March 4 – Alexander S. Wolcott and John Johnson open their "Daguerreian Parlor" on Broadway (Manhattan), the world's first commercial photography portrait studio.
May 7 – The Great Natchez Tornado: A massive tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi during the early afternoon hours. Before it is over, 317 people are killed and 109 injured. It is the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
^CommunicationSolutions/ISI, "Railroad — Wilmington & Raleigh (later Weldon)", North Carolina Business History, 2006, accessed 1 February 2010
^CommunicationSolutions/ISI, "Railroads — prior to the Civil War" Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine, North Carolina Business History, 2006, accessed 1 February 2010
External linksedit
Media related to 1840 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons