WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO FEBRUARY 1862
Find out what all happened January to February 1862

Bucharest is proclaimed the capital of Romania. (24. January 1862)

Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861. (22. February 1862)

The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched. (30. January 1862)

American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina. (10. February 1862)

American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory. (21. February 1862)

American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee. (15. February 1862)

American Civil War: forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry. (6. February 1862)

Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University. (31. January 1862)

American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee. (16. February 1862)

Hartley Colliery Disaster: 204 men and boys killed in a mining disaster, prompted a change in UK law which henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape. (16. January 1862)

American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs – The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the conflict. (19. January 1862)