List of wars involving the United States in the 19th century (1851-1900)

This is a list of military conflicts, that United States has been involved in the 19th century from 1851 to 1900.

For the criteria of what may be permitted on this list, see Lists of wars involving the United States.

Key

19th-century wars

ConflictAlliesOpponent(s)Result President(s)Johanna Expedition (1851)

Part of the African Slave Trade Patrol and the Blockade of Africa

Location: Matsamudu, Comoros Islands, Johanna Island, Indian Ocean Johanna SultanateUS victory Johannans surrendered the town, houses, slaves, cattle and money to the U.S.A. Most Favoured Nation Treaty SignedMillard Fillmore (July 9, 1850 - March 4, 1853)Sitgreaves Expedition (1851)

Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: New Mexico territory, Arizona territory, CaliforniaMohaveUS victory Mohave attack repulsed Expedition successful The Zuni, Little Colorado, and Big Colorado rivers, successfully mapped Path open for pioneer emigrationMillard Fillmore (July 9, 1850 - March 4, 1853)Battle of Muddy Flat (1854)

Part of the Taiping Rebellion and the Small Swords Society Uprising

Location: Shanghai, China British Empire

Shanghai Volunteer Corps Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Pirate MercenariesUS-allied victory Qing forces retreat a mile away from the foreign concessions area Adherence to Foreign Extraterritoriality Status Maintained Yangtze Patrol, Shanghai Municipal Council, Shanghai Municipal Police, and the Chinese Maritime Customs Service establishedFranklin Pierce (March 4, 1853 - March 4, 1857)First Sioux War (1854–1856)

Part of the Sioux Wars and the American Indian Wars

Location: East of Fort Laramie, Nebraska TerritoryLakota SiouxUS victory The war was caused by the Grattan MassacreFranklin Pierce (March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857)Bleeding Kansas (1854–1861)

Location: Kansas and MissouriAnti-slavery settlers (Free-Staters)Pro-slavery settlers (Border Ruffians)Free-Stater victory. Lawrence sacked John Brown kills five people in the Pottawatomie Massacre Many raids and battles between proslavers and abolitionists Battle of Palmyra Battle of Black Jack Battle of Osawatomie Forces Disbanded Marias Des Cygnes Massacre Battle of the Spurs Kansas admitted as a free state on January 29, 1861.Franklin Pierce (March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857) James Buchannan (March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861)

Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865)Bombardment of Greytown (1854)

Location: Greytown, Mosquito Coast (Modern Day Nicaragua) Mosquito CoastUS victory Monroe Doctrine enforced Beginning of a gradual decline of the Mosquito Coast as a British ProtectorateFranklin Pierce (March 4, 1853 - March 4, 1857)1854 expedition to Coulan Location: Kowloon Bay, Pearl River Delta United Kingdom

Qing dynasty PiratesUS-allied victory Pirate Junks, villages, and batteries destroyedUSS Water Witch incident (1855)

Location: Paraná River, ParaguayParaguayan victory USS Water Witch damaged with one KIA, and returned fire to no effect The United States forbidden from Paraguayan waters ending the 1853 Rio de La Plata Expedition in that region The Incident later contributes to the Paraguay expedition from 1858–1859Battle of Ty-ho Bay (1855)

Location: Off Tai O, Hong Kong United KingdomChinese PiratesUS-allied victory Successful rescuing of captured merchant vessels One of the first battles with joint Anglo-American cooperation One of the final battles between organized pirate fleets and western navies in the South China Sea1855 Fiji expedition Part of the Fiji expeditions Location: FijiFijiansUS victory Fijian villages at Lautoka torched by U.S. marines and sailors self-proclaimed Fijian king Seru Epenisa Cakobau remained unable to pay the $45,000 compensation Fiji continued to remain unstable and did not secure long-term safety for American commercial interests Rogue River Wars (1855–1856)

Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Rogue ValleyTututniUS victory Indians relocated to Siletz, Grand Ronde and Coast ReservationsPuget Sound War (1855–1856)

Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: WashingtonSnoqualmieNisqually Muckleshoot Puyallup Klickitat Haida TlingitUS victory Indians relocated to Siletz, Grand Ronde and Coast ReservationsThird Seminole War (1855–1858)

Part of the Seminole Wars and the American Indian Wars

Location: Pensacola, FloridaSeminoleUS Victory By late 1850s, most Seminoles forced to leave their land; a few hundred remain deep in the Everglades on land unwanted by white settlersFranklin Pierce (March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857) James Buchanan (March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861)Yakima War (1855–1858)

Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Washington TerritorySnoqualmieYakama Walla Walla tribe Umatilla tribe Nez Perce tribe Cayuse tribeUS victory Yakima cedes land in modern day Oregon and Washington 1855 Walla Walla Treaty leads to the permanent confinement of Yakima and allied indigenous tribes to reservations Franklin Pierce (March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857) James Buchanan (March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861)Second Opium War (1856–1860)

Part of the Opium Wars

Location: ChinaUS victory Treaties of Tientsin Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island ceded to the United Kingdom as part of British Hong KongFranklin Pierce (March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857) James Buchanan (March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861)Utah War (1857–1858)

Part of the Mormon wars

Location: Utah Territory and Wyoming Deseret/Utah Mormons (Nauvoo Legion)Inconclusive/Other Result Resolution through negotiation Brigham Young replaced as governor of the territory Full amnesty for charges of sedition and treason issued to the citizens of Utah Territory by President James Buchanan on the condition that they accept American Federal authorityJames Buchanan (March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861)Second Attempt by William Walker to Invade Nicaragua (1857)

Part of the Filibuster Wars of William Walker

Location: Nicaragua United Kingdom FilibustersUS-allied victory Filibusters arrested by Marines and Sailors of the Home Squadron led by Commodore Hiram Paulding, with the aid of a Royal Navy show of force James Buchanan relieved Paulding of his command until the Civil War Walker was later released in the U.S. and attempted to Invade Honduras, but was captured by the Royal Navy and handed over to the Honduran government and was executedJames Buchanan (March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861)Reform War (1857–1861) Location: Mexico Liberals ConservativesLiberals - US victory 1857 Mexican Constitution reduces powers of the military and the Catholic Church Mexico enacts the Reform Laws and becomes a Secular state that separates the Catholic Church from the state Abolition of privileges for clergy and military personale Mexico was left with heavy damaged infrastructure and would have national debt, leading to the French Invasion of Mexico in 1861James Buchanan (March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861)1858 Fiji expedition Part of the Fiji expeditions Location: FijiFijiansUS victory Financial claims pressed by the United States onto self-proclaimed king Seru Epenisa Cakobau remained unsettled for years Cakobau offered to cede Fijian territory to the British due to lots of foreign debt and local conflictsJames Buchanan (March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861)Mohave War (1858–1859)

Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Arizona territoryMaricopaMohave HualapaiUS-allied victory The Mohave and their allies surrender The guerrilla war between the Maricopa and the Mohave endsJames Buchanan (March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861)Pig War (1859)

Location: San Juan Islands Washington Territory Colony of Vancouver IslandInconclusive/Other Result Treaty of Washington Mostly a bloodless war – San Juan Islands awarded to the United States following third-party arbitrationJames Buchanan (March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861)John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry (1859)

Part of pre-Civil War conflicts

Location: West VirginiaAbolitionist InsurgentsUS victory John Brown's forces surrounded Battle for the engine house Brown captured and executedJames Buchanan (March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861)First and Second Cortina War (1859–1861)

Location: Texas and Mexico United States Confederate States Cortinista banditsUS-allied victory Brownsville occupied by Cortinans and later expelled Cortinan invasion of Zapata County repulsed James Buchanan (March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861) Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861 - April 15, 1865)Paiute War (1860)

Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Pyramid Lake, NevadaPaiute Shoshone BannockUS victory Many Paiute people killed or displaced U.S. Settler and military presence increasedJames Buchanan (March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861)American Civil War (1861–1865)

Location: Southern United States, Indian Territory, Northeastern United States, Western United States, Atlantic OceanIndian Home Guard Seminole Nation (Western) (most)

Seminole Nation (Florida) Muskogee Nation (part)Missouri Guard Cherokee Nation Choctaw Nation Catawba Chickasaw Nation (part) Muskogee Nation (part) Seminole Nation (Western) (part) Comanche Nation (part)Union victory Dissolution of the Confederate States U.S. territorial integrity preserved Beginning of the Reconstruction Era U.S. Federal government expands further control over land and railroad rights in the Indian Territory.Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861 - April 15, 1865)Bombardment of Qui Nhơn (1861) Part of the Cochinchina Campaign

Location: Qui Nhơn, Vietnam Đại Nam under the Nguyễn dynastyUS victory Vietnamese-held fort destroyedYavapai Wars (1861–1875)

Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: ArizonaYavapai Apache Yuma MohaveUS victory Yavapai Indians relocated to the San Carlos Reservation Arizona Territory open to more settlementationAbraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865)

Andrew Johnson (April 15, 1865 – March 4, 1869)

Ulysses S. Grant (March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877)Dakota War of 1862 (1862)

Part of the Sioux Wars and the American Indian Wars

Location: Minnesota and DakotaDakota SiouxUS victory 303 Dakota men sentenced to death in Mankato for participating in the conflict, the largest mass execution in US history. Multiple Dakotans moved into the Crow Creek ReservationAbraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861 - April 15, 1865)1st Battle of Shimonoseki Straits and the following Shimonoseki campaign (1863–1864)

Part of Bakumatsu Conflicts Location: Shimonoseki Straits, Honshu, Japan French EmpireUS-allied victory Treaty of Amity and Commerce enforcedColorado War (1863–1865)

Part of the Sioux Wars and the American Indian Wars

Location: Colorado, Wyoming, and NebraskaCheyenne Arapaho SiouxInconclusive/Other Result Military and congressional hearings against John ChivingtonSnake War (1864–1868)

Part of the American Indian Wars

Locations: Oregon, Nevada, California, and IdahoPaiute Bannock ShoshoneUS victory Many Natives moved to reservations Weakening of Native resistance and safer US travel routes Strengthened Federal and Settler control in the regionAbraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865) Andrew Johnson (April 15, 1865 – March 4, 1869)Hualapai War (1865–1870)

Part of the American Indian Wars, Yavapai Wars Location: Arizona Territory Mohave ScoutsHualapai Yavapai HavasupaiUS victory An outbreak of dysentery and whooping cough that caused many of the natives to surrender Hualapai forced onto reservationsAndrew Johnson (April 15, 1865 - March 4, 1869)Powder River War (1865)

Part of the Sioux Wars and the American Indian Wars

Location: Powder River StateSioux Cheyenne ArapahoInconclusiveAndrew Johnson (April 15, 1865 - March 4, 1869)Fenian raids (1866–1871)

Part the Fenian Rising

Location: Eastern Canada, New England, and MinnesotaMétis

Supported by: Fenian BrotherhoodAnglo-American victory The United States Army and Navy (USS Michigan (1843)) made numerous arrests of Fenian rebels as well as captured weapons and ammo. Grant pardoned many Fenians as the raids died down