1858

Events from the year **1858 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Andrew B. Moore (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Elias Nelson Conway (Democratic)
* Governor of California: J. Neely Johnson (Know Nothing) (until January 8), John B. Weller (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Connecticut: Alexander H. Holley (Republican) (until May 5), William A. Buckingham (Republican) (starting May 5)
* Governor of Delaware: Peter F. Causey (Know Nothing)
* Governor of Florida: Madison S. Perry (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Joseph E. Brown (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: William Henry Bissell (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Ashbel P. Willard (Democratic)
* Governor of Iowa: James W. Grimes (Whig) (until January 13), Ralph P. Lowe (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Kentucky: Charles S. Morehead (Know Nothing)
* Governor of Louisiana: Robert C. Wickliffe (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Joseph H. Williams (Republican) (until January 6), Lot M. Morrill (Democratic) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Maryland: Thomas W. Ligon (Democratic) (until January 13), Thomas H. Hicks (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Henry Gardner (Know Nothing) (until January 7), Nathaniel Prentice Banks (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Michigan: Kinsley S. Bingham (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: Samuel Medary (Democratic) (until May 24), Henry Hastings Sibley (Democratic) (starting May 24)
* Governor of Mississippi: William McWillie (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Robert Marcellus Stewart (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: William Haile (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: William A. Newell (Republican)
* Governor of New York: John Alsop King (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Thomas Bragg (Democratic)
* Governor of Ohio: Salmon P. Chase (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: James Pollock (Whig) (until January 19), William F. Packer (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Elisha Dyer (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: Robert Francis Withers Allston (Democratic) (until December 10), William Henry Gist (Democratic) (starting December 10)
* Governor of Tennessee: Isham G. Harris (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: Hardin R. Runnels (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: Ryland Fletcher (Republican) (until October 10), Hiland Hall (Republican) (starting October 10)
* Governor of Virginia: Henry A. Wise (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Coles Bashford (Republican) (until January 4), Alexander W. Randall (Republican) (starting January 12)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Robert M. Anderson (Know Nothing) (until month and day unknown), John Walkup (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Alfred A. Burnham (Republican) (until May 5), Julius Catlin (Republican) (starting May 5)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John Wood (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Abram A. Hammond (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Oran Faville (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: William F. Griffin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Henry W. Benchley (political party unknown) (until January 7), Eliphalet Trask (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: George Coe (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: William Holcombe (Democratic) (starting May 24)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Hancock Lee Jackson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Henry R. Selden (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Thomas H. Ford (Democratic) (until January 11), Martin Welker (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Thomas G. Turner (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Gabriel Cannon (Democratic) (until December 10), M. E. Carn (Democratic) (starting December 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Francis R. Lubbock (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: James M. Slade (Republican) (until October 10), Burnham Martin (Republican) (starting October 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: William Lowther Jackson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Arthur MacArthur Sr. (Democratic) (until January 4), Erasmus D. Campbell (Democratic) (starting January 4)

## Events

* March 4 – A speech by James Henry Hammond in the United States Senate promotes the idea of "King Cotton" and the "mudsill theory" in support of slave labor.
* April 19 – The United States and the Yankton Sioux Tribe sign a treaty.
* May 11 – Minnesota admitted becomes the 32nd U.S. state.
* May 19 – The Marais des Cygnes massacre is perpetrated by pro-slavery forces in Bleeding Kansas.
* June 16 – Abraham Lincoln makes his "House Divided" Speech at the State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, on accepting the Republican Party nomination for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
* July 1 – Forty-Niners stream into the Rocky Mountains of the western United States during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush.
* July 8 – The Paulist Fathers, a Roman Catholic society of apostolic life for men, is founded in New York City by Isaac Hecker.
* July 29 – Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Japan) ("Harris Treaty") signed on the deck of USS *Powhatan* in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) Bay.
* August 16 – U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new trans-Atlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria. However, a weak signal forces a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.
* August 21 – The first of the seven Lincoln–Douglas debates is held.
* September 1 – 'Staten Island Quarantine War' begins.
* September 2 – 'Staten Island Quarantine War' ends.
* September 14 – Fordyce Beals patents his six shooter revolver which will be produced by E. Remington & Sons of Ilion, New York as the Remington Model 1858.
* November 17 – Denver is founded.
* December 8 – Rensselaer, Indiana is incorporated.

## Memoriam

* January 10 – Hezekiah Augur, sculptor and inventor (aged 66; New Haven, CT, USA)
* March 4 – Matthew C. Perry, naval officer (aged 63; New York City, NY, USA)
* April 10 – Thomas Hart Benton, U.S. Senator from Missouri from 1821 to 1851 (aged 76; Washington, DC, USA)
* July 17 – John A. Quitman, lawyer, politician, and soldier (aged 59; Natchez, MS, USA)
* August 23 – Calvin Willey, U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1825 to 1831 (aged 81; Stafford, CT, USA)
* September 17 – Dred Scott, slave (aged 59; St. Louis, MO, USA)
* September 21 – Arthur P. Bagby, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1837 to 1841 (aged 64; Mobile, AL, USA)
* November 16 – Robert Hanna, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1831 to 1832 (aged 72; Indianapolis, IN, USA)
* December 14 – Michael Woolston Ash, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania from 1835 to 1837 (aged 69; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* December 18 – Thomas Holley Chivers, poet and physician (aged 49; Decatur, GA, USA)
* December 26 – James Gadsden, diplomat, soldier and businessman (aged 70; Charleston, SC, USA)