Events from the year 1886 in the United States .
October 28: Statue of Liberty dedicated. February 6–9 – Seattle riot of 1886 : Anti-Chinese sentiments result in riots in Seattle, Washington.
February 14 – The first train load of oranges leaves Los Angeles via the transcontinental railroad .
March 17 – Carrollton Massacre: 20 African Americans are killed in Mississippi .
April 24 – Father Augustine Tolton , the first Roman Catholic priest from the U.S. to identify himself publicly as African American , is ordained in Rome .
May 1 – A general strike begins, which escalates on May 4 into the Haymarket affair in Chicago and eventually wins the eight-hour day for workers.
May 8 – Pharmacist Dr. John Stith Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that will be named 'Coca-Cola '.
May 17 – Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad U.S. Supreme Court rules that corporations have the same rights as living persons.
May 29 – Pharmacist John Pemberton begins to advertise Coca-Cola (advertisement in the Atlanta Journal
May 31-June 1 – Conversion of all (most) railroads to standard gauge; see Track gauge in the United States
June 2 – U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House , becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion. She is 27 years his junior.
June 9 – The Stoughton Musical Society 's centennial is celebrated.
July 23 – Steve Brodie is reported to have made a jump from the Brooklyn Bridge , a claim subsequently disputed.
August 2 – Thomas Seay is elected the 27th governor of Alabama defeating Arthur Bingham.
August 20 – A massive hurricane demolishes the town of Indianola, Texas .
August 31 – The 6.9–7.3 Mw Charleston earthquake affects southeastern South Carolina with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme ). Sixty people are killed and damage is estimated at $ 5–6 million.
September 4 – Indian Wars : After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo surrenders with his last band of warriors to General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona .
October 10 – The English style of black tie men's formal evening dress is introduced to the U.S. by James Brown Potter at Tuxedo Park, New York , hence its usual American description as "tux(edo)".[ 1]
October 28 – The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor is dedicated by U.S. President Grover Cleveland .
December 1 – Thomas Seay is sworn in as the 27th governor of Alabama replacing Edward A. O'Neal .[ 2]
Undated – Arthur Hinds & Company, later Barnes & Noble booksellers, is founded in New York City .
January 3 – John G. Fletcher , poet and author (died 1950 )
January 11 – Chester Conklin , comic film actor (died 1971 )
January 28 – Sam McDaniel , African-American actor (died 1962 )
February 27 – Hugo Black , U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971 (died 1971)
March 6
March 7 – Jessie Coles Grayson , African American contralto and film actress (died 1953 )
March 8 – Edward Calvin Kendall , biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1950 (died 1972 )
March 9 – Robert L. Eichelberger , general (died 1961 )
March 21 – Arthur Grover Rider , painter (died 1975 )
March 24 – Edward Weston , photographer (died 1958 )
April 2 – Reginald Barker , film director (died 1945 )
April 3 – Dooley Wilson , African American drummer, singer and actor (died 1953 )
April 8 – Margaret Ayer Barnes , playwright, novelist and short-story writer (died 1967 )
April 26 – Ma Rainey , born Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett, African American blues singer (died 1939 )
May 26 – Al Jolson , entertainer (died 1950 )
June 2 – Grover Whalen , politician (died 1962 )
June 3 – Benjamin McCandlish , Governor of Guam (died 1975 )
June 6
June 27
June 29 – Robert C. Giffen , admiral (d. 1962 )
July 15 – Arthur L. Bristol , admiral (d. 1942 )
July 16 – Frank Hastings Griffin , engineer (d. 1974 )
September 11 – John H. Hester , general (d. 1976 )
September 28 – Alice Hollister , silent film actress (d. 1973 )
October 30 – Zoë Akins , dramatist (died 1958 )
November 9
December 5 – Rose Wilder Lane , journalist and libertarian (died 1968 )
December 9 – Clarence Birdseye , founder of the modern frozen food industry (died 1956 )
December 18 – Ty Cobb , baseball outfielder (died 1961 )
December 19 – Charles M. Cooke, Jr. , admiral (died 1970 )
December 25 – Kid Ory , jazz trombonist and bandleader (died 1973 )
Emily Dickinson Chester A. Arthur January 13 – Thomas Wakeman , founder of the first Sioux Indian YMCA (born 1846 )
January 22 – James T. Farley , U.S. Senator from California from 1879 to 1885. (born 1829 )
January 26 – David Rice Atchison , U.S. Senator from Missouri from 1844 to 1855 (born 1807 )
February 2 – David Hunter , Union Army general (born 1802 )
February 9 – Winfield Scott Hancock , Civil War Union general and political candidate (born 1824 )
February 12 – Horatio Seymour , 18th governor of New York , Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in the presidential election of 1868 (born 1810 )
March 8 – John Franklin Miller , U.S. Senator from California from 1881 to 1886 (born 1831 )
March 9 – Jerome B. Chaffee , U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1876 to 1879 (born 1825 )
March 13 – Austin Flint , co-founder of Buffalo Medical College and president of the American Medical Association (born 1812 )
April 3 – Arthur Pember , journalist, first president of The Football Association (born 1835 in the United Kingdom )
April 27 – H. H. Richardson , architect (born 1838 )
May 15 – Emily Dickinson , poet (born 1830 )
May 21 – Stephen Pearl Andrews , anarchist and proponent of pantarchy (born 1812)
June 26 – David Davis , U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1877 to 1883 (born 1815 )
July 16 – Ned Buntline (Edward Zane Carroll Judson Sr.), publisher, dime novelist and publicist (born 1821 )
August 4 – Samuel J. Tilden , 25th Governor of New York from 1875 to 1876 and 1876 Democratic presidential candidate (born 1814 )
August 5 – Robert Allen , Union army brigadier general (born 1811 )
August 10 – John W. Stevenson , U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1871 to 1877 (born 1812)
August 30 – Ferris Jacobs, Jr. , politician (born 1836 )
October 10 – David Levy Yulee , U.S. Senator from Florida from 1845 to 1851 and from 1855 to 1861 (born 1810 )
November 18 – Chester A. Arthur , 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885, 20th vice president of the United States from March to September 1881 (born 1829 )
November 21 – Charles Francis Adams Sr. , United States Minister to the United Kingdom , son of John Quincy Adams (born 1807 )
December 26 – John A. Logan , U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1871 to 1877 (born 1826 ) 
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