Important Historical Events of the year 1862, Year 1862 in History

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List of 1862 Major News Events in History, Most Important Historical Events in 1862

What happened in the year 1862?

Date	Event
January 16, 1862	Hartley Colliery disaster: Two hundred and four men and boys killed in a mining disaster, prompting a change in UK law which henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape.
January 19, 1862	American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs: The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the conflict.
January 30, 1862	The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.
January 31, 1862	Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.
February 5, 1862	Moldavia and Wallachia formally unite to create the Romanian United Principalities.
February 6, 1862	American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry.
February 10, 1862	American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.
February 15, 1862	American Civil War: Confederates commanded by Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd attack General Ulysses S. Grant's Union forces besieging Fort Donelson in Tennessee. Unable to break the fort's encirclement, the Confederates surrender the following day.
February 16, 1862	American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
February 21, 1862	American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.
February 22, 1862	American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
March 7, 1862	American Civil War: Union forces engage Confederate troops at the Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas.
March 9, 1862	American Civil War: USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (rebuilt from the engines and lower hull of the USS Merrimack) fight to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad warships.
March 13, 1862	The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves is passed by the United States Congress, effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
March 17, 1862	The first railway line of Finland between cities of Helsinki and Hämeenlinna, called Päärata, is officially opened.[5]
March 23, 1862	American Civil War: The First Battle of Kernstown, Virginia, marks the start of Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. Although a Confederate defeat, the engagement distracts Federal efforts to capture Richmond.
March 28, 1862	American Civil War: In the Battle of Glorieta Pass, Union forces stop the Confederate invasion of the New Mexico Territory. The battle began on March 26.
April 5, 1862	American Civil War: The Battle of Yorktown begins.
April 6, 1862	American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
April 7, 1862	American Civil War: The Union's Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.
April 12, 1862	American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurs, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw).
April 16, 1862	American Civil War: Battle at Lee's Mills in Virginia.
April 16, 1862	American Civil War: The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, becomes law.
April 20, 1862	Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation.
April 25, 1862	American Civil War: Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
April 29, 1862	American Civil War: The Capture of New Orleans by Union forces under David Farragut.
May 5, 1862	Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.
May 12, 1862	American Civil War: Union Army troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
May 13, 1862	The USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through Confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship.
May 20, 1862	U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening 84 million acres of public land to settlers.
May 31, 1862	American Civil War: Peninsula Campaign: Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston and G.W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
June 1, 1862	American Civil War: Peninsula Campaign: The Battle of Seven Pines (or the Battle of Fair Oaks) ends inconclusively, with both sides claiming victory.
June 4, 1862	American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.
June 5, 1862	As the Treaty of Saigon is signed, ceding parts of southern Vietnam to France, the guerrilla leader Trương Định decides to defy Emperor Tự Đức of Vietnam and fight on against the Europeans.
June 6, 1862	The First Battle of Memphis, a naval engagement fought on the Mississippi results in the capture of Memphis, Tennessee by Union forces from the Confederates.[14]
June 7, 1862	The United States and the United Kingdom agree in the Lyons–Seward Treaty to suppress the African slave trade.
June 8, 1862	American Civil War: A Confederate victory by forces under General Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Cross Keys, along with the Battle of Port Republic the next day, prevents Union forces from reinforcing General George B. McClellan in his Peninsula campaign.
June 9, 1862	American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson concludes his successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign with a victory in the Battle of Port Republic; his tactics during the campaign are now studied by militaries around the world.
June 19, 1862	The U.S. Congress prohibits slavery in United States territories, nullifying Dred Scott v. Sandford.
June 20, 1862	Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, is assassinated.
July 1, 1862	The Russian State Library is founded as the Library of the Moscow Public Museum.
July 1, 1862	Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, second daughter of Queen Victoria, marries Prince Louis of Hesse, the future Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse.
July 1, 1862	American Civil War: The Battle of Malvern Hill takes place. It is the last of the Seven Days Battles, part of George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign.
July 4, 1862	Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
July 12, 1862	The Medal of Honor is authorized by the United States Congress.
July 15, 1862	American Civil War: The CSS Arkansas, the most effective ironclad on the Mississippi River, battles with Union Navy ships commanded by Admiral David Farragut, severely damaging three ships and sustaining heavy damage herself. The encounter changed the complexion of warfare on the Mississippi and helped reverse Rebel's fortunes on the river in the summer of 1862.
July 16, 1862	American Civil War: David Farragut is promoted to rear admiral, becoming the first officer in United States Navy to hold an admiral rank.
July 18, 1862	First ascent of Dent Blanche, one of the highest summits in the Alps.
July 23, 1862	American Civil War: Henry Halleck becomes general-in-chief of the Union Army.
July 29, 1862	American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.
August 5, 1862	American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge: Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops attempt to take the city, but are driven back by fire from Union gunboats.
August 6, 1862	American Civil War: The Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering catastrophic engine failure near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
August 9, 1862	American Civil War: Battle of Cedar Mountain: At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union forces under General John Pope.
August 17, 1862	American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Dakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
August 17, 1862	American Civil War: Major General J. E. B. Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
August 19, 1862	Dakota War: During an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.
August 21, 1862	The Stadtpark, the first public park in Vienna, opens to the public.
August 28, 1862	American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of Second Manassas. The battle ends on August 30.
August 30, 1862	American Civil War: Battle of Richmond: Confederates under Edmund Kirby Smith rout Union forces under General William "Bull" Nelson.
September 1, 1862	American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly: Confederate Army troops defeat a group of retreating Union Army troops in Chantilly, Virginia.
September 2, 1862	American Civil War: United States President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
September 4, 1862	American Civil War Maryland Campaign: General Robert E. Lee takes the Army of Northern Virginia, and the war, into the North.
September 5, 1862	American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia crosses the Potomac River at White's Ford in the Maryland Campaign.
September 8, 1862	Millennium of Russia monument is unveiled in Novgorod.
September 13, 1862	American Civil War: Union soldiers find a copy of Robert E. Lee's battle plans in a field outside Frederick, Maryland. It is the prelude to the Battle of Antietam.
September 14, 1862	American Civil War: The Battle of South Mountain, part of the Maryland Campaign, is fought.
September 15, 1862	American Civil War: Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia (present-day Harpers Ferry, West Virginia).
September 17, 1862	American Civil War: George B. McClellan halts the northward drive of Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army in the single-day Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American military history.
September 17, 1862	American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the single largest civilian disaster during the war.
September 18, 1862	The Confederate States celebrate for the first and only time a Thanksgiving Day.
September 19, 1862	American Civil War: Union troops under William Rosecrans defeat a Confederate force commanded by Sterling Price.
September 22, 1862	A preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation is released by Abraham Lincoln.
October 8, 1862	American Civil War: The Confederate invasion of Kentucky is halted at the Battle of Perryville.
October 11, 1862	American Civil War: Confederate troops conduct a raid on Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
November 5, 1862	American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln removes George B. McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac.
November 5, 1862	American Indian Wars: In Minnesota, 303 Dakota warriors are found guilty of rape and murder of whites and are sentenced to death. Thirty-eight are ultimately hanged and the others reprieved.
November 9, 1862	American Civil War: Union General Ambrose Burnside assumes command of the Army of the Potomac, after George B. McClellan is removed.
November 28, 1862	American Civil War: In the Battle of Cane Hill, Union troops under General James G. Blunt defeat General John Marmaduke's Confederates.
December 1, 1862	In his State of the Union Address President Abraham Lincoln reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation.
December 12, 1862	American Civil War: USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River.
December 13, 1862	American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats Union Major General Ambrose Burnside.
December 17, 1862	American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
December 26, 1862	American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins as General William Tecumseh Sherman begins landing his troops.
December 26, 1862	The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, where 38 Native Americans died.
December 31, 1862	American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.
December 31, 1862	American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River begins near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.