Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century
Decades: 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s - 1860s - 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
Years: 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 - 1863 - 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868
Events
- January 1 - Abraham Lincoln delivers the Emancipation Proclamation during the second year of the American Civil War.
- January 1 - The first claim under the Homestead Act is made for a farm in Nebraska
- January 11 - American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post - General John McClernand and Admiral David Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
- January 10 - The first section of the London Underground Railway opens (Paddington to Farringdon Street).
- February 10 - The world-famous midgets General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren get married in New York City.
- February 1 - Alanson Crane patents the fire extinguisher.
- February 24 - Arizona is organized as a United States territory.
- February 26 - President of the United States Abraham Lincoln signs the National Currency Act into law.
- March 3 - Idaho is organized as a United States territory.
- March 10 - Marriage of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales to Princess Alexandra of Denmark
- March 30 - Prince Wilhelm Georg of Denmark is chosen as King George I of Greece.
- May 2 - May 4 - General Robert E. Lee defeats Union forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville
- May 18 - American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins (ends July 4).
- May 21 - American Civil War: Siege of Port Hudson - Union forces begin to lay siege to the Confederate-controlled Port Hudson, Louisiana.
- May 28 - American Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts, the first African American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts to fight for the Union.
- May 31 - First running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race
- June 20 - West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.
- July 2 - July 3 - Union forces turn back a Confederate invasion at the Battle of Gettysburg
- July 4 - American Civil War: Battle of Vicksburg - Ulysses S. Grant and the Union army capture the Confederate city Vicksburg, Mississippi after the town surrendered. The siege lasted 47 days.
- July 13 - American Civil War: In New York City, draft opponents begin three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history.
- July 18 - American Civil War: The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Fort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of African American soldiers during the war.
- July 26 - American Civil War: Morgan's Raid ends - At Salineville, Ohio, Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his volunteers are captured by Union forces.
- July 30 - Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah.
- August 8 - American Civil War: Following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (Davis will refuse the request upon receipt).
- August 17 - American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter. Bombardment will not end until December 31, 1863.
- September 6 - American Civil War: Confederates evacuate Battery Wagner and Morris Island in South Carolina.
- September 8 - American Civil War: Second Battle of Sabine Pass - On the Texas-Louisiana border at the mouth of the Sabine River, a small Confederate force thwarts a Union invasion of Texas.
- October 14 - American Civil War: Battle of Bristol Station - Confederate General Robert E. Lee forces fail to drive the Union army out of Virginia.
- October 15 - American Civil War: The first successful submarine, the CSS Hunley sinks during a test, killing Horace Lawson Hunley (its inventor) and a crew of seven.
- October 26 to October 29, the Resolutions of the Geneva International Conference are signed
- October 29 - Sixteen countries meeting in Geneva agree to form the International Red Cross.
- October 29 - American Civil War: Battle of Wauhatchie - Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant ward-off a Confederate attack led by General James Longstreet. Union forces thus open a supply line into Chattanooga, Tennessee.
- November 16 - American Civil War: Battle of Campbell Station - Near Knoxville, Tennessee, Confederate troops led by General James Longstreet unsuccessfully attack Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside.
- November 19 - Gettysburg Address
- Thomas Nast draws the modern Santa Claus for Harper's Weekly, although Santa existed previously.
- Construction begins on the First Transcontinental Railroad in Sacramento, California
Year in topic
Births
- January 15 - Wilhelm Marx, German politician, chancellor of the Weimar Republic
- January 17 - David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- March 12 - Gabriele D'Annunzio, poet (d. 1938)
- March 25 - Simon Flexner, pathologist who isolated 1899 a common strain (Shigella dysenteriae) of dysentery bacillus (d. 1946)
- May 24 - George Grey Barnard, American sculptor
- July 1 - William Stairs, Victorian explorer
- January 12 - Swami Vivekananda
Deaths
- May 10 - Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Confederate Army general
- August 13 - Eugene Delacroix, painter
- September 17 - Alfred de Vigny, author