| January 2 | Construction of Brooklyn Bridge begins |
| January 3 | Brooklyn Bridge construction begins; completed May 24, 1883 |
| January 8 | U.S. mint at Carson City, Nevada begins issuing coins |
| January 10 | Georgia legislature reconvenes |
| January 10 | John D Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil |
| January 15 | Donkey 1st used as symbol of Democratic Party, in Harper's Weekly |
| January 16 | Virginia becomes 8th state readmitted to U.S. after Civil War |
| January 20 | "City of Boston" vanishes at sea with all 177 aboard |
| January 20 | Hiram R. Revels elected to fill unexpired term of Jefferson Davis |
| January 23 | 173 Blackfoot (140 women and children) killed in Montana by U.S. Army |
| January 25 | Soda fountain patented by Gustavus Dows |
| January 26 | Virginia rejoins US |
| January 27 | 1st sorority (Kappa Alpha Theta) (DePauw U in Greencastle, Indiana) |
| January 27 | After accepting 15th amendment, Virginia is readmitted to Union |
| January 27 | Manitoba and Northwest Territories incorporated |
| February 2 | Cardiff Giant (supposed petrified human) proved to be gypsum |
| February 2 | Mark Twain, 34, marries Olivia Langdon in Elmira, New York |
| February 3 | 15th Amendment (Black suffrage) passed |
| February 5 | 1st motion picture shown to a theater audience, Philadelphia |
| February 9 | U.S. Army establishes U.S. National Weather Service |
| February 10 | City of Anaheim incorporates (1st time) |
| February 10 | YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association) forms (New York City) |
| February 12 | Official proclamation sets April 15 as last day of grace for U.S. silver coins to circulate in Canada |
| February 15 | Ground broken for Northern Pacific Railway near Duluth, Minn |
| February 17 | Esther Morris appointed 1st female judge |
| February 17 | Mississippi becomes 9th state readmitted to U.S. after Civil War |
| February 23 | Mississippi is readmitted to U.S. |
| February 25 | Hiram Rhodes Revels, is sworn in as 1st black member of Congress, Senator-R-Mississippi 1870 - 1871 |
| February 26 | 1st New York City subway line opens (pneumatic powered) |
| March 7 | Cincinnati Red Stockings, 1st pro BB team, begin 8-mo tour of Midwest and East |
| March 14 | California legislature approves act making Golden Gate Park possible |
| March 17 | Mass legislature authorizes incorporation of Wellesley Female Seminary |
| March 18 | 1st U.S. National Wildlife Preserve, Lake Meritt in Oakland California |
| March 19 | The opera "Guarany," premieres in Milan |
| March 30 | 15th Amendment passes, guarantees right to vote regardless of race |
| March 30 | Texas becomes last confederate state readmitted to Union |
| March 31 | 1st black to vote in U.S. (Thomas P Mundy of Perth Amboy New Jersey) |
| April 2 | Victoria Woodhull is 1st woman to be nominated for U.S. president |
| April 4 | Golden Gate Park forms by City Order number 800 |
| April 9 | American Anti-Slavery Society dissolves |
| April 13 | Metropolitan Museum of Art forms in New York City |
| April 15 | Last day U.S. silver coins allow to circulate in Canada |
| April 16 | Vaudeville Theatre Strand opens in London |
| April 27 | Heinrich Schliemann discovers Troi |
| May 10 | Jem Mace and defends his heavyweight crown against Irish champ Joe Coburn, it lasts 1 hr and 17 minutes, and neither is struck by a punch |
| May 12 | Manitoba becomes a province of Canada |
| May 20 | Second Chamber abolishes capital punishment |
| May 24 | Memoria of Jackson Kemper, 1st Missionary Bishop in US |
| May 25 | Irish Fenians raid Eccles Hill, Quebec |
| May 31 | Congress passes 1st Enforcement Act (rights of blacks) |
| May 31 | E. J. DeSemdt patents asphalt pavement |
| June 4 | 4th Belmont: W Dick aboard Kingfisher wins in 2:59 |
| June 5 | Constantinople in fire; 900 die |
| June 9 | Washington: President Grant meets with Sioux chief Red Cloud |
| June 11 | 1st-stone Amstel Brewery opens in Amsterdam |
| June 14 | All-pro Cincinnati Red Stockings suffer 1st loss in 130 games |
| June 22 | 1st Boardwalk in America invented |
| June 22 | Congress creates Department of Justice |
| June 25 | Opera "Die Walkure" is produced (Munich) |
| June 26 | 1st section of Atlantic City (NJ) Boardwalk opens |
| June 26 | Wagner's opera "Valkyrie" premieres in Munich |
| June 30 | Ada Kepley becomes 1st female law college graduate |
| July 1 | James W Smith of South Carolina is 1st black to enter West Point |
| July 8 | Congress authorizes registration of trademarks |
| July 8 | Governor Holden of North Carolina declares Casswell County in a state of insurrection |
| July 13 | King Wilhelm of Prussia sends "Emser Depache" on Bismarck |
| July 15 | Georgia becomes last confederate to be readmitted to U.S. |
| July 15 | Hudson's Bay and Northwest Territories transferred to Canada |
| July 15 | Manitoba becomes 5th Canadian province and NW Territories created |
| July 18 | Pontifical infalliability proclaimed |
| July 19 | France declares war on Prussia; Franco-Prussian war begins |
| July 23 | Emperor Napoleon III appoints Empress Eugenie as Regent of France |
| July 24 | 1st trans-U.S. rail service begins |
| July 30 | Staten Island ferry "Westfield" burns, killing 100 |
| August 4 | British Red Cross Society forms |
| August 6 | Battle at Spicheren: Prussia beats France |
| August 6 | White conservatives suppresed black vote and captured Tennessee legislature |
| August 8 | Magic (U.S.) defeats Cambria (England) in 2nd running of America's Cup |
| August 15 | Transcontinental Railway actually completed in Colorado |
| August 16 | Fred Goldsmith demonstrates curve ball isn't an optical illusion |
| August 17 | 1st ascent of Mount Rainier, Washington |
| August 18 | Battle at Gravelotte Privat: Prussia beat France, 32,000 casualties |
| September 1 | Napoleon III captured at Sedan |
| September 2 | Napoleon III surrenders to Prussian armies |
| September 4 | 3rd French republic proclaimed as they overthrow their king |
| September 6 | Ship sinks in Gulf of Biskaje; 483 die |
| September 10 | Dutch Jurist Cooperation forms |
| September 15 | Dutch 1st Chamber abolishes Capital punishment (20-18) |
| September 19 | Siege of Paris begins |
| September 20 | Italian army under Victor Emmanuel II seizes Rome from the French |
| September 20 | Mayor William Tweed accused of robbing New York treasury |
| September 20 | Pope Pius IX surrenders to King Victor Emmanuel |
| October 2 | Italy annexes Rome and Papal States; Rome made Italian capital |
| October 7 | Leon Gambetta flees Paris in balloon |
| October 9 | Rome is incorporated into Italy by royal decree |
| October 13 | Gustav Mahler (10) gives his 1st public piano concert |
| October 19 | 1st (4) blacks elected to House of Reps |
| October 19 | British SS Cambria leaves for Noth sea coast, 196 killed |
| October 25 | Pimlico Race Course opens in Baltimore |
| October 25 | Postcards 1st used in U.S. |
| November 1 | U.S. Weather Bureau begins operations (24 locations) |
| November 8 | Democratic governor elected in Tennessee |
| November 15 | Bathe becomes member of Noordduitse Union |
| November 16 | Spanish Cortes selects King Amadeus I |
| November 27 | New York Times dubs baseball "The National Game" |
| November 29 | Compulsory education proclaimed in England |
| December 6 | Joseph H Rainey, 1st black in House of Representatives (SC) |
| December 12 | Joseph Rainey (SC) became 1st black sworn into House of Reps |
| December 22 | Jules Janssen, flys in a balloon in order to study a solar eclipse |
| December 31 | J D Schneiter patents rocket mail in France, (not done) |
