Events January–March January 3 – Abdur Rahman Khan is defeated at Tinah Khan, and exiled from Afghanistan. January 5 – Scotland's oldest professional football team, Kilmarnock F.C., is founded. January 20 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton is the first woman to testify before the United States Congress. January 21 – The P.E.O. Sisterhood, a philanthropic educational organization for women, is founded at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. January 27 – The Republic of Ezo is proclaimed on the northern Japanese island of Ezo (which will be renamed Hokkaidō on September 20) by remaining adherents to the Tokugawa shogunate. February 5 – Prospectors in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, discover the largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the "Welcome Stranger". February 20 – Ranavalona II, the Merina Queen of Madagascar, is baptized. February 25 – The Iron and Steel Institute is formed in London. February 26 – Mahbub Ali Khan, 2½, begins a 42-year reign as Nizam of Hyderabad. March – In Japan, the daimyōs of the Tosa, Hizen, Satsuma and Chōshū Domains are persuaded to return their domains to the Emperor Meiji, leading to creation of a fully centralized government in the country. March 1 The North German Confederation issues 10gr and 30gr value stamps, printed on goldbeater's skin. (O. S. February 17) – Dmitri Mendeleev finishes his design of the first periodic table and sends it for publishing. March 4 – Ulysses S. Grant is sworn in, as the 18th President of the United States. March 18 (O. S. March 6) – Dmitri Mendeleev makes a formal presentation of his periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society. March 24 – Titokowaru's War ends with the surrender of the last Māori troops at large, in the South Taranaki District of New Zealand's North Island. April–June April 6 – The American Museum of Natural History is founded in New York. April 17 – The State of Morelos is created in Mexico. May – In elections in France, the opposition, consisting of republicans, monarchists and liberals, polls almost 45% of the vote in national elections. May 4–10 – Naval Battle of Hakodate: The Imperial Japanese Navy defeats adherents of the Tokugawa shogunate. May 6 – Purdue University is founded in West Lafayette, Indiana. May 10 – The first transcontinental railroad in North America is completed at Promontory, Utah, by the driving of the "golden spike". May 15 – Women's suffrage: In