1892

Events from the year **1892 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Thomas G. Jones (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: James Philip Eagle (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Henry Markham (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: John Long Routt (Republican)
* Governor of Connecticut: Morgan G. Bulkeley (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: Robert J. Reynolds (Democratic)
* Governor of Florida: Francis P. Fleming (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: William J. Northen (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: N. B. Willey (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Joseph W. Fifer (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Ira Joy Chase (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa: Horace Boies (Democratic)
* Governor of Kansas: Lyman U. Humphrey (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: John Y. Brown (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Francis T. Nicholls (Democratic) (until May 10), Murphy James Foster Sr. (Democratic) (starting May 10)
* Governor of Maine: Edwin C. Burleigh (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Elihu Emory Jackson (Democratic) (until January 13), Frank Brown (Democratic) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Massachusetts: William E. Russell (Democratic)
* Governor of Michigan: Edwin B. Winans (Democratic)
* Governor of Minnesota: William R. Merriam (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: John M. Stone (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: David R. Francis (Democratic)
* Governor of Montana: Joseph Toole (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: John Milton Thayer (Republican) (until February 8), James E. Boyd (Democratic) (starting February 8)
* Governor of Nevada: Roswell K. Colcord (Republican)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Hiram A. Tuttle (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Leon Abbett (Democratic)
* Governor of New York: Roswell P. Flower (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Thomas Michael Holt (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: Andrew H. Burke (Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: James E. Campbell (Democratic) (until January 11), William McKinley (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Oregon: Sylvester Pennoyer (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Robert E. Pattison (Democratic)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Herbert W. Ladd (Republican) (until May 31), D. Russell Brown (Republican) (starting May 31)
* Governor of South Carolina: Benjamin Ryan Tillman (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Arthur C. Mellette (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: John P. Buchanan (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: James Stephen Hogg (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: Carroll S. Page (Republican) (until October 6), Levi K. Fuller (Republican) (starting October 6)
* Governor of Virginia: Philip W. McKinney (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Elisha Peyre Ferry (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: Aretas B. Fleming (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: George Wilbur Peck (Democratic)
* Governor of Wyoming: Amos W. Barber (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: John B. Reddick (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: William Story (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Samuel E. Merwin (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: John S. Gray (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Lyman Ray (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Francis M. Griffith (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Alfred N. Poyneer (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Samuel L. Bestow (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Andrew Jackson Felt (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Mitchell Cary Alford (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: James Jeffries (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Charles Parlange (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: William H. Haile (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: John Strong (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Gideon S. Ives (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: M. M. Evans (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Stephen Hugh Claycomb (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: John E. Rickards (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Thomas J. Majors (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Joseph Poujade (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: William F. Sheehan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Roger Allin (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: William V. Marquis (Republican) (until January 11), Andrew L. Harris (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Louis Arthur Watres (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Henry A. Stearns (political party unknown) (until May 31), Melville Bull (Republican) (starting May 31)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Eugene B. Gary (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: George H. Hoffman (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: William C. Dismukes (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: George Cassety Pendleton (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Henry A. Fletcher (Republican) (until October 6), F. Stewart Stranahan (Republican) (starting October 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: James Hoge Tyler (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Charles E. Laughton (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Charles Jonas (Democratic)

## Events

### January - March

* January 1 – Ellis Island begins receiving immigrants to the United States.
* January 15 – James Naismith's rules for basketball are published for the first time in the Springfield YMCA International Training School's newspaper, in an article titled "A New Game".
* January 20 – At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
* February 12 – Former President Abraham Lincoln's birthday is declared a national public holiday in the United States.
* February 18 – Pennsauken Township, New Jersey is incorporated.
* February 23 – The 7.1–7.2 Mw Laguna Salada earthquake shakes Southern California and northern Mexico with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (*Severe*).
* March 15 – Jesse W. Reno patents the first working escalator used at Old Iron Pier, Coney Island, New York City.

### April - June

* April – The Johnson County War breaks out between small farmers and large ranchers in Wyoming.
* April 15 – The General Electric Company is established through the merger of the Thomson-Houston Company and the Edison General Electric Company.
* April 19 – The 6.4 MLa Vacaville–Winters earthquake shakes the North Bay are of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (*Violent*). This first event in a doublet earthquake results in one death and is followed two days later by a 6.2 MLa shock. Total damage from the events is $225,000–250,000.
* April 29 – Redondo Beach, California, is founded.
* April 30 – Lynching of Ephraim Grizzard, an African American, in Nashville, Tennessee.
* May 10 - Glen Ellyn, Illinois is incorporated.
* May 28 – The Sierra Club is organized by John Muir in San Francisco, California.
* June 6 – The Chicago "L" elevated railway opens.
* June 7 – Homer Plessy, who is one-eighth African heritage with light skin, is arrested for sitting on the whites-only car in Louisiana, leading to the landmark *Plessy v. Ferguson* court case.
* June 30 – The Homestead Strike begins in Homestead, Pennsylvania, culminating in a battle between striking workers and private security agents on July 6.

### July - September

* July 4 – Samoa changes its time zone to being 3 hours behind California, such that it crosses the international date line and July 4 occurs twice.
* July 6 – Homestead Strike: The arrival of a force of 300 Pinkerton detectives from New York City and Chicago results in a fight in which about 10 men are killed.
* August 4 – The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found violently murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.
* August 9 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
* August 13 – The *Baltimore Afro-American* newspaper, the country's longest-running African American family owned newspaper business, publishes its first issue (publisher, John H. Murphy Sr.).

### October - December

* October 5 – The Dalton Gang, attempting to rob two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas, is shot by the townspeople; only Emmett Dalton, with 23 wounds, survives to spend 14 years in prison.
* October 12 – To mark the 400th anniversary Columbus Day holiday, the "Pledge of Allegiance" is first recited in unison by students in U.S. public schools.
* October 24 – Boston Beaneaters win their Fifth National League Pennant by defeating Cleveland Spiders 5 games to 0.
* November 8
	+ 1892 U.S. presidential election: Grover Cleveland is elected over Benjamin Harrison and James B. Weaver to win the second of his non-consecutive terms.
	+ The four-day New Orleans General Strike begins.
* November 12 – Pudge Heffelfinger is paid $525 by the Allegheny Athletic Association, becoming the first professional American football player on record.
* December 17 – *Vogue* magazine launched.

## Memoriam

* January 2 – Montgomery C. Meigs, career U.S. Army officer and civil engineer, Quartermaster General of the United States Army during and after the American Civil War (aged 75; Washington, DC, USA)
* February 28 – Elias Nelson Conway, 5th Governor of Arkansas from 1852 to 1860 (aged 79; Little Rock, AR, USA)
* March 26 – Walt Whitman, poet, author of Leaves of Grass (aged 72; Camden, NJ, USA)
* April 6 – Willard Saulsbury Sr., U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1873 to 1892 (aged 71; Dover, DE, USA)
* May 14 – John S. Barbour Jr., U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1889 to 1892 (aged 71; Washington, DC, USA)
* June 8 – Robert Ford, outlaw, killer of Jesse James (aged 30; Creede, CO, USA)
* June 11 – Leonidas L. Polk, farmer, journalist and political figure (aged 55; Washington, DC, USA)
* July 14 – Newton Booth, U.S. Senator from California from 1875 to 1881 (aged 66; Sacramento, CA, USA)
* August 16 – Thomas H. Watts, 18th Governor of Alabama, 3rd Confederate States Attorney General (aged 73; Montgomery, AL, USA)
* September 23 – John Pope, career U.S. Army officer and Union general in the Civil War (aged 70; Sandusky, OH, USA)
* October 5
	+ Bob Dalton (aged 23; Coffeyville, KS, USA)
	+ Grat Dalton (aged 31; Coffeyville, KS, USA)
* October 18 – William W. Chapman, politician and lawyer (aged 84; Portland, OR, USA)
* October 25
	+ Caroline Harrison, First Lady of the United States as wife of President Benjamin Harrison (aged 60; Washington, DC, USA)
	+ Zenas King, bridge builder (aged 74; Cleveland, OH, USA)
* November 29 – Graham N. Fitch, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1857 to 1861 (aged 82; Logansport, IN, USA)
* December 2 – Jay Gould, railroad developer and speculator (aged 56; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 15 – Randall L. Gibson, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1883 to 1892 (aged 60; Hot Springs, AR, USA)
* December 31 – Henry P. Baldwin, Governor of Michigan from 1869 to 1873 and U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1879 to 1881 (aged 78; Detroit, MI, USA)