Explore the major historical events, famous births, and notable deaths that occurred in the year 1847. This year saw 50 significant events. 6 notable figures were born.
Samuel Colt (July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company and made the mass production of…
Michigan becomes the first English-speaking jurisdiction to abolish the death penalty (except for treason against the state)
Birkenhead Park is a major public park located in the centre of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and opened on 5 April 1847.
Author of Moby-Dick, American novelist Herman Melville (28) marries Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Battle of Chapultepec: American forces capture Chapultepec Castle during the Mexican–American War, allowing US General Winfield Scott to take Mexico City
Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie Bowell (24) weds Harriet Moore
1st San Francisco newspaper published (California Star)
1st Swedish magazine in US, Skandinavia, published in NYC
John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory
Mexican and indigenous Pueblo warriors kill territorial governor Charles Bent (47), and 5 others in a revolt against new American rulers in Taos, New Mexico Territory
1,500 New Mexican Indians & Mexicans defeated by US Colonel Price
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the fourth-most populous city in California and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with a population of 827,526 in 2024.
1st US telegraph company established in Maryland
Battle of Buena Vista begins between US and Mexican troops
The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state.
US forces numbering less than 1,000 defeat a larger Mexico force in the Battle of the Sacramento River
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or...
US General Scott occupies Vera Cruz, Mexico
1st money minted in Hawaii
First Dutch public telegram
Pope Pius IX (Italian: Pio IX; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878.
12,000 US troops capture Vera Cruz, Mexico
Persia & Ottoman Turkey sign 2nd Treaty of Erzurum
George B. Vashon becomes 1st African American to enter New York State Bar
NY State creates a Board of Commissioners of Emigration
The American Medical Association (AMA) is an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students.
Scottish inventor Robert Thompson patents his pneumatic tyre in the US
Rotterdam-Hague Railway opens
Tribune Publishing Company (briefly Tronc, Inc.) is an American newspaper print and online media publishing company.
A doughnut or donut is a type of pastry made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in...
New York and Boston are linked by telegraph wires
1st US postage stamps go on sale, 5 cent Franklin and 10 cent Washington, NYC
Envelope bearing 1st US 10 cent stamps used (still exists today)
German astronomer Theodor discovers Comet Brorsen-Metcalf
Moses Gerrish Farmer builds first miniature train for children to ride
Denmark phases out slavery, beginning with all newborn children of enslaved women; the parent generation is freed the following year [1]
Cumberland School of Law is founded in Lebanon, Tennessee, USA. At the end of 1847, only 15 law schools exist in the United States.
Yucatán Caste War breaks out as Maya forces attack the town of Tepich, ordering all non-Maya to be killed in revenge for killings by Governor Méndez. War unofficially ends in 1901.
The Battle for Mexico City refers to the series of engagements from September 8 to September 15, 1847, in the general vicinity of Mexico City during the Mexican–American War.
First theater opens in Hawaii
Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" (Chapultepec Forest) in Mexico City, is one of the largest Nature Value Areas in Mexico, measuring in total just over 866 hectares (2,140...
US Marines under General Scott enter Mexico City (halls of Montezuma)
12-year-old English boy William Nelman poisons his grandpa with arsenic, becoming a famous court case
The passenger ship Stephen Whitney is wrecked in thick fog off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 92 of the 110 on board. The disaster results in the construction the Fastnet Rock lighthouse.
Sir James Young Simpson, a British physician, is the first to use chloroform as an anesthetic
Steamer "Phoenix" is lost on Lake Michigan, kills 200
Friedrich von Flotow's comic romance opera "Martha" premiers at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna
Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist. Along with his poetry, he is known for writing the autobiographical novel La Confession d'un enfant du siècle (The...
Church of San Francisco dei Minori Conventuali in Bologna, Italy, initiated with the premier of Rossini's "Tantum ergo"
Cayuse Native Americans kill missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and 12 others at Waiilatpu Mission in Oregon Country due to suspicion that they poisoned 200 Cayuse people
Thomas Edison, American inventor and businessman, known for american inventor and businessman, was born on 1847-02-11.
Alexander Graham Bell, American inventor of the telephone, known for inventor of the telephone, was born on 1847-03-03.
Kate Sheppard, New Zealand zealand suffragist, known for new zealand suffragist, was born on 1847-03-10.
Joseph Pulitzer, American hungarian-american newspaper publisher, known for hungarian-american newspaper publisher, was born on 1847-04-10.
Anna Howard Shaw is born
Archibald Primrose is born
Samuel Colt (July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company and made the mass production of…
Michigan becomes the first English-speaking jurisdiction to abolish the death penalty (except for treason against the state)
Birkenhead Park is a major public park located in the centre of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and opened on 5 April 1847.
Author of Moby-Dick, American novelist Herman Melville (28) marries Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Battle of Chapultepec: American forces capture Chapultepec Castle during the Mexican–American War, allowing US General Winfield Scott to take Mexico City
Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie Bowell (24) weds Harriet Moore
1st San Francisco newspaper published (California Star)
1st Swedish magazine in US, Skandinavia, published in NYC
John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory
Mexican and indigenous Pueblo warriors kill territorial governor Charles Bent (47), and 5 others in a revolt against new American rulers in Taos, New Mexico Territory
1,500 New Mexican Indians & Mexicans defeated by US Colonel Price
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the fourth-most populous city in California and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with a population of 827,526 in 2024.
1st US telegraph company established in Maryland
Battle of Buena Vista begins between US and Mexican troops
The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state.
US forces numbering less than 1,000 defeat a larger Mexico force in the Battle of the Sacramento River
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or...
US General Scott occupies Vera Cruz, Mexico
1st money minted in Hawaii
First Dutch public telegram
Pope Pius IX (Italian: Pio IX; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878.
12,000 US troops capture Vera Cruz, Mexico
Persia & Ottoman Turkey sign 2nd Treaty of Erzurum
George B. Vashon becomes 1st African American to enter New York State Bar
NY State creates a Board of Commissioners of Emigration
The American Medical Association (AMA) is an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students.
Scottish inventor Robert Thompson patents his pneumatic tyre in the US
Rotterdam-Hague Railway opens
Tribune Publishing Company (briefly Tronc, Inc.) is an American newspaper print and online media publishing company.
A doughnut or donut is a type of pastry made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in...
New York and Boston are linked by telegraph wires
1st US postage stamps go on sale, 5 cent Franklin and 10 cent Washington, NYC
Envelope bearing 1st US 10 cent stamps used (still exists today)
German astronomer Theodor discovers Comet Brorsen-Metcalf
Moses Gerrish Farmer builds first miniature train for children to ride
Denmark phases out slavery, beginning with all newborn children of enslaved women; the parent generation is freed the following year [1]
Cumberland School of Law is founded in Lebanon, Tennessee, USA. At the end of 1847, only 15 law schools exist in the United States.
Yucatán Caste War breaks out as Maya forces attack the town of Tepich, ordering all non-Maya to be killed in revenge for killings by Governor Méndez. War unofficially ends in 1901.
The Battle for Mexico City refers to the series of engagements from September 8 to September 15, 1847, in the general vicinity of Mexico City during the Mexican–American War.
First theater opens in Hawaii
Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" (Chapultepec Forest) in Mexico City, is one of the largest Nature Value Areas in Mexico, measuring in total just over 866 hectares (2,140...
US Marines under General Scott enter Mexico City (halls of Montezuma)
12-year-old English boy William Nelman poisons his grandpa with arsenic, becoming a famous court case
The passenger ship Stephen Whitney is wrecked in thick fog off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 92 of the 110 on board. The disaster results in the construction the Fastnet Rock lighthouse.
Sir James Young Simpson, a British physician, is the first to use chloroform as an anesthetic
Steamer "Phoenix" is lost on Lake Michigan, kills 200
Friedrich von Flotow's comic romance opera "Martha" premiers at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna
Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist. Along with his poetry, he is known for writing the autobiographical novel La Confession d'un enfant du siècle (The...
Church of San Francisco dei Minori Conventuali in Bologna, Italy, initiated with the premier of Rossini's "Tantum ergo"
Cayuse Native Americans kill missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and 12 others at Waiilatpu Mission in Oregon Country due to suspicion that they poisoned 200 Cayuse people
Thomas Edison, American inventor and businessman, known for american inventor and businessman, was born on 1847-02-11.
Alexander Graham Bell, American inventor of the telephone, known for inventor of the telephone, was born on 1847-03-03.
Kate Sheppard, New Zealand zealand suffragist, known for new zealand suffragist, was born on 1847-03-10.
Joseph Pulitzer, American hungarian-american newspaper publisher, known for hungarian-american newspaper publisher, was born on 1847-04-10.
Anna Howard Shaw is born
Archibald Primrose is born