- Jan 2 Frederick William IV, King of Prussia (1840-61) and Germany (1849-61), dies at 65
- Jan 17 Lola Montez, Irish-born adventurer (b. 1821)
- Jan 18 John Heathcoat, English inventor of lace-making machinery, dies at 77
- Jan 22 Giovanni Battista Velluti, Italian castrato singer 'the last great castrato', dies at 80
- Feb 10 Francis Danby, Irish painter, dies at 67
- Feb 12 Hippolyte-André-Baptiste Chélard, French violist, composer and conductor, dies at 72
- Feb 18 Louis C Luzac, Dutch minister of Internal Affairs, dies at 74
- Feb 21 Lars Levi Laestadius, Swedish botanist and founder of Laestadianism, dies at 61
- Mar 10 Joseph-François Snel, Belgian composer, dies at 67
- Mar 10 Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian national poet and painter, dies at 47
- Mar 14 Louis Niedermeyer, Swiss-French composer, dies at 58
- Mar 17 Petter Conrad Boman, Swedish composer, dies at 56
- Apr 4 Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky, Bohemian and Austrian statesman (Minister-President of Austria 1848), dies at 83
- Apr 4 John McLean, American jurist (US Supreme Court Justice, 1829-61; Ohio Supreme Court Justice (1816-22) and US Postmaster General (1823-28), dies at 76
Elisha Otis (1811-1861)
Apr 8 American founder of the Otis Elevator Company and inventor of a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails, dies of diphtheria at 50
- Apr 11 Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet (b. 1824)
- Apr 18 August Neithardt, German composer, dies at 67
- Apr 18 Heinrich August Neithardt, German military bandleader (1816-40), choirmaster (Berlin Cathedral, 1843-61), and composer, dies at 67
- May 3 Anthony Philip Heinrich, America's 1st "full-time" composer, dies at 80
- May 9 Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philologist and politician, dies at 55
- May 12 Christian Heinrich Hohmann, German composer, dies at 50
- May 24 Elmer E. Ellsworth, American soldier who was the 1st Union officer killed in the American Civil War, dies at 24
- Jun 1 John Quincy Marr, US Confederate captain, dies in battle at Fairfax Courthouse, the first Confederate death of the war at 36
- Jun 3 Stephen A. Douglas, American politician, US senator from Illinois (Lincoln-Douglas debates), dies at 48
- Jun 5 John Garland, US Union colonel and brigadier general, dies in battle
- Jun 5 Tomás Genovés y Lapetra Spanish opera and zarzuela composer (The Abduction), dies at 55
- Jun 6 Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, Italian politician who advocated for unification (First Prime Minister of Italy 1861), dies at 50
- Jun 6 Giuseppe Concone, Italian singing teacher, dies at 59
- Jun 25 Abdulmejid I, 31st Sultan of Ottoman Empire, dies at 38
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
Jun 29 British poet and writer ("How Do I Love thee"), dies at 55
- Jul 2 Petrus Augustus de Génestet, Dutch vicar and poet, dies at 31
- Jul 7 John Willis Ellis, US governor of NC (1858-61), dies
- Jul 13 Robert Selden Garnett, US Confederate Brigadier General, dies at 41
- Jul 21 Francis Stebbins Bartow, Confederate colonel, dies in battle at 44
- Jul 22 Barnard Elliott Bee, American military officer (US Army, 1845-61; Confederate Army, 1861), killed in action at 37, at the First Battle of Bull Run
- Jul 25 Jonas Furrer, Swiss lawyer and politician (first president of the Swiss Confederation), dies at 56
- Aug 10 Nathaniel Lyon, American Brigadier-General (Union Army), 1st Union General to die in battle at 43
- Aug 12 Eliphalet Remington, American firearms manufacturer (Remington Arms Co., L.L.C.), dies at 67
- Aug 17 Alcée Louis la Branche, American Politician (b. 1806)
- Aug 22 Xianfeng, Emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, dies at 30
- Aug 28 William Lyon Mackenzie, Canadian-American newspaper publisher, politician, and failed rebel leader, dies at 66
- Aug 29 Franz Joseph Glæser, Czech-Danish composer, dies at 63
- Sep 12 George N. Briggs, American lawyer and politician, 19th Governor of Massachusetts, dies at 65
- Sep 14 Fortunato Santini, Italian priest and composer, dies at 83
- Oct 5 Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish bishop (b. 1778)
- Oct 6 Elias Canneman, liberal minister of Finance (1813-14), dies at 84
- Oct 21 Edward Dickinson Baker, British-American attorney, politician (US Senator from Oregon, 1860-61; US Representative from Illinois, 1845-47, 1849-51), and Union Army officer, dies in the US Civil War Battle of Balls Bluff, Virginia at 50
- Oct 21 John Breckinridge Grayson, Confederate brigadier general, dies
- Oct 25 Friedrich Carl von Savigny, German jurist and legal scholar (historical school of jurisprudence), dies at 82
- Nov 7 Isobel Gunn, Orkney women who disguised herself as a man to work for the Hudson Bay Company (one of the first women in Western Canada), dies at 81 [1]
- Nov 11 Pedro V, King of Portugal (1853-61), known as "The Hopeful", dies of typhoid and/or cholera at 24
- Nov 13 Arthur Hugh Clough, English poet, friend of Matthew Arnold, dies at 42
- Nov 28 Robert Führer, Czech composer of sacred music, and music theorist, dies at 54
- Dec 14 Albert, English prince consort & husband of Queen Victoria, dies at 42
- Dec 14 Heinrich August Marschner, German opera composer, dies at 66
- Dec 15 Gualtiero Sanelli, Italian composer, dies at 45
- Dec 16 Karol Joseph Lipinski, Polish composer and virtuoso violinist, dies at 71
- Dec 25 Johan Willem van Reinhartshausen, Dutch illegitimate son of Princess Marianne of Orange-Nassau and her coachman, Johannes van Rossum, dies of scarlet fever at 11
- Dec 26 Philip St. George Cocke, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), commits suicide at 52
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning