1877 New Jersey gubernatorial election
The 1877 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1877. Democratic nominee George B. McClellan defeated Republican nominee William A. Newell with 51.65% of the vote.


1877 New South Wales colonial election
The 1877 New South Wales colonial election was held between 24 October and 12 November 1877. This election was for all of the 73 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in 53 single-member constituencies, six 2-member constituencies and two 4-member constituencies, all with a first past the post system. Suffrage was limited to adult male British subjects, resident in New South Wales. The previous parliament of New South Wales was dissolved on 12 October 1877 by the Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, on the advice of the Premier, Sir John Robertson.


1877 New South Wales colonial election
There was no recognisable party structure at this election; instead the government was determined by a loose, shifting factional system. Although the leaders of the main groupings at this election were Robertson and Sir Henry Parkes, the subsequent government was formed by James Farnell as a compromise Premier. Farnell's government lasted a year and two days.


1877 New South Wales colonial election, Results
New South Wales colonial election, 24 October – 12 November 1877 Legislative Assembly << 1874–75–1880 >>


1877 New York state election
The 1877 New York state election was held on November 6, 1877, to elect the Secretary of State, the State Comptroller, the Attorney General, the State Treasurer and the State Engineer, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.


1877 New York state election, History
The Republican state convention met on September 26 and 27 at Rochester, New York. John C. Churchill for Secretary of State, Francis Sylvester for Comptroller, William L. Bostwick for Treasurer, Grenville Tremain for Attorney General, and Howard Soule, Jr., for State Engineer, were nominated unanimously without much debate. Sylvester declined to run, and on October 19, the State Committee substituted Clinton V. R. Ludington for Comptroller on the ticket.


1877 New York state election, History
The Working Men's state convention met at Troy, New York, and nominated John J. Junio, of Auburn, for Secretary of State; George Blair for Comptroller; Warren T. Worden for Attorney General; Samuel G. Rice for Treasurer; and Walter T. Griswold for State Engineer.


1877 New York state election, History
The Democratic state convention met on October 3 and 4 at Albany, New York. Clarkson N. Potter was President. Allen C. Beach was nominated for Secretary of State on the first ballot (vote: Beach 227, John Bigelow [incumbent] 144, A. B. Weaver 12). The incumbent Comptroller Frederic P. Olcott was re-nominated by acclamation. James Mackin for Treasurer and Augustus Schoonmaker, Jr., for Attorney General, And Horatio Seymour, Jr., for State Engineer were nominated after some haggling and without much voting. Summing up, John Kelly had managed to wrest the power in the Democratic Party from the Tilden-Robinson faction.


1877 New York state election, History
The Bread-Winners League's state convention met on October 10 at Albany, New York. Charles H. Truax was President. The convention nominated John J. Junio for Secretary of State, Frederic P. Olcott (Dem.) for Comptroller, Elmore Sharpe for Attorney General, Julius Kern for Treasurer and Horatio Seymour, Jr. (Dem. ), for State Engineer.


1877 New York state election, History
The German-American Independent Citizens' Committee met on October 12 at Beethoven Hall in New York City. Oswald Ottendorfer presided. The Committee cross-endorsed the following state ticket: Churchill (Rep.) for Secretary of State, Olcott (Dem.) for Comptroller, Bostwick (Rep.) for Treasurer, Tremain (Rep.) for Attorney General and Seymour (Dem.) for State Engineer.


1877 North Northamptonshire by-election
The North Northamptonshire by-election of 1877 was fought on 13 August 1877. The byelection was fought due to the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, George Ward Hunt. It was won by the Conservative candidate Brownlow Cecil.


1877 Northumberland colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Northumberland on 12 February 1877 because Charles Stevens was insolvent. Stevens had left the colony on an expedition to recover valuable property, including 2,576 ounces of gold from the General Grant, which wrecked off Auckland Island.


1877 Ohio gubernatorial election
The 1877 Ohio gubernatorial election was held on October 9, 1877. Democratic nominee Richard M. Bishop defeated Republican nominee William H. West with 48.94% of the vote.


1877 Oldham by-election
The Oldham by-election of 1877 was fought on 1 March 1877. The byelection was fought due to the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, John Morgan Cobbett. It was won by the Liberal candidate J. T. Hibbert.


1877 Open Championship
The 1877 Open Championship was the 17th Open Championship, held 6 April at Musselburgh Links, Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. Jamie Anderson won the Championship, by two strokes from runner-up Bob Pringle.


1877 Open Championship
Davie Strath and Bob Ferguson played together but Strath had a disappointing 45 in the first round which left him well behind the leaders. Ferguson also started badly but recovered to score 40. William Brown led on 39 with Ferguson and Jamie Anderson on 40. After two rounds, three players were level on 80: Brown, Ferguson and William Cosgrove with Anderson and Bob Pringle only two behind. Strath was five behind on 85.


1877 Open Championship
Anderson scored 37 in the third round while Ferguson could only manage 40 and Davie Strath scored 38. Anderson now led on 119 with Ferguson on 120, Ferguson on 122 and Strath on 123. In the final round Strath took 9 at the second to drop out of contention. Ferguson also had a disappointing last round and Anderson's 41 was enough to give him the Championship.


1877 Philadelphia mayoral election
The Philadelphia mayoral election of 1877 saw the reelection of William S. Stokley to a third consecutive term.


1877 Princeton Tigers football team
The 1877 Princeton Tigers football team represented the College of New Jersey, then more commonly known as Princeton College, in the 1877 college football season. The team finished with a 2–0–1 record and was retroactively named national champion by the Billingsley Report and as co-national champion by Parke H. Davis. This season was Princeton's seventh national championship and one of 11 in a 13-year period between 1869 and 1881. Princeton played Harvard for the second time, earning its first victory over the Crimson. The captain of the team was W. Earl Dodge.


1877 Rhode Island gubernatorial election
The 1877 Rhode Island gubernatorial election was held on April 4, 1877. Republican nominee Charles C. Van Zandt defeated Democratic nominee Jerothmul B. Barnaby with 50.93% of the vote.


1877 Rutgers Queensmen football team
The 1877 Rutgers Queensmen football team represented Rutgers University in the 1877 college football season. The team compiled a 1–2 record and outscored their opponents, 6 to 5. The team had no coach, and its captain for the second consecutive year was Andrew Raymond.


1877 SAFA season
The 1877 South Australian Football Association season was the inaugural season of the top-level league of Australian rules football in South Australia. The clubs participating were South Adelaide, Victorian, Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Woodville, South Park, Kensington and Bankers.


1877 SAFA season
South Adelaide and Victorian would share the premiership honours, while the Bankers Football Club, who finished last without a win, folded at the end of the season.


1877 SAFA season, South Australian Football Association
The newly formed South Australian Football Association decided that the playing fields for the season must be between 180 and 200 yards (165-183m) long and 120-150 yards (110-137m) wide, with pushing from behind being prohibited. For clubs to gain membership of the association, they would need to pay two guineas for the year.


1877 SAFA season, Premiership Season, SUMMARY OF OTHER MATCHES
Adelaide, 4 goals, beat Kapunda, 2. Woodville, 1 goal, beat Gawler, 0. Adelaide, 1 goal, tied Gawler, 1. Adelaide, 3 goals, beat Kapunda, 2. Melbourne, 1 goal, beat Victorian, 0. Melbourne, 5 goals, beat Combined Team, 0. South Australians, 3 goals, beat Victorians, 1. St. Kilda, 5 goals, beat Adelaide, 2. St. Kilda. 7 goals, beat South Australians, 2.


1877 SAFA season, Ladder
Victorian finished the season with eight more goals but a slightly inferior record than South Adelaide, but one should consider that Victorian played the Bankers twice whereas South Adelaide did not (their only scheduled match, in Round 6, was a forfeit when the Bankers could only muster 13 players). Further, while Adelaide finished with one more win than the other two clubs, they played 17 games to 13 and 14 respectively.


1877 SAFA season, Ladder
It was declared South Adelaide and Victorian would be deemed joint Champion Club (premiers).


1877 SAFA season, Ladder
Note: Woodville were ranked above South Park on head-to-head record (2-1).


1877 Saint Barthélemy status referendum
A referendum on re-integration into France was held in the Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy in late October 1877. The island had been a colonial possession of Sweden for nearly a century, but following the referendum in which only one person voted against the proposal, it was returned to France the following year.


1877 Saint Barthélemy status referendum, Background
The island had been part of the French West Indies until 1784, when it was transferred to Sweden in return for trade privileges in Gothenburg. However, the island proved expensive for Sweden to maintain. An agreement was made on 10 August 1877 on returning the island to French control, the first article of which included the requirement of a binding referendum.


1877 Saint Barthélemy status referendum, Aftermath
The results were announced on 31 October 1877. Subsequently the French National Assembly approved the treaty on 22 January 1878. On 16 March 1878 the island became part of the jurisdiction of Guadeloupe.


1877 Salford by-election
The Salford by-election of 1877 was fought on 19 April 1877. The byelection was fought due to the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, Charles Edward Cawley. It was won by the Conservative candidate Oliver Ormerod Walker.


1877 Scottish Cup Final
The 1877 Scottish Cup Final was the fourth final of the Scottish Cup and the final of the 1876–77 Scottish Cup, the most prestigious knockout football competition in Scotland. The original match took place at Hamilton Crescent on 17 March 1877 and was contested by Vale of Leven and Rangers. The match was the first final to require two replays to decide a winner.


1877 Scottish Cup Final
The original match ended in a 1–1 draw. Robert Paton opened the scoring for Vale of Leven, but Rangers equalised courtesy of an own goal from John McDougall. In the replay three weeks later, McDougall evened the scores for Vale of Leven after William Dunlop had opened the scoring for Rangers to force a second replay.


1877 Scottish Cup Final
In what turned out to be the decider, an early own goal from Jimmy Watson and two late goals from John Campbell Baird and Paton were enough to seal a narrow 3–2 victory for Vale of Leven to win the tournament for the first time. This was the first time the cup had been won by a team other than Queen's Park.


1877 Scottish Cup Final, Background
This was the first final not to feature Queen's Park – who had won all three previous tournaments – after they were defeated by Vale of Leven in the quarter-finals. It was both Vale of Leven's and Rangers' début appearance in the Scottish Cup final.


1877 Scottish Cup Final, Background
Vale of Leven's previous best run in the competition saw them reach the semi-finals in 1875–76 before losing to eventual winners Queen's Park. Rangers had never made it beyond the second round before reaching the 1877 final.


1877 Scottish Cup Final, Background
The tie also marked the first competitive meetings of Rangers and Vale of Leven.


1877 Scottish Cup Final, Route to the final
Both clubs entered the competition in the first round. Rangers won all of their matches before the final at the first attempt. However, the club received two byes through the duration of the tournament, one in the third round and one in the semi-final. Vale of Leven played in all rounds and also won all of their ties without needing a replay, conceding only one goal in the process.


1877 Scottish Cup Final, Route to the final, Vale of Leven
In the competition's early years, the first few rounds were regionalised so Vale of Leven were drawn at home to fellow Dunbartonshire club Helensburgh in the first round. They began the competition with a tightly contested match at North Street Park, Alexandria on 30 September 1876 which they won 1–0. In the second round they faced local rivals Vale of Leven Rovers at the same venue, winning comfortably 7–0.


1877 Scottish Cup Final, Route to the final, Vale of Leven
The third round saw another tightly contested match as Vale defeated 3rd Lanark RV 1–0 at North Street Park before they eliminated Busby with a 4–0 home win in the fourth round. That set up a historic quarter-final with three-time defending champions Queen's Park at Hampden Park. Vale of Leven became the first team to defeat Queen's Park in the competition's history, ending their stranglehold on the trophy in the process, after winning 2–1 on 30 December 1876.


1877 Scottish Cup Final, Route to the final, Vale of Leven
The aftermath of the victory was marred by tense exchanges between the two clubs – whose representatives had already fallen out over arranging a friendly a year earlier –  regarding the alleged use of illegal spiked boots by the Vale of Leven players (local businessmen made attempts to resolve this in a positive manner with the creation of the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup, but the Alexandria club refused to participate in its first year in a further dispute over gate receipt sharing). Two weeks later, Vale eased into the final, thumping Ayr Thistle 9–0 in the semi-final at the neutral Kinning Park.


1877 Scottish Cup Final, Route to the final, Rangers
Rangers began the competition with a 4–1 win against Queen's Park Juniors at Kinning Park on 30 September 1876. In the second round, Dunlop, Watson, Marshall and Campbell all scored twice as they recorded an 8–0 home win against Towerhill. Rangers were then given a bye in the third round. They faced Ayrshire side Mauchline in the fourth round, winning 3–0 at Kinning Park thanks to goals from Watson, Marshall and Campbell. Dunbartonshire side Lennox were their opponents for the quarter-finals where goals from Dunlop, Marshall and Campbell were enough to see them through as 3–0 winners. With just three clubs reaching the semi-finals, Rangers were the lucky ones who received a bye to the final.


1877 Serbian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 20 February 1877. The elections were called by Prince Milan on 13 February in order to convene a Grand National Assembly, which would have four times as many members as a normal National Assembly. The newly elected Assembly was to convene on 26 February in the National Theatre.


1877 Serbian parliamentary election
A majority of the elected candidates were in favour of peace with the Ottoman Empire. For the first time a Jewish candidate was elected, winning a seat in Belgrade by a large majority after receiving the backing of all parties.


1877 Serbian parliamentary election
The elections were marred by violence in Kragujevac, Jagodina and Užice, with pressure to elect candidates favourable to the incumbent government and interference from the Karađorđević dynasty blamed. The election results in Kragujevac and Jagodina were later annulled due to the fighting. Government pressure resulted in the election of several Liberals in Belgrade despite the city being a Conservative stronghold, with over 600 voters in the city being prevented from voting by delays.


1877 Sewanee Tigers baseball team
The 1877 Sewanee Tigers baseball team represented the Sewanee Tigers baseball team of the University of the South in the 1877 college baseball season. The team beat Vanderbilt 19–12.


1877 Shamokin uprising
The 1877 Shamokin uprising occurred in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, in July 1877, as one of the several cities in the state where strikes occurred as part of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. The Great Strike  was the first in the United States in which workers across the country united in an action against major companies. In many cities, the railroad workers were joined by other industrial workers in general strikes.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Background
Railroad workers and miners had perilous jobs in the late 19th century. More than 200 railroad workers and 1000 miners died in accidents every year. The companies often forced both groups to buy goods from company stores at inflated prices and work from sunup to sundown. Companies made engineers pay for all train damages, regardless of fault. Children tore their hands picking rocks from coal in collieries.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Background
The first recorded strike in the anthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania occurred in 1842. More followed in 1849, 1869, and 1872. During the Civil War, the mine owners used cavalry platoons to arrest eight miners and evict them from company homes for striking in Locust Gap. At that time, the workers in Locust Gap formed the Miner's Benevolent Society, to provide accident insurance and demand better pay. It was one of the first unions in America.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Background
The Workers' Benevolent Association, founded in St Clair in 1868, expanded to Northumberland County, including Locust Gap, on October 19, 1869. It built on the efforts of previous unions like the Miners Benevolent Society. It continued as one of the early ways that workers organized for mutual benefit.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Background
By 1872 the Reading Railroad was the biggest mine company in the anthracite region. It used its monopoly on the railroads to take over 70,000 acres (280 km2) of the best coal lands. The company's president was Frank Gowen. Gowen Street in Shamokin and even Gowen City were named after him. Gowen established a private police force, called the "Reading Coal and Iron Police." Between 1871 and 1875 Gowen borrowed $69 million to pay for his empire. But he and the other railroad barons had overestimated the demand for train service and over-invested. Debts forced them to fire many workers, resulting in a nationwide depression in the Panic of 1873.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Background
In 1874 a third of Pennsylvania's workforce was unemployed. The Reading Railroad cut train workers' wages by 10%, resulting in an unsuccessful strike. In 1875 only 1/5 of American workers had full-time jobs. Some people vented their frustration by damaging tracks, trains, and mines. On May 11, 1875, the trestle at Locust Gap Junction was exploded. It is believed to have been a protest by unemployed men. The telegraph office at Locust Summit was burned. From 1860 to 1909 arson destroyed 25 collieries between Mount Carmel and Trevorton. Knoebels Amusement Resort has a Mining Museum with a mural of the twice-burned Locust Gap colliery.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Background
The July 1875 Officers of the Miners' and Laborers' Benevolent Association for Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, included: Pres. John N. Evans Mt. Carmel; VP Dennis Coming Locust Gap; Sec. Ben Ressler, Excelsior; Treas. John L. Shanahan, Mt. Carmel. In the Mt. Carmel District the following officers were elected: Pres. Lewis Dietrich; VP Pat Donnal; Sec. John L. Shanahan; Treas. Julius Maure; Trustees Patrick Donlan, Patrick Nowlan, and Thomas Perry.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events
When Gowen lowered mining wages to 54% of their 1869 level, miners began the "Long Strike" of 1875. It started in January 1875 and lasted 170 days. But Gowen stored enough coal to outlast the strike and crushed the miner's union by firing its members.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events
In July 1875, Gowen presented "A List of Outrages in the Schuylkill and Shamokin Regions" to Pennsylvania's legislature, including:


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events
Gowen accused leaders of the Irish community of running an alleged secret society called the "Molly Maguires" that killed mine officials. He used private police to investigate and company lawyers to prosecute. Catholics and Irish were excluded from local juries. Beginning in June 1877, 20 "Molly Maguires" were convicted and executed, often despite strong evidence of innocence.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events
The Reading Railroad lowered miners' wages 10–15% twice between 1876 and 1877. Many workers were reduced to having only bread and water for their meals. Some families killed and ate pets.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events
Gowen decreed that railroad workers had to leave their benevolent association and join the company's insurance plan, which covered them only when they were working. In response, the trainmen went on strike in April 1877. Gowen replaced them with scabs whose inexperience caused many accidents. Gowen refused to rehire the fired workers, and destroyed the Brotherhood of Railroad Engineers.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events
In July 1877 the United States was deep in the depression. The previous year the total revenues of America's railroads fell by $5.8 million. But they raised profits to $186 million (up $0.9 million) by cutting wages. Most owners received 10% dividends. In July 1877 railroads across America conspired and lowered wages another 10%. Train brakemen and firemen's wages came to $30 per month.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, Strike begins
When they found out about the wage cuts on July 16, trainmen in Baltimore left work, sparking the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Before the strikes ended, more than 80,000 trainmen and 500,000 other industrial workers from Boston to Kansas City also went out on strike, although there were not yet official unions. The workers joined in their grievances and the knowledge that the railroads affected everyone.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, Strike begins
In Pittsburgh on July 21 a National Guard unit from Philadelphia, ordered in by the Pennsylvania governor, fatally shot 20 unarmed strikers and bystanders, including women and three children, and wounded 29 more in an effort to suppress a growing protest against the Pennsylvania Railroad. The crowds retaliated by burning the railroad's buildings, more than 120 train engines, and 1200 freight cars; the south side of the city was burning for 3 miles (4.8 km) in the railroad flats along the Monongahela River. The next day troops shot more protesters, raising the total of Pittsburgh's dead to over 40.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, Strike begins
In Pittsburgh and Saint Louis, Missouri, the railroad workers were strong enough to take over management, run trains, and collect tickets. In Hornellsville, New York, when scabs started a train up a mountain, strikers soaped the tracks. The train went up, slowed, stopped; the passenger cars were unhooked and slid back down the mountain.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, Strike begins
In Reading on July 22, with the Reading Railroad 2 months in arrears of paying wages, crowds of women and children watched as strikers blocked the tracks. The governor again ordered National Guard units to the city. When people threw bricks at the troops, the soldiers opened fire in all directions, killing 10 and wounding 40, including 5 local police.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, Strike begins
That evening in Sunbury, rumors circulated that a unit of the National Guard would pass through on the way to crush Pittsburgh's strike. An agitated crowd gathered at the railroad junction at 3rd and Chestnut streets. The soldiers took another route. When a freight train tried to leave, the railroad workers took it over and sent it back.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, Strike begins
On July 23 the trainmen met at Red Men's Hall. They decided to join the national strike and continue blocking freight trains until the railroads lifted the 10% reduction. The next morning they ordered the shop mechanics to leave work too.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, Strike begins
In Danville on the morning of July 23, the workers appointed a group to ask the Commissioner of the Poor for bread or work. The commissioner left it to the mayor to decide. At 3 PM a large crowd gathered at the weigh scales on Mill Street in the middle of Danville. One speaker said, "We will give the borough authorities until tomorrow at 10:00 to devise some action to give us work or bread. If at that time nothing is done for us, we will take [expletive] wherever we can find it." John Styer discussed their poverty and demanded government aid. The town newspaper reported unless the borough council banished starvation, "disorder would ensue. Men would take the law into their own hands."


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, Strike begins
The next day there was almost a bread riot. Citizens were on the verge of starvation. Grocers brought their flour inside for safety, and farmers left markets with half their goods sold. At noon crowds led by Ben Bennet and former constable Frank Treas took a few old muskets from an abandoned storehouse. They rushed for weapons known to be stored in the third story of the Danville National Bank on Mill and Northumberland streets. Police met them. One policeman tried to arrest Treas, for using incendiary language. But he could not get to Treas in the dense crowd. A sign on Bloom Street proposed a meeting of workingmen in Sechler's Woods on July 26. Following these events, the authorities gave food to those in need.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, July 24, beginning of incident
In Shamokin on the morning of July 24, miners struck at the Big Mountain Colliery. Ten families in a row of houses had no food for 3 weeks, except a few scraps from their gardens. At 2 PM a large meeting of workers on Slope Hill demanded work or food.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, July 24, beginning of incident
The next day they repeated their demands at Union Hall on Rock Street. William Oram, the attorney for both the borough and the Mineral Railroad & Mining Company, told the crowd that the borough and wealthy citizens would give them street work for 80 cents a day.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, July 24, beginning of incident
The crowd appointed a Workingmen's Committee to negotiate with the borough council that night for a higher rate. The committee demanded $1.00 a day, and the borough agreed. But when the committee returned to Union Hall, the crowd rejected the $1.00 offer.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, July 24, beginning of incident
One thousand men and young people marched down Rock Street and Shamokin Street. When someone threw a stone through Shuman & Co.'s Store, the crowd surged forward into the Reading Railroad station and depot on Shamokin and Independence streets. (Now the site of a parking lot.) They broke the glass in windows and doors, took the freight from the cars and everything in the building, and gutted it. Next they crossed Liberty Street toward the Northern Central Depot on Commerce Street.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, July 24, beginning of incident
Meanwhile, Mayor William Douty gathered a citizen posse or militia outside City Hall in response to a prearranged signal - a bell ringing at his Presbyterian church. Douty managed his family's coal mines and collieries at Big Mountain, Doutyville, and Shamokin. He also persecuted the Molly Maguires. Douty's militia marched down Lincoln and Liberty streets armed with muskets and revolvers. They told the crowd to leave, and when that failed, shot into it. They wounded 12 people and killed two, neither of whom were involved in the uprising.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, July 24, beginning of incident
Mr. Weist was shot dead while closing his candy store on Liberty and Independence streets; Levi Shoop was the second fatality. The crowd escaped to the town's outskirts. The mayor's militia took back control of the train stations and patrolled the town. According to rumors, after retreating, the workers tore up the tracks a few miles east of town.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, July 24, beginning of incident
In November, Phillip Wiest, wounded in the militia shooting, was tried for leading the riot. Despite having received serious injuries, he was imprisoned for 8 months in the Northumberland County jail. In addition, James Richards, Peter Campbell, Christian Neely, and James Ebright were convicted and imprisoned for 7, 6, 4, and 3 months, respectively, on charges of rioting and burglary.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, July 24, beginning of incident
In Shenandoah on July 25, 800-1000 workers paraded down the streets with flags and a drum corps. When they got to the baseball field at 10 PM, they could see that arsonists had set fire to the mining stables in nearby Lost Creek. On July 27, Shenandoah's miners brought business of all kinds to a standstill.


1877 Shamokin uprising, Overview of events, July 24, beginning of incident
Elsewhere railroads and local and state authorities crushed the strike using coal and iron police, militia, and state units of the National Guard. Across the United States, these "forces of order" killed more than 100 people. It was not a complete defeat for the strikers, however. The strike showed the conflict of interests between working people and management. If corporations pushed people too far, they would react out of desperation. And the strike showed that if workers acted together, they could challenge the corporate system. By organizing into unions, workers could mobilize their strength.


1877 Sligo County by-election
The Sligo County by-election of 1877 was fought on 12 January 1877. The byelection was fought due to the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, Sir Robert Gore-Booth. It was won by the Conservative candidate Edward Robert King-Harman.


1877 St. Louis Brown Stockings season
The 1877 St. Louis Brown Stockings finished the season in fourth place in the National League. After the season, they signed Louisville Grays stars Jim Devlin and George Hall. However, both became involved in a game-fixing scandal that led to the permanent expulsion of the two players (and others) from the league. The Grays and Brown Stockings both folded in the aftermath of the scandal.


1877 St. Louis Brown Stockings season, Player stats, Batting, Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1877 St. Louis Brown Stockings season, Player stats, Batting, Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1877 St. Louis Brown Stockings season, Player stats, Pitching, Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1877 St. Louis Brown Stockings season, Player stats, Pitching, Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1877 St. Louis general strike
The 1877 St. Louis general strike was one of the first general strikes in the United States. It grew out of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. The strike was largely organized by the Knights of Labor and the Marxist-leaning Workingmen's Party, the main radical political party of the era.


1877 St. Louis general strike, The Long Depression and the Great Strikes
The Long Depression, sparked in the United States by the Panic of 1873, had extensive implications for US industry, closing more than a hundred railroads in the first year and cutting construction of new rail lines from 7,500 miles (12,100 km) of track in 1872 to 1,600 miles (2,600 km) in 1875. Approximately 18,000 businesses failed between 1873 and 1875, production in iron and steel dropped as much as 45 percent, and a million or more lost their jobs. In 1876, 76 railroad companies went bankrupt or entered receivership in the US alone, and the economic impacts rippled throughout many economic sectors throughout the industrialized world.


1877 St. Louis general strike, The Long Depression and the Great Strikes
In mid-1877, tensions erupted in stoppages and civil unrest across the nation in what would become known as the Great Railroad Strike or the Great Strikes. Violence began in Martinsburg, West Virginia and spread along the rail lines through Baltimore and on to several major cities and transportation hubs of the time, including Reading, Scranton and Shamokin, Pennsylvania; a bloodless general strike in St. Louis, Missouri; and a short lived uprising in Chicago, Illinois. In the worst case, rioting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania left 61 dead and 124 injured.


1877 St. Louis general strike, The Long Depression and the Great Strikes
Much of the city's center was burned, including more than a thousand rail cars destroyed. What began as the peaceful actions of organized labor attracted the masses of discontented and unemployed workers spawned by the depression, along with others who took opportunistic advantage of the chaos. In total, an estimated 100,000 workers participated nationwide.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
In East St. Louis, Illinois, on July 22, train workers held a secret meeting, resolved to call for an increase in wages, and strike if their demands were not met. Following this initial meeting, a subsequent outdoor meeting was held, with about 200 members of the Workingmen's Party in attendance. The enthusiastic crowd supported various speakers who expressed their sympathy and solidarity with the workers. A third meeting was held that night, in Turner's hall, limited to railroad workers. After several more speeches, they further clarified the demands by adopting a series of resolutions:


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
Whereas, The United States government has allied itself on the side of capital and against labor; therefore,


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
Resolved, That we, the workingmen's party of the United States, heartily sympathize with the employes of all the railroads in the country who are attempting to secure just and equitable reward for their labor.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
Resolved, That we will stand by them in this most righteous struggle of labor against robbery and oppression, through good and evil report, to the end of the struggle.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
The demand was made and rejected that same night, and so effective at midnight, the strike began in East St. Louis, and within hours strikers virtually controlled the city. The following morning strikers announced they would allow passenger and mail trains passage through the city, but intended to stop all freight traffic. The workers were initially described as "quiet and orderly", and the rail companies initially made no effort to challenge the embargo on freight.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
When the Chicago & Alton attempted to start one of their freight trains on the morning of the July 23, it was stopped by the strikers and returned to the rail yard. At the Union Railway & Transit Company yards, one stock train was allowed to cross the bridge, while employees of the Transit company struck in East St. Louis, and did not in St. Louis. Even after removing the wage reduction, workers at the Transit company continued to strike.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
Throughout the day, many other major railroads did not see strikes, and strikes were far less prevalent outside of East S. Louis. Feed was allowed to be brought to livestock, and passenger trains continued to be allowed through. The strike was compared by city officials to the Paris Commune of 1871.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
On the morning of July 24, the strikers resolved to stop the movement of passenger trains in addition to freight. An eastbound train with 125 passengers was stopped, and after about an hour of argument, the decision was made to let it through. The next train that entered did not fair equally as well, and was decoupled from its passenger cars. At 11:00 AM, a group of 25 strikers led by an Ohio and Mississippi Railway engineer entered the Union depot, the first time strikers moved outside of East St. Louis.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
They seized two Missouri Pacific Railroad steam engines, and went to the Missouri Pacific engine shops. The 250 workers at the engine shops continued work and could not be persuaded to leave. The strikers then returned to the Union depot and stopped a train from leaving, allowing it to pass two hours later.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
A total of 3,000 to 4,000 people gathered at the depot, and unrest swelled, particularly following the announcement that six companies of infantry were on route to St. Louis. The police cleared and ordered the salons closed in the region around the depot. At 4:00 PM, flatcars loaded with 400 strikers arrived. They marched to the Missouri Pacific Shops, arriving with about 2,000 people. The machinists announced that while they were not going to strike, they would stop working in solidarity with the strikers. The men then traveled to the North Missouri Railroad track and, taking an engine and ten flat cars, went to the North Missouri's roundhouse and persuaded the workers to join the strike.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
As a result of the strike, various federal receivers and then Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz urged Secretary of War George W. McCrary to intervene. Schurz wrote that "no United States Marshal, unless backed by Federal troops, can restore order or protect men willing to work...the presence of Federal troops will form a rallying point and do much to restore order." John Pope was directed to protect railroads and promote peace. At 6:00 PM six companies (consisting of about 350 soldiers), led by Colonel Jefferson C. Davis arrived from Fort Leavenworth.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
Davis stated that "I have been ordered here with general instructions to protect the property of the United States, and shall participate in no movement looking to anything else without I have specific orders from army headquarters," and marched his soldiers to an arsenal barracks. Six additional companies were directed to St. Louis from the 16th and 19th Infantry regiments to leave posts in Kansas, Colorado, and the Oklahoma Territory. Three arrived later on July 24, and the rest on July 25, for a total of 42 officers and 410 soldiers. As the soldiers were only directed to protect federal property, the strikers were largely unaffected by the arrival of troops, and gathered at the Union depot, where they would spend the night.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 22–24, 1877
The people of St. Louis were apprehensive about the strike, and many expected some sort of bloodshed. On the night of July 24, Communist leaders held meetings across the city. Threats of burning newspaper buildings were made, and processions of people marched through the streets. The city government was reluctant to act, as they had less than 1,000 arms, and feared they could not effectively deal with the strike. Their 360-man police force, while many were retained in readiness for some sort of outbreak, "remained strangely inert during the upheaval." After urging by Davis, efforts soon began, led by municipal authorities and various prominent citizens, to raise a 5,000 man force.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 25–30, 1877
The following morning, action began around 9:00 am as a crowd of 1,500 people gathered in a marketplace. Largely composed of striking wire and other material manufacturers, at 10:00, they marched from the St. Louis City Hall to Turner Hall (where the executive committee of the Workingmen's Party was meeting). Thirty minutes later, approximately 500 strikers marched to the levee, in an effort to get roustabouts to join the strike. Strikers expected all manufacturing to halt by the end of the day. By 10:00 pm, however, the men of the Laclede Gas Company had reached an agreement with their employers, and returned to work.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 25–30, 1877
On the morning of July 26, there was a mass meeting of coopers. They did not resolve and return to work. 2,500 people gathered again at the Union depot, though little occurred. During the morning, one train (of the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad) was allowed to pass over the bridge. Though Chicago & Alton employees sent trains, they were eventually stopped. Due to fear of retribution, the Mississippi Pacific offices were closed though the workers were not striking. A delegation of strikers was sent to Cheltenham, where they ordered smelters and clay workers to go on strike.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 25–30, 1877
The workers offered to continue work if provided police protection, but the police refused the request. During the strike, the city was virtually unpoliced, and a request to protect private property made by the employers of the Union Street Railway was also refused. Beef canners soon joined the strike. The Mayor of St. Louis, Henry Overstolz, issued a proclamation warning strikers to not destroy public property. He also announced the formation of a Committee of Safety led by General Andrew J. Smith, Thomas T. Gantt and General John S. Marmaduke.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 25–30, 1877
Smith also led a 'Citizens Organization for the Protection of Property', headquartered at the Four Courts building. After various meetings throughout the day, the organization had membership numbering around 1,500 armed men. 50 men were placed on the city's steamer to patrol the rivers. By noon of July 26, 10,000 citizens had joined the organization. At 10:00 am, 2,000 men (composed of strikers and loafers) had marched from Lucas market place to a manufacturing district, where they dismantled Belcher's Sugar Refinery to prevent its 400 workers from returning to work. The mob continued (despite many people leaving) to dismantle a further 40 factories, flour mills or planing mills, and forcing an additional 1,000 employees to stop working.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 25–30, 1877
The rioters visited a disused chair factory under the presumption it was active. A squad of police appeared and ordered the strikers out of the factory. Several minutes after leaving, the factory was discovered to be on fire, in what was thought to be a case of arson. The factory and a nearby lumber yard were completely destroyed. The mob was quickly dispersed. Another group traveled to the levees, and forced all steamers to increase the wages of steamboat and levee workers from sixty to one-hundred percent.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 25–30, 1877
Throughout the day, most shops in the city were closed, and a further group of 2,000 armed men were raised by the sheriff. The Governor of Missouri, John S. Phelps, arrived, and began helping to suppress disorder. Drilling of the citizens was carried out at the Four Courts building throughout the day.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 25–30, 1877
At around 10:30, a large crowd appeared at the Four Courts building, and began harassing guards patrolling the buildings perimeter. A detachment of police drove the men back and arrested many of the mob. The rioters were made calmer by the information that Davis had increased his troops to 600 men, and stood ready to respond to a call for help from the governor or mayor.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 25–30, 1877
On the morning of the 27, city authorities began an attempt to stop the mobs. The Union depot was still held by strikers, and at 11:00 am, a battalion of 400 men was dispatched to retake the depot. They caught the strikers by surprise, and ended interference with trains. A mob soon began to gather, and by 2:00 pm, over 2,000 men had gathered.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 25–30, 1877
After ignoring calls issued by the mayor urging the group to disperse, 50 mounted police, 500 members of the Citizens Guard and two National Guard companies were sent to break up the mob and arrest its leaders. At 2:30, the force left Four Courts, led by John D. Stevenson and accompanied by Overstolz. At 3:00, the 'executive committee' leading the strike was warned about the force, and fled. The police charged the crowd (by then 3,000 people), and in five minutes the mob was successfully broken up. Seventy men were arrested from the top floor of Schuler Hall. Protection was also offered to various shops that desired to begin operating.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 25–30, 1877
On the night of the 27th, the Workingmen's party planned three meetings, two of which did not occur; the third was broken up by the police before it started. By July 28, 3,000 vigilantes had been raised. The force, coupled with periodic displays of army soldiers, helped to subdue the strikers. The following days passed with little disturbance and many of the leaders of the strike were arrested. By Monday the 30, the strike was over in St. Louis.


1877 St. Louis general strike, July 25–30, 1877
Many of the strikers had regrouped in East St. Louis after being broken up on the 27. They resolved to further prevent any trains from passing; however, a United States Marshal requested and received a force of troops to protect the Ohio and Mississippi Railway and St. Louis & Southeastern Railway. The strikers were demoralized, and with the ending of the Chicago railroad strike of 1877, Illinois Governor Shelby Moore Cullom directed seven companies of Illinois National Guard troops to St. Louis. By August 1, the strike had ended in East St. Louis. Fears of another strike, and occasional calls for such an action, reverberated throughout the country for the rest of the summer of 1877.


1877 State of the Union Address
The 1877 State of the Union Address was written by the 19th president, Rutherford B. Hayes. It was given on Monday, December 3, to both houses of the 45th United States Congress. In it, he said, "There has been a general reestablishment of order and of the orderly administration of justice.


1877 State of the Union Address
Instances of remaining lawlessness have become of rare occurrence; political turmoil and turbulence have disappeared; useful industries have been resumed; public credit in the Southern States has been greatly strengthened, and the encouraging benefits of a revival of commerce between the sections of the country lately embroiled in civil war are fully enjoyed." He gave this address right after troops were withdrawn from the South. The Reconstruction Era ended in March 1877, and the Southern United States were freed from Republican control.


1877 Stevens football team
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1877 Stevens football team
The 1877 Stevens football team was an American football team that represented Stevens Institute of Technology in the 1877 college football season. The team compiled a 1–3 record.


1877 Swiss referendum
A three-part referendum was held in Switzerland on 21 October 1877. A federal law on working in factories was approved by voters, whilst a federal law on compensation for not serving in the military and a federal law on the political rights of settled and travelling people and the loss of rights for Swiss citizens were both rejected.


1877 Swiss referendum, Background
The referendum was classed as an optional referendum, which meant that only a majority of the public vote was required for the proposals to be approve, as opposed to the mandatory referendums that required both a majority of voters and cantons to approve the proposals.


1877 Tipperary by-election
The Tipperary by-election of 1877 was fought on 15 May 1877. The byelection was fought due to the death of the incumbent Home Rule MP, William Frederick Ormond O'Callaghan. It was won by the Home Rule candidate Edmund Dwyer Gray.


1877 Totara by-election
The 1877 Totara by-election was a by-election held on 30 April 1877 in the Totara electorate on the West Coast of New Zealand during the 6th New Zealand Parliament.


1877 Totara by-election
The by-election was caused by the death of the incumbent MP George Henry Tribe on 19 March 1877.


1877 Totara by-election
The by-election was won by William Gisborne. The polling place at Saltwater Creek recorded only a single vote (for Gisborne). The partial result below has a majority of 57 for Gisborne, although a late return from Hunt's Beach at Jackson's Bay resulted in his majority being 83 or 84.


1877 Tufts Jumbos football team
The 1877 Tufts Jumbos football team represented Tufts University in the 1877 college football season.


1877 U.S. Patent Office fire
The Patent Office fire of 1877 was the second of two major fires of the U.S. Patent Office. It occurred in the 1864 Patent Office Building of Washington, D.C., on September 24, 1877. The building was constructed to be fireproof, but many of its contents were not. About 80,000 models and 600,000 copy drawings were burned to some degree. No patents were completely lost, however (unlike the situation with the first Patent Office fire), and the Patent Office was soon reopened for recordings.


1877 U.S. Patent Office fire, History
On July 4, 1836, the Patent Office became its own organization within the Department of State under the Patent Act of 1836. Henry Leavitt Ellsworth became its first commissioner. He started construction of a new fire-proof building, after the previous building had burned down in a disastrous fire. Architect Robert Mills was given instructions by Congress to design the building using fireproof construction material. Mills used masonry vaulted ceilings that spanned the interior spaces for an open floor plan, cement plastered walls, and cantilevered stone staircases from floor level to floor level. Construction of the building was finished in 1864.


1877 U.S. Patent Office fire, History
The Patent Office fire started at about 11 am on September 24, 1877. It was reported in the newspaper that the fire started in the room that held the patent models. There was a considerable amount of flammable material in that area. Spontaneous combustion of patented chemicals has been given as one of the theories for the start of the fire. Another theory was that a lens might have caught the sun's rays and focused them on a combustible object.


1877 U.S. Patent Office fire, History
Others claim that it was an unseasonably cold morning, and that a fire started by some copyists in their office grate emitted sparks that fell onto the roof and caught a wooden gutter screen on fire. The roof was constructed of wood, which led to a rapid ignition and a fast-moving disastrous building fire. The fire burned part of the upper portions of the north wing and the west wing, consuming half the building.


1877 U.S. Patent Office fire, History
The Evening Star reported that the spectacle of the building going up in flames became extraordinarily shocking to the spectators as it turned into a calamity. Despite the fire-proof construction efforts the fire consumed the building and devoured some 87,000 patent models with their associated documents. Some of the important artifacts were saved, however, due to the extraordinary efforts of the Patent Office staff and some valiant firemen.


1877 U.S. Patent Office fire, Models destroyed
This second Patent Office fire was even more destructive than the first fire in 1836 at Blodget's Hotel. According to the person in charge of the models, about 87,000 models were burned to one degree or another and some 600,000 photo-lithographic drawings were damaged by fire and or ruined by water. Although the building may have been considered fire-proof, the contents were not. An early part of the conflagration was a storage room used for rejected and postponed models.


1877 U.S. Patent Office fire, Models destroyed
There were 37,000 postponed application models and 12,000 rejected cases, making the total damage tally around 136,000 patent models (of one type or another). The monumental building cost almost $3,000,000 in nineteenth-century dollars. A source reported the loss due to the fire as over a half a million dollars in value.


1877 U.S. Patent Office fire, Models destroyed
The Patent Office could loan out the rejected models to museums and other organizations; however, due to future potential patent infringement they were against such transfers to preserve the integrity of the inventor's idea. These models included metal-working machines, wood-working machines, agricultural implements, carriages, wagons, railroading, mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic engineering. An example of the original Eli Whitney cotton gin was among the representative models destroyed. In the south and west wings of the Patent Office there were some 100,000 models that were not damaged. Reports of the time show about two-fifths of all the models were damaged either by fire or water. An estimated 200,000 drawings were hastily carried out of the building before they were damaged.


1877 U.S. Patent Office fire, Models destroyed
In spite of these great monetary losses (many times those of the first Patent Office fire of 1836), there were no patents totally destroyed in the fire. There were duplicates of the drawings (a lesson learned from the first Patent Office fire in 1836) and it was just a matter of printing them again. Despite the loss of the upper floors and some accumulated trash, the Patent Office was soon reopened.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts
The 1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held in January 1877. Incumbent Republican Senator George S. Boutwell, who had won a special election for the remainder of Henry Wilson's term, was defeated by reformist U.S. Representative George Frisbie Hoar.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts
At the time, Massachusetts elected United States Senators by a resolution of the Massachusetts General Court.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Background, State legislature
At the time, the Massachusetts legislature was dominated the Republican Party. The Senate was composed of 30 Republicans and 10 Democrats, and the House had 178 Republicans and 62 Democrats. However, if a split within the Republican Party emerged, Democrats could hold the balance and decide the election.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Background, 1876 presidential election
The election took place against the backdrop of the contested 1876 presidential election. Several potential or actual candidates were involved in the Compromise of 1877 and the ongoing controversy may have affected the result.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Candidates, Declared
George Boutwell, the former Governor and incumbent interim Senator, was backed by Benjamin F. Butler and the patronage wing of the Republican Party. He was challenged by U.S. Representative George Frisbie Hoar, a reformist who had supported Benjamin Bristow at the 1876 Republican National Convention.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Candidates, Potential
The following candidates were mentioned as potential candidates or received votes, but did not openly declare their willingness or desire to be elected.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Candidates, Potential
Other candidates mentioned included Governor Alexander H. Rice, who had the backing of prohibitionists on the basis that his election would elevate prohibitionist Republican Horatio G. Knight to the Governor's office, Judge Charles Devens, and U.S. Representative Julius Hawley Seelye. Rice was also rumored to have the support of Butler in the event Boutwell became non-viable, as this would clear the nomination for 1877, and Butler greatly coveted the office of Governor.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Candidates, Potential
Democrats, under the direction of Frank Bird, were expected to cast a ceremonial vote for Josiah Abbott or William Gaston before throwing their support to a competitive candidate, possibly former Republican Governor Alexander Bullock, who was aligned with Bird. Democrats were expected to oppose Hoar as an alternative to Boutwell.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Election, January 16
On January 16, the General Court convened and began to cast votes in each house, separately.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Election, January 16
The first day of balloting was seen as a victory for Hoar, as Boutwell's support was much lower than his supporters claimed. Democrats voted in a caucus to continue to support Abbott.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Election, January 16
After the first day, it was conceded the Boutwell could not be elected, and the question became whether Republicans would rally to Hoar or try to find a third candidate.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Election, January 17
On the second day of balloting, the two houses of the General Court met in joint convention, rather than separately.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Election, January 17
After the first ballot, Senator Brimball and Ginnodo changed their votes from Boutwell to Hoar. Abbott gained a voted after Representative Glynn voted, having missed the first ballot.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Election, January 18
On the third day of balloting, Senator James G. Blaine was in attendance. Secretary of the Treasury Justin Morrill sent a letter endorsing Boutwell and imploring his re-election, but it did not appear to have any effect on the vote.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Election, January 19
During the ballot, many Boutwell men changed their votes to Hoar after realizing he would win.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Aftermath
Hoar would remain in the Senate until his death in 1905.


1877 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Aftermath
Boutwell was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes to codify the Revised Statutes of the United States and later served as United States counsel before the French and American Claims Commission. He later left the Republican Party over imperialism, which both he and Hoar opposed.


1877 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania
The 1877 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania was held on March 20, 1877. J. Donald Cameron was elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate.


1877 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania, Background
Republican Simon Cameron was elected to the United States Senate by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate, in 1867 and was re-elected in 1873. Sen. Cameron resigned on March 12, 1877.


1877 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania, Results
Following the resignation of Sen. Simon Cameron, the Pennsylvania General Assembly convened on March 20, 1877, to elect a new Senator to fill the vacancy. Former United States Secretary of War J. Donald Cameron, Simon Cameron's son, was elected to complete his father's term, set to expire on March 4, 1879. The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:


1877 VFA season
The 1877 Victorian Football Association season was the first in which the Australian rules football competition in Victoria was run under a properly constituted administrative body. The Association was formed with the view to governing the sport via a collective body, made up of delegates representing the clubs. It was the second such body to have been formed; the South Australian National Football League having been formed just 17 days prior to the VFA.


1877 VFA season
Australian rules football had been played since the 1850s, but had been administered in a less formal manner than after the establishment of the VFA.


1877 VFA season
The inaugural VFA premiership was won by the Carlton Football Club.


1877 VFA season, Foundation of the Victorian Football Association
The Victorian Football Association was established on 17 May 1877 to provide administration of the game in Victoria. Prior to 1877, the laws of the game had been agreed to at an annual meeting of club secretaries, however the clubs remained entirely independent and unaffiliated. This meant that when a dispute existed between two clubs, there was no formal means of resolving it or enforcing a decision.


1877 VFA season, Foundation of the Victorian Football Association
Disputes in the 1870s were common and were often left unresolved for this reason: for example, in 1876, a rule existed to prevent any player from playing with more than one club during the season, but when Carlton broke the rule against Albert-park, there was no means of recourse against it, and the result of a disputed match between Carlton and Melbourne was unresolved, with each club ultimately reporting a different score in its annual report and no central body existing to declare one score as official. Also, the matter of whether or not Albert-park won the Challenge Cup in 1870 was never formally resolved.


1877 VFA season, Foundation of the Victorian Football Association
The new Association was established, and was modelled in large part on the Victorian Cricket Association, which had been established in September 1875 to provide a similar level of centralised administration over Victorian cricket. The Victorian Football Association comprised one delegate from each senior metropolitan club (and from senior country clubs by proxy) and a vote of those club delegates could make a decision which was binding on any associated club. Junior clubs were also managed by the Association, but did not have representation on the board.


1877 VFA season, Foundation of the Victorian Football Association
The Association comprised a range of senior and junior clubs from Melbourne and around the colony of Victoria. There were five inaugural metropolitan senior clubs: Albert-park, Carlton, Hotham, Melbourne and St Kilda. Hotham was a revival of the former North Melbourne Football Club, which had disbanded and seen many of its players and members join Albert-park in 1876; the new club was mostly made up of players from the former North Melbourne Football Club as well as some from the Carlton Imperial Football Club, which had folded at the end of 1876.


1877 VFA season, Foundation of the Victorian Football Association
Provincial senior teams included Barwon, Geelong, Ballarat, Ballarat Albion, Kyneton and Sandhurst. There was also a wide range of affiliated junior clubs, including Essendon, West Melbourne, Brunswick, Warwick, Toorak, Hotham United, South Melbourne, Williamstown, Excelsior, Victorian Railways, Clifton, Northcote, Coburg and Sandridge.


1877 VFA season, Foundation of the Victorian Football Association
The formation of the Association was an important step in the organization of football, but it was effectively an administrative change only. Compared with the unaffiliated 1876 season, there was no significant change to the manner in which matches were scheduled and played or the premiership decided.


1877 VFA season, 1877 VFA premiership
The 1877 premiership was won by the Carlton Football Club, which played twenty-one matches during the year, winning fourteen and drawing four. Melbourne finished second, having played twenty-three matches, winning sixteen and drawing four. At the time, Melbourne and Carlton were considered to be by far the strongest senior clubs, so Carlton's position as the top club was based almost entirely on head-to-head matches between the two clubs – of which Carlton won two, Melbourne won one, and one was drawn.


1877 VFA season, 1877 VFA premiership
In provincial competition, Barwon was the strongest team; Geelong was second. In the junior competition, West Melbourne was the strongest; it went undefeated against junior clubs, and its sole loss came against senior club Melbourne; Essendon was second.


1877 VFA season, 1877 VFA premiership, Club senior records
The below table is set of results for the 1877 season, showing the records of the five senior metropolitan clubs. The list shows the record across all matches, including senior, junior and intercolonial matches. The clubs are listed in the order in which they were ranked in the Australasian newspaper. The VFA had no formal process by which the clubs were ranked, so the below order should be considered indicative only, particularly since the fixturing of matches was not standardised; however, the top three placings were later acknowledged in publications including the Football Record and are considered official.


1877 Virginia gubernatorial election
The 1877 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1877 to elect the governor of Virginia. The Republicans failed to nominate a candidate in this election, and as a result Democratic nominee and former Confederate congressman Frederick Holliday faced no opposition. This is the only gubernatorial election in Virginia history in which a candidate has run unopposed.


1877 Wairarapa by-election
The 1877 Wairarapa by-election was a by-election held  on 3 July in the Wairarapa electorate in the Wairarapa during the 6th New Zealand Parliament.


1877 Wairarapa by-election
The by-election was caused by the resignation of the incumbent, John Andrew, who was retiring from politics. The electorate was represented by two members; the other member being Henry Bunny.


1877 Wairarapa by-election
Although Charles Pharazyn (a local landowner and son of Charles Johnson Pharazyn) had also been nominated he had withdrawn, and George Beetham was declared elected.


1877 Waterford County by-election
A by-election was held  on 20 January 1877 for the UK House of Commons constituency of Waterford County to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Home Rule League MP Sir John Esmonde, one of the two members returned in the 1874 general election. The by-election was won by the Home Rule candidate, James Delahunty.


1877 Waterford County by-election
A Home Rule meeting in Dungarvan on 2 January 1877 endorsed the candidacy of James Esmonde, Kilkenny landlord and brother of the deceased MP, ahead of those of Delahunty,  Denis Joseph Rearden and G. C. P. Fitzgerald. When the meeting had asked candidates to stand down if not endorsed by it, Delahunty had declined to give such an undertaking. The Kilkenny Farmers' Association had placed an advertisement in The Freeman's Journal and The Waterford News warning voters that Esmonde was "the true type of a bad Irish landlord".


1877 Waterford County by-election
On 14 January, Delahunty and Esmonde were formally nominated, as was Liberal candidate Frederick Lehmann; Esmonde withdrew before polling day.


1877 West Sydney colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of West Sydney on 15 July 1877 because Sir John Robertson was appointed Colonial Secretary, forming the fourth Robertson ministry. Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested however on this occasion a poll was required in Central Cumberland (John Lackey and William Long), East Sydney (John Davies), Orange (Edward Combes) and West Sydney. Each minister was comfortably re-elected. Only Camden (Thomas Garrett) and Goldfields South (Ezekiel Baker) were uncontested.


1877 Westminster by-election
The Westminster by-election of 1877 was fought on 11 August 1877. The byelection was fought due to the incumbent Conservative MP, William Henry Smith, becoming first Lord of the Admiralty. It was retained by the incumbent.


1877 Williams colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of The Williams on 12 February 1877 because of the resignation of William Watson.


1877 Wilton by-election
The Wilton by-election of 1877 was fought on 19 February 1877. The byelection was fought due to the resignation of the incumbent Liberal MP, Sir Edmund Antrobus. It was won by the Conservative candidate Hon. Sidney Herbert.


1877 Wimbledon Championship
The 1877 Wimbledon Championship was a men's tennis tournament held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club (AEC & LTC) in Wimbledon, London. It was the world's first official lawn tennis tournament, and was later recognised as the first Grand Slam tournament or "Major". The AEC & LTC had been founded in July 1868, as the All England Croquet Club; lawn tennis was introduced in February 1875 to compensate for the waning interest in croquet.


1877 Wimbledon Championship
In June 1877 the club decided to organise a tennis tournament to pay for the repair of its pony roller, needed to maintain the lawns. A set of rules was drawn up for the tournament, derived from the first standardised rules of tennis issued by the Marylebone Cricket Club in May 1875.


1877 Wimbledon Championship
The Gentlemen's Singles competition, the only event of the championship, was contested on grass courts by 22 players who each paid one guinea to participate. The tournament started on 9 July 1877, and the final – delayed for three days by rain – was played on 19 July in front of a crowd of about 200 people who each paid an entry fee of one shilling. The winner received 12 guineas in prize money and a silver challenge cup, valued at 25 guineas, donated by the sports magazine The Field.


1877 Wimbledon Championship
Spencer Gore, a 27-year-old rackets player from Wandsworth, became the first Wimbledon champion by defeating William Marshall, a 28-year-old real tennis player, in three straight sets in a final that lasted 48 minutes. The tournament made a profit of £10 and the pony roller remained in use. An analysis made after the tournament led to some modifications of the rules regarding the court dimensions.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Background, Origins of lawn tennis
The origin of tennis lies in the monastic cloisters in 12th-century France, where the ball was struck with the palm of the hand in a game called jeu de paume. Rackets were introduced to the game in the early 16th century. This original version of tennis, now called "real tennis", was mostly played indoors and popular among the royalty and gentry, while a crude outdoor version called longue paume was played by the populace. The prominence of the game declined in the 17th and 18th centuries, although there are sporadic mentions of a "long tennis" or "field tennis" version in the second half of the 18th century.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Background, Origins of lawn tennis
Between 1858 and 1873 several people in Victorian England experimented with a lawn version of tennis. Major Harry Gem and Augurio Perera demonstrated their game of Pelota (Spanish for ball) and in 1872 created the world's first lawn tennis club at Leamington Spa. In February 1874 Major Clopton Wingfield introduced his version of lawn tennis, called Sphairistikè; on his patent application, he described it as a "New and Improved Court for Playing the Ancient Game of Tennis", and its rules were published in an eight-page booklet. Wingfield is widely credited with popularising the new game through his energetic promotional efforts.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Background, Origins of lawn tennis
The Sphairistikè court was hourglass-shaped, wider at the baseline than at the net. The service was made from a single side in a lozenge shaped box situated in the middle of the court and it had to bounce beyond the service line. In November 1874 Wingfield published a second, expanded edition of The Book of the Game, which had 12 rules and featured a larger court and a slightly lower net.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Background, All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club
The All England Croquet Club was founded on 23 July 1868 by six gentlemen at the offices of The Field, a weekly country and sports magazine. After a yearlong search a suitable ground of four acres of meadowland was located between the London and South Western Railway and Worple Road in Wimbledon, then an outer suburb of London. The club's committee decided on 24 September 1869 to lease the ground and paid £50 rental for the first year, a fee which increased to £75 and £100, respectively, over the following two years.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Background, All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club
The increasing rent, coupled with a waning interest in the sedate sport of croquet, was causing the club financial difficulties. In February 1875 it decided to introduce lawn tennis at its grounds to capitalise on the growing interest in this new sport and generate additional revenue. The proposal was made by Henry Jones, a sports writer who published extensively in The Field under his nom de plume "Cavendish" and who had joined the club in 1869.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Background, All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club
The introduction of lawn tennis was approved at the annual meeting and the club's membership fee was set at two guineas to cover both sports. At a cost of £25, one croquet lawn was converted to a tennis court; soon after its completion on 25 February 1875, a dozen new club members joined. In 1876 four more lawns, a third of the ground, were handed over to lawn tennis to address the increase in new members. A committee member, George Nicol, was appointed to deal exclusively with lawn tennis affairs. Lawn tennis had become so popular that on 14 April 1877 the name of the club was formally changed, at the suggestion of founding member John H. Hale, to the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club (AEC&LTC).


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Background, Rules of lawn tennis
On 3 March 1875 the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), in its capacity as the governing body for rackets and real tennis, convened a meeting at Lord's Cricket Ground to test the various versions of lawn tennis with the aim to fully standardise the game's rules. Wingfield was present to demonstrate Sphairistikè, as was John H. Hale, who presented his version called Germains Lawn Tennis; there is no record of either Gem or Perera being present to showcase Pelota. After the meeting, the MCC Tennis Committee was tasked with framing the rules.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Background, Rules of lawn tennis
On 29 May 1875 the MCC issued the Laws of Lawn Tennis, the first unified rules for lawn tennis, which were adopted by the club on 24 June. These were significantly based on the rules introduced by Wingfield in February 1874 and published in his rule-booklet titled Sphairistikè or Lawn Tennis. The MCC adopted Wingfield's hourglass-shaped court as well as the rackets method of scoring, in which the player who first scores 15 points wins the game and only the server ("hand-in") was able to score.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Background, Rules of lawn tennis
The height of the net was set at 5 ft (1.52 m) at the posts and 4 ft (1.22 m) in the centre. Various aspects of these rules, including the characteristic court shape and the method of scoring, were the subject of prolonged debate in the press. The MCC rules were not universally adhered to following its publication and, among others, the Prince's Club in London stuck to playing on rectangular courts.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament
On 2 June 1877, at the suggestion of the All England Club secretary and founding member John H. Walsh, the club committee decided to organise a lawn tennis championship for amateurs, a Gentlemen's Singles event, which they hoped would generate enough funds to repair the broken pony roller that was needed for the maintenance of the lawns. This championship became the world's first official lawn tennis tournament, and the first edition of what would later be called a Grand Slam tournament (or "Major").


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament
The committee agreed to hold the tournament on the condition that it would not endanger the club's limited funds; to ensure this, Henry Jones persuaded 20 members and friends of the club to guarantee a part of the tournament's financial requirement and made himself responsible for the remaining amount. Jones investigated all potential tournament locations in and around London but came to the conclusion that no other ground was more suitable than the Wimbledon premises at Worple Road. As a consequence, the remaining croquet lawns were converted to tennis courts.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Announcement
The first public announcement of the tournament was published on 9 June 1877 in The Field magazine under the header Lawn Tennis Championship:


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Announcement
The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon, propose to hold a lawn tennis meeting, open to all amateurs, on Monday, July 9th and following days. Entrance fee, £1 1s 0d. Names and addresses of competitors to be forwarded to the Hon. Sec . A.E.C. and L.T.C. before Saturday, July 7, or on that day before 2.15 p.m. at the club ground, Wimbledon. Two prizes will be given – one gold champion prize to the winner, one silver to the second player.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Announcement
The value of the prizes will depend on the number of entries, and will be declared before the draw; but in no case will they be less than the amount of the entrance money, and if there are ten and less than sixteen entries, they will be made up to £10 10s and £5 5s respectively.– Henry Jones – Hon Sec of the Lawn Tennis sub-committee


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Announcement
Players were instructed to provide their own racquets and wear shoes without heels. The announcement also stated that a programme would be available shortly with further details, including the rules to be adopted for the meeting. Invitations were sent to prospective participants. Potential visitors were informed that those arriving by horse and carriage should use the entrance at Worple Road while those who planned to come by foot were advised to use the railway path.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Announcement
Upon payment of the entrance fee, the participants were allowed to practise before the Championship on the twelve available courts with the provision that on Saturdays and during the croquet championship week, held the week before the tennis tournament, the croquet players had the first choice of courts. Practice balls, similar to the ones used for the tournament, were available from the club's gardener at a price of 12s per dozen balls. John H. Walsh, in his capacity as editor of The Field, persuaded his employer to donate a cup worth 25 guineas for the winner; the Field Cup.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Announcement
The cup was made of sterling silver and had the inscription: The All England Lawn Challenge Cup – Presented by the Proprietors of The Field – For competition by Amateurs – Wimbledon July 1877. On 6 July 1877, three days prior to the start of the tournament, a notice was published in The Times:


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Announcement
Next week at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club Ground a Lawn Tennis Championship Meeting will be held. The ground is situated close to the Wimbledon Station on the South Western Railway, and is sufficiently large for the erection of thirty "courts". On each day the competition will begin at 3.30, the first ties, of course, beginning on Monday. The Hon. Sec . of the meeting is Mr. J.H. Walsh, while Mr. H. Jones will officiate as referee. The entries are numerous.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Rules
The committee of the club was not satisfied with certain aspects of the 1875 MCC unified rules. To address these perceived shortcomings, a sub-committee consisting of Charles Gilbert Heathcote, Julian Marshall and Henry Jones was set up on 2 June 1877, to establish the rules applicable for the upcoming tournament. They reported back on 7 June with a new set of rules, derived but significantly different from those published by the MCC; in order not to offend the MCC, these rules were declared "provisional" and valid only for the championship:


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Rules
These rules, drawn up by the club for this initial tournament, were eventually adopted for the entire sport and, with only slight modifications, have retained their validity. All matches during the tournament were played as best-of-five sets.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Play
In accordance with the All England Regulations for the Management of Prize Meetings, the draw for the 22 entrants was made on Saturday, 7 July 1877, at 3:30 p.m. in the club's pavilion. H.T. Gillson had the distinction of being the first player in the history of modern tennis to be drawn for a tournament. The posts, nets and hand-stitched, flannel-covered India-rubber balls for the tournament were supplied by Jefferies & Co from Woolwich, while the rackets used were an adaptation of those used in real tennis, with a small and slightly lopsided head. The ball-boys kept the tennis balls, 180 of which were used during the tournament, in canvas wells. The umpires who were provided for the matches sat on chairs which in turn were placed on small tables of 18 inches height to give them a better view of the court.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Play
The tournament began on Monday, 9 July 1877, at 3:30 p.m. and daily programmes were available for sixpence. On the first day, in sunny weather, ten matches were played, which completed the first round. Full match scores were published on the notice board inside the pavilion. F.N. Langham, a Cambridge tennis blue, was given a walkover in the first round when C.F. Buller, an Etonian and well-known rackets player, did not appear. Julian Marshall became the first player to win a five-set match when he fought back from being two sets down against Captain Grimston.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Play
Spencer Gore, a 27-year-old rackets player from Wandsworth and at the time a land agent and surveyor by profession, won his first round match against Henry Thomas Gillson in straight sets. The five second-round matches were played on Tuesday, 10 July, again in fine weather. Charles Gilbert Heathcote had a bye in the second round. J. Lambert became the first player in Wimbledon Championships' history to retire a match, conceding to L.R. Erskine after losing the first two sets. Julian Marshall again won a five-set match, this time against F.W. Oliver, while Gore defeated Montague Hankey in four sets.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Play
The quarter-finals were played on Wednesday, 11 July, before a larger number of spectators than had attended the previous matches. Start of play was delayed from the scheduled 3:30 p.m. due to strong winds. Gore defeated Langham in four sets, William Marshall beat Erskine, also in four sets, and Julian Marshall, who injured his knee during the match after a fall, lost to Heathcote in straight sets. The quarter-final matches left three players, instead of four, in the draw for the semi-finals scheduled for Thursday.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Play
To solve the situation lots were drawn and Marshall, a 28-year-old architect and Cambridge real tennis blue, was given a bye to the final. His opponent would be Gore, who defeated Heathcote in straight sets in the only semi-final played. When the semi-final stage had concluded on Thursday, 12 July, play was suspended until next Monday, 16 July, to avoid a clash with the popular annual Eton v Harrow cricket match that was played at Lord's on Friday and Saturday.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Play
The final was postponed from its scheduled start on Monday at 4 p.m. until Thursday, 19 July, at 3:30 p.m. because of rain. On Thursday it was still showery, causing the final to be further delayed by an hour. It began on a dead and slippery court in front of about 200 spectators. There was a temporary three-plank stand on one side of the court offering seating to about thirty people. Marshall won the toss, elected to serve first and was immediately broken by Gore.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Play
After the first set was won by Gore, it started to rain for a quarter of an hour; this further softened the ground and affected the quality of play. The final lasted 48 minutes, and Spencer Gore won the inaugural championship against William Marshall in three straight sets of 15, 13, and 20 minutes respectively. En route to the title Gore had won 15 sets and lost two and won 99 games for the loss of 46. Gore, the volley specialist, had beaten the baseline player, at a time when volleying was considered by some to be unsporting. Some tried to outlaw the volley and a discussion on its merits took place in The Field for weeks after the tournament.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Tournament, Play
The final was followed by a play-off match for 2nd place between Marshall and Heathcote. The players could not fix another date for the match and decided to play it straight away. By agreement, the match was limited to best-of-three sets. Marshall, playing his second match of the day, defeated Heathcote in straight sets, in front of a diminished crowd, and won the silver prize of seven guineas.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Aftermath
On 20 July 1877, the day following the final, a report was published in The Morning Post newspaper:


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Aftermath
Lawn Tennis Championship – A fair number of spectators assembled yesterday, notwithstanding the rain, on the beautifully kept ground of the All England Club, Wimbledon, to witness the final contest between Messrs. Spencer Gore and W. Marshall for the championship. The play on both sides was of the highest order and its exhibition afforded a great treat to lovers of the game. All three sets were won buy Mr. Gore, who, therefore, becomes lawn tennis champion for 1877, and wins the £12 12s. gold prize and holds the silver challenge cup, value £25 5s. The second and third prizes were then played for by Messrs. W. Marshall and G.C. Heathcote (best of three sets by agreement). Mr. Marshall won two sets to love, and therefore takes the silver prize (value £12 12s.). Mr. Heathcote takes the third prize, value £3 3s.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Aftermath
A report in The Field stated: "The result was a more easy victory for Mr Spencer Gore than had been expected.". Third-placed Heathcote said that Gore was the best player of the year and had a varied service with a lot of twist on it. Gore, according to Heathcote, was a player with an aptitude for many games and had a long reach and a strong and flexible wrist. His volleying style was novel at the time, a forceful shot instead of merely a pat back over the net.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Aftermath
All the opponents who were defeated by Gore on his way to the title were real tennis players. His victory was therefore regarded as a win of the rackets style of play over the real tennis style, and of the offensive style of the volley player – who comes to the net to force the point, over the baseline player – who plays groundstrokes from the back of the court, intent on keeping the ball in play.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Aftermath
His volleying game was also successful because the height of the net at the post – 5 ft (1.52 m) in contrast to the modern height of 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) – made it difficult for his opponents to pass him by driving the ball down the line. Gore indicated that the real tennis players had the tendency to play shots from corner to corner over the middle of the net and did so at such a height that made volleying easy.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Aftermath
Despite his historic championship title, Gore was not enthusiastic about the new sport of lawn tennis. In 1890, thirteen years after winning his championship title, he wrote: "... it is want of variety that will prevent lawn tennis in its present form from taking rank among our great games ...


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Aftermath
That anyone who has really played well at cricket, tennis, or even rackets, will ever seriously give his attention to lawn tennis, beyond showing himself to be a promising player, is extremely doubtful; for in all probability the monotony of the game as compared with others would choke him off before he had time to excel in it." He did return for the 1878 Championship to defend his title in the Challenge Round but lost in straight sets to Frank Hadow, a coffee planter from Ceylon, who effectively used the lob to counter Gore's net play. It was Gore's last appearance at the Wimbledon Championships.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Aftermath, Analysis and rules changes
The tournament generated a profit of £10 and the pony roller stayed in use. When the tournament was finished, Henry Jones gathered all the score cards to analyse the results and found that, of the 601 games played during the tournament, 376 were won by the server ("striker-in") and 225 by the receiver ("striker-out"). At a time when the service was either made underarm or, usually, at shoulder height, this was seen as a serving dominance and resulted in a modification of the rules for the 1878 Championship.


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Aftermath, Analysis and rules changes
To decrease the target area for the server, the length of the service court was reduced from 26 to 22 ft (7.92 to 6.71 m) and to make passing shots easier against volleyers the height of the net was reduced to 4 ft 9 in (1.45 m) at the posts and 3 feet (0.91 m) at the centre. These rules were published jointly by the AEC & LTC and the MCC, giving the AEC & LTC an official rule-making authority and in effect retroactively sanctioning its 1877 rules. It marked the moment when the AEC & LTC effectively usurped the rule-making initiative from the MCC although the latter would still ratify rule changes until 1882. In recognition of the importance and popularity of lawn tennis, the club was renamed in 1882 to All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC).


1877 Wimbledon Championship, Aftermath, Commemorative plaque
On 18 June 2012 a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the former home of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, in Worple Road, Wimbledon celebrating both the first Wimbledon Championships and the 1908 Olympic tennis event. The ceremony was performed by Heather Hanbury, Headmistress of Wimbledon High School; Philip Brook, Chairman of the All England Club, and Cr David T Williams JP, Mayor of Merton.


1877 Wimbledon Championship – Singles
Spencer Gore defeated William Marshall, 6–1, 6–2, 6–4 in the final to win the inaugural Gentlemen's Singles tennis title at the 1877 Wimbledon Championships.


1877 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
The 1877 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1877. Under internal party pressure, incumbent Republican Governor Harrison Ludington, who had barely won the 1875 election, was pressured to not seek a second term. Former State Assembly Speaker William E. Smith, a longtime figure in Wisconsin politics, was selected as the Republican nominee, and Milwaukee County Municipal Judge Thomas A. Mallory won a protracted battle for the nomination at the Democratic convention. Smith and Mallory were joined in the general election by Greenback nominee Edward Phelps Allis. Ultimately, though the Republican vote share shrunk relative to 1875, the Democratic vote share shrunk more, and Smith won a larger victory than Ludington did, though only with a 44% plurality.


1877 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, Democratic convention
At the Democratic convention, several candidates entered the contest as apparent frontrunners: former State Senator Nicholas D. Fratt, Lieutenant Governor Charles D. Parker, State Senator Romanzo E. Davis, and State Prison Commissioner H. N. Smith. At the convention, a number of candidates were nominated, though some immediately made it clear that they would decline any nomination:


1877 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, Democratic convention
The contest took five ballots to decide. On the first ballot, Fratt took an early lead, with Parker and Davis immediately behind him. After the first ballot, Smith withdrew. On the second ballot, Davis rocketed to first place, with Fratt's and Parker's support starting to decline. Mallory slowly began climbing on the second ballot. On the third ballot, Davis continued to climb, Fratt fell, and Mallory rose to third place over Parker. At this point, the Milwaukee contingent at the convention, eager to stop Parker, a Madisonian from earning the nomination, began to solidify around Mallory as a compromise candidate. On the fourth ballot, Mallory more than doubled his support, Davis continued to climb, and Fratt and Parker both plummeted; after this round of balloting had concluded, Fratt's name was withdrawn. Finally, on the fifth ballot, Mallory won the nomination over Davis handily.


1877 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, Republican convention
The Republican convention was significantly less drawn-out than the Democratic convention, with most of the drama over the nomination occurring in the months before. Significant opposition developed in the Republican Party to the possible nomination of Governor Ludington for re-election, and former State Assembly Speaker William E. Smith, Ludington's opponent for the nomination two years earlier, emerging as a leading candidate. Smith's supporters produced a letter written from Ludington to Smith during the 1875 Republican convention, which thanked Smith for withdrawing from the race and promised to step aside for Smith in 1877:


1877 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, Republican convention
I only want to be Governor one term. That's all I ask. Two years from now, I shall not be in your way, or in any one else's, for the nomination. "Don't make it an absolute refusal," one of the members urged with fervor that almost disarmed me, and I think I made no reply.


1877 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, Republican convention
Ultimately, under significant pressure from the state Republican establishment, Ludington announced that he would not seek a second term. At the Republican convention in September, Smith took an early lead on the informal ballot of the delegates and then was nominated unanimously.


1877 Yale Bulldogs football team
The 1877 Yale Bulldogs football team represented Yale University in the 1877 college football season. The team finished with a 3–0–1 record and was retroactively named national champion by the National Championship Foundation and co-national champion by Parke H. Davis.


1877 college baseball season
The 1877 college baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States began in the spring of 1877. Play largely consisted of regional matchups, some organized by conferences, and ended in June. No national championship event was held until 1893, while the College World Series began in 1947.


1877 college football season
The 1877 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Yale and Princeton as having been selected national champions.


1877 in Argentina, Deaths
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1877 in Australia
The following lists events that happened during 1877 in Australia.


1877 in Australian literature
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1877.


1877 in Canada, Historical documents
"Great irregularities" - House of Commons committee finds inefficiency, lethargy and political influence rife in federal civil service


1877 in Canada, Historical documents
U.S. government report on commerce in the Province of Ontario


1877 in Canada, Historical documents
Editorial on the continual exodus of Quebeckers to the U.S.A.


1877 in Canada, Historical documents
Information pamphlet on a British agricultural colonization scheme for Western Canada


1877 in Canada, Historical documents
Lecturer says the rights and equality of women are necessary to society


1877 in Canada, Historical documents
Sitting Bull rejects the offer of a pardon and return to the U.S.A.


1877 in Chile
The following lists events that happened during 1877 in Chile.


1877 in New Zealand
The following lists events that happened during 1877 in New Zealand.


1877 in South Africa
The following lists events that happened during 1877 in South Africa.


1877 in Sweden
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by BHGbot (talk | contribs) at 20:47, 18 June 2020 (WP:BHGbot 6 (List 5): fixed sort key; WP:GENFIXES). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


1877 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1877 to Wales and its people.


1877 in association football
The following are events in 1877 which are relevant to the development of association football. Included are events in closely related codes, such as the Sheffield Rules, amalgamated into the FA Rules in 1877.


1877 in baseball
The following are the baseball events of the year 1877  throughout the world.


1877 in birding and ornithology
Birds described in 1877 include the giant ibis, black-and-yellow phainoptila, Cebu flowerpecker, Drakensberg prinia, Finsch's euphonia, lava heron, Manus friarbird, Palawan tit, plain-backed antpitta, rufous-fronted tailorbird and Walden's hornbill.


1877 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1877.


1877 in paleontology
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1877.


1877 in paleontology, Non-dinosaurian reptiles
A misidentified ornithosuchid archosaur whose name was preoccupied by MacLeay, 1819. It was later renamed Dasygnathoides. Synonym of Ornithosuchus