The following is a timeline of events that occur or are mentioned in Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2. Although the games are set at separate points between 1899 and 1914 inclusive, the background of the characters and the world spans well over a century of American history.
The city of Saint Denis is founded and serves as the capital of the French New World until the territory is purchased by the United States of America in the early 1800s.
1745[]
Ross Gray informs the British government of the impending Jacobite rebellion.
27 November: Cardinal Blanco of Madrid writes a letter to Brother Rodolfo, a Jesuit missionary in California, asking him to refrain from leaving his mission to travel east. Rodolfo later receives the letter, but ignores Blanco and dies in New Austin.
1800s to 1840s[]
1806[]
Douglas Gray and Lucille Braithwaite conspire to steal large sums of gold from their families to fund the abolition of slavery. The Grays and Braithwaites, each believing that the other family had their missing gold, begin a blood feud that endures until 1899.
6 September: Elijah, a runaway slave, writes a letter to his uncle Lewis after escaping both the Pennington family and the owner of Old Harry Fen. He later dies near Shady Belle before he can mail the letter.
30 March: A Confederate charge led by Major Hobart Crawley is routed by Union troops, resulting in the deaths of 3,202 Confederate soldiers. Major Crawley is the only survivor. The battle is later memorialized with a statue in Rhodes.
8 May: A Confederate Army force under General Quincy T. Harris attacks Fort Brennand under cover of night and massacres the Union Army garrison.
The Battle of Scarlett Meadows occurs at Bolger Glade in Lemoyne. Despite suffering massive casualties, Confederate troops successfully repel a major Union Army offensive. General Quincy T. Harris participates in the battle.
24 August: Death of Esther Sinclair, of unknown cause.
1865[]
The American Civil War concludes, with the Union victorious over the Confederacy. Lemoyne and other seceded states are subsequently readmitted to the United States of America.
Death of Edgar and Lila Shelton, struck by a lightning bolt.[3]
Emmet Granger turns witness on Fosse Gang, leading to their arrest.
1895[]
The end of the "Picturesque Period". Many stories and legends from this period were later adapted to motion pictures in the 1910s.
Tavish Gray receives a letter from Edinburgh University historian Malcolm Moffat revealing that his ancestor Ross Gray was not an exiled Jacobite as he had believed, but a spy for the Duke of Cumberland who had been forced to flee Scotland to escape the Jacobites' reprisals against informers.[20]
The Spanish-American War occurs. Of note, Colonel Thaddeus Waxman captures San Juan Hill in Guarma.[21]
1899[]
The Wilder Publishing Company publishes the Atlas of the United States of America 1899. This edition features maps of the states of New Hanover, Lemoyne, Ambarino, West Elizabeth, and New Austin compiled and drawn by cartographer N.J. Worthingham.
15 May: Death of Grace Blankenship, of unknown cause.
1908[]
Death of Nelly Dillard, of unknown cause.
11 April: Death of Lambert Henning, hit by a train.
1909[]
Death of Lydia Grubb, of unknown cause.
Death of Carlos Bonavides, of unknown cause.
23 February: Death of Orla Gaston, hit by a car.
14 August: Death of Alejandro Fortuna, killed by the Mexican Army.
19 November: Death of Hart Cummings, presumably from a deadly illness.
1910s[]
1910[]
Death of Mr. Braithwaite, of an unknown cause.
Ignacio Sanchez overthrows his brother in yet another bloody coup and becomes President of Mexico.
Crops in New Austin were ruined by an unknown personnel, and farmers were forced to sell their lands at a cheap price. The culprit behind this was rumored to be Jeremiah Somerset.
The map of the frontier, later used by John Marston in 1911 and passed on to his son Jack Marston, was drawn.
1911[]
25 March: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire occurs in New York City, the southwest hears news of this disaster sometime later.
Harrison Cherry's gravestone in 1911 writes that he dies on December 7, 1968.
Apparently this could be a very elaborate Beatles reference. To wit: In 1968, Eric Clapton gave George Harrison a cherry red guitar. At the time, Harrison was 25 (1943 + 25 = 1968) and Clapton was 23 (1945 + 23 = 1968), which averages to the age of 24. That guitar had serial numbers that corresponded to a batch that had shipped from a factory in a December, with 7 being the first number in the serial. Harrison then used the guitar through many of the Beatles' most famous works. See this page for more info on the guitar. Also, Harrison apparently named the guitar 'Lucy' in homage to comedienne Lucille Ball, and this could be why Jeb Blankenship's 'love' is named Lucy. Special thanks to therealcaro at reddead.net for doing the research.
Captain Maxwell Laskey died on August 24 in an unknown year. He was 31 when he died. He is mentioned briefly in a newspaper story at the end of Red Dead Redemption.
↑Billy West states to have been married for 50 years by the time of Red Dead Redemption.
↑In "The New South", Hosea and Dutch mention that Arthur was roughly 21 in an event that transpired 15 years prior to 1899, meaning Arthur was born around 1863.
