1862

1845–1958	Germany [earth sciences]	German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt lays the basis of modern geography with the publication of Kosmos/Cosmos, in which he arranges geographic knowledge in a systematic fashion.
1861–1865	USA [economic conditions]	The USA, or the North, has a booming economy during the Civil War as production and profits soar. There is inflation, too; prices rise 117% and wages rise just 43%.
1861–1870	USA, UK, Ireland [statistics and demography]	Emigration to the USA from Britain totals 606,896; from Ireland it is 435,779.
1862	UK [fairs and festivals]	The International Exhibition, a world trade fair, takes place in London, England.
1862	France [fiction]	The French writer Victor Hugo publishes his novel Les Misérables.
1862	Russia [fiction]	The Russian writer Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev publishes his novel Ottsy i deti/Fathers and Sons. Depicting the conflict between conservatives and radicals, the book is attacked by both.
1862	Monaco [gambling and lotteries]	The first casino opens in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
1862	Belgium [motor vehicles]	Belgian inventor Etienne Lenoir constructs the first car with an internal combustion engine and makes a 10 km/6 mi trip.
1862	Hungary [orchestral music]	The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt completes his orchestral work Mephistowaltzer/Mephisto Waltz No. 1.
1862	France [painting]	The French artist Edouard Manet paints Lola de Valence and Olympia, a painting of a naked prostitute. Refused by the official Academy, it is exhibited in 1863 at the ‘Salon des Refusés’, where it causes a public outcry.
1862	England [philosophy]	The English philosopher John Stuart Mill publishes Utilitarianism, an influential work on moral philosophy.
1862	England [poetry]	The English writer Christina Georgina Rossetti publishes her poetry collection Goblin Market and Other Poems.
1862	USA [astronomy]	The US astronomer Alvan Clark observes the companion star of Sirius – the first white dwarf to be discovered.
30 January 1862	Sweden, USA [ships and shipping]	The Swedish-born US engineer John Ericsson's ironclad warship Monitor is launched. Steam-powered and propeller-driven, and with an armoured revolving gun turret, its design sets the pattern for future warships.
8 March - 9 March 1862	USA, Confederate States of America [American Civil War (1861–65)]	The Confederate warship Merrimack and the ironclad warship Virginia sink the Union Cumberland and Congress at Hampton Roads, Virginia, but are forced to withdraw by the ironclad Union vessel Monitor, in the first battle between two ironclad warships.
31 March 1862	Ireland [births and deaths]	Arthur Griffith, Irish journalist and nationalist, founder of Sinn Fein (1905) and president of the Irish Republic (1922), born in Dublin, Ireland (–1922).
6 April 1862	USA, Confederate States of America [American Civil War (1861–65)]	Union and Confederate soldiers clash at Shiloh, Tennessee, with the Union forces getting the better of the battle by the end of the second day. Each side suffers roughly 10,000 casualties.
5 June 1862	France, Annam, Cochin-China [treaties]	The Treaty of Saigon is signed between France and Annam (part of modern Vietnam) by which France annexes half of Cochin-China (also part of modern Vietnam), which has been under blockade since 1858.
25 June - 1 July 1862	USA [American Civil War (1861–65)]	After an inconclusive action at Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) near Richmond, Virginia, Confederate forces newly under the command of Robert E Lee mount a series of attacks on George B McClellan's superior Union army threatening the Confederate capital. In the Seven Days' Battle, at Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mill, Savage's Station, Frayser's Farm, and Malvern Hill, Lee drives McClellan back on his base at Harrison's Landing on the James River, and McClellan begins to evacuate the Peninsula altogether.
22 August 1862	France [births and deaths]	Claude Debussy, French composer, born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France (–1918).
29 August - 30 August 1862	USA, Confederate States of America [American Civil War (1861–65)]	In the Second Battle of Bull Run (known to Confederates as Second Manassas), Confederate forces effectively block a Union advance on the Confederate capitol, Richmond, Virginia.
29 August 1862	Papal States, Italy [political events]	The Italian soldier and patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi attempts to conquer Rome and make it part of Italy, but is captured at Aspromonte by Italian troops sent to protect the papacy and forestall foreign intervention.
11 September 1862	USA [births and deaths]	O Henry (pen-name of William Sydney Porter), US short-story writer and novelist, born in Greensboro, North Carolina (–1910).
17 September 1862	USA, Confederate States of America [American Civil War (1861–65)]	In the Battle of Antietam, Maryland, (Sharpsburg, in Confederate parlance), the Union army foils a Confederate advance on Washington, DC. Some 23,000 soldiers fall on this, the war's costliest day of fighting. President Abraham Lincoln uses the Union ‘victory’ as a pretext for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation five days later.
22 September 1862	USA [slavery]	The US president, Abraham Lincoln, declares that all slaves will be free from 1 January 1863.
7 October 1862	Prussia [administration]	The Prussian diet (state assembly) again rejects an increase in the military budget and is adjourned, so that Chancellor Otto von Bismarck rules without a budget for four years.
November 1862	USA [weapons]	US inventor Richard Gatling patents a ten-barrel, crank-operated machine gun; it can fire 320 rounds per minute.
13 December 1862	USA [American Civil War (1861–65)]	The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, under the Confederate commander in chief General Robert E Lee, comprehensively defeats the attempt of the Union army of General Ambrose Burnside to cross the Rappahannock River into Virginia at Fredericksburg. Union casualties exceed 12,500, to fewer than 5,000 Confederates.