1878

Events from the year **1878 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: George S. Houston (Democratic) (until November 28), Rufus W. Cobb (Democratic) (starting November 28)
* Governor of Arkansas: William Read Miller (Democratic)
* Governor of California: William Irwin (Democratic)
* Governor of Colorado: John Long Routt (Republican)
* Governor of Connecticut: Richard D. Hubbard (Democratic)
* Governor of Delaware: John P. Cochran (Democratic)
* Governor of Florida: George Franklin Drew (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Alfred H. Colquitt (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: Shelby Moore Cullom (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: James D. Williams (Democratic)
* Governor of Iowa: Joshua G. Newbold (Republican) (until January 17), John H. Gear (Republican) (starting January 17)
* Governor of Kansas: George T. Anthony (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: James B. McCreary (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Francis T. Nicholls (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Seldon Connor (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: John Lee Carroll (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Alexander H. Rice (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: Charles Croswell (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: John S. Pillsbury (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: John M. Stone (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: John Smith Phelps (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: Silas Garber (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: Lewis R. Bradley (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Benjamin F. Prescott (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Joseph D. Bedle (Democratic) (until January 15), George B. McClellan (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Governor of New York: Lucius Robinson (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Zebulon Baird Vance (Democratic)
* Governor of Ohio: Thomas L. Young (Republican) (until January 14), Richard M. Bishop (Democratic) (starting January 14)
* Governor of Oregon: Stephen F. Chadwick (Democratic) (until September 11), W. W. Thayer (Democratic) (starting September 11)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: John F. Hartranft (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Charles C. Van Zandt (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: Wade Hampton III (Democratic)
* Governor of Tennessee: James D. Porter (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: Richard B. Hubbard (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: Horace Fairbanks (Republican) (until October 3), Redfield Proctor (Republican) (starting October 3)
* Governor of Virginia: James L. Kemper (Democratic) (until January 1), Frederick W. M. Holliday (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Governor of West Virginia: Henry M. Mathews (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Harrison Ludington (Republican) (until January 7), William E. Smith (Republican) (starting January 7)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: James A. Johnson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Lafayette Head (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Francis Loomis (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Florida: Noble A. Hull (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Andrew Shuman (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Isaac P. Gray (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: vacant (until January 17), Frank T. Campbell (Republican) (starting January 17)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Lyman U. Humphrey (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: John C. Underwood (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Louis A. Wiltz (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Horatio G. Knight (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Alonzo Sessions (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: James Wakefield (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: John M. Stone (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), William H. Sims (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Henry Clay Brockmeyer (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Othman A. Abbott (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Jewett W. Adams (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: William Dorsheimer (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Thomas J. Jarvis (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: H. W. Curtiss (Republican) (until January 14), Jabez W. Fitch (Democratic) (starting January 14)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: John Latta (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Albert Howard (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: William Dunlap Simpson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Hugh M. McAdoo (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Redfield Proctor (Republican) (until October 3), Eben Pomeroy Colton (Republican) (starting October 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Henry Wirtz Thomas (Republican) (until January 1), James A. Walker (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Charles D. Parker (Democratic) (until January 7), James M. Bingham (Republican) (starting January 7)

## Events

* January 28 – *The Yale News* becomes the first daily college newspaper in the United States.
* February 18 – The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
* February 19 – The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison.
* February 23 – Bland–Allison Act, leading to first minting of the Morgan dollar.
* February 28 – Mississippi State University is created by the Mississippi Legislature (under the name The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi).
* March 26 – University of California, Hastings College of the Law is founded.
* April 4 – The Gunfight at Blazer's Mill occurs in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
* May 2 – The Washburn "A" Mill in Minneapolis, Minnesota explodes, killing 18.
* May 14 – Salem witchcraft trial, the last of its kind in the U.S., opens in Salem, Massachusetts.
* June 18 – Posse Comitatus Act signed into law to limit the powers of the federal government of the United States in using the United States Army to enforce domestic policy within the U.S.
* July 12 – Yellow fever epidemic begins in New Orleans. It will eventually kill 4,500 people.
* July 26 – In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box is found later with a taunting poem inside.
* August 9 – The Wallingford Tornado of 1878, the deadliest tornado in Connecticut history, destroys the town of Wallingford, killing 34 people and injuring 70 or more.
* September 30 – The ship *Priscilla* arrives in Hawaii from Funchal, Madeira, marking the beginning of the Portuguese immigration to the Hawaiian Islands (1878–1913).
* October 1 – Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.
* November 18 – Soprano Marie Selika Williams becomes the first African American artist to perform at the White House.

## Sport

* October 2 – The Buffalo Bisons of the International League defeat the National League champion Boston Red Caps behind the pitching of Pud Galvin to become Baseball's First Undisputed Champion.

## Memoriam

* February 11 – Charles Magill Conrad, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1842 to 1843 (aged 73; New Orleans, LA, USA)
* March 2 – Benjamin Wade, U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1851 to 1869 (aged 77; Jefferson, OH, USA)
* March 6 – Asa Biggs, U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1855 to 1858 (aged 67; Norfolk, VA, USA)
* March 29 – Mark Hopkins Jr., entrepreneur (aged 64; Yuma, AZ Territory, USA)
* May 25 – John Scott Harrison, member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio, son of William Henry Harrison, father of Benjamin Harrison (aged 73; North Bend, OH, USA)
* June 16 – Crawford Long, American surgeon and pharmacist (aged 62; Athens, GA, USA)
* June 27 – Sidney Breese, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1843 to 1849 (aged 77; Pinckneyville, IL, USA)
* September 23 – Kinloch Falconer, 23rd Secretary of State of Mississippi (aged 39; Holly Springs, MS, USA)
* October 5 – George Boyer Vashon, African-American attorney, educationalist, abolitionist, essayist and poet (aged 54; Rodney, MS, USA)
* November 16 – Sarah Harris Fayerweather, African-American whose 1832 admission to a Connecticut school resulted in the first integrated schoolhouse (aged 66; South Kingstown, RI, USA)