The U.S. financial panic that began after the failure of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company in 1857 was the Panic of 1857.
Ohio Life failed in August 1857 after hidden losses were exposed, damaging confidence in banks and businesses. The failure helped trigger a broader credit contraction, especially because railroad companies and land speculation had expanded rapidly during the preceding boom.
The crisis spread beyond the United States. British investors withdrew funds, and the failure of the New York branch of the Ohio Life firm intensified concerns about American securities. The panic also affected trade, employment, and investment in many regions.
The Panic of 1857 is often remembered alongside the economic disruption that preceded the American Civil War, but it did not cause the war by itself. The later Panic of 1873 had a different immediate trigger and belongs to another generation of financial crises.