1864

Events in 1864 45

• 1775 – 1864 Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864) Died 17 September 1864, aged 89 English writer and poet known for his prose work Imaginary Conversations and for his combative, independent life. He died in Florence, Italy, where he had spent much of his later life.
• 1777 – 1864 Roger Taney (1777-1864) Died 12 October 1864, aged 87 Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, author of the 1857 Dred Scott decision denying citizenship to Black Americans. He died in Washington, D.C., still serving on the Court.
• 1791 – 1864 Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) Died 2 May 1864, aged 72 German-born composer whose grand operas, including Robert le diable and Les Huguenots, dominated the Paris Opéra for decades. He died in Paris shortly before the premiere of his final opera, L'Africaine.
• 1793 – 1864 John Clare (1793-1864) Died 20 May 1864, aged 70 English Romantic poet celebrated for his vivid depictions of the rural landscape and lamented enclosure of the English countryside. He died in Northampton after spending his final decades in an asylum.
• 1804 – 1864 Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) Died 19 May 1864, aged 59 American novelist and short-story writer best known for The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. He died in Plymouth, New Hampshire, while on a trip with former president Franklin Pierce.
• 1806 – 1864 Leonidas Polk (1806-1864) Died 14 June 1864, aged 58 Confederate general and Episcopal bishop known as the "Fighting Bishop." He was killed by Union artillery fire near Marietta, Georgia, during the Atlanta Campaign.
• 1813 – 1864 John Sedgwick (1813-1864) Died 9 May 1864, aged 50 Union Army general and corps commander popular with his troops, killed by a sniper at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. He was the highest-ranking Union officer killed in the war to that point.
• 1825 – 1864 Ferdinand Lassalle (1825-1864) Died 31 August 1864, aged 39 German philosopher and pioneering socialist leader who founded Germany's first workers' political party. He died in Geneva from wounds suffered in a pistol duel over a romantic dispute.
• 1825 – 1864 John Hunt Morgan (1825-1864) Died 4 September 1864, aged 39 Confederate cavalry general famous for long-range raids into Union territory, including "Morgan's Raid" through Indiana and Ohio. He was killed by Union troops in Greeneville, Tennessee.
• 1826 – 1864 Stephen Foster (1826-1864) Died 13 January 1864, aged 37 American songwriter known as the "father of American music," composer of "Oh! Susanna," "Camptown Races," and "Beautiful Dreamer." He died in poverty in New York City from a fever after a fall.
• 1833 – 1864 J.E.B. Stuart (1833-1864) Died 12 May 1864, aged 31 Confederate cavalry general known for his bold reconnaissance raids during the American Civil War. He died in Richmond, Virginia, a day after being mortally wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern.
• 1850 – 1864 Taiping Rebellion The deadliest civil war in history — 20–30 million dead The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, led by Hong Xiuquan who believed himself Jesus's brother, controlled much of southern China from 1850 to 1864. The conflict killed an estimated 20–30 million people — more than World War I — making it the deadliest civil war in history. The Qing dynasty suppressed the rebellion with foreign help but emerged fatally weakened.
• 1864 – 1903 Draga of Serbia (1864-1903) Assassinated 11 June 1903, aged 38 Draga Mau0161in married King Alexander I of Serbia in 1900, a union that proved deeply unpopular with the Serbian public and military. She was killed alongside her husband by army officers during the palace coup of 11 June 1903. Her assassination marked the violent end of the Obrenoviu0107 dynasty.
• 1864 – 1936 Eleftherios Venizelos (1864-1936) Died 18 March 1936, aged 71 Eleftherios Venizelos served several times as prime minister of Greece. He greatly expanded Greek territory during the Balkan Wars and led Greece into the First World War on the Allied side. He died in exile in Paris after a failed coup attempt in 1935.
• 1864 – 1918 Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) Died 9 March 1918, aged 53 German playwright Frank Wedekind, author of the controversial drama Spring Awakening, died in Munich following complications from an operation. His work explored sexuality and social repression with a frankness that scandalized contemporary audiences. He is regarded as a forerunner of expressionist theatre.
• 1864 – 1927 Ion I. C. Brătianu (1864-1927) Died 24 November 1927, aged 63 Ion I. C. Brătianu led the National Liberal Party and served five times as Prime Minister of Romania. He represented Romania at the Paris Peace Conference and was the leading figure in the creation of Greater Romania.
• 1864 – 1948 Louis Lumière (1864-1948) Died 6 June 1948, aged 83 Louis Lumière, who with his brother Auguste invented the cinématographe and screened some of the first motion pictures in 1895, died on June 6, 1948. The Lumière brothers' early films of everyday life are considered the birth of cinema as a public art form. Louis continued to work on photographic and film technology throughout his life.
• 1864 – 1920 Max Weber (1864-1920) Died 14 June 1920, aged 56 German sociologist and political economist regarded as one of the founders of modern sociology. His works, including "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism," examined the relationship between religion, rationalization, and modern society. He died of pneumonia in Munich.
• 1864 Maxwell — electromagnetic theory of light Light is an electromagnetic wave — electricity, magnetism and light unified In 1864, James Clerk Maxwell of Edinburgh published his equations describing the electromagnetic field, showing that oscillating electric and magnetic fields travel as waves at the speed of light. He concluded that light itself is an electromagnetic wave. Maxwell's four equations unified electricity, magnetism, and optics into a single theory — the greatest unification in physics between Newton and Einstein, and the foundation of radio, radar, television, and wireless communication.
• 1864 – 1876 Maxwell, Bell and the telephone signal Electromagnetic waves carry information — telecommunications born Maxwell's 1864 equations predicted that electromagnetic waves could carry information through space. Alexander Graham Bell's 1876 telephone transmitted the human voice electrically for the first time. These two developments together established the principle that information can be encoded in electromagnetic signals — the foundation of all modern telecommunications.
• 1864 – 1936 Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) Died 31 December 1936, aged 72 Miguel de Unamuno was a Spanish philosopher, novelist and rector of the University of Salamanca. His works include The Tragic Sense of Life and Mist. After confronting Nationalist officers in October 1936, he spent his last weeks under house arrest.
• 1864 – 1922 Nellie Bly (1864-1922) Died 27 January 1922, aged 57 Nellie Bly, the American journalist famous for her 1889-90 race around the world in emulation of Around the World in Eighty Days and for her undercover exposé of a New York asylum, died of pneumonia in New York City. She was a pioneer of investigative journalism. Her real name was Elizabeth Cochrane.
• 1864 – 1892 Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence (1864-1892) Died 14 January 1892, aged 28 Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of the future King Edward VII and second in line to the British throne, died of influenza during a pandemic sweeping Europe. His death altered the line of succession, placing his younger brother George, later King George V, next after their father.
• 1864 – 1941 Walther Nernst (1864-1941) Died 18 November 1941, aged 77 Walther Nernst was a German physical chemist who formulated the third law of thermodynamics and the Nernst equation. He won the 1920 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 1864 – 1928 Wilhelm Wien (1864-1928) Died 30 August 1928, aged 64 German physicist who won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Physics for his laws of heat radiation. Wien's displacement law relates the temperature of a black body to its peak wavelength. His work led toward Planck's quantum theory.
• 1864 Second Schleswig War ends Prussia and Austria defeat Denmark The war between Denmark and the German powers Prussia and Austria concluded with the Treaty of Vienna. Denmark ceded the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg, a major step toward Prussian dominance in Germany.
• 1864 Ludwig II becomes King of Bavaria Young monarch ascends the throne Ludwig II acceded to the Bavarian throne at age 18 following the death of his father, Maximilian II. He would later become famous as a patron of Richard Wagner and builder of extravagant fairy-tale castles.
• 1864 Pasteur demonstrates germ theory Sorbonne lecture challenges spontaneous generation Louis Pasteur presented experimental results at the Sorbonne showing that microorganisms causing fermentation and putrefaction came from the air rather than arising spontaneously. The work laid crucial groundwork for germ theory and antiseptic medicine.
• 1864 Chincha Islands War begins Spain seizes guano-rich islands from Peru Spanish forces occupied Peru's guano-rich Chincha Islands in a dispute rooted in unresolved colonial-era debts, triggering a war that would eventually draw in Chile, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The islands were a major source of valuable fertilizer export revenue.
• 1864 Battle of the Wilderness Opening clash of Grant's Overland Campaign Union and Confederate armies fought a brutal, confused battle in dense Virginia woodland as Ulysses S. Grant began his Overland Campaign against Robert E. Lee. The battle produced heavy casualties on both sides without a decisive result.
• 1864 Battle of Cold Harbor Costly Union assault in Virginia Grant ordered a frontal assault on entrenched Confederate positions near Richmond, resulting in devastating Union casualties within minutes on the main day of fighting. The defeat pushed Grant to shift his campaign toward besieging Petersburg.
• 1864 Maximilian I enters Mexico City as Emperor French-backed monarchy installed in Mexico Archduke Maximilian of Austria, invited by Mexican conservatives and backed by French troops, arrived in Mexico City to take up the throne of the newly created Second Mexican Empire. His rule faced immediate resistance from republican forces loyal to Benito Juárez.
• 1864 Sinking of the CSS Alabama Confederate raider destroyed off France The USS Kearsarge sank the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama in a ship-to-ship duel off Cherbourg, France, after the raider had captured or destroyed dozens of Union merchant vessels. The battle drew large crowds of French spectators to the coast.
• 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay Union fleet closes major Confederate port Admiral David Farragut led a Union fleet past Confederate forts and a minefield to defeat a smaller Confederate flotilla in Mobile Bay, Alabama. The victory closed one of the last major Southern ports open to blockade runners.
• 1864 First Geneva Convention Rules of War Established the neutrality of medical personnel and the humane treatment of wounded soldiers.
• 1864 Fall of Atlanta Sherman captures key Confederate rail hub After a summer-long campaign, Union forces under William T. Sherman occupied Atlanta, Georgia, one of the Confederacy's most important rail and manufacturing centers. The victory boosted Northern morale ahead of the 1864 presidential election.
• 1864 International Workingmen's Association founded First International established in London Trade unionists and socialists from several European countries met in London to found the International Workingmen's Association, later known as the First International. Karl Marx helped draft its founding address, and the organization became a major vehicle for international labor politics.
• 1864 – 1949 Richard Strauss Late Romantic & modern composer German composer known for his tone poems — Also sprach Zarathustra, Till Eulenspiegel — and operas Salome, Der Rosenkavalier and Elektra.
• 1864 Nevada admitted as a US state Silver-mining territory joins the Union Nevada was admitted to the United States as the 36th state, driven in part by wartime demand for its silver deposits and a desire to secure additional pro-Union votes. Its constitution was rushed through partly to help Lincoln's re-election prospects.
• 1864 Abraham Lincoln re-elected President Union voters endorse continuing the war Lincoln won a second term over Democratic challenger George B. McClellan, with recent Union military successes, including the fall of Atlanta, bolstering his campaign. The result confirmed the North's commitment to prosecuting the Civil War to its conclusion.
• 1864 Sherman's March to the Sea Union army devastates Georgia William T. Sherman led Union forces on a destructive march from Atlanta to Savannah, deliberately targeting infrastructure and supplies to break Southern will to fight. The campaign ended with the capture of Savannah in December.
• 1864 – 1901 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Post-Impressionism · France Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (November 24, 1864 – September 9, 1901) was a French Post-Impressionist painter who captured the nightlife of Montmartre with vivid immediacy. His posters for the Moulin Rouge defined the Art Nouveau aesthetic.
• 1864 Sand Creek Massacre US militia kills Cheyenne and Arapaho villagers Colorado Territory militia under Colonel John Chivington attacked a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho encampment on Sand Creek, killing mostly women, children, and the elderly. The massacre provoked national controversy and fueled further conflict on the Plains.
• 1864 – 1946 William S. Hart (1864-1946) American actor and director, the first great cowboy star of silent film.
• 1864 Battle of Nashville Union army destroys Confederate Army of Tennessee Union forces under George Thomas decisively defeated John Bell Hood's Confederate Army of Tennessee outside Nashville. The battle effectively destroyed one of the Confederacy's two main field armies.