Lieutenant Governor of Florida: William W. J. Kelly (Republican) (until month and day unknown), William Henry Gleason (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: William Greene (political party unknown) (until month and day unknown), Pardon Stevens (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
January 6 – Asa Mercer and a number of new "Mercer Girls" sail from Massachusetts for the West Coast, arriving in Seattle on May 23.
January 9 – John William De Forest, writing for The Nation, calls for a more specifically American literature; the essay's title, "The Great American Novel", is the first known use of the term.
February – The Benjamin Franklin "Z Grill" postage stamp is issued; it will be among the rarest ever.
February 16 – In New York City the Jolly Corks organization is renamed the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE).
February 24
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson: Three days after his action to dismiss Secretary of WarEdwin M. Stanton, the House of Representatives votes 126 to 47 in favor of a resolution to impeachAndrew Johnson, the first of three Presidents to be impeached by the full House. Johnson is later acquitted by the Senate.
The first parade to have floats occurs at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana.
March 1 – The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity is founded at the University of Virginia.
March 5 – A court of impeachment is organized in the United States Senate to hear charges against President Andrew Johnson.
March 23 – The University of California is founded in Oakland, California, when the Organic Act is signed into California law.
April 1 – The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute is established in Hampton, Virginia.
April 29 – After pursuing a policy of total war on the Plain Indians, General William Tecumseh Sherman brokers the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868).
May 9 – The city of Reno, Nevada is founded.
May 16 and 26 – PresidentAndrew Johnson is acquitted during his impeachment trial, by one vote in the United States Senate.
May 30 – Memorial Day is observed in the United States for the first time (it was proclaimed on May 5 by General John A. Logan).
June 3 – Crown Point, Indiana is incorporated a town.
June 25 – Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina are all readmitted to the U.S.
June 27 – Lowell, Indiana is incorporated a town.
July–September[]
July 25 – Wyoming Territory is organized.
July 28 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is adopted, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law.
September – The first volume of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women is published.
September 18 – The University of the South holds its first convocation in Sewanee, Tennessee.
September 23 – Rebels (some 400–600) in the town of Lares declare Puerto Rico independent; the local militia easily defeats them a week later.
October–December[]
October 6 – The City of New York grants Mount Sinai Hospital a 99-year lease for a property on Lexington Avenue and 66th Street, for the sum of $1.00.
October 7 – Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, is opened, with an initial enrollment of 412 men the following day.
October 21 – The M6.3–6.7 Hayward earthquake affects the San Francisco Bay Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing damage from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz.
October 28 – Thomas Edison applies for his first patent, the electric vote recorder.
November 3 – U.S. presidential election, 1868: Ulysses S. Grant defeats Horatio Seymour in the election.
November 25 – The Alpha Tau Omega fraternity is founded at the University of Virginia.[1]
November 27 – Indian Wars – Battle of Washita River: In the early morning, United States Army Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer leads an attack on a band of Cheyenne living on reservation land with Chief Black Kettle, killing 103 Cheyenne.
December 25 – President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War rebels.
Undated[]
Maryland School for the Deaf is established.
The Roman Catholic See of Tucson is established as the Apostolic Vicariate of Arizona in 1868, taking its territory from the former Diocese of Santa Fe. The Diocese of Tucson is canonically erected on May 8, 1897.
Ongoing[]
Reconstruction era (1865–1877)
Births[]
Early ? (or November 24?) – Scott Joplin, African American ragtime composer and pianist (died 1917)
January 31 – Theodore William Richards, chemist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1914 (died 1928)
February 3 – William J. Harris, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1919 to 1932 (died 1932)
February 5 – Maxine Elliott, actress and businesswoman (died 1940 in France)
February 10 – William Allen White, journalist (died 1944)
February 16 – John Rogan, second tallest person in recorded history (died 1905)
February 20 – John Nathan Cobb, author, naturalist, conservationist, fisheries researcher and educator (died 1930)
February 23 – W. E. B. Du Bois, African American civil rights leader (died 1963)
April 6 – Helen Hyde, etcher and engraver (died 1919)
April 8 – Herbert Spencer Jennings, zoologist (died 1947)