| January 9 | Fisk University establishes |
| January 11 | Steamship London sinks in storm off Land's End England, kills 220 |
| January 15 | Bedrich Smetana's opera "Branibori vs. Cechach," premieres in Prague |
| January 20 | Prim's Insurrection in Spain ends |
| February 4 | Mary Baker Eddy cures her injuries by opening a bible |
| February 10 | Dutch government Frans van der Putte forms |
| February 13 | Jesse James holds up his 1st bank, Liberty, Missouri ($15,000) |
| February 21 | Lucy B Hobbs (Taylor) becomes 1st U.S. woman to earn a DDS degree |
| February 26 | New York Legislature forms New York City Metropolitan Board of Health |
| March 1 | Paraguayan canoes sink 2 Brazilian ironclads on Rio Parana |
| March 2 | 1st U.S. company to make sewing needles by machine incorporated, Connecticut |
| March 19 | Immigrant ship Monarch of the Seas sinks in Liverpool; 738 die |
| March 21 | Congress authorizes national soldiers' homes |
| March 27 | Andrew Rankin patents the urinal |
| March 27 | President Johnson vetoes civil rights bill; it later becomes 14th amendment |
| March 28 | 1st ambulance goes into service |
| March 30 | Bedrich Smetana's "Verkaufte Braut" (Sold Bride), premieres |
| April 2 | President Johnson ends war in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia |
| April 9 | Civil Rights Bill passes over President Andrew Johnson's veto |
| April 10 | American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) forms |
| April 16 | Karakozov attempts to assassinate Tsar Alexander II of Russia |
| April 16 | Nitroglycerine at Wells Fargo and Co office explodes |
| May 1 | American Equal Rights Association forms |
| May 4 | Woodward's Gardens opens to public |
| May 7 | German premier Otto von Bismarck seriously wounded in assassin attempt |
| May 8 | Australian Rules Football is created |
| May 16 | Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer |
| May 16 | Congress authorizes nickel 5 cents piece (replaces silver half-dime) |
| May 16 | U.S. Treasury Department authorizes nickel |
| May 18 | French Government of De Putte resigns |
| May 21 | 1st-class debut of G F Grace aged 15 years 159 days |
| May 24 | Berkeley, California named (for George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne) |
| May 28 | Dutch government of Zuylen van Nijevelt/Heemskerk forms |
| May 30 | Opera "Die Verkaufte Braut" premieres (Prague) |
| June 1 | General Dutch Typographer Union forms |
| June 1 | Renegade Irish Fenians invade Ft. Erie, Ontario from U.S. |
| June 2 | Renegade Irish Fenians surrender to U.S. forces |
| June 7 | Irish Fenians raid Pigeon Hill, Quebec |
| June 13 | House passes 14th Amendment (Civil rights for blacks) |
| June 15 | Prussia attacks Austria |
| June 20 | Italy declares war on Austria |
| June 24 | 2nd Battle at Custozza: Prussian-Austria beats Italian army |
| July 4 | Firecracker thrown in wood starts fire destroying of Portland, Me |
| July 10 | Indelible pencil patents by Edson P Clark, Northampton, Mass |
| July 17 | Italian fleet under Admiral Persano capture Austrian Fort Lissa |
| July 19 | Tennessee is 1st to ratify 14th Amendment, guaranteeing civil rights |
| July 20 | Sea battle of Lissa-Austria vs Italy |
| July 21 | Cholera-epidemic kills hundreds in London |
| July 23 | Cincinnati Baseball club (Red Stockings) forms |
| July 24 | Tennessee becomes 1st Confederate state readmitted to Union |
| July 25 | 25th Postmaster General: Alexander W Randall of Wis takes office |
| July 25 | David Faragut appointed as 1st Admiral of U.S. Navy |
| July 25 | U.S. Grant named 1st general of Army |
| July 26 | Canoe Club opens in England |
| July 27 | Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid (1,686 miles long) |
| July 28 | Metric system becomes a legal measurement system in U.S. |
| July 30 | Race riot in New Orleans |
| August 10 | Transatlantic cable laid-President Buchanan spoke to Queen Victoria |
| August 17 | Bathe and Prussia signs peace treaty |
| August 20 | President Andrew Johnson formally declares Civil War over |
| August 23 | Treaty of Prague ends Austro-Prussian war |
| September 1 | Last Navaho chief Manuelito, turns self in at Fort Wingate |
| September 4 | 1st Hawaiian daily newspaper published |
| September 6 | Frederick Douglass is 1st U.S. black delegate to a national convention |
| October 1 | Dutch Eindhoven-Venlo railway opens |
| October 2 | J Osterhoudt patents tin can with key opener |
| October 6 | 1st train robbery in U.S. (Reno Brothers take $13,000) |
| October 15 | Great fire in Quebec destroys 2,500 houses |
| October 30 | Jesse James gang robs bank in Lexington Missouri ($2000) |
| November 1 | 1st Civil Rights Bill passes |
| November 4 | Kingdom of Italy annexes Venetia |
| November 10 | Gold coins from the Sydney Mint become legal tender in Canada |
| November 17 | Opera "Mignon" is produced (Paris) |
| November 20 | 1st national convention of Grand Army of Republic (veterans' org) |
| November 20 | Howard University founded (Wash, DC) |
| November 20 | Pierre Lalemont patents rotary crank bicycle |
| November 30 | Work begins on 1st U.S. underwater highway tunnel, Chicago |
| December 3 | Paid fire department replaces volunteer companies |
| December 6 | Chicago water supply tunnel 3,227 m into Lake Michigan completed |
| December 11 | 1st yacht race across Atlantic Ocean |
| December 21 | Cheyennes, Arapho's, Sioux, Fetterman Massacre |
