What Happened in April?

The Battle of San Jacinto takes place, leading to the Texan victory over Mexico and the capture of General Santa Anna.

William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States, dies of pneumonia after only 32 days in office, the shortest tenure in U.S. presidential history.

Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter-day Saint, (LDS) movement, delivers a sermon in Kirtland, Ohio, introducing the Mormon Church's new doctrine of baptism for the dead.

The modern safety pin is invented and patented by Walter Hunt, a mechanic and independent inventor from New York. The design included a clasp to protect the point and a circular twist at the bend for a spring action. Hunt needed money to pay off a debt he owed to a draftsman and he sold the patent for $400 to W.R. Grace & Co. which later made significant profits from the invention.  More

The first train crosses the Indian Peninsula from Bombay to Thane.

American engineer and inventor William R. Johnson patents the bicycle.

The Groundbreaking of the Suez Canal takes place and the Digging Process begins. Ten years later, on August 18th, after digging out 74 million m3 of soil and spending 433 million Francs, double the original estimate, the water of the the Red Sea and the Mediterranean seas meet and a new world navigation path is established. More 

The Pony Express begins service. From St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California . Covering mMore than 1,800 miles in 10 days and delivering a letter faster than ever before. It operated for only 18 months, but the Pony express became synonymous with the Old West. About ten weeks after the Pony Express began operations, Congress authorized a bill to subsidize the building of a transcontinental telegraph line to connect the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast. On October 26, 1861, San Francisco was in direct contact with New York City. On that day the Pony Express was officially terminated. More

The Confederate Forces attack Fort Sumter, South Carolina, marking the official beginning of the The American Civil War. The war lasted four years, cost the lives of more than 620,000 Americans, and freed 3.9 million enslaved people from bondage. More

The Baltimore Riot - A mob of Confederate sympathizers attacks Union soldiers resulting in the death of 4 soldiers and 12 civilians during the riots. While the attack on Fort Sumter is often cited as the start of the war, the Baltimore riot is seen as the first instance of actual bloodshed involving soldiers. More

General Robert E. Lee accepts  the appointment of major general of Virginia’s state forces. On May 7 Virginia joined the Confederacy . On May 14, Lee was  commissioned brigadier general in the Confederate army. He was  promoted to full general on August 31, 1861. More

General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, effectively ending the American Civil War. Although other Confederate forces; some large units, some small had yet to surrender before President Andrew Johnson could declare that the Civil War was officially over. It was not until August 20, 1866, sixteen months after Lee's surrender at Appomattox, when President Andrew Johnson formally declared an end to the war. More

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot at point-blank range on the back of the head as he watched a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington DC. The President was carried across the street to the Petersen House a private home, where he died early the following morning.  Expand +

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln dies at 7:22 a.m. after being shot on the head the prior evening by John Wilkes Booth at 10:15 pm. President Andrew Johnson took the oath of office as the 17th president at 11am on April 15th. Booth was killed at the end of a 12-day chase. More

The sidewheel steamboat SS Sultana, explodes and sinks near Memphis, Tennessee, killing over 1,700 people. The Sultana had a legal capacity of 376, but was carrying over 2,200 passengers mostly paroled Union soldiers on their way home. The explosion, which is believed to have been caused by a boiler failure, resulted in one of the deadliest maritime disasters in US history. The event was not widely covered in the news at the time, overshadowed by the end of the war and the assassination of President Lincoln. More

Ulysses S. Grant, still a Lieutenant General of the U.S. Army, is detained by two officers, on the one-year anniversary of General Lee’s surrender to Grant in Appomattox, Virginia, for fast driving on 14th Street while “exercising his fast gray nag”. Grant offered to pay the fine, but “expressed his doubts of their authority to arrest him and drove off.” Several days later, Grant “acknowledge the service of a warrant for fast driving and appeared before the Justice of the Peace and paid the fine.” More

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City.

The Straits Settlements, comprised of Singapore, Malacca and Penang, became a crown colony under direct British control / A ceremony at the Town Hall in Singapore marked the formal transfer of the Straits Settlements from the jurisdiction of British India to the direct administration of the Crown. Harry St. George Ord was appointed the first governor of the new crown colony.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, opens to the public in the Dodworth Building at 681 Fifth Avenue. On November 20 of that same year, the Museum acquired its first object, a Roman sarcophagus. In 1871, 174 European paintings, including works by Anthony van Dyck, Nicolas Poussin, and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, entered the collection. More

The Civil Rights Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, is enacted in the United States. More