Timeline October 1856

Events in October 1856 2

• 1856 Second Opium War begins with the Arrow Incident Chinese seizure of a ship sparks renewed conflict with Britain On 8 October 1856, Chinese officials in Canton boarded the Arrow, a Chinese-owned but British-registered ship, arrested its crew on suspicion of piracy, and lowered its flag. Britain used the incident as a pretext to bombard Canton later that month, reigniting hostilities that became the Second Opium War. France later joined Britain against the Qing government.
• 1856 Willie and Martin handcart companies disaster Mormon emigrants are trapped by early snowstorms in Wyoming Two companies of Mormon emigrants pulling handcarts to Salt Lake City were caught by early winter storms in Wyoming starting in October 1856, having departed too late in the season. Roughly 200 of the more than 1,000 emigrants died of cold and starvation before rescue parties from Salt Lake City reached them. The disaster remains the deadliest single incident in the history of American westward migration organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.