Curated playlist
1818 births
- Don Carlos BuellUnion General Don Carlos Buell missed most of the battle that ended his career. At Perryville, weather muffled the guns.
- James Prescott JouleJames Joule used a falling weight to spin a paddle wheel in water. The rising temperature showed work turning into heat.
- Karl MarxKarl Marx left an estate valued at just 250 pounds when he died in 1883. He died stateless in London at 64.
- Irvin McDowellIrvin McDowell told politicians his troops weren't ready, and they sent him to fight anyway.
- Alexander II of RussiaOn the morning a bomb killed him, Alexander II signed a step toward representative government.
- Ivan TurgenevIvan Turgenev wrote an obituary for Nikolai Gogol and was jailed for a month. Censors had banned it in Saint Petersburg.
- Benjamin ButlerGeneral Benjamin Butler kept three escaped slaves as contraband of war. Lincoln's Cabinet backed him.
- Jacob BurckhardtIn 1872, Jacob Burckhardt turned down Ranke's famous history chair at Berlin. He stayed in Basel.
- P. G. T. BeauregardBeauregard fired the Civil War's first shots at his own former teacher. Robert Anderson had taught him at West Point.
- Nathaniel LyonGeneral Nathaniel Lyon ended a four-hour meeting with Missouri's governor by saying his demands meant war.