This Year in History:
1855
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
John Moses Browning, sometimes referred to as the “father of modern firearms,” is born in Ogden, Utah on January 23, 1855. Many of the guns manufactured by companies whose names evoke the history of the American West—Winchester, Colt, Remington, and Savage—were actually based on John Browning’s designs. The son of a talented gunsmith, John Browning began […]
In territorial Kansas’ first election, some 5,000 so-called “Border Ruffians” invade the territory from western Missouri and force the election of a pro-slavery legislature. Although the number of votes cast exceeded the number of eligible voters in the territory, Kansas Governor Andrew Reeder reluctantly approved the election to prevent further bloodshed. Trouble in territorial Kansas […]
Walt Whitman’s first edition of the self-published Leaves of Grass is printed, containing a dozen poems. Whitman was born in West Hills, Long Island, and raised in Brooklyn. He left school at the age of 14 to become a journeyman printer and later worked as a teacher, journalist, editor and carpenter to support his writing. […]
