Year 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). [edit] Events of 1864 [edit] January–March [edit] April–June  American Civil War in 1864 - April 18 – Danish-Prussian War (Second War of Schleswig) – Battle of Dybbøl: The Prussian army fielding 10,000 men defeats the Danish defending army of 9,200 at Dybbøl Mill, after an artillery bombardment from April 7 to April 18.
- April 22 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 which mandates that the inscription "In God We Trust" be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
- May 5 – American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
- May 7 – American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
- May 11 – American Civil War – Battle of Yellow Tavern: Confederate General JEB Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern, Virginia.
- May 12 – American Civil War – Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: The "Bloody Angle" – thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die.
- May 13 – American Civil War – Battle of Resaca: The battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
- May 18 – Civil War gold hoax: The New York World and the New York Journal of Commerce publish a fake proclamation that President Abraham Lincoln has issued a draft of 400,000 more soldiers.
- May 20 – American Civil War – Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
- May 21 – Circassian leaders sign Russian loyalty oaths, ending the Russian-Circassian War.
- May 28 – Montana is organized as a United States territory out of parts of Washington Territory and Dakota Territory, and is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
[edit] July–September - July 18 – President Lincoln issues a true proclamation of conscription of 500,000 men for the U.S. Civil War.
- July 20 – American Civil War – Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
- July 22 – American Civil War – Battle of Atlanta: Outside of Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate General Hood leads an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General Sherman on Bald Hill.
- July 24 – American Civil War – Battle of Kernstown: Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep the Yankees out of the Shenandoah Valley.
- July 28 – American Civil War – Battle of Ezra Church: Confederate troops led by General Hood make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces under General Sherman from Atlanta, Georgia.
- July 29 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC.
- July 30 – American Civil War – Battle of the Crater: Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.
- August 1 – The Elgin Watch Company is founded in Elgin, Illinois.
- August 5 – American Civil War – Battle of Mobile Bay: At Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
- August 13 – The first fish and chips shop opens in London.
- August 18 – American Civil War – Battle of Globe Tavern: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Weldon Railroad, forcing the Confederates to use wagons.
- August 22 – First Geneva Convention: The International Red Cross is founded.
- August 31 – American Civil War: Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
[edit] October–December - October 2 – American Civil War – Battle of Saltville: Union forces attack Saltville, Virginia but are defeated by Confederate troops.
- October 5 – A cyclone kills 70,000 in Calcutta, India.
- October 9 – American Civil War – Battle of Tom's Brook: Union cavalrymen in the Shenandoah Valley defeat Confederate forces at Tom's Brook, Virginia.
- October 28 – American Civil War – Second Battle of Fair Oaks: Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant withdraw from Fair Oaks, Virginia, after failing to breach the Confederate defenses around Richmond, Virginia.
- October 30
- October 31 – Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S. state.
- November 4 – American Civil War – Battle of Johnsonville: At Johnsonville, Tennessee, troops under the command of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest bombard a Union supply base with artillery and destroy millions of dollars in material.
- November 7 – The capital of Idaho Territory is moved from Lewiston to Boise; North Idaho declares the move illegal and proposes secession.
- November 8 – U.S. presidential election, 1864: Abraham Lincoln is reelected in an overwhelming victory over George B. McClellan.
- November 15 – American Civil War – Sherman's March to the Sea begins: Union General Sherman burns Atlanta and starts to move south, causing extensive devastation to crops and mills and living off the land.
- November 20 – The Judicial reform of Alexander II is launched in Imperial Russia.
- November 22 – American Civil War – Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate General John Bell Hood invades Tennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General Sherman from Georgia.
- November 25 – American Civil War: A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City.
- November 29 – Indian Wars – Sand Creek Massacre: Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington massacre at least 400 Cheyenne and Arapahoe noncombatants at Sand Creek, Colorado (where they had been given permission to camp).
[edit] Undated [edit] Ongoing events [edit] Births [edit] January–June - January 1
- January 8 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence (d. 1892)
- January 13 – Wilhelm Wien, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
- January 24 – Marguerite Durand, French actress, journalist, and feminist leader (d. 1936)
- January 26 – József Pusztai slovene writer, poet, journalist in Hungary (d. 1934)
- February 7 – Arthur Collins, American singer who recorded many early songs (d. 1933)
- March 4 – David W. Taylor, U.S. Navy architect (d. 1940)
- March 12 – William Halse Rivers Rivers, English doctor (d. 1922)
- March 13 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian expressionist painter (d. 1941)
- March 14 – Casey Jones, American railway engineer (d. 1900)
- March 15 – Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian composer (d. 1935)
- March 17 – Joseph Baptista, Indian Home Rule Movement founder (d. 1930)
- March 19 – Charles Marion Russell, American artist (d. 1926)
- April 19 – Mahatma Hansraj, Indian educationist, and Arya Samaj leader ( d. 1938)
- April 21 – Max Weber, German sociologist (d. 1920)
- May 4 – Marie Booth, the third daughter of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1937)
- May 10 – Léon Gaumont, French film pioneer (d. 1946)
- May 15 – Vilhelm Hammershøi, Danish painter (d. 1916)
- June 3 – Ransom E. Olds, automotive pioneer (d. 1950)
- June 11 – Richard Strauss, German composer (d. 1949)
- June 13 – Dwight B. Waldo, American educator and historian (d. 1939)
- June 25 – Walther Nernst, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
[edit] July–December - July 11 – Petar Danov, Bulgarian spiritual teacher (d. 1944)
- July 12 – George Washington Carver, American botanist (d. 1943)
- July 13 – John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman and inventor (d. 1912)
- July 15 – Marie Tempest, English stage & film actress (d. 1942)
- July 20 – Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
- July 23 – Apolinario Mabini, Filipino political theoretician and Prime Minister (d. 1903)
- August 9 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (d. 1939)
- September 14 – Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, English politician and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1958)
- October 10 – T. Frank Appleby, United States Congressman from New Jersey (d. 1924)
- October 25 – Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian composer (d. 1956)
- October 31 – Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1945)
- November 11 – Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1921)
- November 13 – Bishop James Cannon Jr., American religious and temperance movement leader (d. 1944)
- November 16 – Stephane Javelle, French astronomer (d. 1917)
- November 23 – Henry Bourne Joy, American business leader (d. 1936)
- November 24 – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (d. 1901)
- November 26 – Edward Higgins, 3rd General of The Salvation Army (d. 1947)
- December 6 – William S. Hart, American film actor (d. 1946)
- December 12 – Paul Elmer More, American critic and essayist (d. 1937)
- December 25 – Thomas Cahill, American soccer coach (d. 1951)
[edit] Deaths - January 13 – Stephen Foster, American composer (b. 1826)
- March 28 – Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark (b. 1789)
- April 4 – Joseph Pitty Couthouy, American naval officer (b. 1808)
- April 14 – Charles Lot Church, Nova Scotia politician (b. 1777)
- May 2 – Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer (b. 1791)
- May 9 – John Sedgwick, Union General, American Civil War (b. 1813)
- May 12 – J.E.B. Stuart, Confederate Cavalry General, American Civil War (b. 1833)
- May 19 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author (b. 1804)
- June 1 – Hong Xiuquan, Chinese rebel (b. 1813)
- June 13 – Henryk Dembiński, Polish engineer (b. 1791)
- June 14 – Patrick Kelly, US Army officer (in battle) (b. ca. 1822)
- June 15 – William E. Jones, Confederate general (in battle) (b. 1824)
- July – Dimitris Plapoutas, Greek military leader (b. 1786)
- August 3 – Jakob Walter, stonemason and common draftee (b. 1788)
- August 4 – David Hansemann, Prussian politician (b. 1790)
- August 19 – Truong Dinh, Vietnamese leader (suicide) (b. 1820)
- September 3 – Emil Oskar Nobel, younger brother of Alfred Nobel (killed in an explosion) (b. 1843)
- October 12 – Roger Taney, United States Supreme Court Justice (b. 1777)
- November 6 – Tuanku Imam Bonjol, Indonesian religious and military leader (b. 1772)
- November 30 – John Adams, Confederate Army officer (in battle) (b. 1825)
- December 1 – William L. Dayton – United States Minister to France (b. 1807)
- December 8 – George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1815)
- December 21 – Archduke Louis of Austria (b. 1784)
- December 24 – Mary Baker (née Willcocks) aka Princess Caraboo (b. 1791)
[edit] References - ^ Claus Bjørn & Carsten Due-Nielsen, Dansk Udenrigspolitiks Historie, 2nd edition, vol. III "Fra Helstat til Nationalstat" 1814-1914, Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 2006, pages 238–39 (Danish)
- ^ Meyers Konversationslexikon, 4th edition, entry: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg von 1864 (German)
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