Historical Events in 1868

Event of Interest

Feb 24 US House of Representatives vote 126 to 47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson

1st Disraeli Government

Feb 29 1st British government of Benjamin Disraeli forms

British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli

Mar 2 University of Illinois opens
Mar 4 30th Grand National: George Ede victorious aboard Irish 9/1 shot The Lamb; horse wins second GN in 1871
Mar 5 Arrigo Boito's opera "Mefistofele" premieres in Milan
Mar 5 Stapler patented in England by C H Gould
Mar 5 US Senate organizes to decide charges against President Andrew Johnson
Mar 9 The opera "Hamlet" by Ambroise Thomas premieres in Paris
Mar 12 Great Britain annexes Basutoland in Africa (later renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho)
Mar 12 Henry O'Farrell attempts to assassinate Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, in Sydney, Australia, Duke is shot but survives
Mar 12 US Congress abolishes manufacturer's tax
Mar 13 Senate begins US President Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial
Mar 17 Postage stamp canceling machine patent issued

Jesse James Robbery

Mar 20 Jesse James Gang robs a bank in Russellville, Kentucky, of $14,000

Mar 21 1st US professional women's club, Sorosis, forms in NYC
Mar 23 University of California founded in Oakland, California
Mar 24 Metropolitan Life Insurance Co forms
Mar 27 The Lake Ontario Shore Railroad Company is organized in Oswego, New York.
Mar 31 Chinese Embassy arrives aboard steamship China
Apr 1 Hampton Institute opens
Apr 3 A Hawaiian surfs on highest wave ever - a 50-foot tidal wave
Apr 7 Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation is assassinated by the Irish, in one of the few Canadian political assassinations, and only federal politician
Apr 10 British defeat King of Abyssinia at Magdala

A German Requiem

Apr 10 First performance of Johannes Brahms' choral composition "A German Requiem"

Apr 11 The Shogunate is abolished in Japan

Ethiopian Emperor Commits Suicide

Apr 13 Abyssinian War ends as British and Indian troops capture Magdala and Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros II commits suicide

British soldiers discover the body of Emperor Tewodros II after he committed suicide following the Battle of Magdala

Apr 14 SC voters approved constitution, 70,758 to 27,228
Apr 16 Louisiana voters approve new constitution
Apr 18 San Francisco Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals forms in San Francisco, California
May 4 World's largest book, the Kuthodaw Inscription Shrines recording whole of Buddhist scriptures on 729 marble tablets completed and opened to the public in Mandalay, Burma

Bruckner's 1st Symphony

May 9 Anton Bruckner's 1st Symphony in C, premieres, conducted by the composer

May 9 The city of Reno, Nevada, is founded
May 14 Japanese Boshin War: end of the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle, former Shogunate forces withdraw northward to Aizu by way of Nikkō
May 15 Dutch government of Zuylen van Nijevelt falls

Music Premiere

May 16 Bedřich Smetana's opera "Dalibor" premieres at the New Town Theatre in Prague

May 16 US Senate fails to impeach President Andrew Johnson by one vote
May 20 Republican National Convention, meets in Chicago, nominates Grant
May 22 Train robbery at Marshfield, Indiana by the Reno Brothers Gang, who make off with $98,000
May 25 Australian Aboriginal Cricket tour of England begins v Surrey Gentlemen
May 26 US President Andrew Johnson is acquitted by the Senate by one vote during his impeachment trial
May 29 Michael Obrenovich III, Prince of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade
May 30 "Decoration Day", later called Memorial Day is first observed in Northern US states
May 31 1st Memorial Day parade held in Ironton, Ohio
May 31 Dr James Moore (UK) wins 1st recorded bicycle race, (2k) velocipede race at Parc fde St Cloud, Paris
Jun 1 Texas constitutional convention meets in Austin
Jun 1 Treaty of Bosque Redondo is signed allowing the Navajos to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico
Jun 4 Van Bosse/Fock government begins
Jun 9 1st meeting of Board of Regents, University of California
Jun 10 2nd Belmont: Bobby Swim aboard General Duke wins in 3:02
Jun 13 Oscar Dunn becomes first African American to be elected a Lieutenant Governor, of Louisiana
Jun 19 Major General E. R. S. Canby removes mayor of Columbia, South Carolina
Jun 21 Wagner's opera "Meistersinger von Nuernberg" premieres in Munich
Jun 22 Arkansas re-joins the US

Sholes and Glidden Typewriter

Jun 23 Christopher Latham Sholes patents the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, the first commercially successful of its kind

Mooresburg, Pennsylvania, where Sholes was born, has a board honouring the inventor

Jun 25 Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina readmitted to US
Jun 25 US President Andrew Johnson passes a law that government workers would work 8 hr day
Jul 4 Battle at Ueno, Japan: last Tokugawa armies defeated
Jul 4 Maori leader Te Kooti and 300 of his followers captured the schooner Rifleman in the Chatham Islands and sail for New Zealand; landing at Whareongaonga six days later
Jul 7 Surrey wicket-keeper Ted Pooley completes a then-1st class cricket record 12 dismissals (8 caught, 4 stumped) in a County match against Sussex at The Oval
Jul 9 1st African American cabinet member in South Carolina, Francis L. Cardozo as Secretary of State
Jul 9 Louisiana and South Carolina are the last states to ratify the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing civil rights
Jul 13 Oscar J Dunn, former slave, installed as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
Jul 14 Alvin J. Fellows of New Haven, Connecticut patents the tape measure
Jul 20 1st use of tax stamps on cigarettes
Jul 23 All England Lawn Tennis Club is founded as The All England Croquet Club; 1877 name changed to The All England Croquet & Lawn Tennis Club
Jul 25 US Congress forms Wyoming Territory (Dakota, Utah & Idaho)

Ex-slaves Granted Citizenship

Jul 28 US Secretary of State William H. Seward announces 14th Amendment ratified by states, grants citizenship to ex-slaves

Aug 8 Earthquake destroys the city of Arica, Chile
Aug 13 Earthquakes kill 25,000 & causes $300 million damages in Peru & Ecuador
Aug 18 French Astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium in solar spectrum during eclipse
Sep 8 New York Athletic Club forms
Sep 22 Race riots in New Orleans, Louisiana
Sep 23 British Open Men's Golf, Prestwick GC: Tom Morris Jr. beats his father, Tom Morris Sr. by 3 strokes; at 17 young Morris remains youngest Open champion
Sep 23 Grito de Lares proclaims Puerto Rico's independence (crushed by Spain)
Sep 25 The Imperial Russian steam frigate Alexander Nevski shipwrecks off Jutland while carrying Grand Duke Alexei of Russia
Sep 28 Battle of Alcolea, causes Queen Isabella II of Spain to flee to France
Sep 28 Opelousas Massacre at St Landry Parish, Louisiana (200 blacks killed)
Sep 30 Spain's Queen Isabella is deposed, flees to France

Little Women

Oct 1 "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott is published in America by Roberts Brothers of Boston

Oct 1 1st edition of Maasbode published
Oct 1 St Pancras railway station opens in London, largest single span roof in the world (689ft (240m) long, 100ft high (30m) a high point of Victorian Gothic architecture [1]
Oct 7 Cornell University (Ithaca NY) opens
Oct 10 1st written account of a Canadian football game
Oct 10 Cuba revolts for independence against Spain
Oct 17 Constitution of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg comes into effect
Oct 21 Severe earthquake at 7:53 AM, centered in Hayward, California
Oct 22 Jacques Offenbach's opera "Genevieve de Brabant" premieres in NYC
Oct 26 White terrorists kill several blacks in St Bernard Parish La
Oct 30 John Menard of Louisiana is 1st African American elected to US Congress
Oct 31 Standard uniform approved for US postal carriers
Nov 2 Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally
Nov 3 John Willis Menard from Louisiana is elected the first black US Congressman (opposition to his election means he never sits in Congress)

Ulysses S. Grant Elected

Nov 3 Ulysses S. Grant (R) wins US presidential election over Horatio Seymour (D)

Union General and US President Ulysses S. Grant

Nov 11 1st American amateur track & field meet (NYC)

Allies Win Battle of Avay

Nov 11 War of the Triple Alliance: Allied victory in the Battle of Avay leaves 3,000 Paraguayan soldiers dead, 600 wounded and the road to Asunción open

President of Paraguay Francisco Solano López

Nov 13 American Philological Association organized in NY
Nov 23 Louis Ducos du Hauron patents a process of making color photographs, in Paris, France
Nov 23 Louis Ducos du Hauron patents trichrome color photo process

Battle of Washita River

Nov 27 Battle at Washita River, Oklahoma. General George A. Custer attacks group of Native American Indians, their chief Black Kettle dies in the attack

Statue of King Charles XII

Nov 30 Statue of King Charles XII of Sweden dedicated at the King's garden in Stockholm

Dec 2 1st British government of Benjamin Disraeli resigns

First Black Jury

Dec 3 1st blacks on US trial jury appointed for Jefferson Davis trial

President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis

Dec 5 1st American bicycle college opens (NY)
Dec 9 1st British government of Gladstone forms

Palace of Westminster

Dec 9 The first traffic lights are installed outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.

Dec 15 Shogunate rebels found Ezo Republic in Hokkaidō
Dec 25 Despite bitter opposition, US President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in Southern rebellion (Civil War)