I is assassinated August 12 after a 9-year reign in which he has tried to reform and modernize the Balkan state. The U.S. Army s Fort Defiance in New Mexico Territory is attacked April 30 by 1,000 Navajo whose sheep and goats have been shot by soldiers from the fort. Elizabeth Palmer Peabody opens the first U.S. English-speaking kindergarten at Boston . The English Church Union is founded. Mich. The Russian Orthodox Church establishes a monastery in Jerusalem.
Skiing begins as a competitive sport.
The first world heavyweight boxing championship bout is held at Farnborough, Hampshire, pitting U.S. champion John C. Heenan against the British champion Tom Sayers, and continues for 42 rounds. Australia s Melbourne Cup horse race has its first running in the Victoria colony. The U.S. wheat crop reaches 173 million bushels, more than double its 1840 level, the corn crop reaches 839 million bushels, up from 377 million in 1840, and the cotton crop reaches 3.48 million bales, most of which is shipped to Liverpool for England s textile industry. Eighty riders are in the saddle at all times of day. The service ends October 24, 1861.