1856

January 8 – Borax deposits are discovered in large quantities by John Veatch in California. January 23 – American paddle steamer SS Pacific leaves Liverpool (England) for a transatlantic voyage on which she will be lost with all 186 on board. January 24 – U.S. President Franklin Pierce declares the new Free-State Topeka government in "Bleeding Kansas" to be in rebellion. January 26 – First Battle of Seattle: Marines from the suppress an indigenous uprising, in response to Governor Stevens' declaration of a "war of extermination" on Native communities. January 29 The 223-mile North Carolina Railroad is completed from Goldsboro through Raleigh and Salisbury to Charlotte. Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross as a British military decoration. February The Tintic War breaks out in Utah. The National Dress Reform Association is founded in the United States to promote "rational" dress for women. February 1 – Auburn University is first chartered, as the East Alabama Male College. February 2 – Dallas, Texas, is incorporated as a city. February 7 – The Nawab of Oudh, Wajid Ali Shah, is exiled to Metiabruz and the state is annexed by the British East India Company. February 12 – American clipper ships Driver and Ocean Queen leave Liverpool and London respectively; both will be lost without trace in the Atlantic, perhaps due to ice, killing 374 and 123 respectively. February 18 – The American Know Nothing Party convenes in Philadelphia to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore. March The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India officially gives 'Peak XV' (later to be named Mount Everest) the height of . 'Peak IX' (Kangchenjunga), previously thought to be the world's highest, is confirmed as . Mauveine, the first synthetic organic dye, is discovered by William Henry Perkin, while attempting to synthesize quinine. This eventually leads to the birth of the chemical industry. March – Nepalese–Tibetan War: The signing of the Treaty of Thapathali concludes the war.