WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO OCTOBER 1869
Find out what all happened January to October 1869

"Black Friday": Gold prices plummet after Ulysses S. Grant orders the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market. (24. September 1869)

The Mount Washington Cog Railway opens, making it the world's first rack railway. (29. August 1869)

The last of Titokowaru's forces surrendered to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising. (24. March 1869)

Imperial Japanese forces defeat the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Battle of Hakodate to end the Boshin War. (17. May 1869)

Battle of Acosta Ñu: A Paraguayan battalion made up of children is massacred by the Brazilian Army during the Paraguayan War. (16. August 1869)

The Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay is fought in Japan. (4. May 1869)

Japan's samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant class system (Shinōkōshō) is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese date: June 25, 1869). (2. August 1869)

Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold premieres in Munich. (22. September 1869)

Boston University is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (26. May 1869)

The Meiji government in Japan establishes six new ministries, including one for Shinto. (15. August 1869)

The Japanese daimyo begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese Date: June 17, 1869). (25. July 1869)

The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (not Promontory Point, Utah) with the golden spike. (10. May 1869)

Woman's suffrage: in New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association. (15. May 1869)

National convention of black leaders meets in Washington, D.C. (13. January 1869)

Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First Transcontinental Railroad lay 10 miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched. (28. April 1869)

Boshin War: Tokugawa rebels establish the Ezo Republic in Hokkaidō. (27. January 1869)

The Saxby Gale devastates the Bay of Fundy region of Maritime Canada. The storm had been predicted over a year before by a British naval officer. (5. October 1869)

Celluloid is patented. (6. April 1869)

The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the "Welcome Stranger", is found in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia. (5. February 1869)

The Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, is "discovered". (16. October 1869)