The World in 1865 the year America stopped fighting itself

About four million people were freed from slavery this year. That is more than the population of New York, the largest state in the country.

Life back then

Surgery was a gamble. Wounds turned septic so often that a patient could survive the operation and die of infection a week later. In Glasgow a surgeon named Joseph Lister started soaking dressings in carbolic acid, and his ward stopped losing men to gangrene. In London a preacher called William Booth began holding meetings for the poor of the East End, the start of the Salvation Army. Cheap card photographs were the craze, and soldiers walking home carried them in their pockets.

The year in 8 events

• 🌱Feb 8 Gregor Mendel reads a paper about his pea plants to a science club in Brno. Almost nobody notices.
• 🏳️Apr 9 Robert E. Lee surrenders his army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox in Virginia.
• 🕯️Apr 14 President Lincoln is shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington. He dies the next morning.
• ⚔️May 1 Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay sign a secret treaty to fight Paraguay. The war drags on for five years.
• 🏔️Jul 14 Seven men climb the Matterhorn for the first time. Four fall to their deaths coming down.
• 🕯️Oct 11 Farmers led by Paul Bogle march on the courthouse at Morant Bay in Jamaica. The revolt is crushed and hundreds are hanged in reprisal.
• 📖Nov 26 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland goes on sale in London.
• ⛓️Dec 6 The 13th Amendment is ratified. Slavery is illegal everywhere in the United States.

You selected the year1865

Pick a month to narrow your search.

Today is September13, 2026 Sunday.

Born ?

Who Was in Charge?

Share & Embed Take this date with you