Notable Historical Events - 1859
1859 Historical Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
Jan 5 |
1st steamboat sails, Red River |
Jan 22 |
Brahms' 1st piano concerto (in D minor) premieres, Hanover |
Jan 23 |
Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii begins an eruption that lasts 300 days |
Jan 24 |
Political union of Moldavia and Wallachia; Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected as ruler. |
Feb 4 |
The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt. |
Feb 5 |
Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexander John Cuza as the United Principalities. |
Feb 10 |
Gen Horsford defeats Begum of Oude & Nana Sahib in Indian mutiny |
Feb 14 |
Oregon admitted as 33rd state of the Union |
Feb 16 |
The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch. |
Feb 17 |
Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Un Ballo in maschera" premieres in Napoli |
Feb 25 |
1st use of "insanity plea" to prove innocence |
Feb 26 |
Paul Morphy's chess match vs Augustus Mongredien begins; Morphy wins |
Feb 28 |
Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery |
Mar 1 |
Present seal of SF adopted (its 2nd) |
Mar 18 |
Vera Cruz besieged by Miramon (Cons) in Mexican War of Reform |
Mar 19 |
Opera "Faust" by Charles Gounod premieres in Paris |
Mar 21 |
Scottish National Gallery opens in Edinburgh |
Mar 21 |
Zoological Society of Philadelphia, 1st in US, incorporated |
Mar 26 |
1st sighting of Vulcan, a planet thought to orbit inside Mercury |
Mar 28 |
1st performance of John Brahms' 1st Serenade for orchestra |
Apr 4 |
Opera "Dinorah" is produced (Paris) |
Apr 4 |
Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show. |
Apr 6 |
US recognizes Liberal government in Mexico's War of Reform |
Apr 12 |
Hibernia Savings & Loan Society of SF incorporates |
Apr 25 |
Ground broken for Suez Canal |
Apr 26 |
Dan Sickles is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity - 1st time this defense used successfully in the US |
Apr 27 |
"Pomona" sinks in North Atlantic drowning all 400 aboard |
Apr 30 |
Charles Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities" is first published in literary periodical All the Year Round, continues in weekly installments until Nov 26 |
Apr 30 |
Paul Morphy returns from 10-month chess tour of Europe, retires |
May 4 |
The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England. |
May 17 |
Australian Rules Football first 'laws of the game' published |
May 31 |
Phila A's organize to play "town ball" became baseball 20 years later |
Jun 6 |
Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales (Queensland Day). |
Jun 11 |
Comstock silver load discovered near Virginia City, Nevada |
Jun 12 |
Comstock Silver Lode in Nevada discovered |
Jun 15 |
Pig War: Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the "Northwestern Boundary Dispute" between U.S. and British/Canadian settlers. |
Jun 24 |
Battle of Solferino, Northern Italy: a French Army under Napoleon III and Sardinian Army under Victor Emmanuel II overcame the Austrian Army under Emperor Franz Joseph I. |
Jun 28 |
1st dog show held (Newcastle-on-Tyne, England) |
Jun 30 |
Charles Blondin is 1st to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope |
Jul 1 |
1st intercollegiate baseball game, Amherst beats Williams 66-32 |
Jul 1 |
Balloon covers a record 809 miles over St Louis |
Jul 5 |
Capt N C Brooks discovers Midway Islands |
Jul 8 |
King Charles XV/Carl IV accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway. |
Jul 12 |
Paper bag manufacturing machine patents by William Goodale, Mass |
Jul 22 |
V E Walker takes 10-74 in an innings for England v Surrey |
Aug 9 |
Elevator patented |
Aug 17 |
1st air mail (in a balloon) took off from Lafayette, Indiana |
Aug 27 |
1st successful oil well drilled, near Titusville, Penn by Edwin Drake |
Aug 28 |
A geomagnetic storm causes the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and even as far afield as Japan. |
Sep 1 |
1st Pullman sleeping car in service |
Sep 1 |
R C Carrington & R Hodgson make 1st observation of solar flare |
Sep 1 |
A solar superstorm affects electrical telegraph service. |
Sep 2 |
Gas lighting introduced to Hawaii |
Sep 2 |
A solar super storm affects electrical telegraph service. |
Sep 16 |
Lake Nyasa, which forms Malawi's boundary with Tanzania & Mozambique discovered by British explorer David Livingstone |
Sep 17 |
Joshua Abraham Norton, born in England but a resident of San Francisco, proclaims himself his Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, Emperor of the United States of America. Eccentric possibly, but 30,000 turned up for his funeral. |
Sep 17 |
James Donnelly is sentenced to hang for murdering Patrick Farrell, but a petition for clemency reduces his sentence to 7 years in Kingston Penitentiary |
Sep 20 |
George Simpson patents electric range |
Sep 29 |
Great auroral display in US |
Oct 16 |
John Brown leads 21 in raid on federal arsenal, Harper's Ferry, Va |
Oct 19 |
Wilhelm Tempel discovers diffuse nebula around Pleid star Merope |
Oct 25 |
Merchant vessel Royal Charter runs aground at Liverpool, 459 die |
Oct 26 |
The Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, north Wales with 459 dead. |
Oct 29 |
Spain declares war on Morocco. |
Nov 1 |
The current Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse was lit for the first time. Its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for about 19 miles (30 kilometers), in good conditions. |
Nov 12 |
Jules Leotard performs 1st Flying Trapeze circus act (Paris) He also designed garment that bears his name |
Nov 16 |
Aleksandr Ostrovsky's "Groza" premieres in Moscow |
Nov 24 |
Charles Darwin publishes "On the Origin of Species" |
Nov 26 |
Last weekly installment of Charles Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities" is published in literary periodical All the Year Round |
Dec 5 |
Dion Boucicault's "Octaroon" premieres in NYC |
Dec 15 |
GR Kirchoff describes chemical composition of Sun |
Dec 18 |
South Carolina declared an "independent commonwealth" |
Dec 19 |
Grading started for Market Street RR |
Dec 31 |
Dutch colony in Dutch Indies counts 4,800 slaves |
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