Historical Events in 1856

The American Party

Feb 18 The American Party (Know-Nothings) convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate its first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.

Feb 19 Tin-type camera patented by Hamilton Smith, Gambier, Ohio
Feb 20 The steam packet-ship John Rutledge, en route from Liverpool to New York, hits an iceberg and sinks with the loss of 120 passengers and 19 crew; only one survivor (Thomas Nye of New Bedford)
Feb 22 1st national meeting of Republican Party (Pittsburgh)
Feb 27 18th Grand National: George Stevens wins aboard 25/1 Freetrader; first of Stevens' record 5 GN victories
Mar 5 Covent Garden Opera House, London, destroyed in a fire
Mar 5 Georgia becomes 1st state to regulate railroads
Mar 9 Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded in the Johnston Mansion House on the University of Alabama
Mar 23 18-year-old English chemist William Perkin accidentally produces the first synthetic aniline dye ‘mauveine’ (purple) during his Easter holiday [1]
Mar 25 A E Burnside patents Burnside carbine
Mar 26 New South Wales's first 1st-class game, v Victoria at Melbourne NSW wins

The 1856 Treaty of Paris

Mar 30 The Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia sign the Treaty of Paris ending the Crimean War

The Congress of Paris between the Russian Empire, France, United Kingdom, Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia

Apr 3 Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes badly damaged by gunpowder explosion, kills 4,000 on island of Rhodes
Apr 10 The Theta Chi Fraternity is founded at Norwich University, Vermont
Apr 11 Battle of Rivas; Costa Rica beats William Walker's invading Nicaraguans
Apr 18 Russian Chancellor Count Nesselrode resigns
May 7 Argentina & Brazil sign a navigation pact
May 15 2nd San Francisco Vigilance Committee organized
May 19 Senator Charles Sumner of Massachesetts speaks out against slavery
May 21 Lawrence, Kansas, is captured and sacked by pro-slavery forces
May 22 Violence in the US Senate, South Carolina rep Brooks uses a cane on Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner

Pottawatomie Massacre

May 24 Pottawatomie Massacre: John Brown and abolitionist settlers kill five pro-slavery settlers in Franklin County, Kansas

May 27 Doctor William Palmer (the Rugeley Poisoner) found guilty of poisoning in Stafford, England
Jun 3 Cullen Whipple patents a machine for making screws
Jun 8 Pitcairn Islanders arrive on Norfolk Island
Jun 9 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa, and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah, carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts
Jun 17 Republican Party opens its 1st national convention in Philadelphia
Jul 15 Natal forms as a British colony separate from Cape Colony
Jul 16 Statue of Laurens Jansz Coster unveiled in Haarlem
Jul 17 The Great Train Wreck of 1856 between Camp Hill and Fort Washington, Pennsylvania kills over 60 people
Jul 31 Christchurch, New Zealand, is chartered as a city
Aug 6 The Great Bell is cast for the Great Clock of Westminster, London (Big Ben)
Aug 10 Hurricane washes away 2-300 revelers at Last Island, Louisiana
Aug 12 Anthony Faas, of Philadelphia Pennsylvania, is granted a second patent for improvements to the accordion (Patent No. 15511A)
Aug 20 Wilberforce University forms in Ohio
Aug 21 America's first consul to Japan, Townsend Harris, arrives in Shimoda. (Traditional Japanese date: July 21, 1856)
Sep 2 Tianjing's struggle Incident in Nanjing, China.
Sep 14 Battle of San Jacinto at Hacienda San Jacinto, Nicaraguan forces defeat American filibusters
Oct 7 Cyrus Chambers Jr patents folding machine that folds book & newspapers
Oct 8 The Second Opium War or second Anglo-Chinese War: begins with the Arrow Incident on the Pearl River
Oct 19 James Kelly and Jack Smith fight bareknuckle for 6h15m in Melbourne
Oct 20 Arnhem-Oberhausen railway in Netherlands opens
Oct 24 Constitution of South Australia adopted

French Magic

Oct 28 French Magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin performs for Algerian Marabouts in Algeria to convince them that French magic is the stronger

Nov 3 A British fleet bombards Canton

James Buchanan Elected

Nov 4 James Buchanan elected 15th US president

Big Ben Chimes

Nov 13 The Great Bell of Big Ben first chimes at the foot of the still unfinished clock tower outside the Palace of Westminster [1]

Condensed Milk

Nov 14 American Gail Borden is issued a patent for technology related to his invention of condensed milk

Nov 16 Amsterdam post office at Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal opens
Nov 17 On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.
Dec 9 The Iranian city of Bushehr surrenders to occupying British forces.