Events in History
Event of Interest
Jan 6 Naturalists Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland reach Quito, Ecuador
Alexander von Humboldt
Napoléon Bonaparte
- Jan 26 Congress passes an act calling for a US Capitol library
- Jan 29 John Beckley of Virginia appointed first Librarian of Congress
- Feb 2 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25 cents)
- Feb 8 Simon Willard patents banjo clock
- Mar 16 US Army Corps of Engineers established (2nd time)
- Mar 16 1st US Military Academy at West Point is established through Congressional act (opened July 4, 1802)
- Mar 25 Great Britain and the French Republic sign the Treaty of Amiens
- Mar 28 Wilhelm Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid known to man
- Apr 8 French Protestant church becomes state-supported & -controlled
Event of Interest
Apr 15 William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy see a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud".
Event of Interest
Jun 15 Toussaint Louverture leaves Haiti, prisoner on French ship Héros
Toussaint Louverture
- Jul 4 1st US Military Academy opens at West Point, NY
- Jul 7 1st comic book "The Wasp" is published in Hudson, New York criticizing Republican politicians
- Aug 2 Napoleon declared "Consul for Life"
- Aug 7 Napoleon orders re-instatement of slavery on St Domingue (Haiti)
- Aug 25 Toussaint Louverture imprisoned in Fort de Joux, Jura, France
- Sep 11 France annexes the Kingdom of Piedmont.
- Oct 10 1st non-Indian settlement in Oklahoma
- Nov 1 Delegates meet at Chillicothe, Ohio, to form a state constitutional convention.
- Dec 2 Britain sells Suriname to the Netherlands
Birthdays in History
- Jan 3 Charles Pelham Villiers, British House of Commons member (d. 1898)
- Jan 6 Ion Heliade-Radulescu, Romanian writer (Gramatica), born in Târgoviște, Romania (d. 1872)
- Jan 13 Eduard von Bauernfeld, comedic playwright, born in Vienna, Austria
- Jan 19 [Jean] Silvain van de Weyer, 1st Belgium min of Foreign affairs (1831)
- Jan 22 Richard Upjohn, American gothic architect (Trinity Chapel, NY)
- Jan 31 Jan C J van Speijk, Dutch naval hero
- Feb 2 Jean-Baptiste JD Boussingault, French chemist
- Feb 4 Mark Hopkins, American educator/philosopher (Williams College)
- Feb 11 Lydia Maria Child, American author, journalist and abolitionist (Juvenile Miscellany), born in Medford, Massachusetts (d. 1880)
- Feb 16 Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, American philosopher (d. 1866)
- Feb 19 Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1881)
- Feb 21 George Douglas Ramsay, Brevet Major general (Union Army), born in Dumfries, Virginia (d. 1882)
Victor Hugo
Feb 26 Victor Hugo, French author (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables), born in Besançon, France (d. 1885)
Victor Hugo
- Feb 27 Lord George Bentinck [William George Frederick Cavendish Bentinck], English Conservative politician, born in Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire (d. 1848)
- Mar 16 George Archibald McCall, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1868)
- Mar 24 Jacob van Lennep, Dutch poet and novelist
Dorothea Dix
Apr 4 Dorothea Dix, American pioneering nurse and social activist who created the first American mental asylums, born in Hampden, Maine (d. 1887)
Dorothea Dix
- Apr 12 Francis Libermann, French religious leader (Congregation of Heart), born in Saverne, France (d. 1852)
- Apr 13 Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist, born in Vienna (d. 1884)
- May 6 Wilhelm Schirmer, German landscape artist, born in Berlin (d. 1866)
- May 15 Isaac Ridgeway Trimble, Major General (Confederate Army), (d. 1888)
- Jun 2 Adrian van der Hoop Jr, Dutch poet/critic
- Jun 12 Harriet Martineau, British controversial journalist, political economist, abolitionist and life-long feminist, born in Norwich, Norfolk, England (d. 1876)
- Jul 1 Gideon Welles, 24th U.S. secretary of the navy under presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, born in Glastonbury, Connecticut (d. 1878)
- Jul 9 Thomas Davenport, American inventor (invented 1st commercial electric motor), born in Williamstown, Vermont (d. 1851)
- Jul 21 David Hunter, American Major General (Union Army), born in Troy, New York (d. 1886)
Alexandre Dumas
Jul 24 Alexandre Dumas, French author (The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo), born in Aisne, France (d. 1870)
Alexandre Dumas
- Jul 26 Winthrop Mackworth Praed, English politician and poet, born in London, England (d. 1839)
- Jul 26 Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (1851-53), born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico (d. 1855)
- Aug 2 Nicholas Wiseman, 1st archbishop of Westminster (1860-65), born in Sevilla, Spain (d. 1865)
- Aug 5 Niels H Abel, Norwegian mathematician (Abel's Comparisons)
- Aug 13 Nikolaus Lenau, Hungarian-German poet (Faust, Die Albigenser), born in Lenauheim, Banat, Romania (d. 1850)
- Aug 14 Letitia Elizabeth Landon, English poet (Heath's Book of Beauty), born in Chelsea, London (d. 1838)
- Aug 20 Cadwalader Ringgold, American Commander (Union Navy), born in Washington County, Maryland (d. 1867)
- Sep 4 Marcus Whitman, American physician and missionary (Oregon Trail), born in Federal Hollow, New York (d. 1847)
- Sep 6 Alcide d'Orbigny, French naturalist, born in Couëron, France (d. 1857)
- Sep 13 Arnold Ruge, German political philosopher and writer, born in Bergen auf Rügen, Germany (d. 1880)
- Sep 19 Lajos Kossuth, Governor-President of Hungary (1849), born in Monok, Hungary (d. 1894)
- Sep 24 Adolphe d'Archiac, French paleontologist and geologist, born in Reims, France (d. 1868)
- Oct 8 Peter Hofstede de Groot, Dutch reformed theologist, born in Leer, Germany (d. 1886)
- Oct 16 Isaac Murphy, Governor of Arkansas (1864-68) (d. 1882)
- Oct 25 Joseph Montferrand, French-Canadian logger and strong man, born in St. Lawrence, Montreal (d. 1864)
- Oct 26 Miguel I, King of Portugal (1828-34), born in Palace of Queluz, Sintra, Portugal (d. 1866)
- Nov 9 Elijah Parish Lovejoy, American newspaper publisher and abolitionist, born in Albion, Maine (d. 1837)
- Nov 14 August F Pott, German philologist (Etymology Forschungen)
- Nov 19 Solomon Foot, American politician (U.S. Senator from Vermont, 1851-66) and attorney, born in Cornwall, Vermont (d. 1866)
- Nov 20 James L. Lardner, American naval officer (American Civil War), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1881)
- Nov 29 Wilhelm Hauff, German writer, born in Stuttgart (d. 1827)
- Dec 2 Melancthon Smith Wade, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1868)
- Dec 15 Janos Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (non-Euclidean geometry), born in Kolozsvár, Hungary (d. 1860)
- Dec 27 Thomas Fearnley, Norwegian landscape painter
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
Oct 4 English romantic poet William Wordsworth (32) marries childhood friend Mary Hutchinson
Deaths in History
- Feb 2 Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, British statesman (b. 1713)
- Feb 26 Esek Hopkins, American Revolutionary War admiral and Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy, dies at 83
- Apr 18 Erasmus Darwin, English physician writer & botanist (grandfather of Charles Darwin), dies at 70
- May 2 Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch statesman (b. 1762)
Martha Washington
May 22 Martha Washington, 1st US First Lady (1789-97), dies at 70
Martha Washington
- Jul 6 Daniel Morgan, American soldier and politician (Battle of Cowpens, Whiskey Rebellion), dies at 66
Marie Francois Xavier Bichat
Jul 22 Marie François Xavier bichat, French anatomist and physiologist (tissue theory), dies at 30 after falling downstairs at the Hotel-Dieu and acquiring a fever
Marie Francois Xavier Bichat
- Aug 3 Henry DFL, prince of Prussia/general/diplomat, dies
- Aug 10 Franz Aepinus, German physician and physicist, dies at 77
- Sep 24 Alexander Radishchev, Russian writer, commits suicide by drinking poison at 53
- Sep 26 Baron Jurij Vega, Slovenian mathematician and military officer (b. 1754)
- Nov 12 Charles van Poucke, Flemish sculptor, dies at 62
- Nov 16 André Michaux, French botanist, dies at 56
- Dec 31 Francis Lewis, Welsh/American merchant/signer (Declaration of Independence), dies at 89