1866

Events from the year 1866 in the United States.
==Incumbents==
===Federal Government===
* President: Andrew Johnson (D-TN)
* Vice President: vacant
* Chief Justice: Salmon P. Chase (OH)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Schuyler Colfax (R-IN)
* Congress: 39th
==Events==
===January - March===
* January 1
** The second United States Capitol dome is completed in Washington, D.C. after 11 years of work.
** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee.
** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine The Liberator is published in Boston.
* February 13 – The first daylight bank robbery in United States history during peacetime takes place in Liberty, Missouri. This is considered to be the first robbery committed by Jesse James and his gang, although James role is disputed.
* February 26 – The Calaveras Skull is discovered in California. Purported to be evidence of humans in North America during the Pliocene epoch, it turns out to be a hoax.
* March 13 – The United States Congress overwhelmingly passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the first federal legislation to protect the rights of African-Americans; U.S. President Andrew Johnson vetoes the bill on March 27, and Congress overrides the veto on April 9.
===April - June===
* April 10 – The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by Henry Bergh.
* May 1 – Memphis riots of 1866 begins.
* May 3 – Memphis riots of 1866 ends.
* May 16 – The U.S. Congress approves the minting of a nickel 5-cent coin (nickel), eliminating its predecessor, the half dime.
* June 1 – Red Cloud's War opens.
* June 20 – The Minneapolis Milling Company, predecessor of General Mills, builds its own mills.
===July - September===
* July 4 – The Great Fire of Portland, Maine kills two and leaves 10,000 homeless in the worst fire in an American city at this time.
* July 23 – The Judicial Circuits Act reduces the number of United States circuit courts to nine and the number of Supreme Court justices to seven.
* July 24 – Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War.
* July 25 – The U.S. Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army (modern-day "5-star general"); Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to have this rank.
* July 28 – The Metric Act of 1866 becomes law and legalizes the use of the metric system for weights and measures in the United States.
* August 11 – First Roller rink in the United States opens to the public in Newport, Rhode Island.
* August 14 – The National Union Convention begins is held in Philadelphia with hopes to reconcile the Radical Republicans in Congress with the Reconstructionist policies of President Andrew Johnson.
* August 16 – The National Union Convention ends.
* August 20 – President Johnson formally declares Civil War over.
* August 27 – President Andrew Johnson goes on his Swing Around the Circle speaking tour to gain support for his Reconstructionist policies and Democratic Party candidates in the upcoming elections.
* September 24 – Western Union Telegraph Expedition to Alaska begins its second season, the first after the death of Robert Kennicott
===October - December===
* October 6 – The Reno Gang commits the first train robbery in the United States, taking a total of $13,000.
* October 7 – The Second Plenary Council of American Roman Catholic bishops is held in Baltimore.
* November 5 – House of Representatives elections: Despite President Andrew Johnson's Swing Around the Circle tour, the Republican Party wins in a landslide.
* December 18 – The College of Wooster is founded in Ohio.
==Memoriam==
* January 16 – Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, physician (aged 63; Belfast, ME, USA)
* January 31 – Thomas B. Marsh, leader of the Latter Day Saint movement (aged 65; Ogden, UT Territory, USA)
* February 13 – John Bernard Fitzpatrick, Catholic Bishop of Boston (aged 53; Boston, MA, USA)
* February 21 – Stephen Elliott Jr., Confederate brigadier general (aged 35; Aiken, SC, USA)
* March 4 – Alexander Campbell, Scotch-Irish American founder of the Disciples of Christ (aged 77; Bethany, WV, USA)
* March 9 – James F. Trotter, U.S. Senator from Mississippi in 1838 (aged 63; Holly Springs, MS, USA)
* March 28 – Solomon Foot, politician (aged 63; Washington, DC, USA)
* April 1 – Chester Harding, portrait painter (aged 73; Boston, MA, USA)
* April 12 – Daniel S. Dickinson, U.S. Senator from New York from 1844 to 1851 (aged 65; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 11 – George Edmund Badger, U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1846 to 1855 (aged 71; Raleigh, NC, USA)
* May 16 – Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, son of Sacagawea, American explorer, guide, fur trapper, trader, and Military Scout (aged 61; Danner, OR, USA)
* May 26 – Henry Darwin Rogers, geologist (aged 57; Glasgow, Scotland, UK)
* May 29 – Winfield Scott, Presidential candidate in 1853, Union Civil War General (aged 79; West Point, NY, USA)
* June 7 – Chief Seattle, Native American leader (aged 80; Port Morrison, WA Territory, USA)
* June 17 – Lewis Cass, U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1845 to 1848 and from 1849 to 1857 (aged 83; Detroit, MI, USA)
* July 11 – James H. Lane, Union Civil War General and U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1861 to 1866 (aged 52; Leavenworth, KS, USA)
* July 25 – Floride Calhoun, Second Lady of the United States as wife of John C. Calhoun (aged 74; Pendleton, SC, USA)
* August 1 – John Ross, Principal Chief of the Cherokee (aged 75; Washington, DC, USA)
* August 5 – William Burton, 39th Governor of Delaware from 1859 to 1863 (aged 76; Milford, DE, USA)
* September 7 – Clement Comer Clay, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1837 to 1841 (aged 76; Huntsville, AL, USA)
* October 7 – Robert F. Stockton, U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1851 to 1853 (aged 71; Princeton, NJ, USA)
* October 13 – Celadon Leeds Daboll, merchant and inventor (aged 48; New London, CT, USA)
* December 20 – James Semple, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1843 to 1847 (aged 68; Elsah, IL, USA)
==External links==
* 1866 in the United States
Category:United States History: Volume 9