1846 in the United States

Events from the year 1846 in the United States. In this year, the United States declares war on Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War.

Incumbents

Federal government">Federal government of the United States">Federal government

Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events

January 4 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.
January 30 – The City of Milwaukee is incorporated in Wisconsin, merging Juneautown, Kilbourntown and Walker's Point following the Milwaukee Bridge War of 1845. Solomon Juneau is elected first mayor.
February 11 – Many Mormons begin their migration west from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Great Salt Lake, led by Brigham Young.
February 18 – In Austin, Texas, the newly formed Texas state government is officially installed.
February 27 – The Liberty Bell is cracked while being rung for George Washington's birthday.
April 26 – Mexican–American War: Open conflict begins over border disputes of Texas' boundaries.
May 8 – Mexican–American War – Battle of Palo Alto: Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande at Palo Alto, Texas in the first major battle of the war.
May 14 – Mexican–American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
May 23 – The Associated Press is founded in New York City.
June 14 – Mexican–American War: The California Republic declares independence from Mexico.
June 15 – Bear Flag Revolt: American settlers in Sonoma, California start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.
June 16 – The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
June 20 – The first officially recorded baseball game using modern rules developed by Alexander Cartwright is played in Hoboken, New Jersey.
July 8 – Battle of Monterey: Acting on instructions from Washington, D.C., Commodore John Drake Sloat orders his troops to occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena thus beginning the United States annexation of California.
August 11 – Establishment of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
September 21–24 – Battle of Monterrey: General Pedro de Ampudia and the Mexican Army of the North are defeated by General Zachary Taylor's Army of Occupation, comprising U. S. Regulars, U. S. Volunteers and Texas Rangers. The battle ends after three days of fighting with 120 U. S. soldiers killed, 360 wounded, and 43 missing. The Mexicans suffer 367 killed and wounded.
November 30 – The Donner Party becomes snowbound.
December 29 – Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.

Undated

The portion of the District of Columbia that was ceded by Virginia in 1789 is re-ceded to it.
Elias Howe patents the sewing machine.
Stevens Linen Works business established in Dudley, Massachusetts.
Grinnell College, then called Iou University, is founded in Grinnell, Iowa Territory.

Ongoing

Mexican–American War

Births

January 9 - Verner Clarges, silent film actor
January 26 - Benjamin Franklin Keith, vaudeville theatre owner
January 27 - Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., founder of the Kentucky Derby
February 2 - Francis Marion Smith, borax magnate
February 10
* Peter Remondino, Italian-born physician, author, first president of the San Diego Board of Health, and co-founder of San Diego's first private hospital
* Ira Remsen, chemist
February 26 - William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, frontiersman, later showman
March 4 - Franklin J. Drake, admiral
March 15 - James D. Moffat, 3rd president of Washington & Jefferson College
March 20 - Rebecca Richardson Joslin, writer, lecturer, benefactor, clubwoman
March 22 - James Timberlake, lawman
April 13 - Lucius E. Johnson, railroad executive
April 14 - Henry Overholser, businessman
May 18 - Anna Morton, Second Lady of the United States as wife of Levi P. Morton
May 22 - Rita Cetina Gutiérrez, teacher, poet and activist
June 8 - Lucien Baker, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1895 till 1901
June 10 - Henry B. Quinby, governor of New Hampshire
June 11 - William Louis Marshall, general, engineer
June 13 - Rose Cleveland, Acting First Lady of the United States
June 30 - Frances Margaret Milne, author and librarian
July 5 - Christian Reid, author
July 26 - Texas Jack Omohundro, frontier scout, actor and cowboy
August 2 - Abram J. Buckles, soldier and jurist
August 5 - Louise Manning Hodgkins, educator, author and editor
August 15 - Albert J. Hopkins, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1903 to 1909
August 18 - Robley Dunglison Evans, admiral
August 23 - Alexander Milne Calder, sculptor
August 25 - John Thornton, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1910 to 1915
September 4 - Daniel Burnham, architect and urban designer
September 7 - John Porter Merrell, admiral
September 14 - George B. Selden, patent lawyer and inventor
September 25 - Watson Heston, cartoonist
October 6 - George Westinghouse, entrepreneur, engineer
October 26 - Lewis Boss, astronomer
November 25 - Carrie Nation, temperance advocate
December 1 - William Henry Holmes, anthropologist, archaeologist, geologist and museum director

Full date unknown

Neil Burgess, comedian
John Denny, buffalo soldier and Medal of Honor recipient
Pugsey Hurley, British-born burglar, river pirate and underworld figure in New York City
Mary Foot Seymour, businesswoman and writer
Thomas Shaw, buffalo soldier and Medal of Honor recipient
Thomas Wakeman, founder of the first Sioux Indian YMCA
James E. Ware, architect, originator of the "dumbbell plan" for New York City tenements

Deaths

January 5 - Alfred Thomas Agate, artist, painter, and miniaturist
March 24 - William Lee D. Ewing, U.S. Senator from Illinois in 1834
May 10 - Jane Irwin Harrison, Acting First Lady of the United States
May 13 - Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton, poet
August 11 - John Caspar Wild, landscape painter and lithographer
August 15 - Samuel Humphreys, naval architect
September 4 - James Alexander, Jr., U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1837 to 1839
September 15 - Jacques Dupré, Louisiana State Representative, State Senator and Governor
September 16 - Samuel A. Foote, 28th Governor of Connecticut from 1834 to 1835, U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1827 to 1833
October 3 - Benjamin Waterhouse, physician
November 13 - William Findlay, 4th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1817 to 1820, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1821 to 1827
December 30 - Alexander Barrow, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1841 to 1846