1865
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. The Civil War ends.
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed, permanently outlawing slavery.
President Lincoln is assassinated.
“It was my custom to go for the morning paper to a nearby newsstand on University Place. Arriving at the stand that morning, I saw that the newspapers had large black columns separating the columns, with the heading that Lincoln had been shot. Returning home I shouted the terrible news to my father who came to the head of the stairs, rushed down to get the paper and then back to his dressing room, where he threw himself on the sofa and burst into tears.” Butler would later watch Lincoln’s funeral procession from his grandfather’s apartment in New York. “I remember him later [Charles M. Marshall], as he stood watching the catafalque bearing the remains of Lincoln as it passed his windows in 14th Street. His hands were on my shoulders and he shook with emotion.” –Howard Russell Butler
The Butler family moves to Yonkers, New York
“At a very early age, I somehow got the impression that art was not only going to be my vocation, but my mission in life. I viewed it with almost religious enthusiasm.” –Howard Russell Butler
Jules Verne publishes From the Earth to the Moon (De la terre à la lune).