• June 14: USS Merrimack, a steam screw frigate called a 'magnificent specimen of naval architecture,' launched at Charleston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts.

1860

• February 16: USS Merrimack arrives at the Gosport Navy Yard and was immediately placed in ordinary for an overhaul and repair of her engines.
   
   
• November 6: Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln elected the 16th President of the United States.
   
   
• December 20: South Carolina secedes from the Union.
   
   
• December 26: Major Robert Anderson occupies Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor.