What Happened in August?

The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 is passed and slavery is abolished throughout the British Empire, including in the British colonies of the Caribbean and North America effective on August 1, 1834. Expand +

"The Great Moon Hoax” is published in the New York Sun - A series of six articles starting on August 25, about the supposed discovery of life and civilization on the Moon and allegedly reprinted from The Edinburgh Courant.   Expand +

Slavery is abolished in Jamaica where it had been introduced in 1509.

The United States Exploring Expedition under the command of US Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes departs from from Hampton Roads for the Pacific Ocean and Antarctica. It was a significant scientific and exploratory voyage that took place from 1838 to 1842.  Expand +

Brigham Young is chosen to lead the Mormon Church. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,(LDS) More

The act establishing the Smithsonian Institution for "the Increase and Diffusion of Knowledge among Men," is passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President James K. Polk. The Institution was founded with funds from the Englishman James Smithson (1765–1829) according to his wishes “under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” A bequest to a country that he had never visited. The Smithsonian Institution is now the world's largest museum, education, and research complex. More

The first recorded coordinated use of balloons in warfare for an aerial attack takes place during the First Italian War of Independence by the Austrian imperial forces against the Italian city of Vienna as Austria deploys approximately 200 paper hot air balloons, each carrying  a 20-to-30-pound bomb, designed to be dropped over the besieged city via a time fuse.  Expand +

King Kamehameha III officially declares Honolulu the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii although it had become the de facto capital in 1845. Before that, Lahaina had served as the capital. The official declaration reflected Honolulu's growing importance as a port of trade. 

Eunice Newton Foote makes first public scientific mention of the upcoming "Greenhouse effect" in an 1856 paper , titled “Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the Sun’s Rays,” , presented at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Foote' s short paper included a prescient conclusion; “An atmosphere of that gas (Carbon Dioxide) would give to our earth a high temperature,” describing the phenomenon we now call the greenhouse effect, the main cause of climate change.  Expand +

The first successful transatlantic telegraph line is completed. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom sends a telegraph to U.S. President James Buchanan. Near-instantaneous communication between Europe and North America become a reality. However Signal quality declined rapidly, slowing transmission to an almost unusable speed.  Expand +

Edwin Drake becomes the first American to strike oil while drilling in Titusville, Pennsylvania, finding the first productive oil well in the United States. Drake's well had been nicknamed "Drake's Folly" because of the methods he devised to overcome the difficulties he encountered. In the end, at 69.5 feet (21 m), Drake was successful.  Expand +

President Abraham Lincoln signs the first income tax bill; the Revenue act of 1861, establishing a 3% flat rate on annual incomes of $800 or more and some import tariffs, and property taxes. The Bill was enacted during the Civil War as a temporary measure to help finance the war effort. This initial income tax was fairly ineffective as it lacked a strong enforcement mechanism. It was repealed in 1862 and replaced with a different revenue act.

President Abraham Lincoln replies to Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, abolitionist editorial entitled “The Prayer of Twenty Millions" with a carefully worded letter hinting to a future change in his policy regarding the issue of slavery. More 

The Lawrence Massacre takes place as a group of roughly 400 Confederate guerrillas commanded by William Quantrill enters the town and immediately begin to ransack homes, shoot civilians, loot stores, and set buildings on fire. Between 160 and 190 men and boys were. killed in the raid. William Quantrill was shot and killed by Union soldiers in Kentucky in May 1865 More

Battle of Mobile Bay -- Admiral David G. Farragut, leads a fleet of fourteen wooden ships and four ironclads and delivers a much needed victory for the Union and immortalizes the phase "Damn the torpedoes! - Full speed ahead!”.  Expand +

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), created in 1863 comes into being as the draft convention submitted to the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armies in the Field, conference is adopted by 12 nations at meeting. "The ICRC is an independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence." More

James I. Waddell, Commander of the CSS Shenandoah learns the war is over from the bark Barracouta. More

President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation announcing the end of the American Civil War. It came 16 months after General Lee's surrender and after all other Confederate forces; some large and some small units, had followed suit.

 "And I do further proclaim that the said insurrection is at an end and that peace, order, tranquility, and civil authority now exists in and throughout the whole of the United States of America." Expand +

Mount of the Holy Cross was first photographed by William Henry Jackson. Stories had circulated for years of a mountain with a large cross etched in its side. Jackson climbed the western slope of the Rocky Mountains with more than 100 pounds of photography equipment and captured his most famous photograph. He later painted the iconic image in watercolor. More

Matthew Webb, an English Merchant Marine Captain swimmer and stuntman, becomes the first recorded person to swim the English Channel for sport without the use of artificial aids. Webb swam from Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours., becoming a celebrity. He went on to perform many stunts in public. He died in 1883 trying to swim the Niagara Gorge below Niagara as part of a publicity stunt.