Timeline of the history of the United States (1860–1899)

More than 550,000 Americans died fighting the Civil War, including these men who fell during the bloody Battle of Antietam.

This section of the timeline of United States history concerns events from 1860 to 1899.

1860s

1860s in the United States: 1860, 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1868, 1869.

Further information: Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War

Presidency of James Buchanan

U.S. territorial extent in 1860

• April 3, 1860 – Pony Express begins.
• November 6 – 1860 United States presidential election: Abraham Lincoln elected president and Hannibal Hamlin vice president with only 39% of the vote in a four-man race.
• December 18 – Crittenden Compromise fails.
• December 20 – President Buchanan fires his cabinet.
• December 20 – South Carolina secedes from the Union
• January 9, 1861 – Secessionist forces in South Carolina fire at the USS Star of the West, forcing it to withdraw.
• January 9 – Mississippi secedes from the Union
• January 10 – Florida secedes from the Union
• January 11 – Alabama secedes from the Union
• January 19 – Georgia secedes from the Union
• January 26 – Louisiana secedes from the Union
• February 1 – Texas secedes from the Union
• February 4 – Secessionist states establish the Confederate States of America
• February 9 – Jefferson Davis elected provisional president of the Confederacy. Alexander H. Stephens elected provisional vice president of the Confederacy.
• February 11 – Stephens becomes provisional vice president of the Confederate States.
• February 18 – Davis becomes provisional president of the Confederate States.
• March 2 – The Corwin Amendment to enshrine slavery forever is passed by Congress. It is not ratified.

Presidency of Abraham Lincoln

• March 4, 1861 – Lincoln becomes the 16th president and Hamlin becomes the 15th vice president
• 1861 – American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter
• 1861 – First Battle of Bull Run (First Battle of Manassas)
• 1861 – Davis unanimously elected to full term as Confederate president, Stephen unanimously elected to full term as Confederate vice president.
• February 22, 1862 – Davis becomes Confederate president, Stephens become Confederate vice president.
• 1862 – Battle of Hampton Roads (Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack; first ever naval battle between iron-sided ships)
• 1862 – Homestead Act
• 1862 – Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act
• 1862 – Gen. Robert E. Lee placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia
• 1862 – Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Battle of Manassas)
• 1862 – Battle of Antietam (Battle of Sharpsburg)
• 1862 – Dakota War of 1862 begins
• 1862–1863 – Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation
• 1863 – Battle of Gettysburg
• 1863 – The Siege of Vicksburg ends
• 1863 – New York City draft riots
• 1863 – Pro-Union Virginia counties become separate state of West Virginia
• 1863 - Lincoln announces the 10% Plan
• 1864 – Gen. Ulysses S. Grant put in command of all Union forces
• 1864 – Wade–Davis Bill
• 1864 – Sand Creek massacre
• 1864 – Nevada becomes a state
• 1864 – U.S. presidential election, 1864; Abraham Lincoln is reelected president and Andrew Johnson elected vice president on the "fusion" Union Party ticket.
• 1864 – Sherman's March to the Sea
• 1865 – Robert E. Lee made commander-in-chief of all Confederate forces
• March 4, 1865 – President Lincoln begins second term; Johnson becomes the 16th vice president
• 1865 – Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, captured by a corps of black Union troops
• 1865 – Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House
• 1865 – Freedmen's Bureau
• 1865 - the 13th Amendment was adopted, setting slaves free forever.

Presidency of Andrew Johnson

• April 15, 1865 – President Lincoln assassinated; Vice President Johnson becomes the 17th president
• April–June 1865 – American Civil War ends as the last elements of the Confederacy surrender
• 1865 – Ku Klux Klan founded
• 1865 – Slavery abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment.
• 1866 – Civil Rights Act of 1866
• 1866 - Tennessee becomes the first Confederate state readmitted to the union
• 1867 – Tenure of Office Act enacted
• 1867 – Territory of Alaska purchased from the Russian Empire
• 1867 - The US Annexes the Midway Islands in the Pacific
• 1867 – Nebraska becomes a state
• 1867 - Congress passes a series of Reconstruction acts and the period of Radical Reconstruction begins
• 1868 – Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, acquitted by the Senate by one vote.
• 1868 – Fourteenth Amendment is ratified; second of Reconstruction Amendments.
• 1868 – The Copperheads are dissolved.
• 1868 – Ulysses S. Grant is elected president and Schuyler Colfax is elected vice president.
• 1868 - Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama are admitted back into the union.
• 1868 - Boss Tweed gained control of Tammany Hall.

Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant

• March 4, 1869 – Grant becomes the 18th president and Colfax becomes the 17th vice president.
• 1869 – The First transcontinental railroad is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory.
• 1869 – Texas v. White upholds Radical Reconstruction and states that once Texas joins the Union, its union was indissoluble.

1870s

1870s in the United States: 1870, 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879.

U.S. territorial extent in 1870

• 1870 – 15th Amendment
• 1870 – First graduate programs (at Yale and Harvard)
• 1870 – Black Codes
• 1870 - Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia are readmitted to the union
• 1871 – Great Chicago Fire
• 1871 – Treaty of Washington with the British Empire regarding Canada
• 1871 - The New York Times published evidence of Tweed's rampant greed.
• 1871 - Civil Service Reform Act passes
• 1871 - Ku Klux Klan Act
• 1872 – Yellowstone National Park created
• 1872 – Crédit Mobilier scandal
• 1872 – Amnesty Act
• 1872 – Alabama Claims
• 1872 – U.S. presidential election, 1872: Ulysses S. Grant reelected president; Henry Wilson elected vice president
• 1872 - Victoria Claflin Woodhull, first woman presidential candidate, enters presidential race.
• 1873 – Panic of 1873
• March 4, 1873 – President Grant begins second term; Henry Wilson becomes the 18th vice president
• 1873 – Virginius Affair
• 1873 - One of the first schools of nursing opens at Bellevue Hospital in New York
• 1874 – Red River Indian War
• 1874 - National Woman's Christian Temperance Union formed in Cleveland
• 1875 – Aristides (horse) wins first Kentucky Derby
• 1875 – Resumption Act
• 1875 – Civil Rights Act of 1875
• 1875 – The Art Students League of New York is founded
• November 22, 1875 – Vice President Wilson dies
• 1875 - Whiskey Ring Scandal
• 1876 – National League of baseball founded
• 1876 – Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia
• 1876 – Munn v. Illinois establishes public regulation of utilities
• 1876 – Colorado becomes a state
• 1876 – Battle of Little Bighorn
• 1876 - Central Park opens in New York City
• 1876 – Wild Bill Hickok is killed by a shot to the back of his head by Jack McCall while playing poker in Deadwood, South Dakota. He held aces and eights, now known as the Dead man's hand.
• 1876 – U.S. presidential election, 1876 seemingly elects Samuel J. Tilden president and Thomas A. Hendricks vice president, but results are disputed with 20 Electoral College votes allegedly in doubt.
• 1877 – The Electoral Commission awards Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency and William A. Wheeler the vice presidency in return for ending the military occupation of the South.
• 1877 – Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes

• March 4, 1877 – After only two days as president-elect and vice president-elect, Hayes becomes the 19th president and Wheeler becomes the 19th vice president
• 1877 – Reconstruction ends
• 1877 – Nez Perce War
• 1878 – Bland–Allison Act
• 1878 – Morgan silver dollars first minted
• 1879 – Thomas Edison creates first commercially viable light bulb
• 1879 – Knights of Labor go public

1880s

1880s in the United States: 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889.

U.S. territorial extent in 1880

• 1880 – University of Southern California founded
• 1880 – U.S. population exceeds 50 million
• 1880 – U.S. presidential election, 1880: James A. Garfield elected president and Chester A. Arthur vice president. Their popular margin is less than 2,000 votes.

Presidency of James A. Garfield

• March 4, 1881 – Garfield becomes the 20th president; Arthur becomes the 20th vice president.
• July 2, 1881 – President Garfield is shot by a deranged gunman on a train platform.

Presidency of Chester A. Arthur

• September 19, 1881 – President Garfield dies, Vice President Arthur becomes the 21st president
• 1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory
• 1881 – Clara Barton creates the American Red Cross
• 1881 – Tuskegee Institute founded
• 1881 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett near Fort Sumner
• 1881 – A Century of Dishonor written by Helen Hunt Jackson
• 1882 – Chinese Exclusion Act
• 1882 – Jesse James was shot and killed by Robert and Charlie Ford
• 1883 - The Southern section of the second transcontinental railroad line is completed.
• 1883 – Buffalo Bill's Wild West show founded. participants include: Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Calamity Jane, and Annie Oakley.
• 1883 – Civil Rights Cases 109 US 3 1883 legalizes doctrine of segregation
• 1883 – Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
• 1883 – Brooklyn Bridge opens
• 1883 - Joseph Pulitzer buys the New York World
• 1884 – U.S. presidential election, 1884: Grover Cleveland elected president and Thomas A. Hendricks elected vice president
• 1884 – Washington Monument completed

First presidency of Grover Cleveland

• March 4, 1885 – Cleveland becomes the 22nd president; Hendricks becomes the 21st vice president
• November 25, 1885 – Vice President Hendricks dies
• 1886 – Haymarket Square Riot
• 1886 – American Federation of Labor founded in Columbus, Ohio
• 1886 – Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) dedicated
• 1887 – The United States Congress creates Interstate Commerce Commission
• 1887 – Dawes Act
• 1887 – Hatch Act
• 1888 – Publication of Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy
• 1888 – National Geographic Society founded
• 1888 – U.S. presidential election, 1888: Benjamin Harrison elected president and Levi P. Morton vice president despite coming in second in the popular vote.

Presidency of Benjamin Harrison

• March 4, 1889 – Harrison becomes the 23rd president and Morton becomes the 22nd vice president
• 1889 – Oklahoma Land Rush (April 22, 1889)
• 1889 – Centennial of the Constitution celebrated.
• 1889 – North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington become states
• 1889 – Johnstown Flood in Pennsylvania
• 1889 – Jane Addams founds Hull House
• December 6, 1889 – Former Confederate president Jefferson Davis dies.
• 1889 - During a speech given by Benjamin Harrison, he becomes the first U.S. president in history to have a voice recording.

1890s

1890s in the United States: 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899.

• 1890 – Sherman Antitrust Act
• 1890 – Jacob Riis published "How the Other Half Lives"
• 1890 – Sherman Silver Purchase Act
• 1890 – McKinley Tariff
• 1890 – Yosemite National Park created
• 1890 – Idaho and Wyoming become states
• 1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre
• 1890 – National American Woman Suffrage Association founded
• 1890 - Reporter Nelly Bly circles globe by train and steamship in 72 days
• 1891 – Baltimore crisis
• 1891 – James Naismith invents basketball
• 1891 - Hamlin Garland publishes Main-Travelled Roads
• 1892 – Homestead Strike
• 1892 – General Electric Company founded
• 1892 – Sierra Club founded by John Muir
• 1892 - Populist national convention held in Omaha
• 1892 – U.S. presidential election, 1892: Grover Cleveland elected president and Adlai E. Stevenson, vice president

Second presidency of Grover Cleveland

• March 4, 1893 – Cleveland becomes the 24th president; Stevenson becomes the 23rd vice president
• 1893 – Panic of 1893
• 1893 – Sherman Silver Purchase Act repealed
• 1893 - Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago
• 1894 – Coxey's Army
• 1894 – Pullman Strike
• 1894 – Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act, including income tax
• 1894 – Sunset Limited service opened on the second transcontinental route by Southern Pacific Railroad
• 1895 – Lee Shelton shoots Billy Lyons, spawning countless ballads.
• 1895 – Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. strikes down part of Wilson-Gorman Tariff
• 1895 - William Randolph Hearst purchases the New York Morning Journal
• 1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson 163 US 537 1896 affirms the idea of "separate but equal"
• 1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech
• 1896 – Gold discovered in the Yukon's Klondike
• 1896 – Utah becomes a state
• 1896 - Henry Ford builds his first automobile
• 1896 – U.S. presidential election, 1896: William McKinley elected president and Garret A. Hobart vice president

Presidency of William McKinley

• March 4, 1897 – McKinley becomes the 25th president; and Hobart becomes the 24th vice president

Wreckage of the USS Maine

• 1897 – Boston subway completed
• 1897 – Dingley tariff
• 1898 – The City of Greater New York is created through the annexation of Brooklyn, Western Queens County, and Staten Island into New York City
• 1898 – USS Maine explodes in Havana, Cuba harbor, precipitating the Spanish–American War
• 1898 – De Lôme Letter
• 1898 – Treaty of Paris (1898) ends Spanish–American War; Philippine–American War begins
• 1898 – Hawaii annexed
• 1898 – Newlands Resolution
• 1898 – American Anti-Imperialist League organized
• 1899 – Teller Amendment
• 1899 – Newsboys' strike of 1899
• 1899 – American Samoa occupied
• 1899 – Open Door Notes
• November 21, 1899 – Vice President Garret Hobart dies

See also

• Timeline of the American Old West
• History of the United States (1849–1865)
• History of the United States (1865–1918)

External links

• Library of Congress. Time Line of African American History, 1852–1880
• H-SHGAPE discussion forum for people studying the Gilded Age and Progressive Era