| January 5 | Charles Garnier's new Opera opens in Paris |
| January 5 | President Grant sends federal troops to Vicksburg, Mississippi |
| January 24 | Camille Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre," premieres |
| January 25 | Anti-slavery society forms (NY) |
| January 26 | Electric dental drill is patented by George F Green |
| February 4 | Princess Louise marries Prince Philip von Saksen-Coburg-Gotha in Belg |
| February 25 | Kiowa Indians under Lone Wolf (Guipago) surrender at Ft. Sill |
| March 1 | Congress passes Civil Rights Act; invalidated by Supreme Court, 1883 |
| March 3 | 1st recorded hockey game (Montreal) |
| March 3 | Congress authorizes 20 cent coin, lasts only 3 years |
| March 3 | Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen" premieres (Paris) |
| March 14 | Smetana's "Vysehrad," premieres |
| March 15 | 1st U.S. cardinal (John McCloskey) invested |
| April 17 | "Snooker" (variation of pool) invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain |
| April 25 | Latest date for measurable snow in New York City (3") |
| May 1 | 238 members of "Whiskey Ring" accused of anti-U.S. activities |
| May 7 | German SS Schiller sinks near Scilly Islands, 312 killed |
| May 11 | George "Charmer" Zettlein pitches the 1st 9 inning shutout |
| May 12 | 1st recorded shutout in pro baseball, Chicago 1, St. Louis 0 |
| May 16 | Quake in Venezuela and Colombia kills 16,000 |
| May 17 | 1st Kentucky Derby: Oliver Lewis aboard Aristides wins in 2:37.75 |
| May 20 | International Bureau of Weights and Measures forms by treaty |
| May 28 | 3rd Preakness: L Hughes aboard Tom Ochiltree wins in 2:43 |
| June 2 | James Augustine Healey became 1st Black Catholic Bishop in US |
| June 3 | Alexander Graham Bell makes 1st voice transmission |
| June 4 | Pacific Stock Exchange opens |
| June 5 | Pacific Stock Exchange formally opens |
| June 6 | Netherlands goes on the gold standard |
| June 12 | 9th Belmont: Bobby Swim aboard Calvin wins in 2:42 |
| June 19 | Formal opening of U.S. Marine Hospital at Presidio |
| June 22 | Garonne Flood: great damage in Verdun and Toulouse, kills about 1,000 |
| July 1 | Universal Postal Union established |
| July 4 | White Democrats kill several blacks in terrorist attacks in Vicksburg |
| July 7 | Jesse James robs train in Otterville, Missouri |
| July 19 | Emma Abbott, a floating hospital for sick kids, makes trial trip, New York City |
| August 2 | World 1st roller skating rink opens in London |
| August 14 | Society of Regte Afrikaanders establishes in Paarl |
| August 25 | Matthew Webb becomes 1st to swim English Channel, 21h 45m |
| September 9 | Lotta's Fountain (Kearny and Market) dedicated |
| September 11 | 1st newspaper cartoon strip |
| September 29 | US-Spanish relations decline in wake of Cuban rebellion |
| October 5 | Palace Hotel on Market Street, San Francisco opens |
| October 16 | 1st Quebec vs Ontario football game, Ontario wins |
| October 22 | Sons of American Revolution organizes |
| October 25 | Peter Tsjaikofsky's "1st Pianoconcert up. 23" premieres in Boston |
| November 2 | Verney Cameroon reaches Benguela Angola, from Africa's east coast |
| November 4 | "Pacific" collides with "Orpheus" off Cape Flattery Wash, 236 dies |
| November 4 | Tonga adopts constitution |
| November 7 | Verney Cameron is 1st European to cross equitorial Africa |
| November 13 | Harvard-Yale game is 1st college football contest with uniforms |
| November 13 | National Bowling Association organized in New York City |
| November 16 | Battle at Gundet: Ethiopian emperor Yohannes beats Egyptians |
| November 16 | William Bonwill, patents dental mallet to impact gold into cavities |
| November 17 | Amer Theosophical Society founded by Mme Blavatsky and Col Olcott |
| November 28 | Verney Cameroon reaches East Africa |
| December 4 | William Marcy "Boss" Tweed (NYC-Tammany Hall) escapes from jail |
| December 6 | 44th Congress (1875-77) convenes |
| December 7 | Natives Sons of the West organized |
| December 8 | Aleksandr Ostrovsky's "Volki i Ovsty," premieres in St. Petersburg |
| December 17 | Violent bread riots in Montreal |
| December 25 | Lambs Club in New York forms |
| December 30 | Andrassy Note calls for Christian-Muslim religious freedoms |
