The King of Siam offered America elephants.

1861 · 1862 · apart: 1 year

Mongkut's 1861 letter reached Lincoln, who politely declined: the climate was unsuitable, he wrote, and steam engines already did the hauling.

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The event

• American Civil War1861–1865 · Fort Sumter. The war between the Union and the seceded slaveholding states of the Confederacy began with the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April 1861. The Union victory preserved the United States, and the 13th Amendment of 1865 abolished slavery nationwide.

19th century

More amazing facts

• 1860 The oldest recording of a human voice was made in 1860 but first heard in 2008.
• 1860 · 1861 The legendary Pony Express lasted only 18 months.
• 1861 Alexander II signed the manifesto freeing the serfs on 3 March 1861 (19 February Old Style); the very next day Lincoln became US president.
• 1861 1861: Russia abolished serfdom, and a united Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in Turin.
• 1861 · 1888 Russia abolished serfdom in 1861 and the USA slavery in 1865; Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, only in 1888.
• 1861 · 1865 The American Civil War began in Wilmer McLean's yard and ended in his parlour.

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