March 16, 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Averasborough began as Confederate forces suffer irreplaceable casualties in the final months of the war.

April 9, 1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the war.

April 27, 1865 – The steamboat Sultana, carrying 2,400 passengers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River, killing 1,700, most of whom are Union survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba Prisons.

May 5, 1865 – In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio), the first train robbery in the United States takes place.

May 10, 1865 – American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.

May 12, 1865 – American Civil War: the Battle of Palmito Ranch: the first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.

July 14, 1865 – First ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper and party, four of whom die on the descent.

July 21, 1865 – In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first western showdown.

November 10, 1865 – Major Henry Wirz, the superintendent of a prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia, is hanged, becoming the only American Civil War soldier executed for war crimes.

December 1, 1865 – Shaw University, the first historically black university in the southern United States, is founded in Raleigh, North Carolina.

April 8, 1865 – Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist (d. 1940)

June 2, 1865 – George Lohmann, English cricketer (d. 1901)

June 10, 1865 – Frederick Albert Cook, American explorer and physician, claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1908 (d. 1940)

August 10, 1865 – Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer (d. 1936)

October 1, 1865 – Paul Dukas, French composer (d. 1935)

October 11, 1865 – Hans E. Kinck, Norwegian author and philologist (d. 1926)

October 15, 1865 – Albert Heijn, Dutch businessman (d. 1945)

October 22, 1865 – Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter (d. 1943)

December 16, 1865 – Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (d. 1918)

December 30, 1865 – Rudyard Kipling, English writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1936)