- Oct 1 Ádám Politzer, Hungarian-Austrian physician, born in Albertirsa, Pest, Hungary (d. 1920)
- Oct 1 Robert H. Anderson, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Savannah, Georgia (d. 1888)
- Oct 1 William Hicks "Red" Jackson, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Paris, Tennessee (d. 1903)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Oct 9 French composer (Samson et Dalila; Organ Symphony), born in Paris
- Oct 11 Hunter McGuire, American physician and Med Director (Confederate Army), born in Winchester, Virginia (d. 1900)
- Oct 23 Adlai Stevenson I, American politician (D), 23rd Vice President of the United States (1893-97), born in Christian County, Kentucky (d. 1914)
- Oct 31 Adelbert Ames, American soldier and politician, Bvt Major General (Union Army), born in Rockland, Maine (d. 1933)
- Oct 31 Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist (Nobel 1905), born in Berlin (d. 1917)
- Oct 31 Krišjānis Barons, Latvian writer who published Latvian folk songs, born in Jaunpils Parish, Latvia (d. 1923)