| January 1 | Belgium disbands salt tax |
| January 2 | King Amadeus I of Spain inaugurated at 25 |
| January 3 | Oleomargarine patented by Henry Bradley, Binghamton, New York |
| January 16 | Jefferson Long of Georgia sworn in as 2nd black congressman |
| January 17 | 1st cable car patented, by Andrew S Hallidie (begins service in 1873) |
| January 18 | 2nd German Empire proclaimed by Kaiser Wilhelm I and Bismarck |
| January 26 | British Rugby Union forms |
| January 26 | U.S. income tax repealed |
| January 28 | Paris surrenders to Prussians |
| January 31 | Millions of birds fly over western SF, darkens sky |
| February 1 | Jefferson Long of Georgia is 1st black to make an official speech in House of Representatives (opposing leniency to former Confederates) |
| February 9 | Federal fish protection office authorized by Congress |
| February 27 | Meeting of Alabama claims commission |
| February 28 | 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of congressional elections |
| March 1 | J Milton Turner named minister to Liberia |
| March 3 | Congress changes Indian tribes status from independent to dependent |
| March 3 | Congress establishes the civil service system |
| March 16 | 1st fertilizer law enacted |
| March 17 | National Association of Professional Base-Ball players organized |
| March 18 | Communards revolt in Paris |
| March 21 | Journalist Henry M. Stanley begins his famous expedition to Africa |
| March 21 | Otto von Bismarck elevated Furst |
| March 22 | William Holden of North Carolina becomes 1st governor removed by impeachment |
| March 26 | Paris Commune founded |
| March 27 | 1st international rugby game-Scotland 1, England 0 |
| March 28 | San Francisco Art Association holds open reception at 430 Pine |
| March 29 | Albert Hall opens by Queen Victoria in London |
| April 10 | William Hammond Hall's maps and surveys of Golden Gate Park accepted |
| April 14 | Canada sets denominations of currency as dollars, cents, and mills |
| April 16 | German Empire ends all anti-Jewish civil restrictions |
| April 20 | 3rd Enforcement Act (President can suspend writ of habeas corpus) |
| April 23 | Blossom Rock in San Francisco Bay blown up |
| April 24 | Opera "Aida" is produced (Cairo) |
| April 30 | Apaches in Arizona surrender to white and Mexican adventurers; 144 die |
| May 4 | 1st baseball league game (National Association of Baseball Players), (Ft. Wayne 2, Cleveland 0) Deacon Jim White gets 1st hit, a double |
| May 8 | English - U.S. treaty ends Alabama dispute |
| May 10 | German-French peace treaty signed: France cedes Elzas |
| May 10 | Peace of Frankfurt-am-Main concluded between France and Germany |
| May 12 | Segregated street cars integrated in Louisville, Kentucky |
| May 17 | Indians fighter General Sherman escapes in ambulance vs Comanches |
| May 28 | Paris communards revolt put down |
| June 3 | Jesse James and his gang robs Obocock Bank (Corydon Iowa), of $15,000 |
| June 10 | 5th Belmont: W Miller aboard Harry Basset wins in 2:56 |
| June 13 | Hurricane kills 300 in Labrador |
| June 15 | Phoebe Couzins is 1st woman graduate of a U.S. collegiate law school |
| June 16 | Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of Mystic Shrine founded, New York City |
| June 30 | Guatemala revolts for agrarian reforms |
| July 1 | The decimal currency system is made uniform in Canada |
| July 3 | Jesse James robs bank in Corydon, Iowa ($45,000) |
| July 5 | Trial against Kiowa chief Satanta (White Bear) and Big Tree, begins |
| July 20 | British Columbia becomes 6th Canadian province |
| July 25 | Carousel patents by Wilhelm Schneider, Davenport, Iowa |
| September 17 | Mont Cenis railway tunnel Switzerland opens |
| October 1 | General Dutch Werkliedenverbond (ANWV), forms in Utrecht |
| October 2 | Brigham Young, mormon leader, arrest for bigamy |
| October 6 | Fisk Jubilee Singers begin 1st national tour |
| October 7 | 16-hour fire injures 30 of Chicago's 185 firefighters |
| October 8 | Gas explosion destroys Peshtigo, Wisconsin |
| October 8 | Great Fire kills 200, destroys over 4miles (10 km) of Chicago buildings, and original Emancipation Proclamation |
| October 11 | Great Chicago Fire is finally extinguished after 3 days, 300 killed |
| October 12 | President Grant condemns Ku Klux Klan |
| October 17 | Great Britain annexes Griqualand South Africa |
| October 17 | President Grant suspends writ of habeas corpus |
| October 21 | 1st U.S. amateur outdoor athletic games (NY) |
| October 23 | Columbia and Sappho (U.S.) beat Livonia (UK) in 3rd America's Cup |
| October 24 | Mob in LA hangs 18 Chinese |
| October 27 | Boss Tweed (William Macy Tweed), Democratic leader of Tammany Hall, arrested after New York Times exposed his corruption |
| October 30 | Philadelphia Athletics beat Chicago for 1st National Association baseball pennant |
| October 31 | Founding of Netherland Protestant Union in Dokkum |
| November 3 | Henry M. Stanley in Tanganyka say "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" |
| November 6 | Cameroon reaches coast of Angola after trip through Africa |
| November 6 | President Grant re-elected |
| November 10 | Stanley presumes to meet Livingston in Ujiji, Central Africa |
| November 21 | Moses F Gale patents a cigar lighter (New York City) |
| November 21 | The 1st human cannonball, Emilio Onra, is shot |
| November 23 | Railway bridge over Dutch Deep opens |
| November 24 | National Rifle Association organized in New York City |
| November 28 | Ku Klux Klan trials began in Federal District Court in SC |
| December 12 | Jules Janssen discovers dark lines in solar corona spectrum |
| December 19 | Albert L Jones (New York City), patents corrugated paper |
| December 24 | Giusseppi Verdi's "Aida" premieres in Cairo, at Suez canal opening |
| December 27 | World's 1st cat show (Crystal Palace, London) |
