January–March •
January 4 –
Samuel Colt sells his first
revolver pistol to the U.S. government. •
January 13 – The
Treaty of Cahuenga ends fighting in the
Mexican–American War in
California. •
January 16 –
John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new
California Territory. •
January 17 –
St. Anthony Hall fraternity is founded at
Columbia University, New York City. •
January 30 –
Yerba Buena, California, is renamed
San Francisco. •
February 5 – A rescue effort, called the First Relief, leaves Johnson's Ranch to save the ill-fated
Donner Party of California-bound migrants who became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada earlier this winter. Some have resorted to survival by cannibalism. •
February 22 –
Mexican–American War:
Battle of Buena Vista – 5,000 American troops under General
Zachary Taylor use their superiority in
artillery to drive off 15,000 Mexican troops under
Antonio López de Santa Anna, defeating the Mexicans the next day. •
February 25 –
State University of Iowa is founded in
Iowa City, Iowa. •
March 1 • The state of
Michigan formally abolishes the
death penalty. •
Faustin Soulouque is elected President of
Haiti. •
March 4 – The
30th United States Congress is sworn into office. •
March 9 –
Mexican–American War: United States forces under General
Winfield Scott invade Mexico near
Veracruz. •
March 14 –
Verdi's opera
Macbeth premieres at the
Teatro della Pergola, in
Florence, Italy. •
March 29 –
Mexican–American War: United States forces under General
Winfield Scott take
Veracruz after a
siege. •
March – The first known publication of the classic joke "
Why did the chicken cross the road?" occurs in
The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine.
April–June •
April 5 – The world's first municipally-funded civic public
park,
Birkenhead Park in
Birkenhead on
Merseyside, England, is opened. •
April 15 –
The Lawrence School, Sanawar is established in India. •
April 16 –
New Zealand Wars: A minor
Māori chief is accidentally shot by a junior
British Army officer in
Whanganui on
New Zealand's
North Island, triggering the
Wanganui Campaign (which continues until
July 23). •
April 25 – The , carrying Irish emigrants from
Derry bound for
Quebec, is wrecked off
Islay, with only three survivors from more than 250 on board. •
May 7 – In
Philadelphia, the
American Medical Association (AMA) is founded. •
May 8 • The
Nagano earthquake leaves more than 8,600 people dead in
Japan. • Bahrain's ruler, Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, signs a treaty with the British to prevent and combat the slave trade in the Arabian Gulf. •
May 31 – Second
Treaty of Erzurum: the
Ottoman Empire cedes
Abadan Island to the
Persian Empire. •
May – The
Architectural Association School of Architecture is founded in London. •
June 1 – The first congress of the
Communist League is held in London. •
June 9 –
Radley College, an
English public school, is founded near Oxford as a High Anglican institution. •
June 26 – The first passenger railway wholly within modern-day Denmark opens, from
Copenhagen to
Roskilde. •
June – E. H. Booth & Co. Ltd, which becomes the northern England supermarket chain
Booths, is founded when tea dealer Edwin Henry Booth, 19, opens a shop called "The China House" in
Blackpool.
July–September •
July 1 – The United States issues its first
postage stamps. : Mormons expelled from Illinois arrive at the Great Salt Lake. •
July 12 –
A riot occurs in
Woodstock, New Brunswick, between Catholics and members of the
Orange Order that results in up to ten deaths. •
July 24 – After 17 months of travel,
Brigham Young leads 148
Mormon pioneers into
Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of
Salt Lake City in what becomes Utah. •
July 26 – The nation of
Liberia, founded as a haven for freed African-American slaves, becomes independent. •
July 29 – The
Cumberland School of Law is founded at
Cumberland University, in
Lebanon, Tennessee. At the end of this year, only 15 law schools exist in the United States. •
August 12 –
Mexican–American War: U.S. troops of General
Winfield Scott begin to advance along the
aqueduct around Lakes
Chalco and
Xochimilco in Mexico. •
August 20 –
Mexican–American War –
Battle of Churubusco: U.S. troops defeat Mexican forces. •
August –
Yale Corporation establishes the first graduate school in the United States, as
Department of Philosophy and the Arts (renamed
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in
1892). •
September 14 –
Mexican–American War: U.S. general
Winfield Scott enters Mexico City, marking the end of organized Mexican resistance.
October–December •
October 12 – German inventors and industrialists
Werner von Siemens and
Johann Georg Halske found
Siemens & Halske to develop the
electrical telegraph. •
October 19 –
Charlotte Brontë publishes
Jane Eyre under the pen name of Currer Bell in England. •
October 31 –
Theta Delta Chi is founded as a social
fraternity at
Union College,
Schenectady, New York. •
October – The last
volcanic eruption of
Mount Guntur in
West Java occurs. •
November 3–
29 –
Sonderbund War: In Switzerland, General
Guillaume-Henri Dufour's Federal Army defeats the
Sonderbund (an alliance of seven
Catholic cantons) in a civil war, with a total of only 86 deaths. •
November 4–
8 –
James Young Simpson discovers the
anesthetic properties of
chloroform and first uses it, successfully, on a patient, in an
obstetric case in
Edinburgh. •
November 10 – The first brew of
Carlsberg beer is finished in
Copenhagen. •
November 17 – The Battle of Um Swayya Spring takes place near a spring in Qatar, after a Bahraini force under Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Deputy Ruler of Bahrain defeats the Al Binali tribe. The chief of the Al Binali, Isa bin Tureef, is slain in battle with over 70 fatalities from his side. •
December 14 –
Emily Brontë and
Anne Brontë publish
Wuthering Heights and
Agnes Grey, respectively, in a 3-volume set under the pen names of Ellis Bell and Acton Bell in England. •
December 20 – British
Royal Navy steam
frigate is wrecked on the
Sorelle Rocks in the
Mediterranean Sea with the loss of 246 lives and only eight survivors. •
December 21 –
Emir Abdelkader surrenders to the French in Algeria.
Date unknown • The
Great Famine continues in Ireland. • The
North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the railroad town of
Goldsborough, and the
Wayne county seat is moved to the new town. •
Welfare in Sweden takes its first step with the introduction of the
1847 års fattigvårdförordning. •
Cartier, a
luxury brand in
France, is founded. == Births ==