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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1859 | - 13 Feb 1859: The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad is completed all the way from Hannibal, Marion County, Missouri to St. Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri. It is the first railroad to cross Missouri. St. Joseph has been serving as a major wagon train staging ground and supply depot since the discovery of gold in California in 1848 and in Colorado in 1858.
- 14 Feb 1859: Oregon becomes the 33rd state.
- 28 Aug 1859: Oil is discovered in Titusville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania.
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| 2 | 1860 | - 1860: The population of Iowa is now 674,913, which is about 45,000 more people than the total estimated American colonial population in 1730.
- 1860: United States population — 31,443,321.
- 3 Apr 1860: The Pony Express begins service from St. Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri to Sacramento, Sacramento County, California. Riders make the 10-day, 1,966-mile trip twice a week.
- 6 Nov 1860: Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States at age 51.
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| 3 | 1861 | - Jan 1861: Southern states begin to secede from the Union.
- 29 Jan 1861: Kansas becomes the 34th state.
- 9 Feb 1861: Jefferson Davis is elected President of the Confederate States of America.
- 4 Mar 1861: Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States at age 52.
- 12 Apr 1861: The Civil War begins when the Confederate Army attacks Fort Sumter at the mouth of the harbor in Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina.
- 17 Apr 1861: Virginia secedes from the Union.
- 8 Jun 1861: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
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| 4 | 1862 | - 14 Feb 1862: Jefferson Davis proclaims Arizona Territory a part of the Confederacy.
- 15 Apr 1862: The Battle of Picacho Peak is fought 50 miles northwest of Tucson, Arizona, marking the westernmost battle of the Civil War.
- 20 May 1862: Congress passes the Homestead Act. A settler can now claim 160 acres [¼ square mile] of surveyed government land as long as he builds a dwelling, grows crops and stays on the land for 5 years.
- 27 Sep 1862: Umatilla County, Oregon is formed with land from Wasco County, Oregon.
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| 5 | 1863 | - 20 Jun 1863: West Virginia becomes the 35th state. [Berkeley County, Virginia is now Berkeley County, West Virginia.]
- 27 Jun 1863: The Battle of Gettysburg begins in Adams County, Pennsylvania.
- 3 Oct 1863: President Abraham Lincoln declares Thanksgiving a national holiday.
- 23 Nov 1863: The Battle of Lookout Mountain and Cemetery Ridge is fought near Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee.
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| 6 | 1865 | - 9 Apr 1865: General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Appomattox County, Virginia, ending the Civil War. Lee is age 58, and Grant is almost age 43.
- 14 Apr 1865: President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated at age 56.
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| 7 | 1866 | - 1866—1867: A depression lasts 18 months and into 1867.
- 24 Jul 1866: Tennessee is readmitted to the Union.
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| 8 | 1867 | - 26 Feb 1867: Barton County, Kansas is formed with land from the Peketon Territory.
- 1 Mar 1867: Nebraska becomes the 37th state.
- 18 Oct 1867: The United States takes possession of Alaska from Russia. The United States paid $7.2 million for the purchase, also known as "Seward's Folly."
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| 9 | 1869 | - 10 May 1869: Construction is completed on the first transcontinental railroad when Leland Stanford drives a golden spike at Promontory Summit, Box Elder County, Utah. The Central Pacific Railroad from Sacramento, Sacramento County, California has met the Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska. Americans can now travel from coast to coast in 1 week, instead of weeks or months. Additionally, a telegraph system was built with the railroad and the United States now has a coast-to-coast telegraph.
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| 10 | 1870 | - 1870: United States population — 39,818,449.
- 26 Jan 1870: Virginia is readmitted to the Union.
- 30 Jan 1870: James County, Tennessee is formed with land from Hamilton County and Bradley County, Tennessee.
- 3 Mar 1870: Texas is readmitted to the Union.
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| 11 | 1872 | - 1 Mar 1872: Congress establishes Yellowstone National Park.
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| 12 | 1873 | - Sep 1873: The Birchwood Baptist Church is organized in Birchwood, James County [later to be Hamilton County], Tennessee.
- 18 Sep 1873—1878: The Panic of 1873 begins. A depression lasts 66 months and into 1878.
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| 13 | 1874 | - 2 Apr 1874: The Town of Winchester, Virginia becomes the Independent City of Winchester, Virginia, which is not a part of Frederick County politically, even though it is completely surrounded by, and is county seat of, Frederick County.
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| 14 | 1876 | - 10 Mar 1876: Alexander Graham Bell successfully tests the first telephone with the words to his assistant, "Watson, come here; I want you." Bell is age 29.
- 25 Jun 1876: General George Armstrong Custer faces his last stand at the Battle of Little Big Horn in what is now Big Horn County, Montana. Custer dies at age 36.
- 1 Aug 1876: Colorado becomes the 38th state.
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| 15 | 1878 | - 19 Feb 1878: Thomas Alva Edison receives a patent for his invention of the first practical phonograph. He intends it as an office dictating machine. Edison is age 31.
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| 16 | 1880 | - 1880: United States population — 50,155,783.
- 27 Jan 1880: Thomas Alva Edison patents the incandescent lamp. Edison is age 32.
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| 17 | 1882 | - 1882—1885: A depression lasts 36 months and into 1885.
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| 18 | 1885 | - 16 Feb 1885: Morrow County, Oregon is formed with land from Umatilla County, Oregon.
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| 19 | 1886 | - 4 Sep 1886: Chiricahua Apache Chief Geronimo finally surrenders at about age 57. Geronimo had led the last band of Apache raiders in Arizona and New Mexico.
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1859 - 1888 (29 years)