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James Marshall discovers gold at John Sutter's sawmill near Sacramento, Calif.
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A Boston crowd rescues Shadrack, a fugitive slave, from court custody
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Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, candidates for the US Senate from Illinois, hold seven debates. The Democratic majority in the Illinois legislature reelected Douglas to the Senate.
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At the first battle of Bull Run, near Manassass, Va., Confederate forces rout a Union army.
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Capt. David G. Farragut captures New Orleans
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The New York City Draft Riots. Four days of rioting leave a thousand people dead or wounded before troops brought from Gettysburg restore order.
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michigan first state to abolish capital punishment
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The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution abolishes slavery
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Seward's Icebox." Russia sells Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million, or less than 2 cents an acre.
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Hiram R. Revels of Mississippi becomes the first African American to serve in the US Senate. Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the first black Representative.
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The discovery of gold leads thousands of prospectors to trespass on Indian lands the Black Hills in Dakota territory.
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The Great Railroad Strikes begins in Marinsburg, W. Va., after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad imposes a 10 percent wage cut
