President: Ulysses S. Grant until March 4th, Rutherford B. Hayes thereafter
VP: vacant until March 4th, William A. Wheeler thereafter
Date, Event
Jan 8th Battle of Wolf Mountain: Crazy Horse & his warriors fight the Cavalry in Montana
Jan 11th AZ legislature returns the capital to Prescott
Mar 1st Jack McCall is hanged for the murder of Wild Bill Hickok in Yankton, Dakota Territory
Mar 2nd Compromise of 1877: The presidential election of 1876 is resolved with Rutherford B. Hayes declared the winner
Mar 3rd The Desert Land Act is passed offering up to 640 acres of land to anyone who promises to irrigate it for 3 years
Mar 4th Rutherford B. Hayes assumes the presidency
Apr 1st Ed Scheiffelin, a prospector, discovers one of the largest silver veins in the Old West in Tombstone, AZ
Apr 10th The Reconstruction Period ends with the withdrawal of troops from South Carolina
May 5th Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota out of the United States into Canada to avoid the Cavalry
May 6th Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to U.S. troops in Nebraska. The Sioux are cold and starving
May 17th Midgets Tom Thumb & his wife Lavinia Warren (famous for their appearances with P.T. Barnum) perform in Denver
Jun 17th Battle of White Bird Canyon: The Nez Perce defeat the U.S. Cavalry in the Idaho Territory
Jul 14th The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 begins with RR workers rioting in Baltimore, MD. Workers in Pittsburgh & St. Louis follow suit. Federal troops are called in. 2,000 freight cars burn & ~100 people killed
Jul 23rd Mormon leader, John D. Lee, is executed after being convicted of the Mountain Meadows Massacre in 1857
Aug 3rd Black Bart leaves behind his first poem after robbing a stagecoach near Duncan Mills, CA
Aug 9th Battle of Big Hole: a small band of Nez Perce lose a battle with the U.S. Army in Montana
Aug 17th Billy the Kid shoots and kills his first victim, Arizona blacksmith F.P. Cahill during a card game
Aug 25th The first recorded duel between 2 ladies occurs in Denver. They both fire & miss killing their beau in question
Sep 5th Chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse in Nebraska
Oct 5th Battle of Bear Paw Mountain: After a long battle with the U.S. Army, Chief Joseph & the Nez Perce give up their attempt to retreat to Canada from Montana & surrender
Nov 21st Thomas Edison invents the phonograph (tin foil phonograph)
December Doc Holliday is jailed for disemboweling a fellow gambler in Ft. Griffin, TX. Having no jail available, the sheriff locks Doc up in a hotel room. Doc's gal, Kate, starts a fire for a distraction and frees Doc.
Other
Depression of 1873-1879
Charles Elmer Hires begins making & distributing root beer
First public intercity telephone communication takes place between Salem, MA, Boston, Chicago & Milwaukee
Births
Aug 27th Charles Rolls (Co-Founder of the Rolls-Royce company)
Deaths
Jan 4th Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt (Railroad Tycoon/Businessman/Philanthropist)
Aug 29th Brigham Young (Mormon Leader/Founder, Salt Lake City)
Sep 5th Crazy Horse (Lakota War Leader, Battle of the Little Big Horn)
