Thistimeline of the American Old West is a chronologically ordered list of events significant to the development of theAmerican West as a region of the continentalUnited States. The term "American Old West" refers to a vast geographical area and lengthy time period of imprecise boundaries, and historians' definitions vary. The events in this timeline occurred primarily in the portion of the modern continental United States west of theMississippi River, and mostly in the period between theLouisiana Purchase in 1803 and the admission of the last western territories as states in 1912 where most of the frontier was already settled and became urbanized; a few typical frontier episodes happened after that, such as theadmission of Alaska into the Union in 1959.[1] A brief section summarizing early exploration and settlement prior to 1803 is included to provide a foundation for later developments. Rarely, events significant to the history of the West but which occurred within the modern boundaries of Canada and Mexico are included as well.
Western North America was inhabited for millennia by various groups ofNative Americans and later served as afrontier to theSpanish Empire, which begancolonizing the region starting in the 16th century.British,French, andRussian claims followed in the 18th and 19th centuries, though these did not result in settlement and the region remained in Spanish hands. After theAmerican Revolution, the newly independent United States began securing its own frontier from theAppalachian Mountains westward for settlement and economic investment byAmerican pioneers. The longhistory of American expansion into these lands has played a central role in shaping American culture, iconography, and the modern national identity, and remains a popular topic for study by scholars and historians.
Events listed below are notable developments for the region as a whole, not just for a particular state or smaller subdivision of the region; as historians Hine and Faragher put it, they "tell the story of the creation and defense of communities, the use of the lands, the development of markets, and the formation of states.... It is a tale of conquest, but also one of survival, persistence, and the merging of peoples and cultures."[2]
For almost three centuries afterColumbus' voyages to the New World, much of western North America remained unsettled by white colonists, despite various territorial claims made by European colonial powers. European interest in the vast territory was initially motivated by the search for precious metals, especially gold, and the fur trade, with miners, trappers, and hunters among the first people of European descent to permanently settle in the West.[3]: 150 The early years were also a period of scientific exploration and survey, such that by 1830 the rough outline of the western half of the continent had been mapped to the Pacific Ocean.[3]: 162
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1540 | Feb 23 | SpanishconquistadorFrancisco Vázquez de Coronado embarks on an expedition into the unexplored territory north ofcolonized Mexico to search for the fabledSeven Cities of Gold. The voyage lasts more than two years, during which Coronado travels through much of theAmerican Southwest and as far north as present-dayKansas. His party is the first to document the geography andindigenous peoples of significant portions of the West.[4] |
| 1579 | Jun 17 | English explorerFrancis Drake lands his expedition on the Pacific coast of North America in present-dayDrakes Bay,California, claiming all of the land not already under Spanish control for the English Crown.[5] |
| 1598 | Apr | Spanish explorerJuan de Oñate establishesNuevo México in the region around the upperRio Grande as the northernmost province ofNew Spain, serving as its firstcolonial governor.[6] |
| 1607 | Spanish colonists establish the city ofSanta Fe in the province ofSanta Fe de Nuevo México.[7] | |
| 1610 | ThePalace of the Governors is built in Santa Fe, the new capital ofNuevo México. Today it is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States.[8] | |
| 1680 | Aug 10 | An alliance ofPuebloans coordinated byPopé initiatesa mass revolt against Spanish colonists occupying what is now northernNew Mexico in an effort to abolish European influence in the area. More than 400 people are killed and the Spanish are unable to reconquer Santa Fe for another 12 years.[9] |
| 1692 | Santa Fe is formally repossessed by the Spanish afterDiego de Vargas negotiates a peace with thePueblo Indians. The following six years witness a difficult reinstatement of Spanish and Franciscan rule over the Pueblos, including another revolt in 1696, which is successfully countered by De Vargas and his forces.[10][11] | |
| 1706 | Apr 23 | The city ofAlbuquerque is founded inSanta Fe de Nuevo México asLa Villa Real de San Francisco de Alburquerque by provincial governorFrancisco Cuervo y Valdés.[12] |
| 1718 | May 1 | TheMisión San Antonio de Valero, later known as The Alamo, is founded inSpanish Texas to undermine French claims in the area. Four days later, thePresidio San Antonio de Béxar is established nearby to protect the new town ofSan Antonio de Béxar.[13] |
| 1743 | Mar 30 | François andLouis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye, on expedition west fromQuebec, bury an inscribed lead plate near present-dayFort Pierre, South Dakota, claiming the area forFrance.[14] |
| 1759 | Oct 7 | A Spanishattack on a fortified Indian village along theRed River in what is nowTexas is repulsed and defeated by alliedWichita,Comanche, andTonkawa tribes.[15] |
| 1762 | Nov 13 | France transfers all ofits territory west of theAppalachian Mountains toSpain ina secret treaty just months prior to the negotiations that end theFrench and Indian War.[16] |
| 1769 | Jul 16 | SpanishFranciscans, led by friarJunípero Serra, establishMission San Diego de Alcalá inLas Californias. By 1823, the missionaries successfully plant aseries of 20 more missions along the coast of what becomes the Spanish province ofAlta California. These missions bring European culture to theindigenous peoples of California, but also enable a serious decline of from one-third to one-half of the indigenous population there during the Mission period.[17][18] |
| 1775 | Aug 20 | A company of Spanish soldiers establishes a site for thePresidio San Agustín del Tucsón in what is nowTucson, Arizona. |
| 1776 | Jul 29 | Two Franciscan priests lead theDomínguez–Escalante expedition west from Santa Fe in an attempt to find an overland route to the Spanish Catholic mission inMonterey. Though they fail to reachLas Californias, they explore previously unknown areas of theColorado Plateau, become the first Europeans to enter theGreat Basin, and establish the eastern section of what will later become theOld Spanish Trail.[19] |
| 1779 | Sep 3 | Comanche Indian leaderCuerno Verde is killed in combat with Spanish forces led byJuan Bautista de Anza in what is nowPueblo County, Colorado.[20] |
| 1783 | Sep 3 | TheTreaty of Paris is signed by Great Britain and the United States of America, ending theAmerican Revolutionary War and establishing theUnited States as an independent country. |
| 1792 | May 19 | CaptainGeorge Vancouver'sexpedition drops anchor near present-daySeattle and proceeds to namePuget Sound,Mount Rainier,Vashon Island, and Restoration Point. Vancouver and his expedition are the first Europeans to explore the area, claiming it for theBritish Crown, along with much of thePacific Northwest coast, includingVancouver Island and theColumbia River.[21][22] |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1800 | Oct 1 | Under pressure fromNapoléon Bonaparte, theKingdom of Spain transfers the colony ofLouisiana back to theFrench Republic with the secretThird Treaty of San Ildefonso. |
| 1803 | Apr 1 | The United Statesagrees to buy the colony ofLa Louisiane from theFrench Republic for the price of$15 million. |
| Dec 20 | The United States officially takes control ofLouisiana, an enormous area of imprecise boundaries extending from theMississippi River west to theRocky Mountains, more than doubling the land area of the new nation. | |
| 1804 | May 14 | TheLewis and Clark Expedition sets out to explore and chart the territory acquired in theLouisiana Purchase. Officially titled the Corps of Discovery, the party canoes up theMissouri River fromSaint Charles, spending the winter atFort Mandan on Indian territory in what is nowNorth Dakota.[23] |
| 1805 | Nov 7 | Lewis and Clark sight the Pacific Ocean for the first time, near the mouth of theColumbia River. The expedition winters atFort Clatsop on the south side of the river, near present-dayAstoria, Oregon. |
| 1806 | Jul 15 | AU.S. Army reconnaissance expedition under the command of LieutenantZebulon Pike departsFort Bellefontaine nearSaint Louis to explore the southernLouisiana Territory. |
| Sep 23 | Lewis and Clark return to Saint Louis after a journey of nearly 6,000 total miles; in the past two and a half years, the party has made contact with over 70 Indian tribes and produced 140 maps, as well as documented more than 200new plant and animal species.[24] | |
| 1807 | Feb 26 | Spanish cavalrymen arrest thePike Expedition in the province ofSanta Fe de Nuevo México (now southernColorado). |
| 1808 | Apr 6 | German immigrantJohn Jacob Astor incorporates hisAmerican Fur Company.[25] |
| Nov 10 | TheTreaty of Fort Clark is signed, in which theOsage Nation cedes all of its territory east ofFort Clark and north of theArkansas River to the United States.[26] | |
| 1809 | Nov 9 | Welsh-Canadian explorerDavid Thompson establishesSaleesh House as a fur-trading post of theNorth West Company in what is nowMontana. |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1810 | Sep 16 | Mexican priestMiguel Hidalgo y Costillaproclaims the independence ofMexico from theKingdom of Spain. |
| 1811 | May | Fort Astoria is established byJohn Jacob Astor'sPacific Fur Company at the mouth of theColumbia River. It is the first American settlement on the Pacific coast. |
| Jun 15–16 | Most of the crew of theTonquin, one of Astor's ships trading onVancouver Island, aremassacred byTla-o-qui-aht Indians after the captain insults a chief. The ship isscuttled the following day in amagazine explosion that kills at least 100 natives.[27] | |
| 1812 | Mar | Fort Ross is established byRussian traders on theCalifornia coast as the hub of the southernmost colony inRussian America.[28] |
| Apr 30 | Louisiana is admitted as the18th U.S. state, and the first to include land west of the Mississippi River. It is also the first state organized from theLouisiana Purchase territory, the rest of which is soon renamed theMissouri Territory. | |
| Sep 4 | Scottish and Irish settlers led byMiles Macdonell formally take possession of theRed River Colony. They construct Fort Daer near present-dayPembina, North Dakota, which becomes the first permanent European-American settlement in the Dakotas.[29] | |
| Oct 21 | Carrying word of the fate of theTonquin toSaint Louis, seven men of the Pacific Fur Company, led byRobert Stuart, become the first European Americans to cross theContinental Divide atSouth Pass, in present-dayWyoming. Later in the century, the pass will be used by half a million westward migrants as part of the main route of severalemigrant trails.[30] | |
| 1813 | Mar 29 | During theMexican War of Independence, ajoint expedition of Mexican and Americanfilibusters penetrates deep intoSpanish Texas and defeats a Royalist army outsideSan Antonio de Béxar at theBattle of Rosillo Creek. Provincial governorManuel María de Salcedo is executed five days later.[31] |
| 1817 | Dec 25 | Construction begins on a frontier military post known asFort Smith in what is nowArkansas.[32] |
| 1818 | Oct 20 | TheTreaty of 1818 establishes the49th parallel fromLake of the Woods west to the Rocky Mountains as the boundary between the United States andBritish North America.[33] |
| 1819 | Mar 2 | TheArkansas Territory is organized. |
| Sep 17 | Intending to build forts along theMissouri River,a U.S. Army expedition led by ColonelHenry Atkinson and MajorStephen Harriman Long arrives bypaddle steamer atCouncil Bluff on the river's west bank, in present-dayNebraska. It establishes what later becomesFort Atkinson, the first Army outpost in the region, but the expedition stalls there over the winter and collapses entirely in the spring.[34] |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1820 | Mar 5 | Congress passes theMissouri Compromise, prohibiting slavery in the unorganized territory north ofparallel 36°30′ N and west of theMississippi River, except within the boundaries of the proposed state ofMissouri, while permitting the admission ofMaine as afree state. Largely devised byHenry Clay, it is a landmark agreement in the debate over slavery in the West. |
| May | Major Stephen H. Long leads a scientific expedition up thePlatte River, along theFront Range of the Rocky Mountains, south to theArkansas andCanadian rivers, and finally east to present-dayFort Smith, Arkansas. Among the first expeditions to bring American artists and scientists into the West, the party includes painterSamuel Seymour, artist-naturalistTitian Peale, and physicianEdwin James, who leads the first recorded ascent ofPikes Peak. Long's report, published in 1823, promotes the idea of theGreat Plains as the "Great American Desert".[35][36] | |
| 1821 | Feb 22 | TheAdams–Onís Treaty takes effect exactly two years after its initial signing, defining a new border between the territory ofNew Spain and the United States and further securing American claims to the Louisiana Purchase and theOregon Country.[37] |
| Aug 10 | Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state. | |
| Aug 24 | TheKingdom of Spain finally recognizes the independence ofMexico with the signing of theTreaty of Córdoba, ending theMexican War of Independence. | |
| Sep 1 | William Becknell and a party of frontier traders leaveNew Franklin, Missouri bound forSanta Fe. The Becknell route will become theSanta Fe Trail. | |
| 1822 | Mar 6 | William Henry Ashley andAndrew Henry place an advertisement in theMissouri Republican for one hundred "enterprising young men" to join atrapping expedition to the upperMissouri River. The respondents comprise "Ashley's Hundred", many of whom, includingJedediah Smith,Jim Bridger,Hugh Glass, andJim Beckwourth, earn reputations as famous explorers andmountain men.[38] |
| 1823 | Jun 2 | Arikara warriors attack trappers working for Ashley'sRocky Mountain Fur Company on the banks of the Missouri River in what is now South Dakota, beginning theArikara War. An expedition of American soldiers and their Sioux allies led by Lieutenant ColonelHenry Leavenworth retaliates against the Arikara several weeks later, marking the first armed conflict between theU.S. Army andNative Americans in the West.[39] |
| 1824 | Apr 17 | TheRusso-American Treaty of 1824 is signed, formally transferringRussian claims in the Pacific Northwest south ofparallel 54°40′ north to the United States.[40] |
| Apr 21 | Fort Gibson is established near the confluence of theGrand River and theArkansas River in present-dayOklahoma.[41] | |
| Jul 7 | The first of 297 pioneer families and partnerships known as the "Old Three Hundred" are grantedland titles in American empresarioStephen F. Austin's colony inCoahuila y Tejas. They are the first American settlers ofMexican Texas under a recently reformed Mexican law.[42] | |
| 1825 | Mar 19 | A newHudson's Bay Company trading post built on the north bank of theColumbia River, in what is now the U.S. state of Washington, is christenedFort Vancouver. |
| 1827 | Mar 29 | The town ofIndependence, Missouri is founded. In later years it becomes a common point of departure for pioneers journeying west on theemigrant trails.[43] |
| May 8 | ColonelHenry Leavenworth founds a U.S. Army cantonment later known asFort Leavenworth above the confluence of theLittle Platte and the Missouri River in present-dayKansas.[44] | |
| 1828 | Jul 14 | Trapper, explorer, and mountain manJedediah Smith and his party are attacked byUmpqua Indians in the Oregon Country. Smith and three others are the only survivors. |
| 1829 | Nov 7 | A merchant caravan led byAntonio Armijo embarks fromAbiquiú, New Mexico and successfully reachesSan Gabriel, California 86 days later, becoming the first to travel the length of theOld Spanish Trail.[45] |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1830 | Apr 6 | TheLaw of April 6, 1830 is passed by theMexican government, which increases tariffs on American goods entering Mexico, cancels unfulfilled colonization contracts, and bans any further immigration from the United States toMexican Texas.[46] |
| May 28 | TheIndian Removal Act is signed into law by PresidentAndrew Jackson, authorizing the U.S. government to negotiate theremoval ofNative American tribes of the southeastern United States tofederal territory in what is nowOklahoma. | |
| 1831 | Mexico ratifies the boundaries with the United States originally established by theAdams–Onís Treaty. | |
| Jun 19 | On her maiden voyage, the steamboatYellowstone arrives at what is nowPierre, South Dakota, hundreds of miles farther than any steam-powered vessel traveling up theMissouri River has yet reached, demonstrating the practicality of navigating large watercraft on the Upper Missouri.[47] | |
| Autumn | Construction begins onFort Pierre Chouteau, a trading post funded by Saint Louis fur baronPierre Chouteau Jr., on the west bank of theMissouri River in what is now South Dakota, which quickly becomes a hub for the burgeoning fur trade on the Great Plains. | |
| Dec 5 | In theBattle of Cahuenga Pass, an alliance of wealthy landowners inLos Angeles compels the unpopularManuel Victoria, Governor ofAlta California, to resign from office. | |
| 1832 | May | TheBonneville Expedition departs Missouri with 110 men. Over the next two years, the party explores several major river systems in present-dayWyoming,Idaho,Oregon, andWashington, and establishes an overland route toCalifornia that will later become theCalifornia Trail. |
| Jun 25–26 | Texian insurgents underJohn Austin captureFort Velasco from Mexican infantry under ColonelDomingo de Ugartechea at theBattle of Velasco, the first true military conflict between Anglo-American settlers of Mexican Texas and the Mexican federal government.[48] | |
| Jul 17 | Attendees of the annualfur trapper's rendezvous, the largest yet of its kind, clash with local Indians at theBattle of Pierre's Hole.[49] | |
| 1833 | Summer | William andCharles Bent, in partnership withCeran St. Vrain, establish Fort William, later known asBent's Fort, as a frontier trading post on the north bank of theArkansas River, along theSanta Fe Trail, in what is now southeastern Colorado.[50] |
| 1834 | Fort Laramie is founded byWilliam Sublette in what is now eastern Wyoming as a private fur-trading post named Fort William.[51] | |
| Jun 20 | An expedition of the U.S. Army'sFirst Regiment of Dragoons, led by Gen.Henry Leavenworth and Col.Moses Henry Dodge, departsFort Gibson in theIndian Territory to explore the southwestern Great Plains. The party meetsWichita,Kiowa, andComanche people several weeks later, representing the first formal contact between the U.S. government and Southern Plains Indians. Leavenworth dies on July 21 of injuries sustained during abuffalo hunt.[52] | |
| Jul 31 | Fort Hall is established on theSnake River in present-dayIdaho. | |
| 1835 | Spring | Frontier tradersLouis Vasquez andAndrew Sublette establishFort Vasquez on theSouth Platte River, 35 miles northeast of present-dayDenver, Colorado. |
| May 29 | Col.Moses Henry Dodge leads theFirst Regiment of Dragoons west fromFort Leavenworth ona second diplomatic expedition, making official contact with numerous Indian tribes of the Central Plains over the next three months, including theOtoe,Omaha,Arikara,Pawnee,Cheyenne, andGros Ventre. | |
| Oct 2 | TheTexas Revolution begins when aTexian militia successfully defends against the confiscation of a cannon by Mexican soldiers at theBattle of Gonzales. | |
| Oct 23 | The MexicanConstitution of 1824 is repealed, abolishing the formerfederalist system of government and replacing it with a provisionalcentralist system under President-GeneralAntonio López de Santa Anna. The move further alienates Anglo-American settlers in Mexican Texas.[53] | |
| Dec 10 | The two-monthSiege of Béxar culminates in the surrender of the last remaining Mexican garrison in Texas, underMartín Perfecto de Cos, to theTexian Army underEdward Burleson. Santa Anna immediately prepares to march overland to recaptureSan Antonio.[54] | |
| 1836 | Feb 25 | Samuel Colt is granted a patent for his invention of a "revolving gun".Colt firearms eventually become widely used in the West.[55] |
| Mar 6 | Followinga 13-day siege, Mexican troops underSanta Anna storm theAlamo Mission in San Antonio, killing all but a handful of its more than 200 Texian defenders, includingJim Bowie andDavy Crockett. | |
| Mar 27 | More than 450 captured Texian soldiers are executed by the Mexican army at theGoliad massacre.[56] | |
| Apr 21 | Texians under GeneralSam Houston surprise and defeat the Mexican army at theBattle of San Jacinto, ending the Texas Revolution. | |
| May 2 | Texiansdeclare the independence of theRepublic of Texas from Mexico. On May 14, they force captured General Antonio López de Santa Anna to sign theTreaties of Velasco, though Mexico never ratifies these treaties. | |
| Jun 15 | Arkansas is admitted as the 25th U.S. state. | |
| 1837 | Feb 15 | ThePlatte Purchase is approved, adding more than 3,000 square miles of former Indian lands to the northwest corner of the state ofMissouri in direct violation of theMissouri Compromise.[57] |
| Apr–May | A steamboat traveling up theMissouri River toFort Union triggersan epidemic ofsmallpox that kills at least 17,000 indigenous people across theGreat Plains over the next three years, dramatically reducing the populations of numerous tribes in the United States and Canada, including theArikara,Assiniboine, andPawnee, and causing the near-total extinction of theMandan.[58][59] | |
| 1838 | Aug–Nov | Rural landowners clash with immigrantMormons nearKansas City, Missouri in a series of violent episodes later called theMormon War, eventually forcing their complete expulsion from the state. |
| 1839 | Jul 15–16 | Militia forces of the Republic of Texas win a decisive victory overCherokee andDelaware Indians at theBattle of the Neches, the main engagement of theCherokee War of 1838–1839.[60] |
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| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1840 | Mar 19 | In theCouncil House Fight, a delegation of 33Comanche chiefs and warriors is slaughtered byTexian militiamen while attempting to negotiate the return of captive white settlers at a peace conference inSan Antonio.[61] |
| Apr 1 | Political rivalries in the river town ofBellevue,Iowa Territory culminate ina shootout in front of the town hotel that leaves seven people dead.[62] | |
| 1841 | Jun 18 | Swiss pioneerJohn Sutter receives title to nearly 50,000 acres of land surrounding the confluence of theSacramento andAmerican rivers in the Mexican province ofAlta California, upon which he founds a colony he names "New Helvetia". In December, Sutter purchases theRussian settlement atFort Ross and uses its building materials to construct a fort on the site of present-daySacramento.[63][64] |
| Sep 24 | At the request of CatholicInterior Salish Indians, Jesuit priests led by FatherPierre-Jean DeSmet establishSt. Mary's Mission in theBitterroot Valley, the first permanent settlement built by Europeans in what is nowMontana. | |
| 1842 | Mar 5 | Mexican troops led byRáfael Vásquez invade Texas and occupy San Antonio, but are chased back across theRio Grande two days later. |
| Apr 22 | The first U.S. Army detachments arrive to begin construction ofFort Scott in what is now southeasternKansas. | |
| Sep 17 | After a five-day journey down the coast, pioneers from theOregon Country sail theStar of Oregon, a hand-built wooden schooner, intoSan Francisco Bay, where they trade the ship for cattle to drive overland back to theWillamette Valley.[65] | |
| Sep 18 | Texas Rangers underMatthew Caldwell repulse the final Mexican invasion of theRepublic of Texas, underAdrián Woll, in theBattle of Salado Creek. Simultaneously, a separate Texian company approaching Woll's army from the rear is overwhelmed andmassacred.[66] | |
| Dec 25–26 | TheBattle of Mier results when a Texian militia invades the Mexican border town ofCiudad Mier,Tamaulipas. The heavily outnumbered Texians are forced to surrender and more than 200 men are taken prisoner. | |
| 1843 | Mar 25 | Seventeen Texian prisoners of war are executed by the Mexican army afterdrawing beans in a random lottery, as punishment for their participation in a raid on the town ofCiudad Mier several months earlier.[67] |
| May 2 | TheChampoeg Meetings culminate with a motion to organize what will become theProvisional Government of Oregon, the first locally administered European-American body of government in theOregon Country.[68] | |
| May 22 | The first of over 120 wagons and 800 immigrants departElm Grove, Missouri for the Oregon Country, accompanied by missionary and trail guideMarcus Whitman. The expedition travels overland for more than six months on a route pioneered by Whitman and arrives in theWillamette Valley in November, becoming the first major wagon train to travel theOregon Trail and establishing the viability of the route for later immigrants.[69] | |
| 1844 | Oregon City, the western terminus of the Oregon Trail, becomes the first incorporated U.S. city west of the Rocky Mountains.[70] | |
| Nov 25 | TheStephens-Townsend-Murphy Party pioneers the first wagon route across theSierra Nevada on theCalifornia Trail.[71] | |
| 1845 | Jun 1 | John C. Frémont's third expedition with 55 men andKit Carson as guide leaves St. Louis to "map the source of theArkansas River" but continues to theSacramento Valley. |
| Jun 23 | TheRepublic of Texas accepts a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress toannex Texas to the United States.Mexico does not recognize the annexation.[72] | |
| Jul | The phrase "manifest destiny" first appears in theDemocratic Review in an essay byJohn L. O'Sullivan urging the annexation of Texas. The concept does not become widely popular until O'Sullivan later uses the same phrase while addressing the subject of theOregon Country.[73] | |
| Dec 19 | The "Lash Law" bans blacks from living in theOregon Territory. | |
| Dec 29 | The United States admits theRepublic of Texas to the Union as theslave state ofTexas. The boundaries of the state remain undefined. | |
| 1846 | Feb 5 | TheOregon Spectator becomes the first American newspaper published west of the Rocky Mountains.[74] |
| Apr 25 | Thefirst skirmish of theMexican–American War takes place on theRio Grande near present-dayBrownsville, Texas. | |
| May 13 | The United States under PresidentJames K. Polk declares war on Mexico, formally commencing theMexican–American War. | |
| Jun 14 | Mexican–American War: In theBear Flag Revolt, American insurgents led byWilliam B. Ide seize theSonoma Barracks from Mexican officers and declare their intention to found an independent republic in northernAlta California. The so-called "Bear Flag Republic" lasts just 25 days, after which it is subsumed into American military efforts tocontrol California.[75] | |
| Jun 15 | TheOregon Treaty resolvesa decades-long dispute over possession of theOregon Country by extending theoriginal boundary between the United States andBritish North America further west to the Pacific Ocean, withVancouver Island being retained in its entirety by the British.[76] | |
| Aug 15 | Mexican–American War: Troops under the command of GeneralStephen W. Kearny seize the territorial capital ofSanta Fe for the United States with little resistance. | |
| Dec 6–7 | Mexican–American War: Kearny'sArmy of the West engages Mexican lancers east ofSan Diego at theBattle of San Pasqual. | |
| Dec 25 | Mexican–American War: American forces under ColonelAlexander W. Doniphan defeat Mexican regulars at theBattle of El Brazito.[77] | |
| Dec 28 | Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state. | |
| 1847 | Jan 19 | GovernorCharles Bent of theNew Mexico Territory is assassinated and scalped during theTaos Revolt.[78] |
| Feb | The first of three relief missions arrives to rescue survivors of theDonner Party, who have been snowbound in California'sSierra Nevada mountains for more than three months. | |
| May | Fort Lewis, anAmerican Fur Company trading post built the previous year, is moved 15 miles downstream of its original location to a site that will later be renamedFort Benton. Near the furthest navigable point on theMissouri River, it is the last stop for steamboats traveling upstream fromSt. Louis, by which it soon becomes an important river port for mountain men and pioneers, as well as the oldest continuously inhabited European-American settlement in what is nowMontana. | |
| Jul 24 | Brigham Young and his vanguard company of Mormons first arrive in theSalt Lake Valley in present-dayUtah. | |
| Nov 29 | FifteenOregon missionaries, including mission foundersMarcus andNarcissa Whitman, aremurdered and 54 others taken hostage by a party ofCayuse Indians who accuse Whitman of deliberately poisoning Indians in his medical care during an outbreak ofmeasles. The massacre sparks theCayuse War.[79] | |
| 1848 | Jan 24 | James W. Marshall discovers gold atSutter's Mill nearColoma, California, precipitating theCalifornia Gold Rush.[80] |
| Feb 2 | The United States and Mexico sign theTreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican–American War. The agreement results in thecession of nearly all of the present-daySouthwest, including California, to the U.S., as well as the designation of theRio Grande as the boundary between Texas and Mexico. | |
| Spring | The Army relocatesFort Kearny from its original location nearNebraska City to a new site more than 200 miles to the west, along the Platte River and the major emigrant trails. | |
| Dec | John Sutter, Jr. andSamuel Brannan begin plattingSacramento City, California, at a site two miles south ofSutter's Fort. | |
| 1849 | Feb 28 | Regularsteamboat service between the east and west coasts of the United States begins with the arrival of theSSCalifornia inSan Francisco. |
| Mar 3 | TheMinnesota Territory is organized from portions of theWisconsin andIowa Territories. | |
| Oct 28 | A party of white settlers approachingSanta Fe ismassacred byJicarilla Apaches, who kidnap the only three survivors, beginning theJicarilla War. U.S. cavalry guided byAntoine Leroux andKit Carson later catch up with the Apaches but discover the hostages have been killed. |
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| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1850 | Jan 29 | Responding to questions of how to accommodate slavery in the western territories,Henry Clay proposes a series of measures to preserve the Union that come to be called theCompromise of 1850. |
| Feb | ThePinkerton National Detective Agency is founded.[81] | |
| Feb 8–10 | TheNauvoo Legion, under orders fromBrigham Young,attacksTimpanogos Indians over land disputes nearFort Utah.[82] | |
| Apr 4 | The city ofLos Angeles, California is incorporated. | |
| Apr 15 | The city ofSan Francisco, California is incorporated. | |
| Apr 16 | The California territorial government sendsa military expedition to attack hostileYuma Indians along theColorado River in retaliation for theGlanton Massacre earlier in the year, sparking theYuma War. | |
| Jun 1 | The Town of Kansas, laterKansas City, is incorporated in the state ofMissouri. | |
| Jun 3 | FiveCayuse tribesmen are hanged inOregon City for their participation in theWhitman massacre.[83] | |
| Sep 9 | California is admitted as the 31st U.S. state. | |
| TheNew Mexico Territory andUtah Territory are organized by order of Congress. | ||
| Sep 27 | TheDonation Land Claim Act takes effect to promotehomestead settlement in theOregon Territory. | |
| Sep 29 | PresidentMillard Fillmore appointsBrigham Young the first governor of the Utah Territory. | |
| 1851 | The phrase "Go West, young man" first appears in an editorial by Indiana newspaper writer John B.L. Soule in theTerre Haute Express. The saying is later popularized byHorace Greeley, editor of theNew-York Tribune. | |
| Western Union is founded as The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. | ||
| Jan 23 | The flip of a coin determines whether a new city inOregon is named afterBoston, Massachusetts, orPortland, Maine, withPortland winning. | |
| Feb 18 | A family ofBrewsterite pioneers traveling a southern route to California is massacred by Indians on the banks of theGila River in what is nowArizona. Thirteen-year-oldOlive Oatman and her eight-year-old sister Mary Ann are abducted and enslaved.[84] | |
| Feb 27 | Congress passes theAppropriation Bill for Indian Affairs, which allocates funds to move westernNative American tribes on to permanentreservations enclosed and protected by the federal government. The act sets the precedent formodern reservations in the United States.[85] | |
| Mar 27 | Mariposa Battalion, led byJames D. Savage, are the first reported non-natives to enter California'sYosemite Valley. | |
| May 2 | Gold is discovered along theRogue River in Oregon, triggering a gold rush. | |
| May 3–4 | San Francisco Fire of 1851: The most severe of a series of seven fires destroys most of the main business district of San Francisco, California. | |
| Jul 26 | Fort Union is established in theNew Mexico Territory.[86] | |
| Sep 17 | TheTreaty of Fort Laramie (1851) is negotiated between the United States government and representatives of ten Native American tribes of the Great Plains, including theLakota,Crow, andCheyenne. The tribes agree to provide safe passage for westward migrants and permit the construction of roads and forts in their territories in return for an annuity of $50,000 for fifty years. | |
| Sep 22 | The city ofFort Des Moines is incorporated in the state ofIowa. | |
| Nov 13 | TheDenny Party lands atAlki Point, the first settlers of what will becomeSeattle, Washington. | |
| 1852 | Mar 18 | TheWells Fargo company is founded to provide express and banking services to California. |
| 1853 | Mar | Levi Strauss arrives in San Francisco and opens a store supplying goods and clothing toGold Rush miners.[87] |
| Mar 2 | TheWashington Territory is organized from a portion of the Oregon Territory. | |
| Jun 27 | Fort Riley is established in what is nowKansas. | |
| Jul 13 | In the case ofHolmes v. Ford, a decision of theOregon Territorial Supreme Court reaffirms that slavery is illegal in the Oregon Territory, concluding the last challenge of abolitionist law by pro-slavery elements living in Oregon.[88] | |
| Jul 23 | Encouraged by pioneer ferrymanWilliam D. Brown, the Council Bluffs & Nebraska Ferry Company is chartered by the State of Iowa to transport settlers across theMissouri River to a proposed townsite that will later be namedOmaha City. | |
| Oct 26 | Paiute Indians attack U.S. Army CaptainJohn W. Gunnison and his party of 37 soldiers and railroad surveyors nearSevier Lake, Utah. | |
| Dec 30 | The United States and Mexico agree to theGadsden Purchase, transferring portions of southernArizona andNew Mexico to the U.S. | |
| 1854 | Feb 13 | TheMexican army forces would-be conquerorWilliam Walker and his mercenary troops to retreat toSonora. |
| Feb 14 | Texas is linked bytelegraph with the rest of the country when a connection betweenNew Orleans andMarshall, Texas is completed. | |
| Mar 30 | Jicarilla War: A detachment of the1st U.S. Cavalry engages Apache and Ute warriors led byFlechas Rayadas at theBattle of Cieneguilla in what is now northern New Mexico. | |
| May 30 | TheKansas–Nebraska Act becomes law, creating theKansas Territory andNebraska Territory. A provision that settlers will vote on the legality of slavery in the new territories effectively rescinds theMissouri Compromise of 1820 and touches off an epidemic ofviolence andelectoral fraud beginning the next year. | |
| Jun 24 | Fort Tejon is established at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in California. | |
| Jul 4 | Omaha City is founded in theNebraska Territory. | |
| Aug 19 | An argument over a stray cow precipitates theGrattan massacre, in which 30 U.S. Army soldiers and an interpreter are killed in retaliation for the shooting of ChiefConquering Bear of theLakotaSioux.[89] | |
| Dec 19 | Jonathan R. Davis, a veteran of theMexican–American War and a gold rush prospector, single-handedly kills eleven armed immigrant outlaws nearSacramento, California using two revolvers and aBowie knife.[90] | |
| 1855 | Jan 23 | The first permanent bridge across theMississippi River opens for traffic inMinneapolis, Minnesota. |
| Sep 2–3 | U.S. Army detachments under Brigadier GeneralWilliam S. Harney defeat a band ofBrulé Lakota led byLittle Thunder at theBattle of Ash Hollow in present-dayGarden County, Nebraska, a punitive expedition for theGrattan massacre.[89] | |
| Sep 25 | Bureau of Indian Affairs agentAndrew Bolon is murdered by renegadeYakama people in theWashington Territory, precipitating theYakima War. | |
| 1856 | Jan 25 | Puget Sound War: TheBattle of Seattle is fought when a Yakama army, allied with localNisqually,Klickitat,Puyallup, and other tribes, attacks the pioneer settlement of Seattle in theWashington Territory. The warriors are scattered by offshore artillery fire fromUSS Decatur.[91] |
| Feb 2 | The city ofDallas is incorporated inTexas. | |
| May 14 | James King of William, editor of theDaily Evening Bulletin, is shot in the streets ofSan Francisco by James P. Casey, editor ofThe Sunday Times and a member of the city's Board of Supervisors, whose corruption and criminal record King had criticized in an editorial. King dies six days later.[92] | |
| May 21 | The predominantlyabolitionist town ofLawrence, Kansas isransacked and looted by a pro-slavery militia.[93] | |
| May 22 | The assassination of James King of William incites the re-establishment of theSan Francisco Committee of Vigilance, which storms the city jail and publicly hangs James P. Casey along with convicted murderer Charles Cora.[94] | |
| May 24–25 | Outraged at the sacking of Lawrence, abolitionistJohn Brown and a party ofFree-Staters murder five pro-slavery activists in ruralKansas Territory in thePottawatomie massacre. In the three months of retaliatory raids and murders that follow, more than two dozen people are killed, marking the bloodiest episode of theBleeding Kansas era.[95] | |
| June | Fort Randall is established by GeneralWilliam S. Harney on the upperMissouri River in what is nowSouth Dakota. | |
| 1857 | Mar 3 | Fort Abercrombie is established by order of Congress on theRed River of the North, the first permanent U.S. military settlement in what is now North Dakota. |
| Mar 8–12 | At least 35 pioneers are killed and four young women are taken captive in northwestern Iowa by a renegade band ofSantee Sioux in theSpirit Lake massacre. | |
| Mar 26 | Robert J. Walker is appointed governor of theKansas Territory by PresidentJames Buchanan, but quickly resigns in opposition to the pro-slaveryLecompton Constitution.[96] | |
| Mar 30 | In his letter of resignation from theUtah Territorial Supreme Court, justiceWilliam W. Drummond accusesMormons of subverting the U.S. Constitution and openly defying federal law, and insists thatBrigham Young be replaced as Territorial Governor by a non-Mormon, heightening fears of an imminent Mormon rebellion.[97] | |
| Apr 1–8 | In the midst of Mexico'sReform War, formerCalifornia SenatorHenry A. Crabb leads afilibustering expedition intoSonora to aid Mexican rebels fighting government forces. The rebels turn on the Americans after they cross the border and Crabb's entire army isexecuted.[98] | |
| Jul 9 | U.S. cavalrycharge and scatter aCheyenne war party on the banks of theSolomon River in north-centralKansas Territory. | |
| Sep 1 | TheBattle of Pima Butte, in what is now Arizona, is the last major battle fought solely between indigenous peoples in North America.[99] | |
| Sep 11 | Nearly 120 emigrants passing through theUtah Territory aremassacred by a combined force ofMormon militiamen andPaiute Indians during the hysteria of theUtah War. | |
| 1858 | Feb 19 | Chief Leschi, a leader of theNisqually people, ishanged by the territorial government of Washington after being wrongfully convicted of killing a colonel during thePuget Sound War.[100] |
| Apr 19 | TheYankton Treaty, signed by theYankton Sioux, cedes most of what is now easternSouth Dakota to the United States.[101] | |
| May 11 | Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. state. | |
| May 12 | An army ofTexas Rangers and Indian allies under the command ofJohn Salmon Ford engagesComanche warriors ina series of battles after attacking villages in theCanadian River valley, the final actions of theAntelope Hills expedition.[102] | |
| Jul | Gold is discovered in theFront Range of the Rocky Mountains. Theresulting gold rush draws nearly 100,000 people to thePike's Peak Country of present-day Colorado over the next three years.[103] | |
| Nov 17 | The town ofDenver City is platted in what is now the state ofColorado. | |
| 1859 | Spring | TheComstock Lode, the first major discovery ofsilver ore in the country, provokes asilver rush in present-dayNevada that fundsboomtowns includingVirginia City andGold Hill. Over the next 30 years, hundreds of mines extract more than $320 million in gold and silver from the region, making millionaires of investors such asGeorge Hearst and theBonanza Kings.[104] |
| Feb 14 | Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state. | |
| Sep 28–30 | Mexican folk heroJuan Cortina and a large posse seize control ofBrownsville, Texas in one of the major actions of the First Cortina War. His motivation is the legal abuses perpetrated by Texan authorities against ethnic Mexicans. The occupation only lasts two days, but theCortina Troubles continue for another two years.[105] | |
| Oct 4 | The Kansas Territorial legislature ratifies the anti-slaveryWyandotte Constitution by a huge margin.[96] |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1860 | Feb 26 | Hundreds ofWiyot people aremassacred by white settlers along the coast of what is nowHumboldt County, California.[106] |
| Apr 14 | ThePony Express completes its first westbound and eastbound deliveries betweenSt. Joseph, Missouri andSan Francisco, California. | |
| May 6 | The kidnapping of twoPaiute children by the white owners of aPony Express station in what is now Nevada provokesa retaliatory raid in which five people are killed, beginning thePyramid Lake War.[107] | |
| May 29 | Afrontier Army outpost on thePawnee River in westernKansas Territory is rebuilt three miles upstream of its original location and renamedFort Larned. | |
| Jul 20 | Construction begins onFort Churchill in what is now western Nevada. | |
| Dec 18 | Texas Rangers underLawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross attack aComanche camp at theBattle of Pease River, where they discoverCynthia Ann Parker 24 years after her kidnapping.[108] | |
| 1861 | Jan 29 | Kansas is admitted to the Union as the 34th U.S. state, and afree state. |
| Feb | A series of hostilities involving U.S. Army Lt.George Nicholas Bascom andChiricahuaApache chiefCochise triggers theChiricahua Wars, which remain a central conflict inArizona andNew Mexico for the next 25 years. | |
| Feb 1 | A convention of theTexas legislature votes tosecede from the Union.[109] | |
| Feb 28 | Colorado is organized as aU.S. territory. | |
| Mar 2 | TheNevada Territory andDakota Territory are organized. | |
| Mar 16 | Governor of TexasSam Houston is evicted from office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to theConfederate States of America.[110] | |
| Mar 28 | The southern half of theNew Mexico Territory nominally joins theConfederacy as theProvisional Confederate Territory of Arizona. | |
| Jul 25 | American Civil War: 250 Confederate troops led byJohn R. Baylor engage Union forces under Isaac Lynde atMesilla, New Mexico, resulting in Lynde's troops retreating into theOrgan Mountains, towardFort Stanton. Lynde is relieved of duty after abandoning his post. | |
| Sep 2 | Apache Wars: A small Confederate patrol from Fort Stanton isambushed byMescaleroApache warriors in New Mexico'sGallinas Mountains.[111] | |
| Oct 24 | Thefirst transcontinental telegraph line is completed nearFort Bridger in present-dayWyoming, the result of an effort byHiram Sibley andWestern Union to connect California to the telegraph networks of the east. The ability to instantaneously send messages from coast to coast immediately makes thePony Express obsolete.[112] | |
| 1862 | Winter | Months of record precipitation in the far west culminate in theGreat Flood of 1862, which turns California'sCentral Valley into an inland sea and causes millions of dollars in property damage.[113][114] |
| Feb–Apr | American Civil War: Confederate forces underHenry Hopkins Sibley andThomas Green undertake one of the most ambitious military operations of the war when they begin theNew Mexico Campaign. Their goals include seizing the Colorado gold fields and securing roads by which to invade California and Mexico. | |
| Feb 20–21 | American Civil War: TheBattle of Valverde is fought at a ford of Valverde Creek in present-day New Mexico, resulting in a Confederate victory. | |
| Mar 7–8 | American Civil War: Union forces under Gen.Samuel R. Curtis defeat Confederate forces under Gen.Earl Van Dorn at theBattle of Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas. | |
| Mar 26–28 | American Civil War: TheBattle of Glorieta Pass is fought in theSangre de Cristo Mountains between Confederate cavalry forces and Union volunteers fromColorado andNew Mexico. It marks a turning point in theNew Mexico Campaign in favor of the Union. | |
| Mar 30 | American Civil War: TheBattle of Stanwix Station is fought at aButterfield Overland Mailstagecoach stop 80 miles east ofYuma, Arizona between Capt. William P. Calloway of theCalifornia Column and Confederate 2nd Lt.Jack Swilling. | |
| Apr 6–9 | Owens Valley Indian War: Settlers of California'sOwens Valley engage nativeMono,Shoshone, andKawaiisu people at theBattle of Bishop Creek and theBattle of Mayfield Canyon. | |
| Apr 15 | American Civil War: TheBattle of Picacho Pass is fought between the1st California Cavalry under Union Lt.James Barrett and a detachment of Arizona Confederates led by Sgt. Henry Holmes. It is often considered the westernmost battle of the war, occurring 50 miles northwest ofTucson. | |
| May 5 | Apache Wars: In theFirst Battle of Dragoon Springs, Confederate Sgt. Sam Ford and his men are ambushed byApache warriors led byCochise in theDragoon Mountains, near present-dayBenson, Arizona. | |
| May 9 | Apache Wars: In retaliation for the deaths of the four Confederates killed in the ambush four days earlier, rebels under Capt.Sherod Hunter take back the cattle stolen byCochise and his warriors and kill five Apaches in theSecond Battle of Dragoon Springs. | |
| May 20 | TheHomestead Act of 1862 is signed into law by PresidentAbraham Lincoln. It aims to encourage settlement in the West by simplifying the process of land acquisition:homesteaders need only claim, occupy for five years, and improve a minimum of 160 acres of unappropriated land to be granted full ownership. Alternatively, settlers have the option of purchasing the land outright after six months of residency.[115] | |
| Jul 1 | The first of thePacific Railroad Acts is signed into law by President Lincoln, authorizing the issuance of land grants, government bonds, and rights-of-way to two newly incorporated railroad companies,Union Pacific andCentral Pacific, for the purpose of constructing the western half of the nation'sfirst transcontinental railroad. The proposed route spans nearly 2,000 miles across the country's interior, connecting to existing rail networks atCouncil Bluffs, Iowa, andSacramento, California. | |
| Jul 15–16 | Apache Wars: 140 Union troops from theCalifornia Column are ambushed by 500 Apaches underMangas Coloradas andCochise at theBattle of Apache Pass in Arizona'sChiricahua Mountains. It is one of the first battles in which theUnited States Army is able to effectively use artillery against Indians.Fort Bowie is built near the site following the battle. | |
| Aug 10 | American Civil War: More than 30 people are killed when a group of UnionistGerman Texan settlers fleeing theTexas Hill Country for Mexico isattacked by a Confederate detachment along theNueces River.[116] | |
| Aug 17 | TheDakota War of 1862 begins when aSioux hunting party slaughters five white settlers and the tribal council decides to attack white settlements throughout theMinnesota River valley. | |
| Oct 26 | Fort Douglas is established three miles east ofSalt Lake City in theUtah Territory. | |
| Nov 5 | More than 300Santee Sioux inMinnesota are sentenced to hang for the rape and murder of white settlers. | |
| 1863 | Jan 1 | Daniel Freeman submits the first claim under theHomestead Act of 1862 for land nearBeatrice, Nebraska. |
| Jan 18 | Apache Wars:ChiricahuaApache leaderMangas Coloradas is captured, tortured, and killed by U.S. Army sentries after meeting with Brigadier GeneralJoseph Rodman West to call for peace. | |
| Jan 29 | Soldiers underPatrick Edward Connor attack an encampment ofShoshone Indians in present-day Idaho, resulting in theBear River Massacre. | |
| Feb 24 | TheArizona Territory is organized from a portion of theNew Mexico Territory. | |
| Mar 4 | Idaho is organized as a U.S. territory. | |
| Aug 21 | Confederate guerrillas led byWilliam Quantrill set fire to the pro-Union town ofLawrence, Kansas and kill nearly 200 civilians in theLawrence massacre. Quantrill claims his motive was revenge for theSacking of Osceola several years earlier. | |
| Aug 25 | In the aftermath of the Lawrence massacre, Union GeneralThomas Ewing Jr. issuesGeneral Order No. 11, which forces the expulsion of all residents who cannot prove their allegiance to the Union from four counties in rural westernMissouri.[117] | |
| Sep 1 | American Civil War: In theBattle of Devil's Backbone, Union troops under Gen.Frederick Steele regain control of the military garrison atFort Smith, Arkansas and occupy it for the remainder of the war. | |
| Oct 23 | San Francisco Fire of 1863: Hundreds of Russian sailors join the city fire department in battling a major conflagration which destroys part of downtown San Francisco, California. | |
| 1864 | John Bozeman leads a group of about 2,000 settlers along theBozeman Trail, a new cutoff route connecting theOregon Trail with the gold fields of southwesternMontana, which he and John Jacobs hadblazed the previous year. | |
| Jan | Kit Carson accepts the surrender of most of theNavajo nation after the final two years of the bloodyNavajo Wars. | |
| Jan 10 | Henry Plummer, the elected sheriff ofBannack, Montana, is arrested and summarily hanged by a vigilance committee on charges of leading a gang ofroad agents preying on traders fromVirginia City. | |
| May 26 | Montana is organized as a U.S. territory. | |
| Jul | American Civil War: Outlaw Jim Reynolds and his gang plunder and rob settlements in theSouth Park Basin of the Colorado Territory in an attempt to loot the gold mines of the region to support the fledglingConfederacy. | |
| Sep 27 | American Civil War: Pro-Confederatebushwhackers led byWilliam "Bloody Bill" Anderson capture andexecute 24 unarmed Union soldiers at a rail depot inCentralia, Missouri. | |
| Sep 28 | Cheyenne, Lakota, and Arapaho leaders includingBlack Kettle meet with Governor of theColorado TerritoryJohn Evans and Col.John Chivington of the U.S. Army in a peace conference atCamp Weld. | |
| Oct 23 | American Civil War: Union GeneralSamuel R. Curtis'Army of the Border decisively defeats Confederate GeneralSterling Price'sArmy of Missouri at theBattle of Westport, nearKansas City. The battle ends thelast major Confederate offensive west of the Mississippi River. The largest engagement in theTrans-Mississippi Theater, with over 30,000 men involved, it is sometimes called the "Gettysburg of the West".[118] | |
| Oct 25 | American Civil War: In consecutive engagements only hours apart, Union cavalry underAlfred Pleasonton pursue and defeat Confederate forces under Sterling Price atMarais des Cygnes,Mine Creek, andMarmiton River as they retreat throughKansas andMissouri. | |
| Oct 31 | Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S. state. | |
| Nov 29 | Volunteer militia under the command ofJohn Chivington massacre more than 150Cheyenne people, mostly women and children, at a peaceful village on reservation land in the southeasternColorado Territory, in what is later called theSand Creek massacre. | |
| 1865 | Jan 7 | Colorado War: In theBattle of Julesburg, an alliance of more than 1,000Cheyenne,Lakota, andArapaho warriors attack and plunder the town ofJulesburg, Colorado, defeating the soldiers and civilians defending it. They proceed to burn stagecoach stations and destroy telegraph lines throughout theSouth Platte valley over the next few weeks. |
| Feb 4–6 | Colorado War: TheBattle of Mud Springs is fought in the Nebraska Territory. | |
| Feb 8–9 | Colorado War: TheBattle of Rush Creek is fought in the Nebraska Territory. | |
| Feb 17 | Apache Wars:Fort Buchanan is overrun and destroyed byChiricahua warriors in the Arizona Territory.[119] | |
| Apr 1 | The steamboatBertrand sinks after snagging on a submerged log in theMissouri River north ofOmaha, Nebraska. | |
| Apr 10 | Fort Dodge is established at a natural ford of the Arkansas River in southwesternKansas in order to protect the route of theSanta Fe Trail. | |
| May 12–13 | American Civil War: TheBattle of Palmito Ranch is fought nearBrownsville, Texas. It is the final armed engagement of the war. | |
| Jun 23 | American Civil War:Stand Watie, aCherokeecavalry commander in theConfederate Army, becomes the last Confederate general to surrender to Union forces, atDoaksville in theIndian Territory.[120] | |
| Jul 21 | "Wild Bill" Hickok kills gamblerDavis Tutt ina shootout inSpringfield, Missouri. The confrontation is sensationalized inHarper's Magazine, making Hickok a household name. It is often considered the archetypal one-on-onequick-draw duel, which later becomes a popular image of the Old West.[121] | |
| Jul 26 | Thousands of Cheyenne and Lakota warriors attack an Army camp on theNorth Platte River in what is nowCasper, Wyoming at theBattle of Platte Bridge Station. | |
| 1866 | Feb 13 | Ex-Confederate bushwhackersFrank andJesse James rob their first bank, the Clay County Savings Association inLiberty, Missouri. |
| Spring | Theperiod of the great cattle drives begins whenTexas ranchers drive more than 260,000 head of cattle to assorted markets. Some travel east to Louisiana, where the animals are shipped toCairo, Illinois andSt. Louis; others travel west toFort Sumner, New Mexico andDenver, inaugurating theGoodnight-Loving Trail. But the vast majority follow theShawnee Trail north toKansas City orSedalia, Missouri.[122] | |
| Jun 15 | The U.S. Army selects a site forFort Buford in the Dakota Territory, which is immediately and repeatedly attacked by Lakota Indians during the fort's construction. | |
| Jul 25 | Fort Sully is re-established about 30 miles north of its former location in what is now South Dakota. | |
| Nov 17 | Fort Harker is established to replaceFort Ellsworth in central Kansas. | |
| Dec 21 | CaptainWilliam J. Fetterman and 80 soldiers of the U.S. 2nd Cavalry and 18th Infantry regiments areambushed and wiped out byLakota,Cheyenne, andArapaho warriors nearFort Phil Kearny,Wyoming. A fort built the next year,Fort Fetterman, is named in his honor. | |
| 1867 | Mar 1 | Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S. state. |
| Mar 30 | The United Statespurchases Alaska from theRussian Empire for $7.2 million.[123] | |
| Apr 20 | While traveling along theYellowstone River toFort C. F. Smith, trailblazerJohn Bozeman is murdered under mysterious circumstances.[124] | |
| Jun | Fort Stevenson is established on the Missouri River in theDakota Territory. | |
| Jun 25 | Lucien B. Smith ofKent, Ohio is issued the first patent forbarbed wire fencing, an invention which revolutionizescattle ranching on the open prairies of the West.[125] | |
| Jul 17 | Fort Totten is established on the shores ofDevils Lake in theDakota Territory. | |
| Jul 31 | Fort Griffin is established in north Texas. | |
| Aug 1 | Red Cloud's War: In theHayfield Fight, a civilian haycutting crew and a small U.S. Army detachment from nearbyFort C. F. Smith, armed with new rapid-firebreech-loading rifles, manage to hold off an attack from several hundred Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota warriors. | |
| Aug 2 | Red Cloud's War: In theWagon Box Fight, a small party of U.S. Army soldiers and civilians nearFort Phil Kearny, well-armed and encircled by a wall of wagon boxes, manages to hold off hundreds of Lakota warriors led byRed Cloud andCrazy Horse.[126] | |
| Aug 7 | Cheyenne Indians derail a westboundUnion Pacific train on the unfinished transcontinental railroad near Plum Creek, Nebraska, killing three railroad workers, then burn and loot the boxcars.[127] | |
| Aug 27 | Fort Ellis is established near present-dayBozeman, Montana. | |
| Oct 18 | At a ceremony inSitka, Alaska, Russian soldiers officially transfer Alaska to the U.S. Army onCastle Hill. It is organized on the same day into theDepartment of Alaska, to be administered by the Army.[123] | |
| Oct 21–28 | TheMedicine Lodge Treaty is signed between the U.S. government and several southernPlains Indian tribes, requiring that the tribes relocate to theIndian Territory.[128][129][130] | |
| Dec 10 | Construction begins onFort Concho in southwest Texas. | |
| 1868 | Apr 29 | TheTreaty of Fort Laramie (1868) is signed between the United States and several bands ofLakota,Dakota, andArapaho Indians. It results in the abandonment of U.S. military outposts along theBozeman Trail, the indefinite closure of thePowder River Country and westernSouth Dakota to white settlement, and the end ofRed Cloud's War.[131] |
| Jul 25 | Wyoming is organized as a U.S. territory.[132] | |
| Sep 17–19 | A company of civilian frontiersmen underGeorge A. Forsyth is surrounded and besieged by hundreds of Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota ona small sandbar in theArikaree River, but their superior armaments hold the position until scouts can escape toFort Wallace, more than 70 miles to the east, to summon reinforcements. Famed Cheyenne warriorRoman Nose is killed during the battle. | |
| Nov 18 | Fort Supply is established as a U.S. Army camp in theIndian Territory. | |
| Nov 27 | TheBattle of Washita River is fought when Lt. Col.George Armstrong Custer's7th Cavalry Regiment attacks a winter encampment ofSouthern Cheyenne Indians on theWashita River in what is now westernOklahoma. ChiefBlack Kettle, leader of the Cheyenne, is killed. | |
| Dec 5 | Camp Sherman, later renamedFort Omaha, is established near Omaha, Nebraska. | |
| 1869 | Jan 8 | Fort Sill is established by GeneralPhilip H. Sheridan in theIndian Territory, near present-dayLawton, Oklahoma. |
| May 10 | Leland Stanford drives theGolden Spike to join the rails of theCentral Pacific andUnion Pacific railroads at a special ceremony inPromontory Summit, Utah Territory, completing theFirst transcontinental railroad. | |
| May 24 | John Wesley Powell and nine others embark ona scientific expedition that charts more than 930 mi (1,500 km) of theGreen River andColorado River through the canyon country ofWyoming,Colorado,Utah, andArizona. Powell and his crew become the first recorded white men to travel the length of theGrand Canyon. They reach the mouth of theVirgin River in present-dayNevada on August 30. | |
| Jul 4 | The world's first documented competitiverodeo is held in the town ofDeer Trail in theColorado Territory.[133] | |
| Jul 11 | TheBattle of Summit Springs is fought in theColorado Territory between elements of the U.S. Army underEugene A. Carr and a band ofCheyenneDog Soldiers led by ChiefTall Bull. | |
| Dec 10 | Wyoming becomes the first U.S. territory to grant women theright to vote. |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1870 | Bret Harte'sThe Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Sketches, a collection of stories based on his years as a San Francisco journalist, is published.[134] | |
| William "Hurricane Bill" Martin, a notorious outlaw inKansas, beginsrustling cattle southeast ofAbilene before he and his gang are driven off by a posse fromMarion.[135] | ||
| Settling in theNew Mexico Territory, gunfighterRobert Clay Allison purchases a ranch inColfax County. According to local newspapers, Allison is reported to have killed as many as fifteen men in gunfights during this time.[136] | ||
| With the growing railroad industry and cattle boom,buffalo hunters begin moving onto theGreat Plains. In less than ten years, the buffalo population is dramatically reduced, and the animal remains anendangered species for much of the next century.[134] | ||
| TheUtah Territorial Assembly, supported byBrigham Young, grants women the right to vote. Over the next several decades, this provides Mormons with an added margin of political power.[134] | ||
| Jan | Shortly after leaving the post of sheriff ofEllis County, Kansas,"Wild Bill" Hickok travels toMissouri and eventually resumes his duties as aU.S. Marshal.[137] | |
| Jan 23 | More than 200 men, women, and children belonging to a friendly band ofPiegan Blackfeet Indians are mistakenly attacked andmassacred by a U.S. Army command on theMarias River in theMontana Territory.[138] | |
| Mar 30 | Texas is readmitted to the Union following the Civil War.[139] | |
| Spring | With the emergence ofAbilene, Kansas as a major stopover for cattle ranchers, the town trustees attempt to curb the violence brought by the beginning of the cattle season by banning guns within town limits. This proves extremely unpopular and unenforceable, as Texas cowboys make a habit of shooting up ordinance posters and tear down the city's first jailhouse; violence continues in the city until the appointment ofTom "Bear River" Smith as city marshal on June 4.[140] | |
| Jul 17–18 | "Wild Bill" Hickok is involved in a shootout with several members of theU.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment inHays City after killing one trooper and wounding another.[137] | |
| Nov 2 | Abilene City MarshalTom "Bear River" Smith is killed while serving an arrest warrant near the town.[137] | |
| 1871 | John K. "King" Fisher is hired by settlers of the Pendencia River country inDimmit County, Texas to protect their livestock and other property. It is during this time that Fisher becomes known as a skilled gunfighter.[141] | |
| Jan 1 | After a long illness, U.S. Army Captain John Barry is forced into retirement. While stationed atFort Ord, Barry attempts to improve relations between theUnited States and theApaches, as well as encourages the enlistment of scouts to combat renegade Apaches.[141] | |
| Feb 16 | John Younger kills Captain S.W. Nichols in a gunfight inDallas, Texas.[142] | |
| Feb 23 | While heading anApache-hunting force near present-dayClifton, Arizona, John M. Bullard is shot and killed when he approaches a wounded Apache warrior.[141] | |
| Feb 28 | "Handsome Jack" John Ledford, an outlaw-turned-hotel-owner involved in counterfeiting and horse theft inKansas and theIndian Territory, is killed in a shootout with a group of U.S. Army soldiers led by scout Lee Stewart and U.S. Marshal Jack Bridges, who claimed to have a warrant for his arrest.[143] | |
| Mar 16 | Death ofNavajo chieftainBarboncito (Hastin Daagii).[141] | |
| Apr 15 | "Wild Bill" Hickok succeedsTom "Bear River" Smith as city marshal ofAbilene, Kansas and remains in the position until December 13.[144] | |
| Apr 28 | In what becomes known as theCamp Grant Massacre, over 100Apache women and children are killed by a mob of Mexicans andPapago Indians led by severalTucson businessmen, including D.A. Bennett and Sam Hughes. Bennett and several others are indicted in December, though all are acquitted.[141] | |
| Jun 14 | Thomas Carson, reportedly a nephew ofKit Carson, is appointed to the Abilene police force under City Marshal "Wild Bill" Hickok. After an incident with gunfighterJohn Wesley Hardin over Hardin's insistence on wearing his gun in public, Carson is hired briefly as deputy inNewton, Kansas before returning to Abilene in November. Carson and DeputyJohn W. "Brocky Jack" Norton are fired from the police force on November 27 after assaulting a bartender. | |
| Jun 30 | Shortly after robbing a nearby bank,Jesse James addresses a crowd at a political rally inCorydon, Iowa.[142] | |
| Oct 5 | Professional gamblerPhil Coe is involved in a shootout with Abilene City Marshal"Wild Bill" Hickok after Hickok attempts to censor a painting of a bull with abnormally large genitals in Coe's saloon. Deputy Mike Williams is killed when Hickok accidentally shoots him, and Coe dies from his wounds four days later.[145] | |
| 1872 | William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, a scout for theU.S. 5th Cavalry Regiment, is awarded theMedal of Honor. Later that year, he and fellow scoutJohn "Texas Jack" Omohundro appear on stage for the first time, portraying themselves in "Scouts of the Prairie". | |
| Ellsworth, Kansas succeedsAbilene as the northern stopping point on theOld Texas cattle trail. | ||
| Following the completion of theSanta Fe Railroad across the border of theColorado Territory, the use of theSanta Fe Trail begins to decline, althoughDodge City remains a major cattle town for the next decade. The Santa Fe Railroad also completes a rail line atWichita, Kansas, causing a major population boom in the town over the next several years. | ||
| Mar 1 | Yellowstone is designated America's firstnational park by PresidentUlysses S. Grant. | |
| Jun | Fort McKeen, later renamedFort Abraham Lincoln, is built in the Dakota Territory. | |
| Nov 29 | TheBattle of Lost River results when theU.S. 1st Cavalry Regiment tries to force a band ofModoc Indians underCaptain Jack to return to theKlamath Reservation in southernOregon. In the subsequentModoc War, a party of 53 Modoc warriors entrenched in theLava Beds of northernCalifornia manages to hold off hundreds of U.S. soldiers for more than five months. | |
| Dec 28 | Yavapai War: U.S. Army cavalry underGeorge Crook begin a campaign intoArizona'sTonto Basin by defeating the occupants of aYavapai stronghold at theBattle of Salt River Canyon.[146] | |
| 1873 | TheColt Single Action Army revolver is first manufactured. It later becomes known as "The Gun That Won the West".[147] | |
| Mar 3 | Designed to encourage the cultivation of timber on the treelessGreat Plains, theTimber Culture Act is signed into law by PresidentUlysses S. Grant. A follow-up to theHomestead Act of 1862, it permits homesteaders to claim 160 acres of public land on which they have planted and maintained at least 40 acres of timber for a minimum of 10 years.[148] | |
| Mar 27 | Yavapai War: A combined force of U.S. Army soldiers andApache Scouts wins another major victory overYavapai andTonto Apache warriors at theBattle of Turret Peak in centralArizona.[149] | |
| Apr 1 | TheCoinage Act of 1873 takes effect, prohibiting the minting of silver bullion into legal tender and establishing a federalgold standard by default. The controversial law provokes a debate about national monetary policy that lasts the rest of the century, with proponents of "free silver" andbimetallism, including many silver-mining interests in the West, arguing for the unlimited coinage of silver into money. | |
| Apr 11 | Modoc War: After months of inconclusive fighting, U.S. Army Gen.Edward Canby and a civilian peace commissioner are shot and killed during a parley withCaptain Jack and severalModoc warriors near their stronghold in the Lava Beds of northern California. | |
| Jun 1 | A party of American and Canadian wolf-hunters, drunk off illegal whiskey, crosses the border intoSaskatchewan and accuses a band ofAssiniboine people of stealing a horse, provokinga skirmish that kills more than a dozen Assiniboine. The incident amplifies Canadian distrust of Americans and urges deployment of the newly createdNorth-West Mounted Police later in the year. | |
| Jul 21 | TheJames–Younger Gang commits the firsttrain robbery in the history of the West byderailing a locomotive of theRock Island Line west ofAdair, Iowa and stealing $3,000 from the express safe and passengers on board.[150] | |
| Oct 3 | Captain Jack and three otherModoc warriors are executed atFort Klamath for their role in the murder of Gen. Canby. | |
| Dec | "My Western Home", a poem by Dr.Brewster M. Higley, is first published in an issue of theSmith County Pioneer. It is set to music byDaniel E. Kelley and evolves into the classicwestern folk song "Home on the Range", which is later adopted as thestate song ofKansas. | |
| Dec 26 | CaliforniobandidoTiburcio Vásquez and his gang loot the town ofKingston inFresno County, California.[151] | |
| 1874 | Outlaws Ceberiano and Reymundo Aguilar are killed during the Harrold War ofLincoln County, New Mexico. | |
| Jan 31 | TheJames–Younger Gang robs a general store in the town ofGads Hill, Missouri, and laterstops a passenger train, escaping with more than $12,000. | |
| Mar 17 | John Younger is killed when he and his brotherJim assault two undercoverPinkerton detectives and a local sheriff inSt. Clair County, Missouri.[152] | |
| Jun 27 | While occupying an old trading post in theTexas panhandle, 28bison hunters including 21-year-oldBat Masterson are besieged by 700Comanche warriors at theSecond Battle of Adobe Walls. | |
| Jul 15 | Fort Reno is established in theIndian Territory. | |
| Jul–Aug | An expedition led by Lt. Col.George Armstrong Custer embarks fromFort Abraham Lincoln to explore the previously unchartedBlack Hills of present-daySouth Dakota. The expedition discoversplacer gold, promptinga gold rush which draws thousands of settlers to the region over the next few years and thereby antagonizes the nativeSioux inhabitants.[153] | |
| Sep 9–14 | Red River War: A U.S. Army wagon train full of rations destined forCamp Supply isbesieged by Comanche and Kiowa warriors for more than five days before the6th Cavalry rescues it. | |
| Sep 28 | Red River War: The4th U.S. Cavalry under Col.Ranald S. Mackenzierouts a large camp ofCheyenne,Comanche, andKiowa Indians taking refuge inPalo Duro Canyon in the Texas panhandle.[154] | |
| Nov 24 | Joseph Glidden patents a type ofbarbed wire he calls "The Winner", which becomes one of the most popular types in the country. His design is modified from a version patented by Henry B. Rose that was displayed at a county fair in Glidden's hometown ofDeKalb, Illinois.[155][156] | |
| Dec 8 | The James–Younger Gang robs a train on theKansas Pacific Railroad nearMuncie, Kansas, stealing $30,000.[157] | |
| 1875 | Jan 5 | The city ofFargo is incorporated in theDakota Territory.[158] |
| Jan 25 | Pinkerton agents throw an incendiary device intoJesse James' family home inKearney, Missouri, killing James' 9-year-old half-brother and badly wounding his mother.[159] | |
| Aug 8 | Jermin Aguirre is killed near the San Augin Ranch in theNew Mexico Territory. | |
| Nov 19–21 | Las Cuevas War:Texas Rangers commanded byLeander McNelly engage Mexican militia inTamaulipas in an attempt to return stolen cattle to U.S. territory.[160] | |
| 1876 | After being wounded in the hip during a gunfight inSweetwater, Texas,Bat Masterson agrees to become assistant city marshal ofDodge City, Kansas. | |
| Mar 17 | WhenSioux leadersSitting Bull andCrazy Horse refuse to comply with the United States government's order to leave theBlack Hills of theDakota Territory, an expeditionary force commanded by GeneralGeorge Crook directs ColonelJoseph J. Reynolds to attack aCheyenne encampment at theBattle of Powder River, thereby beginning theGreat Sioux War. | |
| Jun 17 | Great Sioux War: General George Crook's forces are defeated by Crazy Horse at theBattle of the Rosebud. The defeat convinces Crook to withdraw from his planned offensive and await reinforcements. | |
| Jun 25 | Great Sioux War: While leading an attack into a Sioux village in theMontana Territory, theU.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment under Brig. Gen.George Armstrong Custer is ambushed and massacred by over 2,000 Lakota and Cheyenne warriors led bySitting Bull andCrazy Horse at theBattle of the Little Bighorn.[161] | |
| Aug 1 | Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state. | |
| Aug 2 | "Wild Bill" Hickok is shot and killed byJack McCall during a poker game inDeadwood,Dakota Territory. | |
| Sep 7 | Several members of theJames–Younger Gang, includingCole Younger, are captured after the failed robbery of the First National Bank leads to a gunfight with bank employees and local residents inNorthfield, Minnesota. | |
| Sep 9–10 | Great Sioux War: In the first U.S. Army victory since the disaster at the Little Bighorn, a punitive expedition led by George Crook destroys anOglala Lakota village led by ChiefAmerican Horse at theBattle of Slim Buttes in present-daySouth Dakota.[162] | |
| 1877 | Apr | TheHomestake lode is discovered in theBlack Hills of the Dakota Territory. The claim is later sold toGeorge Hearst, who expands and develops it into the largest and most productive gold mine in North America. |
| May 5 | Crazy Horse surrenders to the U.S. Army at theRed Cloud Agency nearFort Robinson,Nebraska.[163] | |
| Jun 17 | Anticipating retaliation for recent crimes against white settlers and reluctant to move to a reservation, about 600Nez Perce Indians led byChief Joseph,Ollokot, andWhite Bird begin a long retreat from westernIdaho with the U.S. Army in pursuit. They defeat their pursuers at theBattle of White Bird Canyon, and theNez Perce War begins.[164] | |
| Jun 25 | Fort Missoula is established in the Montana Territory. | |
| Aug 9–10 | Nez Perce War: TheBattle of the Big Hole is fought in the Montana Territory between the Nez Perce and U.S. soldiers under Col.John Gibbon.[165] | |
| Aug 17 | At 17 years old, Henry McCarty, later known as "Billy the Kid", shoots his first man, Frank "Windy" Cahill, after Cahill wrestles him to the ground at a saloon nearFort Grant, Arizona. Cahill dies the following day. | |
| Sep 5 | Four months after his surrender,Oglala war leaderCrazy Horse is fatally stabbed with abayonet by a U.S. Army soldier while allegedly resisting imprisonment atFort Robinson.[166][167] | |
| Sep 18 | A gang led bySam Bassrobs aUnion Pacific train of more than $60,000 while it is stopped at a remote water station near present-dayBig Springs, Nebraska.[168] | |
| Sep 21 | ProspectorEd Schieffelin files his first mining claim after discoveringsilver ore on a high plateau between theSan Pedro River and theDragoon Mountains in southeasternArizona Territory. He names his stake "Tombstone".[169] | |
| Oct 5 | Nez Perce War: Cornered at theBattle of Bear Paw, just 40 miles south of the Canadian border in the Montana Territory,Chief Joseph and his dwindling band of Nez Perce surrender to the U.S. Army under GeneralsOliver O. Howard andNelson A. Miles, ending the war.[170] | |
| Dec 17 | In theSan Elizario Salt War, years of legal conflict over the application of individualmineral rights to traditionally community-heldsalt lakes near theGuadalupe Mountains reach a climax when a detachment ofTexas Rangers surrenders to a popular army ofTejano citizens following a four-day siege in the town ofSan Elizario, Texas. More than a dozen people are killed in the exchange.[171] | |
| 1878 | Jan 22 | A gang of outlaws led byDave Rudabaugh, Mike Roarke, and Dan Dement attempt unsuccessfully to rob a train nearKinsley, Kansas. Rudabaugh is captured the next day byBat Masterson and a posse includingJohn Joshua Webb. |
| Feb 18 | New Mexico rancherJohn Tunstall is killed by a posse led by Lincoln County SheriffWilliam J. Brady, sent to seize attached property after Tunstall fails to pay a debt to rival cattlemen, beginning theLincoln County War. | |
| The town ofLeadville is incorporated inColorado.[172] | ||
| Jun 18 | Nick Worthington, a well-known outlaw throughout New Mexico and Colorado, is killed by residents ofCimarron, New Mexico after killing several men and stealing horses. | |
| Jul 15–19 | TheBattle of Lincoln takes place over five days inLincoln, New Mexico.Alexander McSween, former partner of John Tunstall, is shot and killed on July 19, along with gunman Francisco Zamora. | |
| Aug 31 | Fort Meade is established in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory to protect against the illegal encroachment of white settlers onto reservation lands. | |
| 1879 | Ike andBilly Clanton enlistWilliam "Curly Bill" Brocius andJohnny Ringo as they begincattle rustling in the New Mexico and Arizona Territories. | |
| Jan | CaptainMarcus Reno, the highest-ranking officer to have survived theBattle of the Little Bighorn, is brought before a generalcourt-martial but is acquitted of cowardice. | |
| Feb 18 | OutlawJesse Evans allegedly holdsBilly the Kid andTom O'Folliard at gunpoint as he murders attorney Huston Chapman in Lincoln, New Mexico. | |
| Mar 17 | New Mexico Territorial GovernorLew Wallace meets with Billy the Kid in Lincoln, promising him amnesty for his previous crimes in exchange for his testimony regarding Chapman's murder. The Kid is taken into custody on March 21 and later testifies as agreed, but is not released from jail. | |
| Mar 19 | While dining in the White House Saloon inMarshall, Texas after a performance, actorsMaurice Barrymore and Ben Porter are shot following a confrontation with notorious gunfighter and bully Jim Currie. Porter is killed. Despite both men being unarmed, Currie is found not guilty. Barrymore vows never to return to Texas. | |
| Apr 5 | GamblerFrank Loving killsLevi Richardson ina gunfight at theLong Branch Saloon inDodge City, Kansas.[173] | |
| Jun 17 | Concluding that Governor Wallace has deceived him, Billy the Kid escapes from jail in Lincoln, New Mexico. | |
| Sep 26 | A fire devastatesDeadwood, South Dakota, destroying most of the town's original buildings. | |
| Sep 29 | White River War:Nathan Meeker and ten employees of the White River Indian Agency in western Colorado are massacred byUte Indians when Meeker wires for military assistance in suppressing a perceived uprising. The Utes besiege a U.S. Army detachment in theBattle of Milk Creek until it is relieved by troops under Col.Wesley Merritt on October 5.[174] |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1880 | George Alford is sentenced to five years imprisonment for murdering a sheriff inFort Worth, Texas. | |
| Mar 2 | James Allen kills James Moorehead after ordering eggs in a tavern inLas Vegas, New Mexico and, after escaping from prison for Moorehead's murder, is killed by a posse. | |
| Apr 15 | The first widely popular incarnation of theFarmers' Alliance, an agrarian reform movement, is founded in Chicago by George Milton through his periodicalWestern Rural and quickly builds a membership across the Midwest and Plains.[175] | |
| Apr 22 | The U.S. Army begins construction onFort Niobrara in north-central Nebraska. | |
| May 1 | TheTombstone Epitaph prints its first issue inTombstone, Arizona. It remains the oldest continuously published newspaper in the state.[176] | |
| May 11 | A dispute overland titles between settlers ofCalifornia'sSan Joaquin Valley and theSouthern Pacific Railroad leaves seven people dead in what is later called theMussel Slough Tragedy. | |
| Oct 30 | MarshalFred White dies inTombstone, Arizona after being accidentally shot in the groin two days earlier, attempting to disarm'Curly' Bill Brocius. | |
| Dec 19 | Tom O'Folliard, best friend ofBilly the Kid, is shot and killed by members ofPat Garrett's posse inFort Sumner, New Mexico. | |
| Dec 23 | Charlie Bowdre, a member ofBilly the Kid's gang, is shot and killed by members ofPat Garrett's posse atStinking Springs, New Mexico. | |
| Dec 24 | Abran Baca kills A.M. Conklin inSocorro, New Mexico with several other outlaws, though he is acquitted the following year. | |
| 1881 | Feb 5 | The city ofPhoenix is incorporated in theArizona Territory. |
| Feb 25 | Luke Short shoots and kills well-known gambler and gunfighterCharlie Storms in self-defense following an altercation inTombstone, Arizona Territory. | |
| Apr 14 | A gunfight involvingEl Paso, Texas MarshalDallas Stoudenmire results in what witnesses recall as "four dead in five seconds". | |
| Jul 14 | Billy the Kid is shot and killed by SheriffPat Garrett inFort Sumner, New Mexico. He is buried the next day between his friendsTom O'Folliard andCharlie Bowdre in the town's old military cemetery. | |
| Aug 5 | Crow Dog, aLakota subchief on theGreat Sioux Reservation, shoots and kills ChiefSpotted Tail. Though the matter is settled by tribal custom, Crow Dog is sentenced to death under the laws of theDakota Territory, only to be freed bya landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.[177] | |
| Sep 8 | Passengers aboard a train destined forBisbee, Arizona are robbed of their valuables.Frank Stilwell andPete Spence are later charged with the crime. | |
| Oct 26 | TheGunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place in the street behind a saloon inTombstone, Arizona, pitting theEarp brothers andDoc Holliday againstIke andBilly Clanton,Frank andTom McLaury, andBilly Claiborne. Billy Clanton and the McLaurys are killed, andVirgil andMorgan Earp, along with Holliday, are wounded. | |
| Dec 6 | Butler, Missouri becomes the first city west of the Mississippi River to illuminate its streets with publicelectric lighting.[178] | |
| Dec 13 | San Jose, California becomes the first city west of the Rocky Mountains with civic electric lighting when a 237-foot-tallmoonlight tower is illuminated downtown.[179] | |
| 1882 | Mar 18 | Morgan Earp is shot through a window and killed while playing billiards in a Tombstone saloon. His assassination is linked to his involvement in theGunfight at the O.K. Corral. |
| Mar 20 | In retaliation for the attacks on his brothersVirgil andMorgan,Wyatt Earp shoots and killsFrank Stilwell in a railyard inTucson, beginning theEarp Vendetta Ride. | |
| Mar 24 | OutlawWilliam "Curly Bill" Brocius is shot and killed byWyatt Earp atIron Springs in southeastern Arizona. | |
| Apr 3 | Jesse James is shot in the back of the head byRobert Ford, a new recruit to his gang, at his home inSt. Joseph, Missouri.[180] | |
| Apr 16 | John Allen mortally woundsFrank Loving duringa shootout inTrinidad, Colorado.[181] | |
| May 6 | PresidentChester A. Arthur signs theChinese Exclusion Act, which effects a near-complete ban onChineseimmigration and naturalization in the United States. The law is especially significant for the burgeoning railroad and mining industries in the West, which had previously relied largely on low-wage Chinese labor. Though the original act is set to expire in ten years, it isrenewed in 1892 and again in 1902.[182] | |
| Jun 20 | A band ofTeton Lakota travels east fromFort Yates to begin a three-day hunt of a large herd of bison on reservation lands near what is nowHettinger, North Dakota, in what is later called the "Last Great Buffalo Hunt". | |
| Jul 17 | U.S. cavalry underAdna R. Chaffee and Andrew W. Evans pursue and defeat warriors of theWhite Mountain Apache tribe at theBattle of Big Dry Wash in the Arizona Territory.[183] | |
| Nov 14 | "Buckskin" Frank Leslie shoots and kills outlawBilly Claiborne while bartending at the Oriental Saloon inTombstone, Arizona.[184] | |
| 1883 | Jan 12 | The Southern section of the second transcontinental railroad line is completed. |
| Jan 20 | Arunaway train derails nearTehachapi, California, killing 15 people and injuring former GovernorJohn G. Downey. Investigations suspect a botched train robbery as the cause of the accident. | |
| Sep 8 | TheNorthern Pacific Railroad is completed near Independence Creek in westernMontana Territory, connectingSt. Paul, Minnesota with theWashington Territory.[185] | |
| Dec 8 | In theBisbee massacre, fiveoutlaws rob a general store inBisbee, Arizona and kill four people in the process.[186] | |
| 1884 | Mar 11 | Former lawmenBen Thompson andJohn King Fisher areambushed and killed by enemies of Thompson at the Jack Harris Vaudeville Saloon and Theater inSan Antonio, Texas.[187] |
| Apr 10 | LawmanWilliam "Bill" Tilghman is appointed city marshal ofDodge City, Kansas.[188] | |
| May 17 | TheDepartment of Alaska is organized into theDistrict of Alaska. | |
| Dec 1 | A 36-hour standoff begins in the town ofReserve, New Mexico when a posse of Texan cowboys confronts lawmanElfego Baca for having arrested an intoxicated cowboy. | |
| 1885 | Jun 18 | James Arcene, a 23-year-oldCherokee man, is hanged inFort Smith, Arkansas for a robbery and murder which occurred in 1872, when he was 10 years old. His age at the time of the crime makes him the youngest person ever to be sentenced to death and subsequently executed in U.S. history. |
| Sep 2 | Years of racial tension, aggravated by labor unrest over the preferential hiring of Chinese immigrants for very low wages, come to a head in theRock Springs massacre, which leaves at least 28 Chinese coal miners dead at the hands ofwhite miners in the town ofRock Springs, Wyoming. The riot touches off a wave ofanti-Chinese violence across the country.[189] | |
| 1886 | Jack Langrishe, a popular western entertainer, is elected justice inCoeur d'Alene, Idaho. | |
| Feb 18 | Dave Rudabaugh, a former member ofBilly the Kid'sDodge City Gang, is reportedly captured and decapitated by townspeople after terrorizing the village of Parral, Mexico. | |
| Mar 21 | The "Big Fight" takes place inTascosa, Texas, when three ex-members ofPat Garrett's "Home Rangers" are killed by rival ranch hands and gunmen.[190] | |
| Aug 7 | Fort Fred Steele, used to protect railroads from local Native American tribes in theWyoming Territory, is closed. | |
| Aug 20 | Fort Duchesne is officially opened by MajorFrederick William Benteen in theUtah Territory. | |
| Sep 4 | Apache renegadeGeronimo surrenders to forces under GeneralNelson Miles and is taken into custody atFort Grant, Arizona. His surrender is often considered the end of theApache Wars.[191] | |
| Winter | The extremely harshwinter of 1886–87 devastates the American cattle industry, leading to the end of theopen range era. As a result, cattle ranching is completely reorganized and the period of the great cattle drives is over. | |
| Dec 1 | BrothersJim andRube Burrow rob their first train inBellevue, Texas. | |
| 1887 | Feb 8 | TheDawes Act is signed into law by PresidentGrover Cleveland, permitting the federal government to divide communal Native American lands intoprivately owned allotments and to grant United States citizenship to individual allottees. Intended as a way to modernize thereservation system andassimilate Native Americans into mainstream society, the act forces the sale and redistribution of nearly 90 million acres of Indian lands in the West to white settlers and commercial interests over the next five decades.[192][193] |
| Luke Short kills formerFort Worth, Texas MarshalJim Courtright in a gunfight on the streets of Fort Worth. The shooting is ruled self-defense, since Courtright drew his pistol first. | ||
| Apr 4 | Susanna M. Salter becomes mayor ofArgonia, Kansas, the first woman to be elected to mayoral office anywhere in the United States. | |
| 1888 | Jan 12–13 | A severe winter storm known as theSchoolhouse Blizzard kills more than 235 people across a vast area of theGreat Plains including theDakota Territory,Nebraska, andKansas.[194] |
| Dec 18 | Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law discover theCliff Palace ofMesa Verde in southwesternColorado.[195] | |
| 1889 | Jan 12 | During theGray County War,a shootout erupts inCimarron, Kansas when a party led byBill Tilghman raids theOld Gray County Courthouse in an attempt to bring the county records to the neighboring town ofIngalls.[196] |
| Feb 3 | Belle Starr is murdered in Oklahoma.[197] | |
| Apr 22 | An estimated 50,000 homesteadersrush to claim nearly two million acres ofunoccupied land appropriated for public settlement from ceded Native American territory in what is now centralOklahoma. It is the first of several majorland runs in the region.[198] | |
| May 11 | U.S. Armypaymaster Joseph W. Wham and his escort of elevenBuffalo Soldiers areambushed and robbed of more than $28,000 in gold and silver coins by a posse of bandits on the road toFort Thomas,Arizona Territory. The bandits are never captured.[199] | |
| Jun 6 | Great Seattle Fire: A fire destroys the entire central business district inSeattle,Washington Territory, eventually burning 25 city blocks and costing the city nearly $20 million. | |
| Jun 24 | OutlawButch Cassidy robs his first bank inTelluride, Colorado before fleeing to the remote hideout ofRobbers Roost.[200] | |
| Aug 25 | Sylvestro "Pedro" Morales murders San Juan Capistrano rancher Henry Charles.[201] | |
| Nov 2 | North Dakota andSouth Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states. | |
| Eight imprisonedApache renegades, including theApache Kid, murder two sheriffs and escape into the desert duringa prisoner transfer nearGlobe, Arizona.[202] | ||
| Nov 8 | Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state. | |
| Nov 11 | Washington is admitted as the 42nd U.S. state. |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1890 | Jun | Data collected for theEleventh United States Census indicate that the spread of the population into unsettled areas has resulted in the disappearance of theAmerican frontier. TheU.S. Census Bureau declares that it will no longer monitor westward migration in the country.[203] |
| Jul 3 | Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state. | |
| Jul 10 | Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state. | |
| Oct 1 | Yosemite andSequoia are established as the second and thirdU.S. National Parks. | |
| Dec | Black Eagle Dam, inGreat Falls, Montana, begins generating electricity for the first time. It is the first hydroelectric dam to be built on theMissouri River and the first in the state of Montana. | |
| Dec 29 | More than 200 men, women, and children of theLakotaSioux are killed atWounded Knee Creek on thePine Ridge Indian Reservation inSouth Dakota when theU.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment under ColonelJames W. Forsyth attempts to confiscate their weapons.[204] | |
| 1891 | Mar 3 | TheForest Reserve Act is signed into law by PresidentBenjamin Harrison, repealing previous policies such as theTimber Culture Act of 1873 and authorizing the creation of the nation's first "forest reserves" in an effort to protect timber and mineral resources from overexploitation. The law serves as a catalyst to a series of federal land reform legislation over the next three decades which greatly expand government-administeredpublic lands and restrict private development. It also heralds changing attitudes toward land management in the West, with federal priorities gradually shifting from selling public land to conserving public resources, and federal regulations becoming a permanent fixture on the once unregulated frontier. |
| May 11 | The U.S. Army establishesFort Yellowstone nearMammoth Hot Springs in order to manageYellowstone National Park. | |
| 1892 | Apr 8–13 | In the most violent episode of theJohnson County War, wealthy cattle barons of theWyoming Stock Growers Association and hired mercenaries invade thePowder River Country to persecute local ranchers on allegations ofcattle rustling. A series of deadly stand-offs ensues before PresidentBenjamin Harrison orders the6th Cavalry Regiment to intervene. The conflict forces a reorganization of the cattle industry in Wyoming and becomes one of the most well-knownrange wars in the history of the West.[205] |
| Apr 20 | Edward L. Doheny andCharles A. Canfield drill into a massive oilfield beneath present-day downtownLos Angeles, precipitating the Southern California oil boom. | |
| Jun 1 | TheDalton Gang robs a train nearRed Rock, Oklahoma Territory. | |
| Aug 2 | Tom Graham, the last male member of the Graham family, is killed by Edwin Tewksbury inTempe, Arizona, concluding thePleasant Valley War. | |
| Oct 5 | Four members of theDalton Gang are killed in a shootout with townspeople while trying to rob two banks at the same time inCoffeyville, Kansas. | |
| Nov 1 | The newly formedDoolin-Dalton Gang robs a bank inSpearville, Kansas. | |
| 1893 | Jan 6 | The last spike is driven in theGreat Northern Railway nearScenic, Washington, completing a transcontinental route betweenSeattle andSaint Paul, Minnesota. |
| May 15 | Provoked by the previous year'sstrike in Coeur d'Alene, coal miners establish theWestern Federation of Miners inButte, Montana.[206] | |
| Jun 11–12 | Following a ten-month manhunt, localtrain robbersJohn Sontag andChris Evans are wounded duringa shootout with a posse of lawmen on a ranch north ofVisalia, California. Both outlaws are eventually captured, and Sontag dies of his wounds three weeks later.[207] | |
| Jun 30 | Captain Frank Jones is killed when he and a party ofTexas Rangers searching for a gang of Mexican cattle rustlers are ambushed near the border town ofTres Jacales.[208] | |
| Sep 1 | Three deputy U.S. Marshals and two civilians are killed ina shootout with members of theDoolin–Dalton Gang in the town ofIngalls, Oklahoma Territory. All of the outlaws manage to escape.[209] | |
| Nov 7 | Women inColorado are granted theright to vote.[210] | |
| 1894 | Feb 7 | When mine owners inCripple Creek, Colorado extend the standard workday from eight hours to ten hours without a corresponding raise in wages, newly unionized miners of theWestern Federation of Miners go on strike, setting offa labor dispute that immediately stymies mining operations throughout the region. |
| May 10 | TheDoolin-Dalton Gang robs a bank inSouthwest City, Missouri. | |
| Aug 18 | TheCarey Act is enacted by Congress, providing a new system for the development of federal lands in the semi-arid West by allowing individual states to hire private contractors to erect large-scale irrigation systems on land allotted for the purpose and then profit from the sale of water to tenants. The system is most successfully utilized in Idaho and Wyoming. | |
| Nov 1 | The Southern Pacific passenger trainSunset Limited begins regular service on the second transcontinental railroad route. | |
| 1895 | Apr 3 | TheWild Bunch robs a train nearDover,Oklahoma Territory. U.S. Marshals underChris Madsen surprise the robbers in a shootout the following morning, killingWilliam "Tulsa Jack" Blake and scattering the rest of the gang. |
| May 2 | Wild Bunch outlawsGeorge "Bittercreek" Newcomb andCharley Pierce are killed in a shootout with bounty hunters. | |
| Aug 19 | OutlawJohn Wesley Hardin is shot and killed byJohn Selman at the Acme Saloon inEl Paso, Texas.[211] | |
| Dec 18 | A gang of bandits led byAugustine Chacon robs a general store inMorenci, Arizona Territory. In a shootout the following day, several people are killed and Chacon is captured. | |
| 1896 | Jan 4 | Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. |
| Jan 15 | Bill Tilghman single-handedly captures wanted gang leaderBill Doolin at a bathhouse inEureka Springs, Arkansas and returns him to theOklahoma Territory. Doolin escapes from prison on July 5.[212] | |
| Aug 12 | An uprising ofYaqui Indians and Mexican revolutionaries, angered by the policies of Mexican PresidentPorfirio Díaz, storms the customhouse inNogales, Sonora on theU.S.–Mexico border. Detachments of both federal armies manage to disperse the rebels over the next several days.[213] | |
| Aug 13 | Butch Cassidy,Elzy Lay,Harvey "Kid Curry" Logan, and Bob Meeks rob a bank inMontpelier, Idaho.[214] | |
| Sep 15 | A staged train wreck designed as a publicity stunt for theMissouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad unexpectedly causes simultaneousboiler explosions that kill at least two spectators and result in numerous other injuries.[215] | |
| 1897 | Apr 15 | Crude oil is discovered for the first time in theIndian Territory, near present-dayBartlesville, Oklahoma.[210] |
| 1898 | Jun 28 | TheCurtis Act is signed into law by PresidentWilliam McKinley, allowing the dissolution of tribal governments and the break-up of communal lands belonging to theFive Civilized Tribes of theIndian Territory, which had previously been exempt from theDawes Act of 1887 because of the terms of their treaties. The law immediately transfers control of about 90 million acres of tribal land to the U.S. government, and more is transferred in subsequent years. |
| Jul 8 | TheShootout on Juneau Wharf occurs inSkagway,District of Alaska when crime bossSoapy Smith andFrank H. Reid are shot during an argument. Smith is killed immediately and Reid dies 12 days later. | |
| Aug–Oct | At least 500 members of 35 different American Indian tribes attend theIndian Congress inOmaha, Nebraska, the largest gathering of its kind to date.[216] | |
| 1899 | May 30 | Pearl Hart and a companion rob a stagecoach traveling betweenGlobe andFlorence in theArizona Territory. The pair is tracked down and arrested a few days later.[217] |
| Jun 2 | Butch Cassidy andhis Wild Bunch rob anOverland Flyer passenger train nearWilcox, Wyoming, resulting in a massive but ultimately futile manhunt.[218][219] |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 | Feb 15 | LawmanJeff Milton thwartsan attempted train robbery at the rail depot inFairbank, Arizona, killing outlaw"Three-Fingered Jack" Dunlop. |
| May 1 | Adust explosion at the Winter Quarters Mine nearScofield, Utah kills at least 200 coal miners in theScofield Mine disaster, the deadliest mining accident in American history to date.[220] | |
| May 19 | Jim Butler discovers silver near what will soon become the town ofTonopah, Nevada. | |
| Sep 19 | The First National Bank ofWinnemucca, Nevada is robbed by three men of more than $30,000 in gold coins. The robbers are never captured or identified. | |
| 1901 | Jan 10 | Anoil well on theSpindletop dome nearBeaumont, Texas strikes crude oil, becoming the first majorgusher in the state and triggering theTexas oil boom.[221] |
| Feb 20 | Butch Cassidy,Harry Longabaugh, andEtta Place depart the United States forBuenos Aires, Argentina aboard a British steamer.[222] | |
| 1902 | Jun 17 | TheNewlands Reclamation Act is signed into law by PresidentTheodore Roosevelt, appropriating money from the sale of arid lands in 16 Western states to fund projects toirrigate those lands. |
| Nov 21 | Mexican banditAugustine Chacon is hanged inSolomonville, Arizona Territory. | |
| 1903 | May 23 | Horatio Nelson Jackson andSewall K. Crocker departSan Francisco in a two-cylinderWinton motor car. They arrive in New York City on July 26, becoming the first people to cross the continent in anautomobile.[223] |
| Nov 20 | Legendary gunmanTom Horn is hanged inCheyenne, Wyoming for the disputed killing of 14-year-old sheepherder Willie Nickell in 1901. His trial and hanging mark the waning of the power of the cattle barons in Wyoming.[224][225] | |
| 1905 | May 15 | The city ofLas Vegas is founded inNevada.[226] |
| Dec 30 | Former Idaho GovernorFrank Steunenberg is wounded by a bomb in his home inCaldwell, Idaho and dies a short time later. An investigation suggests the assassination was motivated by priorlabor unrest in Idaho's mining communities.[227] | |
| 1906 | Apr 18 | An earthquake and resulting fires devastate the city ofSan Francisco and neighboring communities, killing at least 3,000 people and leaving nearly three-fourths of theBay Area's population homeless.[228] |
| 1907 | Nov 16 | Oklahoma is admitted as the 46th U.S. state. |
| 1908 | Feb 29 | Pat Garrett is murdered under mysterious circumstances nearLas Cruces,New Mexico Territory.[229][230] |
| Nov 7 | Butch Cassidy and theSundance Kid are reportedly found dead following a shootout with police in the town of San Vicente,Bolivia.[231] | |
| 1909 | Mar | In the so-calledCrazy Snake Rebellion, the theft of a piece of smoked meat prompts white posses to evict African-American refugees from lands of theMuscogee Creek Nation in the new state ofOklahoma. When they attempt to arrest chiefChitto Harjo, an outspoken opponent of the allotment and sale of Creek tribal lands, two lawmen are killed and Harjo escapes. |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1911 | Aug 28 | Ishi, called "the last wild Indian", surrenders near Oroville, California.[232] |
| 1912 | Jan 6 | New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state. |
| Feb 14 | Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state. It is the last state to be admitted to the Union during the Old West era.[233] | |
| Mar 13 | Baxter's Curve Train Robbery: Long-time outlawBen Kilpatrick and accomplice Ole Hobek are killed by a hostage while attempting to rob aSouthern Pacific express car nearSanderson, Texas. | |
| Aug 24 | TheDistrict of Alaska is organized into theTerritory of Alaska.[233] | |
| 1914 | Apr 20 | Colorado Coalfield War: Local militia and hired guns of theColorado Fuel and Iron Company attack a tent colony of striking coal miners and their families nearTrinidad, killing 21 people in theLudlow Massacre. The incident provokes looting, vandalism, and skirmishes throughout theFront Range until PresidentWoodrow Wilson deploys federal soldiers to restore order. |
| 1916 | Dec 5 | Thelast stagecoach robbery in American history occurs at Jarbidge Canyon,Nevada, when three robbers hold up aU.S. Post Office Department stagecoach, shoot the driver, and steal $4,000 in cash. The criminals are captured without incident soon after. |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Jan 6 | Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state, marking the complete political incorporation of continental U.S. western territorial acquisitions.[234] |
rumiantzof.
Reprinted as ch. 9 in, Roger L. Nichols (ed),The American Indian: Past and Present, University of Oklahoma Press, 2014ISBN 0806186143.
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