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The Battle of Little Bighorn
Native American forces led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeat the U.S. Army troops of General George Armstrong Custer in the Battle of the Little Bighorn near southern Montana's Little Bighorn River. The demise of Custer and his men outraged many Americans, who saw the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty. Meanwhile, the U.S. government increased its efforts to subdue the tribes. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations. -
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Rutherford B. Hayes' Presidency
With one of the most fiercely disputed and controversial elections in American history, Rutherford B. Hayes brought to the Executive Mansion dignity, honesty, and moderate reform. Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president, oversaw the end of Reconstruction, began the efforts that led to civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War. -
The Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877, informally arranged among U.S. Congressmen, settled the intensely disputed 1876 presidential election. It resulted in the United States federal government pulling the last troops out of the South, which ended the Reconstruction Era. -
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The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
After the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad cut wages for the third time in a year, a massive series of revolts broke out. More than 100,000 workers participated in this strike, which caused more than half the freight on the country’s tracks to halt. In the end, approximately 1,000 people had gone to jail and about 100 had been killed. Some national politicians talked of labor reforms, but no change occurred. -
The First Lightbulb
At his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, Edison built his first high resistance, incandescent electric light(lightbulb). It worked by passing electricity through a thin platinum filament in the glass vacuum bulb, which delayed the filament from melting. -
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James A. Garfield's Presidency
James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the U.S., attacked political corruption and won back for the presidency a measure of prestige it had lost during the Reconstruction period. Unfortunately, he only held the office four months before being assassinated. -
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Chester A. Arthur's Presidency
After James A. Garfield's assassination, Chester A. Arthur took the reins. Previously, he served as an attorney and politician. Now, he served as 21st president. Throughout this time, he oversaw congress pass the Pendleton Act and the Chinese Exclusion Act. He signed the Tariff Act of 1883. Sadly, only a year after his term ended, Authur died from Bright's Disease. -
The First Skyscraper
William LeBaron Jenney, a Chicago architect, designed the first skyscraper in 1884. Nine stories high, the Home Life Insurance Building was the first structure whose entire weight, including the exterior walls, was supported on an iron frame. -
The Battle of Wounded Knee
During this battle, the U.S Army slaughtered approximately 150–300 Lakota Indians by Wounded Knee Creek in southwestern South Dakota. This massacre was the climax of the U.S. Army's late 19th-century efforts to repress the Plains Indians. -
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Spanish-American Wars
Fueled by the mysterious explosion of the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor, an armed conflict between Spain and America arose. U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict.