1845

January 10

• Poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning begin corresponding. [1]

January 23

• Francesco Ruggi composer, dies at age 77. [1]
• Uniform US election day for President and Vice President authorized. [1]

January 29

• Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" first published (New York Evening Mirror). [1] [5]

February 15

• William Parsons, Earl of Rosse, first uses 72-inch (183 cm) reflector. [1]

February 20

• Pavel Ivanovich Dulgorukov composer, dies at age 57. [1]

March 1

• President Tyler signs a resolution annexing the Republic of Texas. [1]

March 3

• First US law overriding a Presidential veto (John Tyler's). [1]
• US Congress authorizes ocean mail contracts for foreign mail delivery. [1]
• Florida becomes 27th state of the USA. [1] [345.9] [453.70]

March 4

• James K Polk inaugrated as 11th President of the United States. In his inaugural address, Polk states that the US claim to "the country of the Oregon" is "clear and unquestionable". [1] [66.19]

March 5

• US Congress appropriates $30,000 to ship camels to western US. [1]

March 11

• Agronomist John Chapman [Johnny Appleseed] dies in Allen County, Indiana, USA. [1] (1847 [5])
• British citizen Henry Jones invents self-raising flour. [5] (March 17 [1])

March 14

• -5.3 degrees F (-20.7 degrees C) in Groningen. [1]

March 17

• Rubber band patented by Stephen Perry of London, England. [1] [55.53]

March 19

• George Augustus Kollmann composer, dies at age 56. [1]

March 22

• Franz Joseph Volkert composer, dies at age 67. [1]

March 26

• Joseph Francis, New York City, New York, patents a corrugated sheet-iron lifeboat. [1]
• Patent awarded for adhesive medicated plaster, precusor of bandaid. [1]

March 28

• Mexico drops diplomatic relations with US. [1]

April 2

• H L Fizeau and J Leon Foucault take first photo of Sun. [1]

April 10

• More than 1,000 buildings damaged by fire in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. [1]

April 12

• Henry M baron the Kock officer/politician, dies at age 65. [1]

April 18

• Nicholas T the Saussure Swiss chemist/botany, dies at age 77. [1]

April 25

• Thomas Duncan painter, dies. [1]

May 2

• August Pauly German writer (Real Encyclopedia), dies at age 48. [1]
• Domingo Sarmiento publishes "Civilización y Barbarie". [1]

May 3

• Fire kills 1,600 in popular theater in Canton China. [1]

May 11

• Karoly Filtsch composer, dies at age 14. [1]

May 12

• August Wilhelm Schlegel German poet/interpreter/critic, dies at age 77. [1]

May 14

• Utrecht-Arnhem Railway opens. [1]

May 15

• Samuel I Wiselius Dutch lawyer/businessman/writer, dies at age 76. [1]

May 17

• Rubber band patents. [1]

May 19

• Maria EJ Versfelt mistress of General Moreau/marshal Ney, dies at age 68. [1]

May 20

• First legislative assembly convenes in Hawaii. [1]

May 28

• Fire in Québec Canada, 1,500 houses destroyed. [1]

June 1

• Homing pigeon completes 11,000 km trip (Namibia-London) in 55 days. [1]

June 12

• George Abernethy becomes first governor of Oregon Country. [1]

July 4

• Texas Congress votes for annexation to US. [1]
• Thoreau moves into his shack on Walden Pond. [1]

July 14

• First postmasters' provisional stamps issued, New York City. [1]

July 16

• New York Yacht Club holds its first regatta. [1]

August 28

• Scientific American magazine publishes its first issue. [5]

October 10

• The Naval School (now called US Naval Academy) opens at Annapolis. [1]

October 13

• Texas ratifies a state constitution. [1]

October 19

• Wagner's opera Tannhäuser performed for first time. [1]

October 20

• The opera "Tannhäuser" is produced (Dresden). [1]

November 4

• First nationally observed uniform election day in US. [1]

November 15

• The opera "Maritana" is produced (London). [1]

December 2

• Johannes Simon Mayr composer, dies at age 82. [1]

December 27

• Ether first used in childbirth in US, Jefferson Georgia. [1]

December 29

• Texas admitted as the 28th state. [1]

1846

January 1

• Yucatan declares independence from México. [1]

January 10

• Etienne P de Senancour French writer (De l'Amour), dies at age 75. [1]

January 21

• First edition of Charles Dickens' "Daily News". [1]

January 28

• Battle of Allwal, Brits beat Sikhs in Punjab (India). [1]

February 3

• Joseph Weigl Austria composer/conductor (Waisenhaus), dies at age 79. [1]

February 4

• Mormons leave Nauvoo Missouri for settlement in the west. [1]

February 5

• "Oregon Spectator" is first newspaper to be published on the West Coast. [1]

February 9

• Henry Gally Knight architect/writer, dies. [1]

February 10

• Beginning of Mormon march to west US. [1]
• British defeat Sikhs in battle of Sobraon, India. [1]

February 14

• Cornelis F van Maanen Dutch supreme court justice, dies at age 76. [1]

February 16

• Battle of Sobraon ends first Sikh War in India. [1]

February 18

• Giovanni Liverati composer, dies at age 73. [1]

February 19

• Texas is admitted to the United States of America. [1] [400.94]

February 20

• British occupy Sikh citadel of Lahore. [1]

February 21

• First US woman telegrapher, Sarah G Bagley, Lowell Massachusetts. [1]

February 22

• Carolus Antonius Fodor composer, dies at age 77. [1]
• Nikoli A Poveloi Russian writer/publisher, dies at age 49. [1]

February 23

• Polish revolutionaries march on Cracow, but are defeated. [1]

March 6

• Nikoli A Poveloi Russian writer/publisher, dies at age 49. [1]

March 13

• Friedrich Hebbel's "Maria Magdalena" premieres in Königsberg. [1]

March 17

• Friedrich W Bessel German astronomer (Bessel Functions), dies at age 61. [1]

April 16

• Domenico Dragonetti composer, dies at age 83. [1]

May 1

• Ida Pfeiffer (48) begins trip around world. [1]

May 3

• Mexican army surrounds fort in Texas. [1]

May 4

• US state of Michigan ends death penalty. [1]

May 8

• First major battle of Mexican War fought at Palo Alto Texas. [1]
• Giacomo Cordella composer, dies at age 59. [1]

May 9

• Battle of Resaca de la Palma-US sends México back to Rio Grande. [1]

May 13

• US declares war on México, two months after fighting begins. [1]

May 17

• Saxophone is patents by Antoine Joseph Sax. [1]

May 18

• US troops attack Rio Grande occupying Matamoros. [1]

May 21

• First steamship arrives in Hawaii. [1]

May 24

• General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey in Mexican War. [1]

June 10

• Robert Thomson obtains an English patent on a rubber tire. [1]

June 14

• California (Bear Flag) Republic proclaimed in Sonoma. [1]

June 15

• Oregon Treaty signed, setting US-British boundary at 49 degrees N. [1]

July 7

• US annexs California. [1]

July 9

• Captain Montgomery claims Yerba Buena (San Francisco) for US. [1]

July 21

• Mormons found first English settlement in California (San Joaquin Valley). [1]

July 26

• Congress authorizes Treasury notes to finance war with Mexico. [420.62] [459.64]

August 5

• Oregon country divided between US and Britain at 49th parallel. [1]

August 10

• US President James Polk signs legislation establishing the Smithsonian Institution. [1] [474.30]

August 14

• The Cape Girardeau meteorite, a 2.3kg chondrite-type meteorite, strikes near the town of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. [5]
• Henry David Thoreau jailed for tax resistance. [1]

August 17

• US takes Los Angeles. [1]

August 18

• General Stephen W Kearney's US forces captures Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. [1]

August 22

• US annexes New Mexico. [1]

August 26

• W A Bartlett appointed first US mayor of Yerba Buena (San Francisco). [1]

September 10

• Elias Howe patents the sewing machine. [1]

September 19

• Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning elopes. [1]

September 23

• Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich d'Arrest find Neptune. [1]

September 30

• Anesthetic ether used for first time (Dr William Morton extracts a tooth). [1]

October 10

• Neptune's moon Triton discovered by William Lassell. [1]

October 15

• Dr William Thomas Green Morton first public use of ether. [1]

October 16

• Dentist William T Morton demonstrated the effectiveness of ether. [1]

December 5

• C F Schoenbein obtains patent for cellulose nitrate explosive. [1]

December 6

• The opera "La Damnation de Faust" is produced (Paris). [1]

December 8

• Hector Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust" premieres. [1]

December 28

• Iowa becomes 29th state. [1]

1847

January 1

• Michigan is first state to abolish capital punishment. [1]
• Netherlands Haarlem's Current newspaper starts publishing. [1]

January 3

• California town of Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco. [1]

January 9

• First San Francisco newspaper published (California Star). [1]

January 11

• Caroline von Wolzogen [von Lengefeld] German author, dies at age 83. [1]

January 14

• Conspiracy in New Mexico against US. [1]
• Governor Bent five others in US occupation, killed by revolt in New Mexico. [1]

January 15

• First Swedish magazine in US, Skandinavia, published in New York City, New York. [1]

January 22

• Georges-Julien Sieber composer, dies at age 71. [1]

January 24

• 1,500 New Mexican Indians and Mexicans defeated by US Colonel Price. [1]

January 30

• Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco. [1]

February 4

• First US telegraph company established in Maryland. [1]

February 17

• William Collins landscape painter, dies. [1]

February 23

• Battle of Buena Vista, México; Zachary Taylor defeats Mexican army. [1]

February 25

• State University of Iowa is approved. [1]

February 28

• US defeats México in battle of Sacramento. [1]

March 1

• Michigan becomes first English-speaking jurisdiction to abolish the death penalty (except for treason against the state). [1]

March 3

• Post Office Department authorized to issue postage stamps. [1]

March 7

• US General Scott occupies Vera Cruz Mexico. [1]

March 10

• First money minted in Hawaii. [1]

March 17

• Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "Macbeth" is produced (Florence). [1]

March 18

• First Dutch public telegram. [1]

March 21

• Antonio López de Santa Anna becomes President (9th time) of Mexico. [118.61]

March 25

• Pope Pius IX encyclical "On aid for Ireland". [1]

March 28

• Mariano Rodriguiz de Ledesma composer, dies at age 67. [1]

March 29

• 12,000 US troops capture Vera Cruz, Mexico. [1]
• Auguste De Polignac premier France, dies at age 66. [1]

April 2

• Antonio López de Santa Anna resigns (9th time) as President of Mexico. [118.61]

April 14

• Persia and Osmaanse sign second Treaty of Erzurum. [1]

April 23

• Erik Gustaf Geijer composer, dies at age 64. [1]

April 30

• Charles archduke of Austria/Governor-General (Austria-Netherlands), dies. [1]

May 2

• Sabbath famine. [1]

May 4

• New York State creates a Board of Commissioners of Emigration. [1]

May 5

• American Medical Association organized (Philadelphia). [1]

May 7

• American Medical Association organizes (Philadelphia). [1]

May 8

• Robert Thompson patents rubber tire. [1]

May 14

• Fanny Cacilia Mendelssohn Hensel composer, dies at age 41. [1]

May 16

• Kaspar Ett German organist/composer, dies at age 59. [1]

May 20

• Antonio López de Santa Anna becomes President (10th time) of Mexico. [118.61]
• Mary Lamb writer, dies. [1]

May 31

• Rotterdam-Hague Railway opens. [1]

June 1

• The first Communist political party, the Communist League convenes in London, England. [55.43]

June 14

• Bunson invents a gas burner. Lab teachers celebrate worldwide. [1]

June 22

• Doughnut created. [1]

July 1

• First US postage stamps go on sale in New York City: 5-cent Benjamin Franklin and 10-cent George Washington. Franklin is the first person in the world other than a head of state to appear on a stamp. [1] [323.17]
• Amateur astronomer M Hencke discovers second asteroid Hebe. [1]
• K L Hencke discovers asteroid #6 Hebe. [1]

July 2

• Envelope bearing the first US 10-cent stamps, still exists today. [1]

July 10

• Urbain J.J. Leverrier and John Couch Adams, codiscoverers of Neptune. [1]

July 24

• Rotary-type printing press patented by Richard March Hoe, New York City. [1]

July 26

• Liberia declares independence from American Colonization Society. [1]

September 10

• First theater opens in Hawaii. [1]

September 14

• US troops under General Scott enter Mexico City. [1]

September 15

• Antonio López de Santa Anna resigns (10th time) as President of Mexico. [118.61]

October 1

• Maria Mitchell discovers a non-naked-eye comet. [1]

November 21

• Steamer "Phoenix" is lost on Lake Michigan, kills 200. [1]

November 25

• The opera "Marta" is produced (Vienna). [1]

November 29

• Indians kill Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, 11 settle in Walla Walla Ore. [1]

December 3

• Frederick Douglass publishes first issue of his newspaper "North Star". [1]

December 11

• Moritz Grave von Strachwitz German poet, dies at age 25. [1]

December 29

• William Crotch composer, dies at age 72. [1]