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Today is September15, 2026 Tuesday.

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The World in 1862 the year the cotton mills ran out of cotton

Northern England ran on cotton, and almost all of it came from the American South. When the war closed the ports the bales stopped arriving, and mill towns emptied. The cotton famine put whole streets out of work, and churches handed out soup, bread and clogs. Buyers went looking for cotton in Egypt and India instead, which made growers there rich while the mill hands queued.

The year in 8 events

About half a million people in Lancashire needed relief to eat this winter. That is more than lived in Liverpool at the time.

• ⚖️Jan 1 India's new penal code takes effect, giving the whole country one set of criminal laws.
• 🚢Mar 9 The ironclads Monitor and Virginia fight to a draw at Hampton Roads. Wooden warships are suddenly out of date.
• 🏛️May 1 The International Exhibition opens in London with machines and goods from around the world.
• ⚔️May 5 A Mexican army beats a larger French force at Puebla.
• 🌾May 20 Lincoln signs the Homestead Act, offering 160 acres of western land to anyone who farms it for five years.
• 📜Jun 5 Vietnam's emperor hands France three provinces around Saigon.
• 🕯️Sep 17 The battle of Antietam in Maryland leaves about 23,000 men killed, wounded or missing in one day.
• 🗣️Sep 30 Otto von Bismarck tells Prussian lawmakers that the great questions of the day will be settled by iron and blood.

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