1854 Events

1854 "Blind Tom" Wiggins composes first song, "The Rain Storm"
By age five Tom reportedly had composed his first tune, The Rain Storm, based on his aural impressions of a torrential downpour.
1854 Four-Stroke Engine is Patented
The four-stroke or Otto cycle was patented by Felice Malteucci and Eugene Barsanti in 1854 and is used commonly today in the internal combustion engines of construction machinery, trucks,...
1854 Louis Pasteur Is Named Dean of Faculty of Sciences At The University of Lille
In 1854 Pasteur, then 32 years of age, was appointed Professor of Chemistry and Dean of the newly organized Faculté des Sciences in the city of Lille, the richest center of industrial act...
1854 "Walden" is Published
Thoreau was 27 when he took up residence in the cabin by Walden Pond; he had graduated from Harvard 19th in his class, tried teaching, helped his father in the family pencil business, did...
1854 Jan 4 Nebraska Bill Introduced to Senate
The bill was reported to the main body of the Senate on January 4, 1854. The bill had been significantly modified by Douglas, who had also authored the New Mexico and Utah territorial act...
1854 Jan 21 Sinking of the RMS Tayleur
This elegant sailing ship was the largest merchant vessel of her day but she was wrecked on her maiden voyage with the loss of 372 lives. Built at Warrington for owners Charles Moore &...
1854 Jan 23 Kansas-Nebraska Act Debated in Senate
On January 23, a revised bill was introduced in the Senate. In addition to the changes regarding repeal of the Missouri Compromise, Nebraska was now divided into two territories, Kansas a...
1854 Mar 3
to 1854 Mar 4
 Stephen Douglas Makes A Five And A Half Hour Speech in Support of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
The debate in the Senate concluded on March 4, 1854 when Stephen Douglas, beginning near midnight on March 3, made a five and a half hour speech. The final vote in favor of passage was 37...
1854 Mar 21 Kansas-Nebraska Act Debated in the House of Representatives
The bill next moved to the House of Representatives. On March 21, 1854, as a delaying tactic, the legislation was referred by a vote of 110 to 95 to the committee of the whole where it wo...
1854 Mar 21 The Kansas-Nebraska Bill Moves To The House Of Representatives
The bill next moved to the House of Representatives. On March 21, 1854, as a delaying tactic, the legislation was referred by a vote of 110 to 95 to the committee of the whole where it wo...
1854 Apr 1
to 1854 Aug 12
 Charles Dickens publishes Hard Times: For These Times
Hard Times - For These Times (commonly known as Hard Times) is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book is a condition-of-England novel, aimed at highlighting...
1854 Jun 22 Presidential Cabinet Meets with President Pierce
The greatest challenge to the country's equilibrium during the Pierce administration, though, was the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. It repealed the Missouri Compromise and r...
1854 Jul 31 Ulysses S. Grant Resigns From The Army
Grant remained in the army and was moved to several different posts. He was sent to Fort Vancouver in the Washington Territory in 1853, where he served as quartermaster of the 4th Infantr...
1854 Sep 27 Sinking of the SS Arctic
Sudden and heavy fog causes two ships to collide, killing 322 people off the coast of Newfoundland on this day in 1854. The Arctic was a luxury ship, built in 1850 to carry passengers ...
1854 Oct 6 Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead
On the morning of Friday, the 6th inst., between twelve and one o’clock, a fire broke out in the worsted manufactory of Messrs. Wilson and Sons, in Hillgate, Gateshead. After raging with ...
1854 Oct 16 Lincoln Delivers Peoria Speech
Speech on the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise Abraham Lincoln Speech at Peoria, Illinois October 16, 1854 The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the propriety of its restora...
1854 Oct 16 Oscar Wilde Is Born
Oscar Wilde was born at 21 Westland Row, Dublin (now home of the Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College, Dublin) the second of three children born to Sir William Wilde and Jane Francesca Wil...
1854 Oct 27 Jeannette's Creek Train Wreck
"The scene presented after the collision was a horrible one. Intermixed with the fragments of the broken cars, dead bodies lay in profusion, many of them mangled in the most dreadful manne..." —Detroit Free Press, October 28, 1854