May 6 – Realizing that his people are weakened by cold and hunger, Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
November 21 – Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record sound, considered Edison's first great invention. Edison demonstrates the device for the first time on November 29.
September 6 – Buddy Bolden, African American jazz cornetist (died 1930)
October 2 – Carl Hayden, U.S. Senator from Arizona from 1927 to 1969 (died 1972)
October 13 – Theodore G. Bilbo, Governor of Mississippi from 1928 to 1932 and from 1935 to 1947 and U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1935 to 1947 (died 1947)
October 31 – Josiah O. Wolcott, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1917 to 1921 (died 1938)
November 12 – Warren Austin, U.S. Senator from Vermont from 1931 to 1946 (died 1962)
November 16 – Rice W. Means, U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1924 to 1927 (died 1949)