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Lt. Col. Custer's encounter with the Sioux Indians
Lt. Colonial George A. Custer's 7th Calvary Regiment is wiped out by Sioux Indians making 268 men killed under Sitting Bull at Little Big Horn. Custer's fall shocked the nation. -
The Great Railroad Strike
The first national strike of railroad laborers, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The strike for higher wages turned out to be a failure, but it did impact the nation to begin the first labor unions in America. -
The Farmer's Alliance
It was the first agricultural union in Lampasas, Texas. It was organized for farmers to restore some economic powers as they dealt with railroads, merchants, and bankers. -
Edison develops Light
In late fall, Thomas Edison exhibited his system of power generation and electrical light for reporters and investors to then sell to businesses. -
Sitting Bull Surrenders
Sitting Bull and his followers finally laid down their weapons and came to the reservation. This is when Indigenous powers were defeated. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Congress suspends the immigration of all Chinese laborers with the Chinese Exclusion Act, making the Chinese the first immigrant group subject to admission restrictions on the basis of race. They became the first illegal immigrants in America. -
Immigration Act
The act was passed to deny admission to people who were not able to support themselves and those, such as paupers, people with mental illnesses, or convicted criminals, who might threaten the security of the nation. -
The First Rodeo
In Pecos, Texas, cowboys from two ranches, the Hash Knife and the W Ranch, competed in roping and riding contests as a way to settle an argument; this event is recognized by historians of the West as the first real rodeo. -
The Dawes General Allotment Act
Congress Passes the Act to split up Indian tribes into individual family homesteads and not have a single tribe group. Each head of a Native family was to be allotted 160 acres. Single individuals over age eighteen would receive an eighty-acre allotment, and orphaned children received forty acres. -
Pullman Strike
Workers in George Pullman’s Pullman car factories struck when he cut wages by a quarter but kept rents and utilities in his company town constant. The American Railway Union (ARU), led by Eugene Debs, launched a sympathy strike: the ARU would refuse to handle any Pullman cars on any rail line anywhere in the country.