1856 in the United States
Centuries:	18th century – 19th century – 20th century
Decades:	1830s  1840s  – 1850s –  1860s  1870s
Years:	1853 1854 1855 – 1856 – 1857 1858 1859
Flag:	31 stars (1851 – 1858)

Events from the year 1856 in the United States.

Contents 1 Events 1.1 January–March 1.2 April–June 1.3 July–September 1.4 October–December 1.5 Undated 2 External links

[edit] Events

[edit] January–March

• January 24 – U.S. President Franklin Pierce declares the new Free-State Topeka government in Bleeding Kansas to be in rebellion.
• January 26 – First Battle of Seattle (1856): Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after an all day battle with settlers.
• February – The Tintic War breaks out in Utah.
• February 1 – Auburn University is first chartered as the East Alabama Male College.
• February 2 – Dallas, Texas is incorporated as a city.
• February 18 – The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
• March 6 – Maryland Agricultural College (present-day University of Maryland, College Park) is chartered.
• March 9 – National Fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
• April 10 – The Theta Chi Fraternity is founded at Norwich University.

[edit] April–June

• May 16 – The Vigilance Committee is 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 pro-slavery 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 is unable to return to duty for 3 years while he recovered; Brooks becomes a hero across the South.
• May 24 – Pottawatomie Massacre: A group of followers of radical abolitionist John Brown kill 5 homesteaders in Franklin County, Kansas.
• June 2 – Battle of Black Jack: Antislavery forces, led by John Brown, defeat proslavery forces 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.

[edit] July–September

• July 17 – The Great Train Wreck of 1856: The deadliest railroad catastrophe in the world up to that time occurs near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
• August 10 – A hurricane destroys Last Island, Louisiana, leaving 400 dead. The whole island is broken up into several smaller islands by the storm.
• August 30 – Battle of Osawatomie: Proslavery forces defeat antislavery forces in Bleeding Kansas.
• September 1 – Seton Hall University is founded by Archdiocese of Newark Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley, a cousin of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and nephew of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.

[edit] October–December

• 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 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 is founded in Niagara Falls, New York.

[edit] Undated

• Kate Warne, the first female private detective, begins to work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

[edit] External links

• Media related to 1856 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons