Events in History
- Jul 4 Battle at Ueno, Japan: last Tokugawa armies defeated
- Jul 4 Maori leader Te Kooti and 300 of his followers captured the schooner Rifleman in the Chatham Islands and sail for New Zealand; landing at Whareongaonga six days later
- Jul 9 1st African American cabinet member in South Carolina, Francis L. Cardozo as Secretary of State
- Jul 9 Louisiana and South Carolina are the last states to ratify the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing civil rights
- Jul 13 Oscar J Dunn, former slave, installed as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
- Jul 14 Alvin J. Fellows of New Haven, Connecticut patents the tape measure
- Jul 20 1st use of tax stamps on cigarettes
- Jul 25 US Congress forms Wyoming Territory (Dakota, Utah & Idaho)
Ex-slaves Granted Citizenship
Jul 28 US Secretary of State William H. Seward announces 14th Amendment ratified by states, grants citizenship to ex-slaves
Birthdays in History
- Jul 4 Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer (period-luminosity relation), born in Lancaster, Massachusetts (d. 1921)
- Jul 5 William Henry Singer, American painter and collector (Singer Museum, Laren), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1943)
- Jul 6 Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom, fourth child and second daughter of Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark, born in Marlborough House, London (d. 1935)
- Jul 12 Stefan George, German lyric poet (Algabal), born in Büdesheim, Germany (d. 1933)
Gertrude Bell (1868-1926)
Jul 14 British archaeologist (Desert & The Sown), born in Washington Hall, County Durham, England
- Jul 20 Miron Cristea, 1st Patriarch of All Romania (d. 1939)
- Jul 28 George Morren, Flemish painter and sculptor, born in Antwerp (d. 1941)
- Jul 28 Thomas P. Krag, Norwegian author and novelist (Jon Graeff, Ulf Ran), born in Kragerø, Norway (d. 1913)
- Jul 30 Alfred Weber, German economist and sociologist, born in Erfurt, Prussian Saxony (d. 1958)
Deaths in History
- Jul 3 Lafayette Curry Baker, American investigator spy and Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at 41
- Jul 6 Sanosuke Harada, Shinsengumi Captain (b. 1840)
- Jul 7 Edward Coles, American anti-slavery advocate and politician (Governor of Illinois, 1822-26), dies at 81
- Jul 15 William T. G. Morton, American dentist who first used ether as a surgical anaesthetic (HOF 1920), dies at 48
- Jul 19 Soji Okita, Japanese samurai, 1st Captain of the Shinsengumi (b. 1842 or 1844)
- Jul 24 George Cattermole, English painter and illustrator, dies at 67
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists