1854 Events January 13 - The accordion is patented by Anthony Faas. February 11 - Major streets lit by coal gas for first time. February 14 - Texas is linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States, when a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas is completed. February 17 - The British recognize the independence of the Orange Free State. February 27 – Britain sends Russia an ultimatum to withdraw from two Ottoman provinces it had conquered, Moldavia and Wallachia February 28 - The United States Republican Party is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin. March 1 - German psychologist Friedrich Eduard Beneke disappears, two years later his remains are found in the canal near Charlottenburg March 20 - The Boston Public Library opens to the public. March 27 – United Kingdom declares war on Russia – Crimean War begins March 28 – France declares war on Russia March 31 - Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy, signs the Treaty/Convention of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, to be precise, Tokugawa Shogunate, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade. (See History of Japan) May 30 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas. June - The Grand Excursion takes prominent Eastern U.S. inhabitants from Chicago to Rock Island, Illinois by railroad, then up the Mississippi River to St. Paul, Minnesota by steamboat. June 10 - The first class of the United States Naval Academy graduate at Annapolis, Maryland June 21 - In the battle at Bomarsund in Åland, Royal Navy mate Charles D. Lucas throws a live Russian artillery shell overboard by hand before it explodes - the incident is the first that will be retroactively awarded the Victoria Cross in 1857 July 6 - In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the U.S. Republican Party is held. July 13 - In the battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General Jose Maria Yanez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset Boulbon. July 13 - Assassination of Khedive Abbas I of Egypt August 16 - Russian troops in the island of Bomarsund in Åland surrender to French-British troops September 20 - Crimean War: At the Alma, the Franco-English alliance wins the first battle of the war. October 01 - The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Mass. to become the Waltham Watch Company pioneer in the American System of Watch Manufacturing. October 17 - Newspaper The Age is founded in Melbourne, Australia. October 21 - Florence Nightingale leaves for Crimea with 38 other nurses October 25 - Crimean War: The Battle of Balaclava occurs, overall a victory for the allies, but it included the disastrous cavalry Charge of the Light Brigade, from which only 200 of 700 men survive. November 5 - Crimean War: Russians lose again at the Battle of Inkerman. November 17 - In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony. Frederick Augustus Albert succeeds to the throne of Saxony. Stockholm, Wisconsin is founded by immigrants from Karlskoga, Sweden (cf 1252). Chemistry Professor Benjamin Silliman, of Yale University is the first to fractionate petroleum by distillation. Abraham Pineo Gesner invents a process for extracting kerosene from coal. Said Pasha succeeds his nephew Abbas as pasha of Egypt. A Russian fort is established at the present site of Almaty. Aurora, Ontario is first settled. Spiegelthal excavates the tomb of Alyattes II. The Ambrotype is introduced for photography. Election of New York City mayor Fernando Wood begins the ascendancy of Tammany Hall. An epidemic of cholera in London kills 10,000. Dr John Snow traces the source of one outbreak (that killed 500) to a single water pump, validating his theory that cholera is water-borne, and forming the starting point for epidemiology. The Iceland trade is opened to foreigners. Births January 18 - Thomas Watson, telephone pioneer February 17 - Friedrich Alfred Krupp, industrialist (d. 1902) March 14 - Paul Ehrlich, physician, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1908 (d. 1915) March 14 - Thomas R. Marshall, US vice-president (d. 1925) March 15 - Emil Adolf von Behring, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901 May 11 - Albion Woodbury Small, US sociologist July 3 - Leos Janacek, Czech composer July 12 - George Eastman, inventor of the Kodak camera July 27 - Takahashi Korekiyo, Japanese prime minister (d. 1936) August 2 - Milan I, king of Serbia October 16 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (d. 1900) October 20 - Arthur Rimbaud, French poet November 6 - John Philip Sousa, famous march composer and conductor November 21 - Pope Benedict XV (d. 1922) December 23 - Victoriano Huerta, Mexican president December 24 - Thomas Stevens, world-circling bicyclist Diamond Bessie - prostitute and murder victim (d. 1877) Edward Harkness - US philanthropist (d. 1940) C. W. Post - cereal manufacturer (d. 1914) Deaths February 17 - John Martin, English painter March 13 - Thomas Noon Talfourd, English jurist April 15 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist July 7 - Georg Ohm, German physicist September 8 - Angelo Mai, Italian cardinal and philologist Abbas I, pasha of Egypt ast:1854 Most Popular Articles: Music    Musical Instruments    Guitar    Classical Music    History    Music Definition    Country Music    Rock Music    Pop Music    Hip Hop    Rap    DJ    Video Games    Casino Games    Poker    Blackjack    Casinos    Real Estate    Loan    Auction    eBay    Marketing    Search Engine Optimization    File Sharing    MP3    Music Industry    Kazaa    Internet    Supermodel    Fashion    Fashion Designers    Erotica    Modeling    Clothing    Boots    Shoes    Diamond Engagement Rings    Diamond    Rugs    Gospel Music    Affiliate    E-Commerce    Radio This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. 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