1855
The account supplies direct mid-1850s evidence that commercially transported ice had entered mixed-drink preparation within an American travel and railroad-commercial network. It links shipping, ice supply, bar technique, and sensory service while showing that cocktail practice moved through transnational routes.
Aspinwall, New Granada (present-day Colón, Panama); linked to Rockland ice commerce and American travel
Robert Tomes described a Champagne cock-tail made by pounding crystal ice shipped from Rockland, placing it in tumblers, adding bitters and sugar, and pouring Champagne.
Date: 1855
The Short Version
In 1855, Robert Tomes described a friend making a Champagne cocktail in Aspinwall, now Colón, Panama. Ice had arrived from Rockland by steamer. His companion crushed it, put it in tumblers, added bitters and sugar, and poured in Champagne. The interesting ingredient here is the supply chain.
Read the Original Account
Robert Tomes, Panama in 1855: An Account of the Panama Rail-Road, of the Cities of Panama and Aspinwall, with Sketches of Life and Character on the Isthmus (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1855), chapter II, printed pages 61–63.
The preparation appears on printed page 62 and continues onto page 63. These are pages 64–65 of the preserved PDF; the surrounding passage starts on PDF page 63. Printed page numbers and a viewer’s image counter are different locators.
Read Tomes’s account in the public archive
This is a travel account, not a measured recipe. It gives a sequence but no ingredient quantities or bitters brand. The quinine cocktails discussed afterward are separate preparations that Tomes says he declined.
Evidence boundary
This milestone is supported by Robert Tomes's complete 1855 travelogue, printed pages 61–63. It establishes a documented preparation in Aspinwall using commercially shipped Rockland ice, bitters, sugar, and Champagne. It does not establish invention, first use, or uniform practice across the United States.
Continue exploring: 
The History of Bourbon and Other American Whiskies
Compare the evidence:
Wondrich — Bitters, Ice, and Early Cocktail Evidence
Jerry Thomas publishes an iced Whiskey Cocktail specification