1862

Events from the year **1862 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: John Gill Shorter (Democratic) (starting December 2)
* Governor of Arkansas: Henry Massey Rector (Democratic) (until November 4), Harris Flanagin (Democratic) (starting November 4)
* Governor of California: John G. Downey (Democratic) (until January 10), Leland Stanford (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Connecticut: William A. Buckingham (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: William Burton (Democratic)
* Governor of Florida: John Milton (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Joseph E. Brown (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: Richard Yates (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Oliver P. Morton (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa: Samuel J. Kirkwood (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Charles L. Robinson (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Beriah Magoffin (Democratic) (until August 18), James F. Robinson (Democratic) (starting August 18)
* Governor of Louisiana: Thomas Overton Moore (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Israel Washburn Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Thomas H. Hicks (Republican) (until January 8), Augustus Bradford (Unionist) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Massachusetts: John Albion Andrew (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: Austin Blair (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: Alexander Ramsey (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: John J. Pettus (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Hamilton Rowan Gamble (Republican)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Nathaniel S. Berry (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Charles Smith Olden (Republican)
* Governor of New York: Edwin D. Morgan (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Henry Toole Clark (Democratic) (until September 8), Zebulon Baird Vance (Conservative) (starting September 8)
* Governor of Ohio: William Dennison Jr. (Republican) (until January 13), David Tod (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Oregon: John Whiteaker (Democratic) (until September 10), A. C. Gibbs (Republican) (starting September 10)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Andrew Gregg Curtin (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: William Sprague IV (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: Francis Wilkinson Pickens (Democratic) (until December 17), Milledge Luke Bonham (Democratic) (starting December 17)
* Governor of Tennessee: Isham G. Harris (Democratic) (until March 12), Andrew Johnson (Unionist) (starting March 12)
* Governor of Texas: Francis R. Lubbock (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: Frederick Holbrook (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: John Letcher (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin:
	+ until January 6: Alexander W. Randall (Republican)
	+ January 6-April 19: Louis P. Harvey (Republican)
	+ starting April 19: Edward Salomon (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Pablo de la Guerra (Democratic) (starting January 10), John F. Chellis (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Benjamin Douglas (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Francis Hoffmann (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: John R. Cravens (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Nicholas J. Rusch (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Joseph Pomeroy Root (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Henry M. Hyams (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: John Nesmith (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Henry T. Backus (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Ignatius L. Donnelly (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: William Preble Hall (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Robert Campbell (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Robert C. Kirk (Republican) (until January 13), Benjamin Stanton (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Samuel G. Arnold (political party unknown) (until month and day unknown), vacant (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: W. W. Harllee (Democratic) (until December 17), Plowden Weston (Democratic) (starting December 17)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: John McClannahan Crockett (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Levi Underwood (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Paul Dillingham (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Robert Latane Montague (no political party)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Butler G. Noble (Republican) (until January 6), Edward Salomon (Republican) (starting January 6)

## Events

### January

* January 1 – In the Great Flood of 1862, San Francisco receives 24.49 inches (622.0 mm) of rainfall for January, its highest monthly rainfall on record, and the “rain year” total from July 1861 to June of 49.27 inches (1,251.5 mm) is also the highest ever.
* January 3 – American Civil War: Battle of Cockpit Point fought in Virginia.
* January 5 – American Civil War: Battle of Hancock begins.
* January 6 – American Civil War: Battle of Hancock ends.
* January 8 – American Civil War: Battle of Roan's Tan Yard in Missouri.
* January 10
	+ John Gately Downey, 7th Governor of California, is succeeded by Amasa Leland Stanford.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Middle Creek.
* January 19 – American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs in Kentucky.
* January 30 – The first U.S. ironclad warship, USS *Monitor*, is launched.
* January 31 – Alvan Graham Clark makes the first observation of Sirius B, a white dwarf star, through an eighteen-inch telescope at Northwestern University.

### February

* February 1 – Julia Ward Howe's *Battle Hymn of the Republic* is published for the first time in the *Atlantic Monthly*.
* February 6 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant gives the United States its first major victory of the war, by capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee.
* February 7 – American Civil War: Battle of Roanoke Island begins.
* February 8 – American Civil War: Battle of Roanoke Island ends.
* February 11 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Donelson begins.
* February 15 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee and captures it the next day.
* February 16 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Donelson ends.
* February 20 – American Civil War: Battle of Valverde begins.
* February 21 – American Civil War: Battle of Valverde ends fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.
* February 22 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated in Richmond, Virginia, to a 6-year term as president of the Confederate States of America.
* February 28 – American Civil War: Battle of Island Number Ten begins.

### March

* March 7 – American Civil War: The Battle of Pea Ridge begins: The Confederates are shut out of Missouri.
* March 8
	+ American Civil War: The Battle of Pea Ridge ends.
	+ American Civil War: The ironclad CSS *Virginia* (formerly USS *Merrimack*) is launched at Hampton Roads, Virginia begins.
* March 9 – American Civil War: Battle of Hampton Roads ends: The first battle between two ironclad warships, USS *Monitor* and CSS *Virginia*.
* March 13 – American Civil War: The U.S. federal government forbids all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
* March 14 – American Civil War: Battle of New Bern fought in North Carolina.
* March 23
	+ American Civil War: First Battle of Kernstown.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Fort Macon begins.
* March 26
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Fort Macon ends.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Glorieta Pass begins.
* March 28 – American Civil War: Battle of Glorieta Pass ends: In New Mexico, Union forces succeed in stopping the Confederate invasion of New Mexico territory.

### April

* April 5 – American Civil War: Battle of Yorktown: The battle begins when Union forces under General George B. McClellan close in on the Confederate capital Richmond, Virginia.
* April 6 – American Civil War: In Tennessee, the Battle of Shiloh begins.
* April 7 – American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh: Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeats the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee.
* April 8 – American Civil War: Battle of Island Number Ten ends.
* April 10 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Pulaski begins: Union blockade closes Savannah, Georgia. Parrott rifle makes masonry forts obsolete.
* April 11 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Pulaski ends.
* April 12 – American Civil War: Andrews Raid Union volunteers steal a Confederate locomotive, setting off The Great Locomotive Chase.
* April 16 – Slavery in Washington, D.C., ends when the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act became law.
* April 18 – American Civil War: Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip begins.
* April 19 – American Civil War: Battle of South Mills.
* April 25 – American Civil War: Capture of New Orleans: Forces under Union Admiral David Farragut occupy the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana, securing access to the Mississippi.
* April 26
	+ American Civil War: The besieged Confederate garrison at Fort Macon, North Carolina surrenders.
	+ The California Anti-Coolie Act.
* April 28 – American Civil War: Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip ends.
* April 29 – American Civil War: Siege of Corinth begins.

### May

* May 2 – The California State Normal School (now San Jose State University) is created by an Act of the California Legislature.
* May 5 – American Civil War: Battle of Williamsburg: McClellan and Longstreet fight an inconclusive battle in Williamsburg, Virginia.
* May 7 – American Civil War: Battle of Eltham's Landing.
* May 8 – American Civil War: Battle of McDowell.
* May 9 – United States Naval Academy relocated from Annapolis, Maryland to Newport, Rhode Island.
* May 11 – American Civil War: The ironclad CSS *Virginia* is scuttled in the James River northwest of Norfolk, Virginia.
* May 15
	+ U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture (later renamed the Department of Agriculture).
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Drewry's Bluff.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Princeton Court House begins.
* May 17 – American Civil War: Battle of Princeton Court House ends.
* May 20 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
* May 23 – American Civil War: Battle of Front Royal.
* May 25 – American Civil War: First Battle of Winchester.
* May 27 – American Civil War: Battle of Hanover Court House.
* May 30 – American Civil War: Siege of Corinth ends.
* May 31 – American Civil War: Battle of Seven Pines begins.

### June

* June 1
	+ American Civil War: Robert E. Lee takes command of the Army of Northern Virginia.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Seven Pines ends: Both sides claim victory.
* June 4 – American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.
* June 5 – American Civil War: Battle of Tranter's Creek.
* June 6 – American Civil War: Battle of Memphis: Union forces capture Memphis, Tennessee from the Confederates
* June 7 – American Civil War: First Battle of Chattanooga begins.
* June 8
	+ American Civil War: First Battle of Chattanooga ends.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys: Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson save the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by General George B. McClellan.
* June 9 – American Civil War: Battle of Port Republic.
* June 12 – John Winter Robinson, Secretary of State of Kansas, is convicted and removed from office as the result of a bond scandal, becoming the first state executive officers to be impeached and removed from office in U.S. history.
* June 16 – American Civil War: Battle of Secessionville.
* June 17 – American Civil War: Battle of Saint Charles.
* June 19 – Congress passes legislation outlawing slavery in U.S. territories.
* June 21 – American Civil War: Battle of Simmon's Bluff.
* June 25 – American Civil War: Battle of Oak Grove.
* June 26 – American Civil War: Battle of Beaver Dam Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats Union General George McClellan in the first of the Seven Days' Battles.
* June 27
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Gaines' Mill
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Garnett's & Golding's Farm begins.
* June 28 – American Civil War: Battle of Garnett's & Golding's Farm ends.
* June 29 – American Civil War: Battle of Savage's Station.
* June 30
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Glendale.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of White Oak Swamp.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Tampa begins.

### July

* July 1
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Tampa ends.
	+ U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Pacific Railway Acts, authorizing construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad.
	+ The Bureau of Internal Revenue, forerunner of the Internal Revenue Service, is founded.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Malvern Hill.
	+ Taps first sounded in the Union Army.
* July 2 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Morrill Land Grant Act into law, creating land-grant colleges to teach agricultural and mechanical sciences across the United States.
* July 7 – American Civil War: Battle of Cotton Plant.
* July 8 – Theodore Timby is granted a U.S. patent for discharging guns in a revolving turret, using electricity.
* July 13 – American Civil War: First Battle of Murfreesboro.
* July 16 – American Civil War: David G. Farragut becomes the first United States Navy rear admiral.
* July 23 – American Civil War: Henry W. Halleck takes command of the Union Army.
* July 24 – Former president Martin van Buren dies at Kinderhook, New York.
* July 29 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union forces after her lover betrays her.

### August

* August 2 – American Civil War: Skirmish at Taberville, Missouri: Union forces force Confederate troops to march south, near Taberville.
* August 5 – American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge: Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city.
* August 6
	+ American Civil War: The Confederate ironclad CSS *Arkansas* is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering damage in a battle with USS *Essex* near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Kirksville begins.
* August 9
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Kirksville ends.
	+ American Civil War: First Battle of Donaldsonville.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Cedar Mountain: At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union forces under General John Pope.
* August 11 – American Civil War: First Battle of Independence.
* August 14 – U. S. President Abraham Lincoln meets with a group of prominent African-Americans – the first time a President has done so. He suggests Black people should migrate to Africa or Central America, but this advice is rejected.
* August 15 – American Civil War: Battle of Lone Jack begins.
* August 16 – American Civil War: Battle of Lone Jack ends.
* August 17 – Dakota War: A Lakota (Sioux) uprising begins in Minnesota as Lakota Sioux attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. They are overwhelmed by the U.S. military six weeks later.
* August 19 – Dakota War: During an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.
* August 20 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Ridgely begins.
* August 22
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Fort Ridgely ends
	+ American Civil War: First Battle of Rappahannock Station begins.
* August 25
	+ American Civil War: First Battle of Rappahannock Station ends.
	+ American Civil War: Manassas Station Operations begins.
* August 27 – American Civil War: Manassas Station Operations ends.
* August 28
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Thoroughfare Gap.
	+ American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run begins: Confederate forces inflict a crushing defeat on Union General John Pope.
* August 29
	+ Bureau of Engraving and Printing is formed and begins operation.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Richmond begins.
* August 30
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Richmond ends.
	+ American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run ends.

### September

* September 1 – American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly: Confederate General Robert E. Lee leads his forces in an attack on retreating Union troops in Chantilly, Virginia, driving them away.
* September 2 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Second Bull Run.
* September 5 – American Civil War: In the Confederacy's first invasion of the North, General Robert E. Lee leads 55,000 men of the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River at White's Ford near Leesburg, Virginia, into Maryland.
* September 12 – American Civil War: Battle of Harpers Ferry begins.
* September 14
	+ American Civil War: Battle of South Mountain.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Munfordville begins.
* September 15 – American Civil War: Battle of Harpers Ferry ends.
* September 17
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Munfordville ends.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Antietam: Union forces defeat Confederate troops at Sharpsburg, Maryland, in the bloodiest day in U.S. history (with over 22,000 casualties).
	+ American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the single largest civilian disaster during the war.
* September 19
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Iuka: Union troops under Major General William Rosecrans defeat a Confederate force commanded by Major General Sterling Price at Iuka, Mississippi.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Shepherdstown begins.
* September 20 – American Civil War: Battle of Shepherdstown ends.
* September 22 – American Civil War: Preliminary announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln.
* September 23 – American Civil War: Battle of Wood Lake.
* September 24 – American Civil War: First Battle of Sabine Pass.
* September 30 – American Civil War: First Battle of Newtonia.

### October

* October 1 – American Civil War: Battle of Saint John's Bluff begins.
* October 3
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Saint John's Bluff end.
	+ American Civil War: Second Battle of Corinth begins.
* October 4
	+ American Civil War: Second Battle of Corinth ends.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Galveston Harbor.
* October 5 – American Civil War: Battle of Hatchie's Bridge.
* October 8 – American Civil War: Battle of Perryville: Union forces under General Don Carlos Buell halt the Confederate invasion of Kentucky by defeating troops led by General Braxton Bragg at Perryville, Kentucky.
* October 11 – American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the North.
* October 22 – American Civil War: Battle of Old Fort Wayne.
* October 24 – American Civil War: Tonkawa massacre: 300 members of the Confederacy-supporting Tonkawa tribe members taking refuge at the Wichita Agency (present-day Fort Sill), were attacked by a large group of pro-Union Indians. An estimated 137 Tonkawas were killed, including their chief, *Ha-shu-ka-na* ("Can't Kill Him"). The completely-demoralized survivors fled to Fort Griffin in Texas in 1863. They returned to Indian Territory in 1885 and settled near Fort Oakland (present-day Tonkawa, Oklahoma).
* October 27 – American Civil War: Battle of Georgia Landing.

### November

* November 4 – Richard Jordan Gatling patents the Gatling gun.
* November 5
	+ American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln removes George B. McClellan as commander of the Union Army.
	+ American Civil War: Ambrose Burnside is assigned command of the Army of the Potomac.
	+ Dakota War: In Minnesota, more than 300 Santee Sioux are found guilty of rape and murder of white settlers and are sentenced to hang.
* November 7 – American Civil War: Battle of Clark's Mill.
* November 14 – American Civil War: Union President Abraham Lincoln approves General Ambrose Burnside's plan to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia (this leads to a dramatic Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13).
* November 28 – American Civil War: Battle of Cane Hill: Union troops led by General John Blunt push back Confederate forces commanded by General John Marmaduke into northwestern Arkansas' Boston Mountains.

### December

* December 1 – In his State of the Union Address, President Abraham Lincoln reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered 10 weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation.
* December 2 – The first U.S. Navy hospital ships enter service.
* December 7
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Prairie Grove.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Hartsville.
* December 11 – American Civil War: Battle of Fredericksburg begins: The Union Army suffers massive casualties and abandons attempts to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
* December 14 – American Civil War: Battle of Kinston.
* December 15 – American Civil War: Battle of Fredericksburg ends.
* December 16 – American Civil War: Battle of White Hall.
* December 17
	+ *General Order No. 11*, expelling all Jews in his military district, is issued by General Ulysses S. Grant (it is rescinded a few weeks later).
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Goldsboro Bridge.
* December 19 – American Civil War: Battle of Jackson.
* December 20 – American Civil War: Confederate Army Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest occupies Trenton, Kentucky.
* December 26
	+ Dakota War: William D. Duly hangs 38 Dakota Sioux in Minnesota.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins: Another victory for the Confederate Army, outnumbered 2 to 1, results in 6 times as many Union casualties, defeating several assaults coordinated by Union commander William T. Sherman.
* December 29 – American Civil War: Battle of Chickasaw Bayou ends.
* December 30 – USS *Monitor* sinks off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
* December 31
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Parker's Cross Roads.
	+ American Civil War: Union President Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union (thus dividing Virginia in two); meanwhile, the Battle of Stones River opens near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

## Memoriam

* January 10 – Samuel Colt, inventor (aged 47; Hartford, CT, USA)
* January 18 – John Tyler, 10th President of the United States from 1841 to 1845, 10th Vice President of the United States from March to April 1841 (aged 71; Richmond, VA, CSA)
* February 11 – Luther Vose Bell, psychiatric physician (aged 56; Budd's Ferry, MD, USA)
* February 16 – William Pennington, 13th Governor of New Jersey from 1837 to 1843 (aged 65; Newark, NJ, USA)
* February 20 – William Wallace Lincoln, third son of Abraham Lincoln (aged 11; Washington, DC, USA)
* March 2 – Frederick W. Lander, railroad surveyor, poet and Union general, died of pneumonia contracted on active service (aged 40; Paw Paw, VA (Now WV), CSA)
* March 18 – Charles Bird King, portrait artist who notably painted Native American delegates visiting Washington, D.C. (aged 76; Washington, DC, USA)
* April 6
	+ Albert Sidney Johnston, Confederate general, killed during Battle of Shiloh (aged 59; Shiloh, TN, CSA)
	+ Fitz James O'Brien, science fiction pioneer (aged 35; Cumberland, MD, USA)
* April 10 – W. H. L. Wallace, Union general, died of wounds received at Battle of Shiloh (aged 40; Savannah, TN, CSA)
* April 12 – Theodore Frelinghuysen, running mate of Henry Clay in 1844 (aged 75; New Brunswick, NJ, USA)
* April 19 – Louis P. Harvey, 7th Governor of Wisconsin (aged 41; Savannah, TN, USA)
* May 6 – Henry David Thoreau, transcendentalist author and philosopher (aged 44; Concord, MA, USA)
* May 21
	+ Edwin Pearce Christy, founder of Christy's Minstrels, suicide by defenestration (aged 46; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ John Drew Sr., actor, died in domestic accident (aged 34; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* July 24 – Martin Van Buren, 8th President of the United States from 1837 to 1841, 8th Vice President of the United States from 1833 to 1837 (aged 79; Kinderhook, NY, USA)
* August 30 – John Hugh Means, 64th Governor of South Carolina from 1850 to 1852 (aged 50; Prince William County, VA, CSA)
* September 1 – Philip Kearny, United States Army officer (aged 47; Chantilly, VA, CSA)
* September 18 – Septimus Norris, steam locomotive designer (aged 44; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* December 13 – Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, Confederate general, killed during Battle of Fredericksburg (aged 39; Fredericksburg, VA, CSA)
* December 18 – Barbara Fritchie, Civil War patriot (aged 96; Frederick, MD, USA)