Review: 1862
Category: Years
Author: Pope Gregory XIII
Rating: 79%
The year 1862 in the Gregorian calendar is a leap year, and as such is currently agreed to signify a 366 day period of human history. The specific 366-day period known as 1862 preceded the one called 1863, and followed shortly after the one known as 1861. It commenced 1,861 years after the advent of the Common Era (CE). It is expressed as MDCCCLXII in roman numerals.
1862 was certainly a bloodthirsty year; in fact, September 17th 1862 was- and remains- the bloodiest day in American History. The American Civil War was already underway, and suddenly everybody wanted a piece of the action. France, Spain and England decided to have an intervention in Mexico, which ultimately resulted in Cinco de Mayo becoming a festival. The Sioux, presumably annoyed because no one was paying them any attention any more, also decided to go mental and kill a whole load of settlers, to remind the Americans that they had more than one minority ethnic group to worry about.
Sure, Samuel Colt (inventor of firearms used, most importantly, to augment the arsenal of Tommy Vercetti in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City) died only ten days into 1862- but everyone else pitched in to make up for what the world had lost. In fact, Dr. Richard Gatling managed to patent the gun he’d invented this year, and began supplying it for use in the American Civil War. Good job Gatling! I hope whoever made you a doctor is turning in their grave.
The Civil War saw some pretty impressive advances, such as the launching of the first American iron-clad warship: the USS Monitor. The ironclad is certainly not as impressive as it sounds- it’s just a steam-powered boat with some armour. Then again, in fairness, I can’t think of anything as impressive as ironclad sounds, so it’s not so bad.
In August 14th of this year, Abraham Lincoln became the first president to ever consort with black people- who, up until that time, had been a slave race under American law. Although this is certainly progress, it must be observed that Lincoln’s first question was ‘why can’t you go back to Africa?’, which is a little ignorant. Presumably, the former slaves answered with ‘that’s what we’ve been saying’, and no one was any the wiser. Aren’t people funny? 1862 was almost an iconic anti-racism year, but the emancipation proclamation was issued just over the border on January 1st, 1863. This means that, in effect, 1862 must have been one of the most racist years ever, since people were more aware than ever that racism was wrong, but it was still OK. Not cool, 1862.
But not everything that happened this year was violent or racist; 1862 has something for everyone. This was the year that travel writer Anna Leonowens took up a post as educator to a certain Siamese king, giving rise to a number of fictionalised accounts of her experiences in print and film which have proved enduringly popular, including ‘The King and I’. Oh wait, that was also racist.
I love 1862, a year anyone could have been proud to live in. There are almost too many wars going on simultaneously: there’s no time for scientific advances, or great literary works when war and slavery are rife. I recommend that in order to recognize its brilliance, it be increased in size to cover a whole decade. All hail 1862!
