1855 Events

1855 Douglass Publishes Second Autobiography - My Bondage and My Freedom
As a fugitive in exile, Frederick Douglass attacked slavery. In speeches he spoke of the hypocrisy of freedom-loving slaveholders. To combat propaganda about happy slaves and kind masters...
1855 Jul 4 The First Edition of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" Is Published
When Walt Whitman published his first edition of Leaves of Grass on or around the fourth day of July in 1855, he believed he was embarking on a personal literary journey of national signi...
1855 Jul 9 Rowfant Railway Station Is Opened
Rowfant was a railway station on the Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line which closed in 1967, a casualty of the Beeching Axe. The route of the railway line cut a path throug...
1855 Oct 29 Carl Schurz Writes To His Wife
On October 29, 1855, recent German immigrant Carl Schurz wrote his wife, Margarethe Meyer Schurz, expressing hope for their future happiness. A political refugee from the tumultuous revol...
1855 Nov 1 Gasconade Bridge Train Disaster
The Gasconade Bridge Train Disaster occurred on November 1st, 1855. With more than 600 passengers aboard the Pacific Railroad excursion train celebrating the railway line's opening, outsi...
1855 Nov 5 "Old College", Northwestern University's First Building, Opens
Old College was the first building constructed at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and was completed in 1855. The cornerstone of the building was laid on June 15, 1855, a...
1855 Dec
to 1857 Jun
Charles Dickens publishes Little Dorrit
Little Dorrit is a serial novel by Charles Dickens published originally between 1855 and 1857. It is a work of satire on the shortcomings of the government and society of the period. M...