1876 Timeline

1876 James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok Meets 'Calamity Jane' Cannary
In 1876, Calamity Jane settled in the area of Deadwood, South Dakota, in the Black Hills. There, she became friends with, and was occasionally employed by, Dora DuFran, the Black Hills' l...
1876 Louis Pasteur Disproves The Doctrine of Spontaneous Generation
Spontaneous generation, also called abiogenesis, is the belief that some living things can arise suddenly, from inanimate matter, without the need for a living progenitor to give them lif...
1876 Mark Twain Publishes "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, is a popular 1876 novel about a young boy growing up in the antebellum South, in the town of "St Petersburg", inspired by the town of Hannibal...
1876 Mohandes Gandhi Begins Primary School in Rajkot
The Indian classics, especially the stories of Shravana and Maharaja Harishchandra from the Indian epics, had had a great impact on Gandhi in his childhood. The story of Harishchandra, a ...
1876 Otto Builds his First Functioning Four-Stroke Engine
Though Otto had great success with his atmospheric engines, the really reliable and effective engine was not yet found. Otto was looking already for a long time for a solution of the prob...
1876 Thomas Edison Opens First Industrial Research Lab
Edison allegedly bought light bulb U.S. patent 181,613 of Henry Woodward that was issued August 29, 1876 and obtained an exclusive license to Woodward's Canadian patent. These patents cov...
1876 Mar 5 James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok Marries Agnes Thatcher Lake
"Wild Bill of western fame has conquered numerous Indians, outlaws, bears and buffaloes, but a charming widow has stolen the magic wand. The scepter has departed and he is as meek and gent..." —Cheyenne Daily Sun, March 8, 1876
1876 Mar 10 Alexander Graham Bell Conducts A Successful Experiment With A Telephone
"Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you. " —Alexander Graham Bell's Experimental Notebook, March 10, 1876 Bell Family Papers
1876 Jun 25 Custer's Last Stand - Battle of Little Bighorn
On June 25, 1876, George Armstrong Custer and the 265 men under his command lost their lives in the Battle of Little Big Horn, often referred to as Custer's Last Stand. Educated at the...
1876 Jul James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok Arrives in Deadwood, South Dakota
The arrival of Hickok in wide-open early Deadwood was viewed with a mix of curiosity and distrust by those already there. What was the “famous” Wild Bill doing in Deadwood? Local bosses w...
1876 Aug 1 Colorado is the 38th State Admitted to the Union
After its first bid for statehood was vetoed by President Andrew Johnson, Colorado entered the Union on August 1, 1876, the year the United States celebrated its centennial. Thus, the thi...
1876 Aug 2 James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok is Shot by Jack McCall During a Poker Game
On August 2, 1876, Hickok was playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, in the Black Hills, Dakota Territory. On this fateful day Wild Bill violated one of his own cardi...
1876 Sep 7 The James-Younger Gang Attempts To Rob A Bank
On September 7, 1876, the James-Younger gang attempted a raid on the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota. After this robbery and a manhunt, only Frank and Jesse James were left a...
1876 Sep 13 Sherwood Anderson Is Born
American writer Sherwood Anderson was born on September 13, 1876, in Camden, Ohio. He is best known for his short stories—"brooding Midwest tales"—which reveal "their author's sympathetic...
1876 Dec 5 Brooklyn Theater Fire
Miss Kate Claxton reclined on a pallet of straw as she played the part of Louise, the blind girl in the popular melodrama of the times, “The Two Orphans.” It was shortly after 11 p.m., ju...
1876 Dec 29 Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Train No. 5, The Pacific Express, left a snowy Erie, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of December 29, 1876. As The Pacific Express plowed throug...