Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877)
Jan 4 American shipping and railroad magnate (New York Central Railroad), dies at 82
Charles Wilkes (1798-1877)
Feb 8 American Antarctic explorer and naval officer (Union Navy), dies at 78
- Feb 20 Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough, American Rear Admiral (Union Navy during US Civil War), dies at 72
- Mar 1 Jack McCall, American gold miner and murderer, executed by hanging for the murder of Wild Bill Hicock at about 24 [date of birth uncertain]
- Mar 4 Hendrik van Rijgersma, Dutch governor (St Maarten), dies at 42
- Mar 9 Mark Prager Lindo, English-Dutch writer (The Dutch Spectator), dies at 58
- Mar 12 Cristóbal Oudrid, Spanish pianist, conductor, and orchestral and zarzuela composer (Rondeña; El molinero de Subiza), dies of bacterial pneumonia at 52
- Mar 13 Charles Cowden Clarke, English editor and Shakespearean critic, dies at 89
- Mar 24 Walter Bagehot, English journalist and economist (founded National Review), dies at 51
- Mar 25 Elkanah Brackin Greer, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 51
- Mar 28 Vincenzo Fioravanti, Italian composer, dies at 77
- Mar 31 Antoine Cournot, French philosopher and mathematician (rule of Cournot), dies at 75
- Apr 7 Errico Petrella, Italian composer, dies at 63
- Apr 22 James P. Kirkwood, American civil engineer, dies at 70
- May 6 Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet (Finland's national anthem "Maamme"), dies at 73
- May 14 John Roberts, Welsh composer, minister and poet, dies at 54
- May 18 William "Extra Billy" Smith, American lawyer, politician (Governor of Virginia, 1846-49 and 1864-65; US Representative from Virginia, 1853-61), and oldest General in the Confederate Army, dies at 89
- May 29 John Lothrop Motley, American historian and author (The Rise of the Dutch Republic), dies at 63
- Jun 3 Frank Pocock, British explorer, drowned in the Congo while travelling with Stanley
- Jun 3 Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, Austrian musicologist (Köchel catalogue of Mozart's works), dies of cancer at 77
- Jun 3 Sophie of Württemberg, Queen of Netherlands as wife of William III, dies at 58
- Jun 5 Prairie Flower, daughter of Ponca tribe Chief Standing Bear, dies during forced removal to Oklahoma Indian Reservation
- Jun 7 Winand Staring, Dutch geologist (Bottom of Netherlands), dies at 68
- Jun 9 Hugh W. Mercer, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 68
- Jul 1 William Henry Davenport, American stage magician, claimed to be a spirit medium, dies at 36
- Jul 13 Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, German politician and bishop of Mainz, dies at 65
- Aug 2 James Douglas, British-Canadian fur trader and politician (1st Governor of British Columbia 1858-64) called "The Father of British Columbia", dies of a heart attack at 73
- Aug 3 Karl Georg Lickl, Austrian pianist, physharmonica (type of harmonium) player, and composer, dies at 75
- Aug 3 William Butler Ogden, American real estate investor, politician (1st Mayor of Chicago, 1837-38), railroad executive (president of Union Pacific, 1862-63), and philanthropist, dies at 72
- Aug 5 Gustavus, Crown Prince of Sweden, dies at 77
- Aug 12 James Drummond, Scottish historical painter, (b. 1816)
Brigham Young (1801-1877)
Aug 29 American religious leader (Latter-day Saints), dies of peritonitis at 76
Crazy Horse (1840-1877)
Sep 5 Oglala Sioux chief (Battle of the Little Bighorn), dies at 37
- Sep 12 Julius Reitz, German cellist, composer, teacher, and music editor, dies at 64
William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877)
Sep 17 English photographic pioneer, dies at 77
- Sep 23 Urbain Jean Joseph le Verrier, French astronomer (made calculations that proved existence of Neptune), dies at 66
- Sep 25 Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich, German physician ( established normal temperature as 37 °C (98.6 °F), dies at 62
- Sep 26 Hermann Grassmann, German linguist and mathematician, dies at 68
- Sep 30 Toohoolhoolzote, prophet of Nez Perce indians, dies in battle
- Oct 3 James Roosevelt Bayley, first Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, and the eighth Archbishop of Baltimore, dies at 63
- Oct 10 Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist, dies at 76
- Oct 14 Antoine-Amable-Elie Elwart, French composer, dies at 68
- Oct 16 John Zwijsen, archbishop of Utrecht, dies at 83
- Oct 16 Theodore Barrière, French dramatist (b. 1823)
- Oct 28 Johann Herbeck, Austrian composer and conductor (conducted premiere of Franz Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony"), dies at 45
- Oct 28 Robert Swinhoe, British naturalist (b. 1835)
Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877)
Oct 29 American slave trader, Confederate lieutenant general and KKK Grand Wizard, dies of complications from diabetes at 56
- Nov 1 Oliver Hazard Perry Throck Morton, American politician (Governor of Indiana), dies of a stroke at 56
- Nov 2 Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, Prussian field marshal, dies at 93
- Dec 7 Benjamin Huger, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 72
- Dec 10 Federico Ricci, Italian composer, dies at 68
- Dec 10 Jared Kirtland, American physician, naturalist and reformed penitentiaries, dies at 84
- Dec 12 José de Alencar, Brazilian writer (O Guarani), dies at 48
- Dec 23 Thomas Wright, English antiquarian and writer, dies at 87
- Dec 24 Robert Parker Parrott, American inventor (developed the rifled cannon known as the Parrott gun), dies at 73
- Dec 27 Nikolay Alekseyevich Nekrasov, Russian poet, writer and publisher (Russkije Zjenjshiny), dies at 56
- Dec 29 Willem Sassen, Dutch attorney general on Curacao (Affair-S), dies
- Dec 31 Alberto Mazzucato, composer, dies at 64
- Dec 31 Gustave Courbet, French realist painter (Demoiselles the la Seine), dies at 58
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning