What Happened in August?

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 It was repealed in 1862 and replaced with a different revenue act.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.

Colorado is admitted into the Union and becomes the 38th State

Zulu King Cetshwayo, the last king of the independent Zulu nation was captured by the British during the Zulu war and taken into custody. Two years later he was allowed to travel to London and met Queen Victoria. He was permitted to return to South Africa to rule a portion of the former Zulu kingdom in 1883. More

The construction of the Cologne Cathedral ( Kölner Dom), the largest Gothic church in northern Europe is finally completed after having been started 642 years earlier in 1248. It is now the city's major landmark. More

Krakatoa eruption. One of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in recorded history takes place on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa (Krakatau). The first eruption sends a cloud of gas and debris into the air and it is followed by increasingly powerful explosions culminating in a gigantic blast around 10 am on August 27. Expand +

A strong 7.0 Magnitude earthquake strikes Charleston, South Carolina, causing at least 60 deaths and $5–6 million ($200 million in 2025) in damage to over 2,000 buildings in the Southeastern United States. It was one of the most powerful and damaging earthquakes to hit the East Coast of the United States, an unusual event in an area not known for seismic activity that was felt as far as Boston, Chicago Milwaukee and New Orleans.

William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed in an Electric chair. The execution took place in New York. It was the first time ever a state used the electric chair to carry out an execution. States have carried out 158 executions by electric chair since 1973. Tennessee was the most recent state to use the electric chair, taking place in 2020. More

Gold was discovered on August 16, 1896, in Rabbit Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory, resulting in the Great Klondike Gold Rush. Rabbit Creek was later renamed Bonanza Creek. Expand +