|-
| align="center" colspan=2 | Years:
1861 1862 1863 - 1864 - 1865 1866 1867
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| align="center" colspan=2 | 1840s 1850s - 1860s ''' - 1870s 1880s 1890s
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| align="center" | - 19th Century ''' - 20th Century
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1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a Leap Year Starting On Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar or a Leap Year Starting On Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian Calendar .
Events
January
- . The Prussian army fielding 10,000 men defeats the Danish defending army of 9,200 at Dybbøl Mill after an artillery bombardment from April 7 to April 18.
- April 22 - The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act Of 1864 which mandates that the inscription "In God We Trust" be placed on all coins minted as United States Currency .
May
- July 18 - President Lincoln issues a true proclamation of conscription of 500.000 men for the US Civil War
- - Near Atlanta, Georgia , Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman .
- - Outside of Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate General Hood leads an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General Sherman on Bald Hill.
- - Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep the Yankees out of the Shenandoah Valley.
- begins - Confederate troops led by General Hood make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces under General Sherman from Atlanta, Georgia.
- is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC .
- - Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.
August
- September 1 - American Civil War: Confederate General Hood evacuates Atlanta after a four month siege mounted by Union General Sherman.
- September 1 - 8 - Delegates from the Canadian colonies meet at the Charlottetown Conference to discuss Canadian Confederation .
- September 2 - American Civil War: Union forces under General Sherman enter Atlanta a day after the Confederate defenders fled the city.
- September 7 - American Civil War: Atlanta, Georgia is evacuated on orders of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman.
October
- - At Johnsonville, Tennessee , troops under the command of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest bombard a Union supply base with artillery and destroy millions of dollars in materiel.
- is reelected in an overwhelming victory over George McClellan .
- begins - Union General Sherman burns Atlanta and starts to move south, destroying everything in his path in order to punish the Confederates for starting the war.
- in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General Sherman from Georgia.
- - Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington massacre at least 400 Cheyenne and Arapahoe noncombatants at Sand Creek, Colorado (where they had been given permission to camp).
- - The Army Of Tennessee led by General Hood mounts a dramatically unsuccessful frontal assault on Union positions around Franklin, Tennessee (Hood lost six generals and almost a third of his troops).
December
- , forces under Union General Judson Kilpatrick prevent troops led by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler from interfering with Union General Sherman's campaign of destroying a wide swath of the South on his march to Savannah, GA (Union forces did suffer more than three times the casualties as the Confederates, however).
Births
- January 1 - Alfred Stieglitz , American photographer (d. 1946 )
- January 8 - Prince Albert Victor, Duke Of Clarence (d. 1892 )
- January 13 - Wilhelm Wien , German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928 )
- January 24 - Marguerite Durand , French actress, journalist, and feminist leader (d. 1936 )
- March 13 - Alexej Von Jawlensky , Russian impressionist painter (d. 1941 )
- March 15 - Johan Halvorsen , Norwegian composer (d. 1935 )
- March 19 - Charles Marion Russell , American artist (d. 1926 )
- April 21 - Max Weber , German sociologist (d. 1920 )
- May 4 - Marie Booth , the third daughter of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1937 )
- May 10 - Léon Gaumont , French film pioneer (d. 1946 )
- May 15 - Vilhelm Hammershøi , Danish painter (d. 1916 )
- June 3 - Ransom E. Olds , automotive pioneer (d. 1950 )
- June 11 - Richard Strauss , German composer (d. 1949 )
- June 25 - Walther Nernst , German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941 )
- July 11 - Peter Deunov , Bulgarian spiritual teacher (d. 1944 )
- July 13 - John Jacob Astor IV , American businessman and inventor (d. 1912 )
- July 20 - Erik Axel Karlfeldt , Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931 )
- August 9 - Roman Dmowski , Polish politician (d. 1939 )
- September 14 - Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil Of Chelwood , English politician and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1958 )
- October 25 - Alexander Gretchaninov , Russian composer (d. 1956 )
- November 11 - Alfred Hermann Fried , Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1921 )
- November 23 - Henry Bourne Joy , American business leader (d. 1936 )
- November 24 - Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec , French painter (d. 1901 )
- November 26 - Edward Higgins , the 3rd General of The Salvation Army (d. 1947 )
- December 6 - William S. Hart , American film actor (d. 1946 )
- December 12 - Paul Elmer More , American critic and essayist (d. 1937 )
- Cosmo Lang , Archbishop Of Canterbury (d. 1945 )
Date unknown
Deaths
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