WHAT HAPPENED IN 1861.
Look what happened the 1861.

Porfirio Díaz conquers Mexico City, Mexico. (1. January 1861)

American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States. (3. January 1861)

American Civil War: The "Star of the West" incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina. It is considered by some historians to be the "First Shots of the American Civil War". (9. January 1861)

Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War. (9. January 1861)

American Civil War: Florida secedes from the Union. (10. January 1861)

Alabama secedes from the United States. (11. January 1861)

American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in seceding from the United States. (19. January 1861)

American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate. (21. January 1861)

American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union. (26. January 1861)

Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state. (29. January 1861)

American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States. (1. February 1861)

American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America. (4. February 1861)

American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama. (9. February 1861)

Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America. (10. February 1861)

American Civil War: United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state. (11. February 1861)

In Gaeta the capitulation of the fortress decreeing the end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is signed. (13. February 1861)

In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America. (18. February 1861)

With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy. (18. February 1861)

Serfdom is abolished in Russia. (19. February 1861)

President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland. (23. February 1861)