January •
January 1 •
Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar. • The
California Penal Code goes into effect. •
January 17 –
American Indian Wars:
Modoc War:
First Battle of the Stronghold – Modoc Indians defeat the
United States Army.
February •
February 11 – The Spanish
Cortes deposes King
Amadeus I, and proclaims the
First Spanish Republic. •
February 12 •
Emilio Castelar, the former foreign minister, becomes prime minister of the new Spanish Republic. • The
Coinage Act of 1873 in the United States is signed into law by President
Ulysses S. Grant. Coming into effect on
April 1, it ends
bimetallism in the U.S., and places the country on the
gold standard. •
February 20 • The
University of California opens its first
medical school in
San Francisco. • British naval officer John Moresby discovers the site of
Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, and claims the land for Britain.
March •
March 3 –
Censorship: The
United States Congress enacts the
Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail. •
March 15 – The
Phi Sigma Kappa student fraternity is founded at the
Massachusetts Agricultural College. •
March 22 – Emancipation Day for
Puerto Rico: Most slaves are freed. •
March 29 – The
Rio Tinto Company is formed in Spain, following the
February 17 purchase of the Rio Tinto Mine from the Spanish government by a British investment group.
April •
April 1 – The British ocean liner sinks off
Nova Scotia, killing 547 people. •
April 4 –
The Kennel Club, the world's first
kennel club, is founded in the United Kingdom. •
April 13 –
Colfax massacre: More than 60 to 150 black men are murdered in
Colfax, Louisiana, while surrendering to a mob of former Confederate soldiers and members of the
Ku Klux Klan. •
April 15–
17 –
American Indian Wars: The
Second Battle of the Stronghold is fought. •
April 19 – In
Richmond, Rhode Island, 11 people perish in a train derailment, due to a bridge washout in the village of Richmond Switch (modern-day
Wood River Junction). •
April 23 –
Third Carlist War EVENTS IN MADRID, SPAIN -- Brigadier General Carmona confronts the insurgents at the Madrid bullring.
May •
May 1 – The
Vienna World's Fair opens in the capital of
Austria-Hungary and runs for six months, closing on October 31. •
May 5 –
Third Carlist War in Spain: Battle of Eraul – Carlists under General Dorregaray defeat Republicans at Eraul, near Estella. •
May 9 •
Der Gründerkrach: The
Wiener Börse (
Vienna stock exchange) crash in
Austria-Hungary ends the
Gründerzeit, and heralds the global
Panic of 1873 and
Long Depression. •
Third Carlist War: The Battle of Montejurra is fought at Navarra, Spain. •
May 20 •
Levi Strauss and
Jacob Davis receive United States patent 139121, for using
copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of
denim work pants.
Levi Strauss & Co. begins manufacturing the famous Levi's brand of jeans, using fabric from the
Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in
Manchester, New Hampshire. • In
Chipping Norton, England, rioters attempt to free the
Ascott Martyrs –16 women sentenced to imprisonment, for attempting to dissuade
strikebreakers in an agricultural labor dispute. •
May 23 • The Canadian Parliament establishes the
North-West Mounted Police (which is renamed the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police in
1920). • The
Preakness Stakes horse race is run for the first time in
Baltimore. •
May 27 – Classical archaeologist
Heinrich Schliemann discovers
Priam's Treasure. •
May 28 • C. Laan brings order to the chaos created by the dockworker riots of
Tripoli, Lebanon. • The city of
Khiva in Turkestan falls to
Imperial Russian forces, under the command of General
Konstantin von Kaufman. •
May – Henry Rose exhibits
barbed wire at an
Illinois county fair, which is taken up by
Joseph Glidden and
Jacob Haish, who invent a machine to mass-produce it.
June •
June 4 –
American Indian Wars: The
Modoc War ends with the capture of
Kintpuash (
Captain Jack). •
June 9 –
Alexandra Palace entertainment venue in London is destroyed by fire, only a fortnight after its opening.
July •
July 1 –
Prince Edward Island joins the
Canadian Confederation. •
July 5 – New Rush in
Griqualand West,
South Africa, is renamed
Kimberley. •
July 9 – •
Third Carlist War: Battle of Alpens – Campaigning in Catalonia, a government column under General
José Cabrinetty is ambushed at
Alpens, 15 miles east of Berga, by Carlist forces under General
Francisco Savalls. After heavy fighting, with Cabrinety killed, virtually the entire column of 800 men is killed or captured. • The government of Otto von Bismarck in a united Germany introduces the
gold mark, a unified currency to replace the various legal tender of the nation-states of the German Confederation.. •
July 17 –
Richard Southey becomes the first Lieutenant-Governor of
Griqualand West. •
July 21 – At
Adair, Iowa,
Jesse James and the
James–Younger Gang pull off the first successful
train robbery in the
American Old West (US$3,000 from the Rock Island Express). •
July 22 –
Sir Benjamin Pine becomes
Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal. •
July – The end of the war between the United Kingdom and
Ghana's King Kofi KariKari, who is involved in the trading of
slaves, leads to the establishment of the
Gold Coast Colony.
August •
August 4 –
American Indian Wars: While protecting a railroad survey party in
Montana, the
Seventh Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel
George Armstrong Custer, clashes for the first time with the
Sioux, near the
Tongue River (only 1 man on each side is killed). •
August 12 – A peace treaty is signed between
Imperial Russia and the
Khanate of Khiva, making the khanate a Russian protectorate. •
August 30 – The
Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition discovers
Franz Josef Land.
September •
September 15 – The
International Meteorological Organization (IMO) is established. •
September 16 – German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity for the
Franco-Prussian War. •
September 17 – The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, later
Ohio State University, opens its doors with 25 students, including 2 women. •
September 18 – The New York stock market crashes as the
Jay Cooke & Company investment firm declares bankruptcy, triggering the
Panic of 1873, part of the
Long Depression. •
September 25 – Classes begin at
Drury University in
Springfield, Missouri.
October •
October 2 – The British ship
SS Ismailia, an
Anchor Line steamer that departed from New York on September 30 with 52 people disappears while en route to
Glasgow. •
October 29 – At
Dresden,
Albrecht I becomes new
King Albrecht I of
King of Saxony, an independent state within the German Empire, upon the death of his father
King Johann, who had ruled since 1854.
November •
November 7 •
Alexander Mackenzie becomes the second
Prime Minister of Canada. •
Third Carlist War: Battle of Montejurra – Determined to recapture the key city of
Estella in Navarre, Spanish Republican General Domingo Moriones advances on the Carlists under General Joaquín Elío at nearby
Montejurra. After very heavy fighting both sides claim victory, but Moriones withdraws, and Estella remains in Carlist hands. Don Carlos is present in the front line. •
November 17 –
Budapest, Hungary's capital, is formed from
Pest,
Buda and
Óbuda. •
November 18–
21 –
Irish Home Rule movement: The
Home Government Association reconstitutes itself as the
Home Rule League. •
November 22 – , on passage from New York to France, collides with Scottish 3-masted iron clipper
Loch Earn in mid-Atlantic and sinks in 12 minutes with the loss of 226 lives.
December •
December 15 – Women of
Fredonia, New York, march against the retail liquor dealers in town, to inaugurate the Woman's Crusade of 1873–74. •
December 16 – The
Heineken Brewery is founded in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands. •
December 19 (December 7 OS) –
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's fantasia
The Tempest, composed between August and October, is premiered, in Moscow. •
December 21 – French official
Francis Garnier is attacked outside
Hanoi by
Black Flag mercenaries fighting for the
Vietnamese. •
December 22 –
Third Carlist War: Battle of Bocairente – Campaigning in Valenica, Spanish Republican General
Valeriano Weyler is attacked at Bocairente, northwest of Alcoy, by a greatly superior Carlist force under General José Santés. Weyler is initially driven back, losing some of his guns, but in a brilliant counter-attack he turns defeat into victory, and Santés is heavily repulsed and forced to withdraw. •
December 23 – The
Woman's Christian Temperance Union is founded, in
Hillsboro, Ohio. •
December 27 –
Third Carlist War: Siege of Bilbao (until
2 May 1874) – Campaigning in
Navarre, Pretender Don Carlos VII and General Joaquín Elío besiege
Bilbao, held by General Ignacio del Castillo and 1,200 men. The Carlist force is ten times this number, and includes most of the troops from Navarre,
Vizcaya and
Álava, although a considerable force is left in Guipúzcoa. Despite defeat at nearby Somorrostro, Republican commander Marshal
Francisco Serrano, supported by Generals Manuel de la Concha and
Arsenio Martínez-Campos, brilliantly breaks the siege, and Concha then marches on Estella. •
December – Major
Walter Clopton Wingfield designs and
patents a
racquet sport, which he calls
sphairistike (
Greek σφάίρίστική, "skill at playing at ball"), soon known simply as
Stické and an ancestor of
lawn tennis, for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in
Llanelidan, Wales.
Date unknown • The
League of the Three Emperors is created. It links the conservative monarchs of
Austria-Hungary, the
German Empire and the
Russian Empire in an alliance against radical movements. • Founding in Canada of: •
Toronto Argonauts (
football), the oldest professional sports team still playing in North America. •
Royal Montreal Club in Montreal, the first permanent
golf club in North America. •
Liebig's Extract of Meat Company begins producing tinned
corned beef, sold under the label
Fray Bentos, from the town in
Uruguay where it is processed. •
Coors Brewing Company begins making
beer in
Golden, Colorado. • Konishiya Rokubei, predecessor of the
Konica Minolta worldwide imaging brand, is founded in
Tokyo, Japan. • The
Swedish arms company Aktiebolaget (AB) Bofors-Gullspång, better known as
Bofors, is founded. • In
Mexico, the
Veracruz–Mexico City railroad is completed. • Nine
Pekin ducks are imported to
Long Island (the first in the United States). • The
Married Woman's Property Rights Association is founded in Sweden. • Demonstration of an electric
tram operated on
Miller's line at
Sestroretsk near
Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire by inventor
Fyodor Pirotsky. == Births ==