1847

1847 (MDCCCXLVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar).

Events

January

• January 4 - Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.
• January 16 - John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
• January 30 - Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco.

February

• February 5 - : A rescue effort, called the First Relief, leaves Johnson's Ranch to save the ill-fated Donner Party. These Califoria bound emigrants became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–1847, and some had resorted to cannibalism to survive.
• February 22 - Mexican-American War: The 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.

March

• March 1 - The state of Michigan formally abolishes the death penalty.
• March 1 - Faustin Soulouque declares himself Emperor of Haiti
• March 9 - Mexican-American War: United States forces under General Winfield Scott invade Mexico near Veracruz.
• March 29 - Mexican-American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege.

April

April 15 - The beginning of The Lawrence school Sanawar,

May

• May 7 - In Philadelphia, the American Medical Association (AMA) is founded.

June

• June 1 – First communist congress in London

July

• July 1 - The United States issues its first postage stamps.
• 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.
• July 26 - Liberia gains independence.
• July 29 - Cumberland School of Law founded at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. At the end of 1847 only 15 law schools exist in the United States.

August

• August 12 – US troops of general Winfield Scott begin to advance along the aqueduct around Chalco and Xochimilco lakes in Mexico
• August 20 – US troops defeat Mexican troops in Valencia, Mexico

September

• September 6 - Henry David Thoreau leaves Walden Pond and moves in with Ralph Waldo Emerson and his family in Concord, Massachusetts.

• September 30 - The Vegetarian Society (UK) was formed. It remains the oldest in the world.

October

• October 12 - German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.

Undated

• Ottoman Empire cedes Abadan Island to the Persian Empire.
• Abd al-Kader is captured and imprisoned by the French.
• Founding of the Architectural Association School of Architecture
• Emily Brontë publishes Wuthering Heights under the pen name of Ellis Bell.
• Charlotte Brontë publishes Jane Eyre: An Autobiography under the pen name of Currer Bell
• The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the railroad town of Goldsborough, North Carolina named for Major Matthew T. Goldsborough. The Wayne county seat is moved from Waynesborough to the new town. Goldsborough is later shortened to Goldsboro.

Ongoing events

• Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
• Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849)

Births

• Michel-Joseph Maunoury, French General during World War I (d. 1923)
• Wong Fei Hung, Chinese healer and revolutionary (d. 1924)
• February 8 - Hugh Price Hughes, Methodist Social Reformer, First Superintendent of the West London Mission (d. 1902)
• February 11 - Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor (d. 1931)
• February 15 - Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer (d. 1927)
• February 16 - Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (d. 1917)
• March 3 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born inventor (d. 1922)
• March 3 - Adelaide Neilson, English actress (d. 1880)
• March 4 - Karl Bayer, Austrian chemist (d. 1904)
• March 27 - Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
• April 10 - Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian-born journalist and newspaper publisher (d. 1911)
• May 7 - Archibald Primrose, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1929)
• June 11 - Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (d. 1929)
• July 25 - Paul Langerhans, German pathologist and biologist (d. 1888)
• August 14 - Robert Comtesse, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1922)
• September 5 - Jesse James, American outlaw (d. 1882)
• October 2 - Paul von Hindenburg, President of Germany (d. 1934)
• November 26 - Dagmar of Denmark, empress of Tsar Alexander III of Russia (d. 1928)
• December 7 - George Grossmith, English actor and comic writer (d. 1912)
• December 18 - Augusta Holmès, French composer (d. 1903)

Exact month/day of birth unknown

• Hale Johnson, American temperance movement leader (d. 1902)

Deaths

• January 19 - Charles Bent, first Governor of New Mexico Territory (assassinated)
• March 9 - Mary Anning, British paleontologist (b. 1799)
• March 11 - Johnny Appleseed, American pioneer agronomist (b. 1774)
• April 30 - Archduke Charles of Austria, Austrian general (b. 1771)
• May 14 - Fanny Mendelssohn, German composer and pianist (b. 1805)
• May 29 - Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (b. 1766)
• September 13 - Nicolas Oudinot, French marshal (b. 1767)
• October 3 - Charles Hatchett, English chemist (b. 1765)
• October 22 - Negus Sahle Selassie of Shewa
• November 4 - Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (b. 1809)

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