Important Historical Events of the year 1865, Year 1865 in History
List of 1865 Major News Events in History, Most Important Historical Events in 1865
What happened in the year 1865?
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 2, 1865 | Uruguayan War: The Siege of Paysandú ends as the Brazilians and Coloradans capture Paysandú, Uruguay. |
| January 15, 1865 | American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy. |
| January 31, 1865 | American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, and submits it to the states for ratification. |
| January 31, 1865 | American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief of all Confederate armies. |
| February 1, 1865 | President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. |
| February 8, 1865 | Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Slavery was outlawed in the United States, including Delaware, when the Amendment was ratified by the requisite number of states on December 6, 1865. Delaware ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on February 12, 1901, which was the ninety-second anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. |
| February 17, 1865 | American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina, is burned as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces. |
| February 20, 1865 | End of the Uruguayan War, with a peace agreement between President Tomás Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores, setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance. |
| March 2, 1865 | East Cape War: The Völkner Incident in New Zealand. |
| March 4, 1865 | The third and final national flag of the Confederate States of America is adopted by the Confederate Congress. |
| March 18, 1865 | American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States adjourns for the last time. |
| March 19, 1865 | American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina. |
| March 25, 1865 | American Civil War: In Virginia, Confederate forces temporarily capture Fort Stedman from the Union. |
| March 29, 1865 | American Civil War: Federal forces under Major General Philip Sheridan move to flank Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee as the Appomattox Campaign begins. |
| April 1, 1865 | American Civil War: Union troops led by Philip Sheridan decisively defeat Confederate troops led by George Pickett, cutting the Army of Northern Virginia's last supply line. |
| April 2, 1865 | American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia. |
| April 3, 1865 | American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. |
| April 4, 1865 | American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital. |
| April 6, 1865 | American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor's Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia, during the Appomattox Campaign. |
| April 9, 1865 | American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war. |
| April 10, 1865 | American Civil War: A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert E. Lee addresses his troops for the last time. |
| April 12, 1865 | American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army. |
| April 13, 1865 | American Civil War: Raleigh, North Carolina is occupied by Union forces. |
| April 15, 1865 | President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth.[11] Three hours later, Vice President Andrew Johnson is sworn in as President. |
| April 20, 1865 | Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX's yacht, the L'Immaculata Concezion. |
| April 26, 1865 | Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in Virginia. |
| May 1, 1865 | The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance. |
| May 5, 1865 | American Civil War: The Confederate government was declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia. |
| May 9, 1865 | American Civil War: Nathan Bedford Forrest surrenders his forces at Gainesville, Alabama. |
| May 9, 1865 | American Civil War: President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation ending belligerent rights of the rebels and enjoining foreign nations to intern or expel Confederate ships. |
| May 10, 1865 | American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6. |
| May 12, 1865 | American Civil War: The Battle of Palmito Ranch: The first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory. |
| May 17, 1865 | The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established in Paris. |
| May 25, 1865 | In Mobile, Alabama, around 300 people are killed when an ordnance depot explodes. |
| May 26, 1865 | American Civil War: The Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last full general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas. |
| June 11, 1865 | The Naval Battle of the Riachuelo is fought on the rivulet Riachuelo (Argentina), between the Paraguayan Navy on one side and the Brazilian Navy on the other. The Brazilian victory was crucial for the later success of the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina) in the Paraguayan War. |
| June 19, 1865 | Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas, United States, are officially informed of their freedom. The anniversary was officially celebrated in Texas and other states as Juneteenth. On June 17, 2021, Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday in the United States. |
| June 23, 1865 | American Civil War: At Fort Towson in the Oklahoma Territory, Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant Confederate army. |
| June 28, 1865 | The Army of the Potomac is disbanded. |
| July 5, 1865 | The United States Secret Service begins operation. |
| July 7, 1865 | Four conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln are hanged. |
| July 14, 1865 | The first ascent of the Matterhorn is completed by Edward Whymper and his party, four of whom die on the descent. |
| July 21, 1865 | In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first western showdown. |
| July 27, 1865 | Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina. |
| July 30, 1865 | The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. at the time. |
| July 31, 1865 | The first narrow-gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Queensland, Australia. |
| August 12, 1865 | Joseph Lister, British surgeon and scientist, performs 1st antiseptic surgery. |
| October 11, 1865 | Hundreds of black men and women march in Jamaica, starting the Morant Bay rebellion. |
| November 10, 1865 | Major Henry Wirz, the superintendent of a prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia, is hanged, becoming one of only three American Civil War soldiers executed for war crimes. |
| November 11, 1865 | Treaty of Sinchula is signed whereby Bhutan cedes the areas east of the Teesta River to the British East India Company. |
| November 26, 1865 | Battle of Papudo: A Spanish navy schooner is defeated by a Chilean corvette north of Valparaíso, Chile. |
| December 1, 1865 | Shaw University, the first historically black university in the southern United States, is founded in Raleigh, North Carolina. |
| December 2, 1865 | Alabama ratifies the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed by North Carolina, then Georgia; U.S. slaves were legally free within two weeks. |
| December 4, 1865 | North Carolina ratifies 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed soon by Georgia, and U.S. slaves were legally free within two weeks. |
| December 5, 1865 | Chincha Islands War: Peru allies with Chile against Spain. |
| December 6, 1865 | Georgia ratifies the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. |
| December 17, 1865 | First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert. |
| December 18, 1865 | US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the United States. |
| December 24, 1865 | Jonathan Shank and Barry Ownby form The Ku Klux Klan. |