1856

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Centuries:	18th century - 19th century - 20th century
Decades:	1820s 1830s 1840s - 1850s - 1860s 1870s 1880s
Years:	1853 1854 1855 - 1856 - 1857 1858 1859

1856 in topic:
Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture -
Art - Literature - Music - Science
Sports - Rail Transport
Countries: Australia - Canada -
Ireland - Mexico - South Africa - U.S. - UK
Leaders: State leaders - Colonial governors
Category: Establishments - Disestablishments
Births - Deaths - Works v • d • e

1856 (MDCCCLVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).

1 Events of 1856
2 Births
3 Deaths

[edit] Events of 1856

[edit] January - March

January - The first free public school west of the Mississippi River was established in Tipton, Iowa.
January 8 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).

January 29: Victoria Cross.

January 24 - U.S. President Franklin Pierce declares the new Free-State Topeka government in Bleeding Kansas to be in rebellion.
January 29 - Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross
February - The Tintic War in Utah.
February 1 - Auburn University is first chartered as the East Alabama Male College.

March 5: Covent Garden Theatre fire.

February 18 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
March 5 - Fire destroys Covent Garden Theatre
March 9 - National Fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL.
March 20 - Costa Rican troops rout Walker's soldiers
March 24 - Taiping Rebellion: Suspecting treachery on the part of East King Yang Xiuqing, Shi Dakai garrisons Anhui and begins his march back to the Heavenly Capital, having defeated a strong Xiang Army dettachment.
March 31 - The Treaty of Paris (1856) is signed, ending the Crimean War

[edit] April - June

April 7 - Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand
April 10 - Theta Chi Fraternity founded at Norwich University
April 21 - Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight hour day.
May 16 - the Vigilance Committee founded in San Francisco, California. It lynches two gangsters, arrests most Democratic Party officials and disbands itself on August 18
May 21 - Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by proslavery forces (the "Sacking of Lawrence").
May 22 - Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas"). Sumner was unable to return to duty for three years while he recovered. Brooks became a hero across the South.
May 24 - The Pottawatomie Massacre - group of followers of radical abolitionist John Brown kill five homesteaders in Franklin County, Kansas
June 2 - Battle of Black Jack between proslavery and antislavery forces, led by John Brown, in Bleeding Kansas.
June 9 - 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
June 13 - Taiping Rebellion: Shi Dakai arrives at Nanjing.
June 20 - Taiping Rebellion: The Taiping army overruns the Southern Imperial Barracks south of Nanjing. The East King orders Shi Dakai to return to Hubei.

[edit] July - September

July 17 - The Great Train Wreck of 1856 was the worst railroad calamity in the world to date, occurring near Philadelphia, PA, USA.
July 31 - Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.
August 9 - Taiping Rebellion: Qin Rigang returns to Nanjing, fearing an attempt on Hong Xiuquan's life by the would-be usurper, the East King and supreme commander Yang Xiuqing.
August 10 - Hurricane destroys Last Island, Louisiana - 400 dead. The whole island was broken up into several smaller islands by the storm.
August 30 - Battle of Osawatomie between proslavery and antislavery forces in Bleeding Kansas.
September 1 - Seton Hall University was founded by Archdiocese of Newark Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley, a cousin of President Theodore Roosevelt and nephew of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.
September 1 - Taiping Rebellion: Wei Changhui returns to the Heavenly Capital.
September 2 - Taiping Rebellion: Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang assassinate Yang Xiuqing.
September 18 - Taiping Rebellion: Shi Dakai arrives at Nanjing, but leaves soon after fearing that Wei Changhui plans to kill him.

[edit] October - December

October 8 - The Second Opium War between several western powers and China begins with the Arrow Incident on the Pearl River.
November 1 - Anglo-Persian War: War Is declared between Great Britain and Persia.
November 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1856: Democrat James Buchanan defeats former President Millard Fillmore, representing a coalition of "Know-Nothings" and Whigs, and John C. Frémont of the fledgling Republican Party to become the 15th President of the United States.
November 11 - Taiping Rebellion: Shi Dakai arrives at the Heavenly Capital once more with 100,000 men and demands that Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang be executed. Shi subsequently becomes head of the government.
November 17 - American Old West: On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.
November 21 - Niagara University founded in Niagara Falls, New York.
December 9 - Bushehr surrenders to the British.

Western Union begins.

[edit] Undated

British Country and Borough Police Act extends London police model to all of England and Wales.
Western Union is founded.

Gregor Mendel.

Kate Warner, the first female private detective, begins to work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency
Pre-human remains found in the Neanderthal valley in Germany.

Gregor Mendel starts his research on genetics.
National Portrait Gallery in London opened.
Sale of Land starts suburb of Ashgrove, Queensland.
The first session concludes at St. Paul's School, the prestigious New England Prep School in Concord, New Hampshire.
Founding year of St. Paul's School, Camp, Belgaum.
Henry Dunant created a business to operate in foreign colonies, and, after granted a land concession by Algeria, a corn-growing and trading company called the "Financial and Industrial Company of Mons-Djémila Mills"

[edit] Ongoing events

[edit] Births

**1856 in other calendars**
Gregorian calendar	1856 MDCCCLVI
Ab urbe condita	2609
Armenian calendar	1305 ԹՎ ՌՅԵ
Bahá'í calendar	12 – 13
Buddhist calendar	2400
Chinese calendar	4492/4552-11-24 (乙卯年十一月廿四日) — to — 4493/4553-12-5 (丙辰年十二月初五日)
Ethiopian calendar	1848 – 1849
Hebrew calendar	5616 – 5617
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1911 – 1912
- Shaka Samvat	1778 – 1779
- Kali Yuga	4957 – 4958
Holocene calendar	11856
Iranian calendar	1234 – 1235
Islamic calendar	1272 – 1273
Japanese calendar	Ansei 3 (安政3年)
- Imperial Year	Kōki 2516 (皇紀2516年)
- Jōmon Era	11856
Julian calendar	1901
Korean calendar	4189
Thai solar calendar	2399
v • d • e