Editing 1868 (section)

== Events ==

=== January&ndash;March ===
[[File:Mutsuhito-Emperor-Meiji-1873.png|thumb|[[January 3]]: [[Emperor Meiji]].]]
* [[January 2]] &ndash; [[British Expedition to Abyssinia]]: [[Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala|Robert Napier]] leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries.<ref name="Pocket On This Day">{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref>
* [[January 3]] &ndash; The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, [[Emperor Meiji]] of Japan, declares the ''[[Meiji Restoration]]'', his own restoration to full power, under the influence of supporters from the [[Chōshū Domain|Chōshū]] and [[Satsuma Domain]]s, and against the supporters of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]], triggering the [[Boshin War]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Ernest|last=Satow|author-link=Ernest Mason Satow|title=A Diplomat in Japan: the inner history of the critical years in the evolution of Japan when the ports were opened and the monarchy restored|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.174127|location=London|publisher=Seeley, Service|year=1921}}</ref>
* [[January 5]] &ndash; [[Paraguayan War]]: Brazilian Army commander [[Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias]], enters [[Asunción]], [[Paraguay]]'s capital. Some days later he declares the war is over. Nevertheless, [[Francisco Solano López]], Paraguay's president, prepares guerrillas to fight in the countryside.
* [[January 7]] &ndash; The [[Arkansas Constitutional Convention of 1868|Arkansas constitutional convention]] meets in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]].
* [[January 9]] &ndash; [[Penal transportation]] from [[United Kingdom|Britain]] to [[Convicts in Australia|Australia]] ends, with arrival of the [[convict ship]] ''[[Hougoumont (ship)|Hougoumont]]'' in Western Australia, after an 89-day voyage from England. There are 62 [[Fenian]]s among the transportees.
* [[January 10]] &ndash; ''[[Shōgun]]'' [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] declares the emperor's declaration "illegal", and prepares to attack [[Kyoto]].
* [[January 27]]&ndash;[[January 31|31]] &ndash; [[Battle of Toba–Fushimi]]: forces of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] and the allied pro-Imperial forces of the Chōshū, Satsuma and [[Tosa Domain]]s clash near [[Fushimi, Kyoto]], ending in a decisive victory for the Imperial forces (although in the [[January 28]] naval [[Battle of Awa]], the Shogunate is victorious against Satsuma).
* February–May &ndash; [[Flying Foam massacre]], a massacre of [[Indigenous Australians]] around [[Flying Foam Passage]] in [[Western Australia]] by white colonial settlers.<ref>{{cite conference|last=Gara|first=T. J.|title=The Flying Foam Massacre: An Incident on North West Frontier, Western Australia|conference=Papers presented in Section 25A, Archaeology, of the 53rd [[Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science|ANZAAS]] Congress|editor-first=Moya|editor-last=Smith|publisher=Western Australian Museum|location=Perth|date=May 1983|pages=86–94|isbn=0724497501|oclc=16757628}}</ref>
* [[February]] &ndash; Foreign ministers meeting in [[Kobe|Hyōgo]] are persuaded to recognise the restored [[Emperor Meiji]] of Japan, with promises that harbours will be open in accordance with international treaties.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Christian Polak|last=Polak|first=Christian|year=2001|title=Soie et lumières: l'âge d'or des échanges franco-japonais (des origines aux années 1950)|location=Tokyo|publisher=Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie Française du Japon|page=75}}</ref>
* [[February 13]] &ndash; The British [[War Office]] sanctions the formation of what becomes the [[Post Office Rifles|Army Post Office Corps]].
* [[February 16]] &ndash; In New York City, the Jolly Corks organization is renamed the ''[[Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks]]'' (BPOE).
* [[February 19]]  &ndash; In the [[Passage of Humaitá]], a Brazilian naval force succeeds in dashing past a Paraguayan fortress on the [[River Paraguay]], considered by some the turning point in the [[Paraguayan War]].
* [[February 24]]
** [[Impeachment of Andrew Johnson]]: Three days after his action to dismiss [[United States Secretary of War]] [[Edwin M. Stanton]], the [[United States House of Representatives]] votes 126–47 in favor of a resolution to [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeach]] [[Andrew Johnson]], [[President of the United States]], the first of three Presidents to be impeached by the full House. Johnson is later acquitted by the [[United States Senate]].
** The first parade to have floats takes place at [[Mardi Gras]] in [[New Orleans]].
* [[March]] &ndash; French [[geologist]] [[Louis Lartet]] discovers the first identified skeletons of [[Cro-Magnon]], the first [[early modern humans]] (early ''Homo sapiens sapiens''), at Abri de Crô-Magnon, a rock shelter at [[Les Eyzies]], [[Dordogne]], France.
* [[March 12]]
** [[Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]], [[Duke of Edinburgh]], is shot in the back in Sydney, Australia, at a fundraising event for the Sydney Sailors Home, by Irishman [[Henry James O'Farrell]]. The prince survives and quickly recovers; O'Farrell is executed on [[April 21]], despite attempts by the prince to gain clemency for him.
** [[Lesotho|Basutoland]] is proclaimed a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Protectorate]], becoming independent in [[1966]] as Lesotho.
* [[March 23]] &ndash; The [[University of California]] is founded in [[Oakland, California]], when the Organic Act is signed into [[California]] law.
* [[March 24]] &ndash; The [[Metropolitan Life Insurance Company]] is formed, in [[New York City]].
* [[March 27]] &ndash; The [[Lake Ontario Shore Railroad]] Company is organized in [[Oswego, New York]].
* [[March]] &ndash; The first transnational women's organization, ''[[Association internationale des femmes]]'', is founded.

=== April&ndash;June ===
* [[April 1]] &ndash; The [[Hampton University|Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute]] is established in [[Hampton, Virginia]].
* [[April 7]] &ndash; The [[Charter Oath]], drawn up by his councilors, is promulgated at the enthronement of the [[Emperor Meiji]] of Japan, promising deliberative assemblies and an end to [[feudalism]].<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Donald Keene|last=Keene|first=Donald|year=2002|title=Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912|location=New York|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-12340-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/emperorofjapanme00keen/page/137 137]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/emperorofjapanme00keen/page/137}} [//www.worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/46731178 OCLC 46731178]</ref>
* [[April 9]] &ndash; Emperor [[Tewodros II]] of Ethiopia massacres at least 197 of his own people at [[Amba Mariam|Magdala]]. These are prisoners incarcerated, for the most part, for very trivial offenses, and are killed for requesting bread and water.
* [[April 9]]&ndash;[[April 13|13]] &ndash; [[Battle of Magdala]]: A British-Indian task force under [[Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala|Robert Napier]] inflicts 700 deaths and a crushing defeat on the army of Emperor [[Tewodros II]]; the British and Indians suffer 30 wounded, two of whom subsequently die. Tewodros commits suicide and Magdala is captured, ending the [[British Expedition to Abyssinia]].
* [[April 11]]&ndash;July &ndash; [[Fall of Edo]]: The Japanese city surrenders to [[Emperor Meiji]]. ''[[Shōgun]]'' [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] submits to the Emperor.
* [[April 29]] &ndash; General [[William Tecumseh Sherman]] brokers the [[Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)|Treaty of Fort Laramie]], between the [[federal government of the United States]] and the [[Plains Indians]].
* [[May 10]]&ndash;[[May 14|14]] &ndash; [[Boshin War]] &ndash; [[Battle of Utsunomiya Castle]], Japan: Forces of the [[Emperor Meiji]] resist the retreating troops of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]].
* [[May 16]], [[May 26]] &ndash; [[President of the United States|President]] [[Andrew Johnson]] is twice acquitted during [[Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson|his impeachment trial]], by one vote in the [[United States Senate]].
* [[May 26]] &ndash; [[Fenian]] bomber [[Michael Barrett (Fenian)|Michael Barrett]] becomes the last person publicly [[hanging|hanged]] in the United Kingdom.
* [[May 29]] &ndash; The [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] passes the [[Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868|Capital Punishment Amendment Act]], thus ending public hanging.
* [[May 30]] &ndash; [[Memorial Day]] is observed in the United States for the first time (it was proclaimed on [[May 5]] by General [[John A. Logan]]).
* [[May 31]]
** [[Thomas Spence]] declares himself president of the [[Republic of Manitobah]] in Canada; he soon alienates the locals.
** The first popular bicycle race is held at [[Parc de Saint-Cloud]], Paris.
* [[June]] &ndash; [[Tītokowaru's War]] breaks out in the [[South Taranaki District]] of New Zealand's [[North Island]] between the Ngāti Ruanui [[Māori people|Māori]] tribe and the New Zealand Government.
* [[June 1]] &ndash; The [[Treaty of Bosque Redondo]] is signed, allowing the Navajo to return to their lands in [[Arizona]] and [[New Mexico]].
* [[June 2]] &ndash; The first [[Trades Union Congress]] is held in [[Manchester]], England.
* [[June 10]] &ndash; [[Mihailo Obrenović]], [[Principality of Serbia|Prince of Serbia]], is assassinated in [[Košutnjak]], [[Belgrade]].
* [[June 20]] &ndash; Fort Fred Steele is established to protect what is at this time the western terminus of the [[Union Pacific Railway]], near modern-day [[Sinclair, Wyoming]].

=== July&ndash;September ===
[[File:Grand Tetons11.jpg|thumb|[[July 25]]: [[Wyoming Territory]].]]
* [[July 1]] &ndash; The cable-operated [[IRT Ninth Avenue Line#History|West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway]] in [[Manhattan]] becomes the first [[elevated railway]] in the United States.
* [[July 4]] &ndash; [[Battle of Ueno]]: Imperial Japanese troops defeat the [[Shōgitai]] (elite forces remaining loyal to the ''[[shōgun]]'').
* [[July 5]] &ndash; Preacher [[William Booth]] establishes the Christian Mission, predecessor of [[The Salvation Army]], in the [[East End of London]].
* [[July 9]] &ndash; The [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] is ratified.
* [[July 18]] &ndash; The [[Navajo]] people begin their long march home.
* [[July 25]]
** [[Wyoming]] becomes a [[United States territory]].
** [[Paraguayan War]]: The Allies, in an [[amphibious operation]], capture the fortress of [[Humaitá]].
* [[July 27]] &ndash; The United States [[Expatriation Act of 1868|Expatriation Act]] ("An Act concerning the Rights of American Citizens in foreign States") is adopted.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://history.uark.edu/OHR2011.pdf|first=Daniel|last=Rice|title=The 'Uniform Rule' and its exceptions: a history of Congressional naturalization legislation|journal=Ozark Historical Review|volume=40|year=2011|access-date=2012-06-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130305175501/http://history.uark.edu/OHR2011.pdf|archive-date=March 5, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[July 28]] &ndash; The [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] is adopted, including the [[Citizenship Clause]] and the [[Equal Protection Clause]], legally, if not actually, guaranteeing [[African Americans]] full citizenship and equal protection, and all persons in the United States [[due process]] of law.
* [[August 13]] &ndash; The 8.5–9.0 {{M|w|link=y}} [[1868 Arica earthquake|Arica earthquake]] strikes southern [[Peru]], with a maximum [[Mercalli intensity scale|Mercalli intensity]] of XI (''Extreme''), causing 25,000+ deaths and a destructive basin-wide [[tsunami]], that affects Hawaii and New Zealand.
* [[August 18]] &ndash; The element later named as [[helium]] is first detected in the [[Emission spectrum|spectrum]] of the Sun's [[chromosphere]], by [[French people|French]] [[astronomer]] [[Pierre Janssen|Jules Janssen]], during a total [[Solar eclipse of August 18, 1868|eclipse]] in [[Guntur]], [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British India]], but is assumed to be [[sodium]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=French astronomers in India during the 17th&nbsp;–19th centuries|journal=Journal of the British Astronomical Association|volume=101|issue=2|pages=95–100|bibcode=1991JBAA..101...95K|last=Kochhar|first=R. K.|year=1991}}</ref>
* [[August 20]] &ndash; [[Abergele rail disaster]] in Wales: An ''Irish Mail'' passenger train collides with 4 cargo trucks loaded with paraffin oil (more akin to modern [[kerosine]]); 33 are killed (the first major train disaster in Britain).
* [[August 22]] &ndash; The [[Yangzhou riot]] in China targets a station of the [[China Inland Mission]], and nearly leads to war between Britain and China.
* [[September]] &ndash; [[Glorious Revolution (Spain)|Glorious Revolution]]: Queen [[Isabella II of Spain]] is effectively deposed and sent into exile; she formally [[abdication|abdicates]] on [[June 25]], [[1870]].
* [[September 3]] &ndash; [[Emperor Meiji]] of Japan announces that the name of the city of [[Edo (Tokyo)|Edo]] is to be changed to Tokyo.
* [[September 7]] &ndash; [[Tītokowaru's War]]: [[Māori people|Māori]] leader [[Tītokowaru]] defeats a New Zealand military force at Te Ngutu o Te Manu, North Island.
* [[September 18]] &ndash; The [[University of the South]] holds its first convocation in [[Sewanee, Tennessee]].
* [[September 23]] &ndash; [[Grito de Lares]]: Rebels (some 400–600 led by [[Ramón Emeterio Betances]]) in the town of [[Puerto Rico|Lares]] declare [[Puerto Rico]] independent; the local militia easily defeats them a week later.
* [[September 24]] &ndash; [[Croatian–Hungarian Settlement]] ({{langx|hr|Hrvatsko-ugarska nagodba}}, {{langx|hu|Horvát–magyar kiegyezés}}, {{langx|de|Kroatisch-Ungarischer Ausgleich}}) is concluded, governing Croatia's political status in the Hungarian-ruled part of [[Austria-Hungary]] until [[1918]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/681041/Nagodba|title=Encyclopædia Britannica|year=2009|chapter=Nagodba}}</ref>
* [[September 28]] &ndash; The [[Opelousas massacre]], one of the bloodiest massacres of the Reconstruction era in the United States.

=== October&ndash;December ===
* [[October 1]] &ndash; [[Chulalongkorn]] starts to rule in [[Rattanakosin Kingdom|Siam]].
* [[October 6]] &ndash; The City of New York grants [[Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan)|Mount Sinai Hospital]] a 99-year lease for a property on [[Lexington Avenue]] and [[66th Street (Manhattan)|66th Street]], for the sum of $1.00.
* [[October 10]] &ndash; [[Carlos Manuel de Céspedes]] declares a revolt against Spanish rule in [[Cuba]], in an event known as ''El Grito de Yara'' or the [[Ten Years' War]], initiating a war that lasts ten years (Cuba ultimately loses the war at a cost of 400,000 lives and widespread destruction).
* [[October 20]] 
**English astronomer [[Norman Lockyer]] observes and names the D<sub>3</sub> [[Fraunhofer line]] in the solar spectrum, and concludes that it is caused by a hitherto unidentified [[Chemical element|element]], which he later names [[helium]].<ref>{{cite book|title= The Encyclopedia of the Chemical Elements|pages=256–268|first=Clifford A.|last=Hampel|location=New York|isbn=0-442-15598-0|year=1968|publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold}}</ref>
**[[Perucho Figueredo|Pedro Figueredo]] creates the [[Cuba]]n national anthem, ''[[El Himno de Bayamo]]''.
* [[October 23]] &ndash; The current [[Japanese era name]] is changed to the [[Meiji period]]. The [[Edo period]] ends. 
* [[October 25]] &ndash; The [[Uspenski Cathedral]], designed by [[Aleksey Gornostayev]], is inaugurated in [[Helsinki, Finland]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Katedraalin historia |url=https://www.hos.fi/kirkot-ja-pyhakot/katedraalin-historia/ |website=Helsingin Ortodoksinen Seurakunta |access-date=25 October 2021 |language=fi}}</ref>
* [[October 28]] &ndash; [[Thomas Edison]] applies for his first patent, the electric vote recorder.
* [[November 2]] &ndash; [[Time zone]]: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time, to be observed nationally.
* [[November 3]] &ndash; [[1868 United States presidential election]]: Republican [[Ulysses S. Grant]] defeats Democrat [[Horatio Seymour]].
[[File:The Seventh U. S. Cavalry charging in Black Kettle's village at daylight (Battle of Washita).jpg|thumb| [[November 27]]: [[Battle of Washita River]].]]
* [[November 7]] &ndash; The Battle of Moturoa, New Zealand, ends in a British defeat, due to an underestimate of [[Tītokowaru]] and his fortifications. There are heavy casualties for the colonial army and light casualties for the [[Māori people|Māori]] defenders.
* [[November 27]] &ndash; [[American Indian Wars]] &ndash; [[Battle of Washita River]]: In the early morning, United States Army [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|Lieutenant Colonel]] [[George Armstrong Custer]] leads an attack on a band of [[Cheyenne]] living on reservation land with Chief [[Black Kettle]], killing 103 Cheyenne.
* [[December 4]]
** [[Battle of Hakodate]] begins in Japan.
** [[Thomas Humber]] invented the [[safety bicycle]].
* [[December 6]] &ndash; [[Paraguayan War]] &ndash; [[Battle of Ytororó]] or Itororó: Field-Marshal [[Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias]], leads 13,000 Brazilian troops against a Paraguayan fortified position of 5,000 troops.
* [[December 9]] &ndash; The world's first [[traffic light|traffic signal lights]] are installed at the junction of Great George Street and Bridge Street in the [[London Borough of Westminster]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2009/07/16/john_peake_knight_traffic_lights_feature.shtml|title=The man who gave us traffic lights|publisher=BBC|location=Nottingham |access-date=2012-08-13 |date=July 2009}}</ref>
* [[December 24]] &ndash; The Greek [[Presidential Guard (Greece)|Presidential Guard]] is established as the royal escort by [[George I of Greece|King George I]].
* [[December 25]] &ndash; U.S. President [[Andrew Johnson]] grants unconditional pardon to all [[American Civil War|Civil War]] rebels.

=== Date unknown ===
* [[Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron]] [[patent]]s methods of [[color photography]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Coe|first=Brian|title=Colour Photography: the first hundred years 1840-1940|year=1978|location=London|publisher=Ash & Grant|isbn=0-904069-24-9}}</ref>
* [[Thomas Henry Huxley]] discovers what he thinks is primordial matter and names it ''[[bathybius haeckelii]]'' (he admits his mistake in [[1871]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Ley|first=Willy|author-link=Willy Ley|year=1959|title=Exotic Zoology|location=New York|publisher=Viking Press|title-link=Exotic Zoology}}</ref>
* The [[Académie Julian]], a major art school in Paris, France, that admits women, is established.
* [[Brisbane Grammar School]] is founded, providing the opportunity for secondary education for the first time in the colony of [[Brisbane]] in Australia.
* [[Maryland School for the Deaf]] is established.
* The [[Dortmunder Actien Brauerei]] is founded in Germany.
* [[Herrenhäuser Brewery]] is established in [[Hanover]], Germany.
* [[Tata Group]] is founded by [[Jamsetji Tata]] as a trading company in India.
* Scottish merchant [[Thomas Blake Glover]] develops Japan's first [[coal mine]] on [[Hashima Island]].
* The [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson]] is established as the [[Apostolic Vicariate]] of Arizona in 1868, taking its territory from the former [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe|Diocese of Santa Fe]]. The Diocese of Tucson is canonically erected on May 8, 1897.
* The population of Japan reaches c. 30&nbsp;million.