| January 1 | d'Annunzio's "Sogno d'un mattino di primavera," premieres in Rome |
| January 1 | Lightship replaces whistling buoy at mouth of San Francisco Bay |
| January 4 | 1st installment of William Dean Howell's "Life and Letters" appears |
| January 6 | 1st telephone message from a submerged submarine, by Simon Lake |
| January 13 | Emile Zola publishes his open letter (J'accuse) in defense of Dreyfus |
| January 14 | Joe Darling hits the 1st six in Tests (out of the ground) |
| January 19 | Brown defeats Harvard 6-0 in 1st intercollegiate hockey game |
| February 1 | 1st auto insurance policy in U.S. issued, by Travelers Insurance Co |
| February 8 | John Ames Sherman patents 1st envelope folding and gumming mach (Mass) |
| February 11 | Owen Smith of NC, AME Zion minister, named minister to Liberia |
| February 15 | USS Maine sinks in Havana harbor, cause unknown, 258 sailors die |
| February 23 | In France, Emile Zola is imprisoned for writing his "J'accuse" letter accusing government of anti-Semitism and wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus |
| March 2 | Australia complete a 4-1 series annihilation of England |
| March 8 | Richard Straus' "Don Quixote," premieres in Keulen |
| March 17 | 1st practical submarine 1st submerges, New York City (for 1 hour 40 minutes) |
| March 24 | 1st automobile sold |
| March 25 | Intercollegiate Trapshooting Association formed in New York City |
| April 8 | Battle of Atbara River, Anglo-Egyptian forces crush 6,000 Sudanese |
| April 11 | President McKinley asks for Spanish-American War declaration |
| April 12 | Army transfers Yerba Buena Island in San Francisco Bay to Navy |
| April 19 | 2nd Boston Marathon won by Ron McDonald of Mass in 2:42:00 |
| April 20 | U.S. Assay Office in Deadwood, South Dakota opens |
| April 21 | Phillies' pitcher Bill Duggleby hits a grand slam on 1st at bat |
| April 21 | Spanish-American War begins |
| April 22 | 1st Spanish-American War action: USS Nashville, takes enemy ship |
| April 22 | Baltimore James Hughes no-hits Boston Braves 8-0 |
| April 22 | Cincinnati Red Theodore Breitenstein no-hits Pirates 11-0 |
| April 22 | Congress passes Volunteer Army Act calling for a Volunteer Cavalry |
| April 22 | U.S. President McKinley orders blockade of Cuban harbors |
| April 24 | Spain declares war on U.S. rejecting ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba |
| April 24 | U.S. fleet under commodore Dewey sails from Hong Kong to Philippines |
| April 25 | U.S. declares war on Spain over Cuba |
| April 30 | Championship wrestling match at Met turns into a brawl |
| May 3 | Camp Merriman forms at Presidio |
| May 4 | 24th Kentucky Derby: Willie Simms aboard Plaudit wins in 2:09 |
| May 12 | Louisiana adopts new constitution with "grandfather clause" designed to eliminate black voters |
| May 17 | Camp Merritt forms in Presidio |
| May 19 | Post Office authorizes use of postcards |
| May 21 | U.S. Assay Office in Seattle, Washington authorized |
| May 23 | 1st Philippine Expeditionary Troops sail from San Francisco |
| May 25 | 1st U.S. troop transport to Manila leaves San Francisco |
| May 26 | 32nd Belmont: F Littlefield aboard Bowling Brook wins in 2:32 |
| May 26 | San Francisco approves City Charter, allows Municipal ownership of utilities |
| May 27 | Arthur Pinero's "Trelawney of the 'Wells'," premieres in London |
| June 1 | Trans-Mississippi International Exposition opens in Omaha |
| June 7 | Social Democracy of America party holds 1st national convention, Chic |
| June 9 | China leases Hong Kong's new territories to Britain for 99 years |
| June 10 | U.S. Marines land in Cuba, during Spanish-American War |
| June 11 | 1st U.S. Marines land in Cuba during Spanish-American War |
| June 11 | 23rd Preakness: Willie Simms aboard Sly Fox wins in 1:49.75 |
| June 11 | 600 U.S. Marines land at Guantanamo Cuba |
| June 11 | Emperor De Zong proclaims reforms in Peking |
| June 12 | Philippine nationalists declares independence from Spain to U.S. control |
| June 13 | Yukon Territory of Canada organized, Dawson chosen as capital |
| June 14 | France signs Niger Convention |
| June 15 | U.S. House of Representatives accept annexation of Hawaii |
| June 15 | U.S. Marines attack Spanish off Guantanamo, Cuba |
| June 16 | China's emperor De Zong (Guang Xu) receives Kang Youwei |
| June 17 | U.S. Senate agrees to annex Hawaii |
| June 18 | 1st amusement pier opens in Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| June 18 | 4th U.S. Golf Open: Fred Herd shoots a 328 at Myopia Hunt Club Mass |
| June 21 | Guam becomes a territory of U.S. |
| June 24 | American troops, drive Spanish forces from La Guasimas Cuba |
| July 1 | Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders charge up San Juan Hill |
| July 3 | American troops captured deserted Wake Island |
| July 3 | Dutch Automobile Club forms (KNAC) |
| July 3 | Joshua Slocum completes 1st solo circumnavigation of the globe |
| July 3 | U.S. Navy defeats Spanish fleet in Santiago harbor, Cuba |
| July 4 | French liner "La Bourgogne" collides with bark Cromartyshire, 560 die |
| July 4 | U.S. flag hoisted over Wake Island (Spanish-American War) |
| July 7 | U.S. annexes Hawaii |
| July 8 | Phillies Red Donahue no-hits Boston Braves, 5-0 |
| July 8 | U.S. battle fleet under Admiral Dewey occupies Isla Grande at Manila |
| July 10 | Jean-Baptiste Marchands expedition reaches Fashoda at White Hippo |
| July 12 | Jean-Baptiste Marchand hoists French flag in Fashoda, Sudan |
| July 13 | Guglielmo Marconi patents radio |
| July 13 | San Francisco Ferry Building at foot of Market St. opens |
| July 17 | Spanish American War-Spaniards surrender to U.S. at Santiago Cuba |
| July 21 | Spain cedes Guam to U.S. |
| July 22 | Belgica crew see 1st sunrise in 1600 hours, 1st to endure Antarct winter |
| July 25 | 1st U.S. troops land and occupy Puerto Rice, at Guanica Bay |
| July 27 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Dancing Men" |
| July 28 | Spanish troops in Ponce, Puerto Rico, surrender |
| July 28 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Retired Colourman" |
| July 30 | Will Kieth Kellogg invents Corn Flakes |
| August 12 | Hawaii formally annexed to U.S. |
| August 12 | Peace protocol ends Spanish-American War, signed |
| August 13 | U.S. forces under George Dewey captures Manila during Spanish-Amer war |
| August 16 | Edwin Prescott patents roller coaster |
| August 23 | 18th U.S. Mens Tennis: Malcolm Whitman beats Dwight Davis (36 62 62 61) |
| September 1 | Dutch soccer team Receiver forms |
| September 1 | Lord Kitcheners army bombs Omdurman Sudan |
| September 2 | Battle of Omdurman: Lord Kitchener retakes Sudan for Britain |
| September 2 | Machine gun 1st used in battle |
| September 6 | Lord Kitchener destroys Mahdi's tomb in Omdurman |
| September 9 | Ottawa Football Club re-organizes into the Rough Riders |
| September 10 | Lord Kitchener's ships sails from Kartoum to Fashoda |
| September 13 | 20,000 Paris construction workers go on strike |
| September 13 | Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film |
| September 15 | National Afro-American Council forms in Rochester NY |
| September 18 | Lord Kitcheners ships reach Fashoda Sudan |
| September 21 | China's empress-mother Ci Xi and emperor De Zong arrested |
| September 26 | Victor Herbert/Harry Smith' musical premieres in New York City |
| September 29 | French troops reach Guinea and Sudan, Samori caught |
| September 30 | City of New York established |
| October 1 | Dutch railway Alkmaar-Receiver opens |
| October 1 | Henry Huntington buys LA Railway |
| October 1 | Jews are expelled from Kiev, Russia |
| October 6 | Gustav Mahler conducts 1st Wiener Philharmonic |
| October 8 | 1st Canadian Intercollegiate football game: McGill beats Queen's, 3-2 |
| October 18 | American flag raised in Puerto Rico |
| October 20 | North Carolina Mutual and Provident Insurance Company forms |
| November 2 | French government-Dupuy forms |
| November 2 | Theodor Herzl arrives in Jerusalem |
| November 5 | Gerhart Hauptmanns "Fuhrmann Henschel," premieres in Berlin |
| November 10 | Race riot in Wilmington North Carolina (8 blacks killed) |
| November 22 | Opera "Iris" premieres (Rome) |
| November 26 | SS Portland leaves for Cape Cod, 157 killed |
| November 27 | Side-wheeler "Portland" sinks off Cape Cod, 190 die |
| December 10 | Spanish-American War ends; U.S. acquires Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam |
| December 12 | 1st 1st-class game between NSW and Tasmania |
| December 18 | Automobile speed record set-63 kph (39 mph) |
| December 21 | Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovers radium |
| December 24 | Herman Heijermans' "Ghetto," premieres in Amsterdam |
BrainyHistory
