From Castles to America » Andrew Shotwell Runyon (1861-1950)

Birthday February 18, 1861

• The temperature on February 18, 1861 was about 10.0 °C. The air pressure was 0.5 kgf/m² and came mainly from the south east. The airpressure was 76 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 69%. Source: KNMI
• Koning Willem III (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1849 till 1890 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• From February 23, 1860 till March 14, 1861 the Netherlands had a cabinet Van Hall - Van Heemstra with the prime ministers Mr. F.A. baron Van Hall (conservatief-liberaal) and Mr. S. baron Van Heemstra (liberaal).
• From March 14, 1861 till January 31, 1862 the Netherlands had a cabinet Van Zuijlen van Nijevelt - Loudon with the prime ministers Mr. J.P.P. baron Van Zuijlen van Nijevelt (conservatief-liberaal) and Mr. J. Loudon (liberaal).
• In the year 1861: Source: Wikipedia
  • The Netherlands had about 3.6 million citizens.
  • February 4 » American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America.
  • February 10 » Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
  • February 13 » Italian unification: The Siege of Gaeta ends with the capitulation of the defending fortress, effectively bringing an end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
  • June 10 » American Civil War: Battle of Big Bethel: Confederate troops under John B. Magruder defeat a much larger Union force led by General Ebenezer W. Pierce in Virginia.
  • November 8 » American Civil War: The "Trent Affair": The USSSan Jacinto stops the British mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.
  • December 10 » American Civil War: The Confederate States of America accept a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 13th state of the Confederacy.

Source: Wikipedia

• 1855 » Jean Jules Jusserand, French historian, author, and diplomat, French Ambassador to the United States († 1932)
• 1860 » Anders Zorn, Swedish artist († 1920)
• 1862 » Charles M. Schwab, American businessman, co-founded Bethlehem Steel († 1939)
• 1867 » Hedwig Courths-Mahler, German writer († 1950)
• 1870 » William Laurel Harris, American painter and author († 1924)
• 1871 » Harry Brearley, English inventor († 1948)