Editing 1861 (section)

=== April ===
* [[April 7]] &ndash; A population [[1861 United Kingdom census|census]] is taken in the United Kingdom. The population is more than double that of 1801 and those living in urban areas are in a majority.
[[American Civil War]]: 
** [[April 12]] &ndash; The [[American Civil War]] begins with [[Battle of Fort Sumter|the bombardment of]] [[Fort Sumter]], [[South Carolina]].
** [[April 13]] &ndash; [[Fort Sumter]] surrenders to Southern forces.[[File:Bombardment of Fort Sumter, 1861.png|thumb|200px|right| [[April 12]]–[[April 13|13]]: [[Fort Sumter]]]]
** [[April 15]] &ndash; President Abraham Lincoln issues a Proclamation calling for 75,000 men to confront in the South, "combinations too powerful to be suppressed in the ordinary way".
** [[April 17]] &ndash; The state of [[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginia]] secedes from the Union.
** [[April 20]] &ndash; [[Robert E. Lee]] resigns his commission in the United States Army, in order to command the forces of the state of [[Virginia]].
* [[April 24]] (N.S.) &ndash; [[Bezdna unrest]]: Bezdna in Russia is the scene of a peasant uprising; the military open fire and about 90 are killed.<ref>[http://education.cambridge.org/media/577146/history_for_the_ib_diploma__imperial_russia__revolutions_and_the_emergence_of_the_soviet_state_1853%E2%80%93_samples.pdf http://education.cambridge.org/media/577146 "Imperial Russia, revolutions_and_the_emergence_of_the_Soviet_state"]. Accessed 11 March 2013</ref>
* [[April 25]] &ndash; [[American Civil War]]: The [[Union Army]] arrives in Washington, D.C.
* [[April 26]] &ndash; [[Giovanni Schiaparelli]] discovers the [[asteroid]] [[69 Hesperia]].
* [[April 27]] &ndash; [[American Civil War]]: President [[Abraham Lincoln]] suspends the [[writ of habeas corpus]] in the United States.