New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association. May 18 – One day after surrendering at the land Battle of Hakodate (begun 4 December 1868), Enomoto Takeaki turns over Goryōkaku to Japanese forces, signaling the collapse of the Republic of Ezo. May 22 – Sainsbury's first store, in Drury Lane, London, is opened. May 24 – John Wesley Powell departs Green River, Wyoming, with a company of 9 other men, on a trip down the Green and Colorado Rivers. May 26 – Boston University is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. June 1 – The Cincinnati Red Stockings open the baseball season as the first fully professional team. June 2 – Sherwood College is founded in Nainital, India. June 15 – John Wesley Hyatt patents celluloid in Albany, New York. June 27 – The fortress of Goryōkaku is turned over to Imperial Japanese forces, bringing an end to the Republic of Ezo, the Battle of Hakodate and the Boshin War. June 30–July 2 – The first Estonian Song Festival takes place in Tartu. July–September July 10 – Gävle, Sweden, is destroyed in a city fire; 8,000 people become homeless. July 15 – Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès files a patent for margarine in France. July 20 – The Innocents Abroad, by Mark Twain, goes on sale after printing by the American Publishing Company. It becomes Twain's bestselling work during his lifetime. July 26 – The Irish Church Act 1869 is given royal assent by Queen Victoria, disestablishing the Church of Ireland effective January 1, 1871. August 9 – August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht found the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP). August 27 – The University of Oxford wins the first international boat race held on the River Thames, against Harvard University. August 31 – Irish scientist Mary Ward is killed by a steam car. September 5 – The foundation stone is laid for Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria (southern Germany). September 11 – Work on the Wallace Monument is completed in Stirling, Scotland. September 12–13 – The P&O's runs aground and sinks in the Red Sea; 31 drown. September 24 – Black Friday: The Fisk–Gould Scandal causes a financial panic in the United States. October–December October – The 'Edinburgh Seven', led by Sophia Jex-Blake, start to attend lectures at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, the first women in the United Kingdom to do so