WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO OCTOBER 1854
Find out what all happened April to October 1854

The steamship SS Arctic sinks with 300 people on board. This marks the first great disaster in the Atlantic Ocean. (27. September 1854)

Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times begins serialisation in his magazine, Household Words. (1. April 1854)

The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Massachusetts, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a pioneer in the American system of watch manufacturing. (1. October 1854)

USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the US Navy, is commissioned. (28. July 1854)

Crimean War: The siege of Sebastopol begins. (9. October 1854)

The Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade). (25. October 1854)

The civil death procedure is abolished in France. (31. May 1854)

Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses are sent to the Crimean War. (21. October 1854)

In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party is held. (6. July 1854)

The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships. (4. August 1854)

Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden. (9. August 1854)

In the Battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General José María Yáñez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon. (13. July 1854)

The first class of United States Naval Academy students graduate. (10. June 1854)

England: The Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead starts shortly after midnight, leading to 53 deaths and hundreds injured. (6. October 1854)

Battle of Alma: British and French troops defeat Russians in the Crimea. (20. September 1854)

The First Sioux War begins when United States Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear and in return are massacred. (19. August 1854)

The first Victoria Cross is awarded during the bombardment of Bomarsund in the Åland Islands. (21. June 1854)

The Kansas–Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas. (30. May 1854)