1859 in the United States
| 1859 in the United States | |
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| Years: | 1856 1857 1858 – 1859 – 1860 1861 1862 |
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 33 stars (1859–1861) | |
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Timeline of United States history
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Events from the year 1859 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal Government
- President: James Buchanan (D-Pennsylvania)
- Vice President: John C. Breckinridge (D-Kentucky)
- Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney (Maryland)
- Speaker of the House of Representatives: James Lawrence Orr (D-South Carolina)
- Congress: 35th (until March 4), 36th (starting March 4)
Events
January–March
- January 28 – The city of Olympia is incorporated in the Territory of Washington in the United States of America.
- February 14 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state (see History of Oregon).
- February 27 – U.S. Congressman Daniel Sickles shoots Philip Barton Key for having an affair with his wife.
- March 21 – The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issues the charter establishing the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, the first organization of its kind in the United States and founder of the nation's first zoo.
April–June
- June 8 – The discovery of the Comstock Lode in the western Utah Territory (present-day Nevada) sets off a rush of prospectors to the area.
- June 15 – The so-called Pig War border dispute between the Americans and the British on the San Juan Islands begins by the death of the namesake pig.
July–September
- July – Pike's Peak Gold Rush begins in the Colorado Territory.
- July 1 – The first intercollegiate baseball game is played, between Amherst and Williams Colleges.
- August 27 – Edwin Drake drills the first oil well in the United States, near Titusville, Pennsylvania, starting the Pennsylvanian oil rush.
- September – Joshua Abraham Norton proclaims himself "Emperor of the United States" in San Francisco.
- September – Solar storm of 1859, aka the Carrington Event, a powerful geomagnetic solar storm
October–December
The Last Moments of John Brown by Thomas Hovenden, 1882–1884
- October 16 – Militant abolitionist leader John Brown raids the Harpers Ferry Armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in an unsuccessful bid to spark a general slave rebellion.
- October 18 – Troops under Colonel Robert E. Lee overpower John Brown at the Federal arsenal.
- November 1 – The current Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse is lighted for the first time (its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for 19 miles).
- December 2 – John Brown is hanged for his October 16 raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
Undated
- The Rancho Rincon de Los Esteros Land Grant is confirmed to Rafael Alvisa, (part of modern-day Santa Clara County, California).
- The University of Michigan Law School is founded.
- Approximate date – The song Dixie is written, probably by Dan Emmett.
Ongoing
- Bleeding Kansas (1854–1860)
Births
- January 6 – Duncan U. Fletcher, United States Senator from Florida from 1909 to 1936 (died 1936)
- January 12 – Henry Heitfeld, United States Senator from Idaho from 1897 to 1903 (died 1938)
- February 22 – Samuel D. Nicholson, United States Senator from Colorado from 1921 to 1923 (died 1923)
- May 12 – William Alden Smith, United States Senator from Michigan from 1907 to 1919 (died 1932)
- September 16 – Frank R. Gooding, United States Senator from Idaho from 1921 to 1928 (died 1928)
- September 17 – Billy The Kid, American Old West gunfighter (died 1881)
- October 20 – John Dewey, educator born in Vermont (died 1952)
- Ferdinand Lee Barnett, journalist, lawyer and civil rights activist (died 1936)
Deaths
- January 29 – William Cranch Bond, astronomer (born 1789)
- February 25 – Edward A. Hannegan, United States Senator from Indiana from 1843 to 1849. (born 1807)
- March 19 – Oliver H. Smith, United States Senator from Indiana from 1837 to 1843. (born 1794)
- April 14 – George M. Bibb, United States Senator from Kentucky from 1811 till 1814. (born 1776)
- September 16 – David C. Broderick, United States Senator from California from 1857 till 1859. (born 1820)
- November 28 – Washington Irving, author (born 1783)
- December 2 – John Brown, abolitionist (born 1800)
External links
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Media related to 1859 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
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