1881

Events from the year 1881 in the United States. For the second time in history (after past 40 years).
==Incumbents==
===Federal Government===
* President:
** until March 4: Rutherford B. Hayes (R-OH)
** March 4–September 19: James A. Garfield (R-OH)
** starting September 19: Chester A. Arthur (R-NY)
* Vice President:
** until March 4: William A. Wheeler (R-NY)
** March 4–September 19: Chester A. Arthur (R-NY)
** starting September 19: vacant
* Chief Justice: Morrison Waite (originally from CT; lived in U.S. state of OH)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Samuel J. Randall (D-PA) (until March 4), J. Warren Keifer (R-OH) (starting December 5)
* Congress: 46th (until March 4), 47th (starting March 4)
==Events==
===January - March===
* January 25 – Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.
* February 2 – The 5.6 Mla Parkfield earthquake affects central California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). Some damage occurred near Imusdale northwest of Parkfield, including cracks in the roads, fallen chimneys, and partially collapsed buildings.
* February 5 – Phoenix, Arizona, is incorporated.
* February 14 – Pine City, Minnesota is incorporated.
* February 19 – Kansas becomes the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
* February 22 – Cleopatra's Needle is erected in Central Park, New York City.
* March 1 – Barnum & Bailey's "Greatest Show on Earth" opens in Madison Square Garden.
* March 4 – James A. Garfield is sworn in as the 20th President of the United States, and Chester A. Arthur is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
* March 15 – First plots of Abilene, Texas, are auctioned; the town is incorporated later in the year.
===April - June===
* April 11 – Spelman College is established.
* April 14 – The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight erupts in El Paso, Texas.
* April 16 – Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle in Dodge City, Kansas.
* April 21 – The University of Connecticut is founded as the Storrs Agricultural School.
* April 28 – Billy the Kid escapes from his two jailers at the Lincoln County Jail in Mesilla, New Mexico, killing James Bell and Robert Ollinger before stealing a horse and riding out of town.
* May 21
** The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton.
** The United States Tennis Association (USNLTA) is established by a small group of tennis club members; the first U.S. Tennis Championships are played this year.
* June 12 – The USS Jeannette is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack.
===July - September===
* July 2 – Assassination of James A. Garfield: James A. Garfield, President of the United States, is shot by lawyer Charles J. Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. He survives the shooting but suffers from infection of his wound, dying on September 19.
* July 4 – The Tuskegee Institute opens in Alabama.
* July 14 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.
* July 20 – Indian Wars: Sioux chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana.
* August 1 – First ever summer camp held, on Chocorua Island in Grafton County, New Hampshire.
* August 27 – The fifth hurricane of the 1881 Atlantic hurricane season hits Florida and the Carolinas, killing about 700.
* September 5 – The Thumb Fire in the U.S. state of Michigan destroys over a million acres (4,000 km²) and kills 282 people.
* September 12 – Francis Howell High School (Howell Institute) in St. Charles, Missouri, and Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas open on the same day, putting them in a tie for the title of the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi River.
* September 19 – President James A. Garfield dies weeks after being shot. Vice President Chester A. Arthur becomes the 21st President of the United States.
===October - December===
* October 5 – International Cotton Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia begins.
* October 18 – Yorktown Centennial is observed in Virginia, Yorktown Victory Monument cornerstone laid.
* October 22 – Boston Symphony Orchestra gives its inaugural concert.
* October 26 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral occurs in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona.
* October 29 – Judge magazine is first published.
* November 17 – The trial of Charles J. Guiteau begins in Washington, D.C.
* December 4 – The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published.
* December 28 – Virgil Earp is ambushed in Tombstone and loses the use of his left arm.
* December 31 – International Cotton Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia ends.
==Sport==
* September 16 – The Chicago White Stockings win their Second straight (Third Overall) pennant with a 4–0 win over the Boston Red Caps.
==Memoriam==
* January 3 – Anna McNeill Whistler, James Whistler's mother and subject of his painting (aged 76; Hastings, England, UK)
* February 14 – Fernando Wood, New York City mayor (aged 68; Hot Springs, AR, USA)
* February 23 – Robert F. R. Lewis, naval officer (aged 55; Martinique, France)
* April 19 – Joseph Lane, U.S. Senator from Oregon from 1859 to 1861 (aged 79; Roseburg, OR, USA)
* April 24 – James T. Fields, publisher (aged 63; Boston, MA, USA)
* May 21 – Thomas A. Scott, industrialist (aged 57; Darby, PA, USA)
* June 18 – Henry Smith Lane, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1836 to 1837 and from 1854 to 1858 (aged 70; Crawfordsville, IN, USA)
* July 14 – Billy the Kid, Old West gunfighter (killed) (aged 21; Fort Sumner, NM Territory, USA)
* July 17 – Jim Bridger, explorer and trapper (aged 77; Kansas City, MO, USA)
* August 10 – Orville Hickman Browning, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1866 to 1869 (aged 75; Quincy, IL, USA)
* September 7 – Sidney Lanier, musician and dialect poet (aged 39; Lynn, NC, USA)
* September 13 – Ambrose Burnside, Union Army general, railroad executive, inventor, industrialist and Rhode Island Senator (aged 57; Bristol, RI, USA)
* September 15 – Susan May Williams, railroad heiress, wife of Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte (aged 69; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* September 19 – James A. Garfield, 20th President of the U.S. from March to September 1881 (assassinated) (aged 49; Elberon, NJ, USA)
* September 22 – Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (aged 50; Yankton, Dakota Territory (Now SD), USA)
* October 3 – Orson Pratt, religious leader (aged 70; Salt Lake City, UT Territory, USA)
* October 8 – Joseph Carter Abbott, U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1868 to 1871 (aged 56; Wilmington, NC, USA)
* October 12 – Josiah Gilbert Holland, novelist and poet (aged 62; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 26
** Billy Clanton, outlaw and brother of Ike Clanton (aged 19; Tombstone, AZ Territory, USA)
** Frank McLaury, Old West gunman and brother of Tom McLaury (aged 32; Tombstone, AZ Territory, USA)
** Tom McLaury, pioneer and Old West gunman (aged 28; Tombstone, AZ Territory, USA)
* October 31 – George W. De Long, naval officer and Arctic explorer (starvation) (aged 37; Yakutia, Russia)
* November 18 – George Law, financier (aged 75; New York City, NY, USA)
* November 23 – Abijah Gilbert, U.S. Senator from Florida from 1869 to 1875 (aged 75; Gilbertsville, NY, USA)
* December 4 – Wood Hite, outlaw and cousin of Jesse and Frank James (shot) (aged 31; Ray County, MO, USA)
* December 13 – John Quidor, painter (aged 80; Jersey City, NJ, USA)
==External links==
* 1881 in the United States
Category:United States History: Volume 11