1855

Events from the year **1855 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: John A. Winston (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Elias Nelson Conway (Democratic)
* Governor of California: John Bigler (Democratic)
* Governor of Connecticut: Henry Dutton (Whig) (until May 2), William T. Minor (Know Nothing) (starting May 2)
* Governor of Delaware: William H. H. Ross (Democratic) (until January 16), Peter F. Causey (Know Nothing) (starting January 16)
* Governor of Florida: James E. Broome (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Herschel V. Johnson (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: Joel Aldrich Matteson (Democratic)
* Governor of Indiana: Joseph A. Wright (Democratic)
* Governor of Iowa: James W. Grimes (Whig)
* Governor of Kentucky: Lazarus W. Powell (Democratic) (until September 4), Charles S. Morehead (Know Nothing) (starting September 4)
* Governor of Louisiana: Paul Octave Hébert (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: William G. Crosby (Whig) (until January 3), Anson Morrill (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Maryland: Thomas W. Ligon (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Emory Washburn (Whig) (until January 4), Henry Gardner (Know Nothing) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Michigan: Andrew Parsons (Democratic) (until January 3), Kinsley S. Bingham (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Mississippi: John J. McRae (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Sterling Price (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Nathaniel B. Baker (Democratic) (until June 7), Ralph Metcalf (Know Nothing) (starting June 7)
* Governor of New Jersey: Rodman M. Price (Democratic)
* Governor of New York: Myron H. Clark (Whig)
* Governor of North Carolina: Warren Winslow (Democratic) (until January 1), Thomas Bragg (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Ohio: William Medill (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: William Bigler (Democratic) (until January 16), James Pollock (Whig) (starting January 16)
* Governor of Rhode Island: William W. Hoppin (Whig)
* Governor of South Carolina: James Hopkins Adams (Democratic)
* Governor of Tennessee: Andrew Johnson (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: Elisha M. Pease (Unionist)
* Governor of Vermont: Stephen Royce (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: Joseph Johnson (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: William A. Barstow (Democratic)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Samuel Purdy (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Alexander H. Holley (Whig) (starting January 4), William Field (Free Soil) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Gustavus Koerner (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Ashbel P. Willard (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: vacant (until September 4), James Greene Hardy (Know Nothing) (starting September 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Robert C. Wickliffe (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: William C. Plunkett (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Simon Brown (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: George Griswold (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), George Coe (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Wilson Brown (Democratic) (until August 27), vacant (starting August 27)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Henry Jarvis Raymond (Whig)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: James Myers (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: John J. Reynolds (political party unknown) (until month and day unknown), Anderson C. Rose (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Richard de Treville (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: David Catchings Dickson (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Hardin Richard Runnels (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Ryland Fletcher (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Shelton Leake (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: James T. Lewis (Republican)

## Events

* January 1 – Klamath and Salmon River War: In Klamath County, California, hostility between settlers and the local Native Americans becomes violent. The California State Militia and U.S. Army intervene, ending the war in March.
* January 23 – The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota (a crossing made today by the Hennepin Avenue Bridge).
* January 26 – The Point No Point Treaty is signed in the Washington Territory.
* February 12 – Michigan State University (the "pioneer" land-grant college) is established.
* February 15 – The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the Western North Carolina Railroad to build a rail line from Salisbury to the western part of the state.
* February 22 – Pennsylvania State University is founded as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania.
* March 3 – The U.S. Congress appropriates $30,000 to create the U.S. Camel Corps.
* March 16 – Bates College is founded by abolitionists in Lewiston, Maine.
* March 30 – Elections are held for the first Kansas Territory legislature. Missourian 'Border Ruffians' cross the border in large numbers to elect a pro-slavery body.
* April 1 – Cincinnati riots of 1855: Tension between nativists and German-American immigrants in Cincinnati breaks out into territorial street fighting on election day.
* May 17 – The Mount Sinai Hospital is dedicated (as the Jews' Hospital) in New York City; it opens to patients on June 5.
* June 6 – Portland Rum Riot: A crowd gathers at a storehouse believed to hold alcohol in Portland, Maine. The militia is called in and fires on the crowd to disperse the crowd, killing one person.
* June 28 – The Sigma Chi fraternity is founded at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
* July 1 – Quinault Treaty signed, Quinault and Quileute cede their land to the United States.
* July 2 – The Kansas Territorial Legislature convenes in Pawnee and begins passing proslavery laws.
* July 4 – Walt Whitman's poetry collection *Leaves of Grass* is published in Brooklyn.
* July 6 – The Kansas Territorial Legislature meets for the last time in Pawnee, voting to relocate to Shawnee, closer to the border of slave state Missouri.
* July 16 – U.S. Indian commissioner Isaac Stevens signs the Hellgate treaty with Native Americans living in modern-day western Montana.
* August 6 – Bloody Monday: Protestant mobs attack Irish and German Catholics on an election day in Louisville, Kentucky, causing 22 deaths.
* September 3 – First Sioux War: Battle of Ash Hollow: U.S. forces defeat a band of Brulé Lakota in present-day Garden County, Nebraska.
* October 5 – Yakima War: Battle of Toppenish Creek: In the Yakima River Valley, a band of Yakama warriors forces a company of U.S. soldiers to retreat in the first battle of the War.
* October 28 – First Fiji expedition: The U.S. Navy dispatches the USS *John Adams* to Viti Levu, Fiji, to protect American interests. One American sailor is killed and two Marines are wounded.
* November 1 – 31 people are killed in the Gasconade Bridge train disaster in Missouri.
* November 9 – Yakima War: Battle of Union Gap begins: American soldiers attack a Yakama village, forcing the village to retreat.
* November 10 – Yakima War: Battle of Union Gap ends.
* November 21 – Large-scale Bleeding Kansas violence begins with events leading to the Wakarusa War between antislavery and proslavery forces.

## Memoriam

* March 8 – William Poole, founder of the street gang the Bowery Boys and leader of the Know Nothing political movement (aged 33; Manhattan, NY, USA)
* March 25 – Thomas Fitzgerald, U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1848 to 1849 (aged 58; Niles, MI, USA)
* March 28 – William S. Archer, U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1841 to 1847 (aged 66; Amelia County, VA, USA)
* May 7 – Walter T. Colquitt, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1843 to 1848 (aged 55; Macon, GA, USA)
* May 17 – John Canfield Spencer, lawyer, politician, judge and United States Cabinet secretary (aged 67; Albany, NY, USA)
* June 29 – John Gorrie, physician, scientist, inventor, and humanitarian (aged 52; Apalachicola, FL, USA)
* August 18 – Thomas Metcalfe, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1848 to 1849 (aged 75; Nicholas County, KY, USA)