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 that territory is purchased by the United States of America in the early 1800s.
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.
March 30: 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.
May 8: A Confederate Army force under General Quincy T. Harris attacks Fort Brennand under cover of night and massacres the Union Army garrison.
1864
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 is subsequently readmitted to the United States of America.
Death of Edgar and Lila Shelton, struck by a lightning bolt.
15 January: Death of Peter Turner, from a blow to his head.
3 March: Death of Willie Swenson, of unknown cause.
19 May: Death of a child buried in Perdido, of unknown cause.
Bill Williamson joins the Van der Linde gang.
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.
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.
The Spanish-American War occurs. Of note, Colonel Thaddeus Waxman captures San Juan Hill in Guarma.
President Thaddeus Waxman appoints Colonel William Thomas Kirchner as the chief engineer of the Panama Canal project, which the United States took over from France in 1904.
Death of Micah Bell; jointly shot dead by Dutch van der Linde and John Marston.
Death of Cleet; either hanged by John Marston or shot by Sadie Adler.
Death of Joe; shot by John Marston.
John and Abigail marry at Beecher's Hope.
Armadillo experiences an outbreak of Cholera.
Death of Charlotte Lauterback, of unknown cause.
Death of Travis Glover, of unknown cause.
Death of Mr. Pickering, by a gunshot.
Death of Gustavo Obregon, of unknown cause.
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.
In yet another bloody coup, Ignacio Sanchez 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.
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.