Key Events in American History: 1864

President: Abraham Lincoln

VP: Hannibal Hamlin

Date, Event

January Long March of the Navajo - Bands of Navajo are led from AZ & NM to Ft. Sumner, led by Kit Carson

February Gold is discovered in Prescott, AZ

Mar 9th President Lincoln appoints Ulysses S. Grant commander in chief of all Union armies

Apr 22nd Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 placing "In God We Trust" on all U.S. coins

May 28th Montana is organized as a U.S. territory

May 30th Prescott becomes the territorial capital of Arizona Territory

Jun 30th President Lincoln signs the Yosemite Grant Act

Aug 1st Elgin Watch Company is founded

Sep 2nd-7th General Sherman & the Union Army seize & burn Atlanta as the Confederates evacuate

Oct 31st Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S. state

Nov 8th Abraham Lincoln is reelected as President over George McClellan

Nov 15th General Sherman begins Sherman's March to the Sea burning crops & homes & tearing up RR track

Nov 29th Sand Creek Massacre: Col. John Chivington murders 400 Cheyenne & Arapahoe noncombatants

Civil War continues (1861-1865)

Jun 11th Richard Strauss (Composer)

Jun 14th Alois Alzheimer (Psychiatrist/Neuropathologist)

Jul 2nd George Washington Carver (Scientist/Botanist/Educator/Inventor)

Jan 13th Stephen Foster (American Songwriter)

May 18th Nathaniel Hawthorne (Author, "The Scarlet Letter", "The House of Seven Gables")