source
11 November – Kildare Street Club, Dublin destroyed by fire.Ireland source
1 December — The sixth underground explosion in the Risca Black Vein Pit at Crosskeys in the Sirhowy Valley of Monmouthshire kills 142 coal miners.Wales source

Climate & Environment

May 8 – In New Granada (modern-day Colombia) the southern state of Cauca secedes from the central government, in protest at the suggestion of increase of presidential powers; Magdalena and Bolívar join it; civil war erupts.source
November – The 'Temporary Home for Lost and Starving Dogs', predecessor of the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, is established in London by Mary Tealby.United Kingdom source

Culture & Society

February 22 – The New England Shoemakers Strike of 1860 begins in Lynn, Massachusetts. The strike spreads throughout New England, and eventually involves 20,000 workers.United States source
May 17 – The German association football club TSV 1860 München is founded.source
17 May – The sports club TSV 1860 Munich is founded in the Bavarian capital of MunichGermany source
June 27 – Don Juan won the first Queen's Plate race is held in Toronto.Canada source
July 2 – Vladivostok is founded in Russia.source
July 11 – Mutsuhito (the future Emperor Meiji) becomes Crown Prince of Japan.source
5 August - Charles XV of Sweden and Louise of the Netherlands was crowned King and Queen of Norway in Trondheim. Louise was the first queen to be crowned in Norway since the Middle Ages.Norway source
September 3–5 – The First International Chemistry Congress is held in Karlsruhe, Baden.source
October 17 – The Open Championship, also known as the British Open, is played for the first time at Prestwick Golf Club in Ayrshire, Scotland. The event is won by Willie Park Srsource
24 November — A statue of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey is added to the column built in his honour by Thomas Harrison earlier in the century.Wales source
December 1 – Charles Dickens publishes the first installment of Great Expectations in his magazine All the Year Round.source
A choral society is formed in Wellington.New Zealand source
Founding of the Moscow School for the DeafRussia source
Jeanette Berglind founds the pioneer institution Tysta Skolan (Silent School) for the deaf in Stockholm.Sweden source

Births

January 25 – Charles Curtis, American politician, 31st Vice President (died 1936)source
January 29 – Anton Chekhov, Russian writer (died 1904)source
March 19 – William Jennings Bryan, American politician (died 1925)source
March 23 – Horatio Bottomley, British politician and businessman (died 1933)source
May 2 – Theodor Herzl, Austrian founder of modern political Zionism (died 1904)source
6 May - Eliodoro Yáñez (died 1932)Chile source
May 9 – J. M. Barrie, Scottish author (died 1937)source
27 May – Manuel Teixeira Gomes, writer and politician (died 1941)Portugal source
29 June – Júlio de Castilhos (died 1903)Brazil source
July 3 – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American feminist (died 1935)source
July 7 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer (died 1911)source
July 16 – Otto Jespersen, Danish linguist, creator of Ido and Novial languages (d.1943)source
July 19 – Lizzie Borden, American murder suspect (died 1927)source
August 2 – Adib al-Mamalek Farahani, Iranian poet, writer and journalist.Iran source
August 20 – Raymond Poincaré, French president (died 1934)source
September 6 – Jane Addams, American social worker, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (died 1935)source
September 13 – John J. Pershing, American general (died 1948)source
November 6 – Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Polish pianist and composer, 3rd Prime Minister of Poland (died 1941)source

Deaths

January 5 – John Neumann, Saint and Roman Catholic Bishop of Philadelphia (born 1811)source
January 27 – Thomas Brisbane, Scottish astronomer (born 1773)source
January 29 – Ernst Moritz Arndt, German poet and author (born 1769)source
8 February – António Augusto Soares de Passos, poet (born 1826)Portugal source
March 25 – James Braid, Scottish surgeon (born 1795)source
May 10 – Theodore Parker, American preacher, Transcendentalist, and abolitionist (born 1810)source
May 12 – Sir Charles Barry, English architect (born 1795)source
May 21 – Phineas Gage, improbable American head injury survivor (born 1823)source
17 June - Salvador Sanfuentes (born 1817)Chile source
July 1 – Charles Goodyear, American inventor (born 1800)source
September 12 – William Walker, American filibuster who was briefly President of Nicaragua (executed) (born 1824)source
September 21 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (born 1788)source
September 30 - Juan Rafael Mora PorrasCosta Rica source
October 31 – Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, British admiral (born 1775)source
November 1 – Alexandra Feodorovna (Charlotte of Prussia), Empress Consort of Russian Emperor Nicholas I (born 1798)source
December 2 – Ferdinand Christian Baur, German theologian (born 1792)source
December 14 – George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1784)source
? – Esmail Jalayer, Iranian painter and calligrapher.Iran source