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1856

Years :	1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859
Centuries:	18th century · 19th century · 20th century
Decades:	1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s
Years:	1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859

1856 in topic:
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Establishments - Disestablishments

1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events

January - The first free public school west of the Mississippi River was established in Tipton, Iowa.
January 8 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
January 24 - U.S. President Franklin Pierce declares the new Free-State Topeka government in Bleeding Kansas to be in rebellion.
January 29 - Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross

February - The only month in recorded history to not have a full moon.
February - The Tintic War in Utah.
February 1 - Auburn University is first chartered as the East Alabama Male College.
February 18 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.

May 16 - the Vigilance Committee founded in San Francisco, California. It lynches two gangsters, arrests most Democratic Party officials and disbands itself on August 18
May 21 - Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by proslavery forces (the "Sacking of Lawrence").
May 22 - Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas"). Sumner was unable to return to duty for three years while he recovered. Brooks became a hero across the South.
May 24 - The Pottawatomie Massacre - group of followers of radical abolitionist John Brown kill five homesteaders in Franklin County, Kansas

June 9 - 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.

July 17 - The Great Train Wreck of 1856 was the worst railroad calamity in the world to date, occurring near Philadelphia, PA, USA.
July 31 - Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.

August 10 - Hurricane destroys Last Island, Louisiana - 400 dead. The whole island was broken up into several smaller islands by the storm.
August 30 - Battle of Osawatomie between proslavery and antislavery forces in Bleeding Kansas.

British Country and Borough Police Act extends London police model to all of England and Wales
Western Union founded
Kate Warner, the first female private detective, begins to work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency
Pre-human remains found in the Neanderthal valley in Germany
Gregor Mendel starts his research on genetics.
National Portrait Gallery in London opened.
Sale of Land starts suburb of Ashgrove, Queensland.
The first session concludes at Saint Paul's School, the prestigious New England Prep School in Concord, NH.
Founding year of St. Paul's School, Camp, Belgaum.