← 1846 1845 1844 1847 in the United States → 1848 1849 1850
Decades:	1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s
See also:	History of the United States (1789–1849) Timeline of the history of the United States (1820-1859) List of years in the United States

Events from the year1847 in the United States.

• President:James K. Polk (D-Tennessee)
• Vice President:George M. Dallas (D-Pennsylvania)
• Chief Justice:Roger B. Taney (Maryland)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives:

John Wesley Davis (D-Indiana) (until March 4)

Robert Charles Winthrop (W-Massachusetts) (starting December 6)

• Congress:29th (until March 4),30th (starting March 4)

• January 4 –Samuel Colt sells his firstrevolver pistol, theColt Walker, to the U.S. government for theTexas Rangers.
• January 13 – TheTreaty of Cahuenga ends the fighting in theMexican–American War inCalifornia.
• January 16 –John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the newCalifornia Territory.
• January 17 –Saint Anthony Hall is founded atColumbia University inNew York City.
• January 30 –Yerba Buena, California is renamedSan Francisco, California.
• February 5 – A rescue effort, called the First Relief, leaves Johnson's Ranch to save the ill-fatedDonner Party. These California bound emigrants became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–1847, and some have resorted to cannibalism to survive.
• February 22 –Mexican–American War – TheBattle of Buena Vista: 5,000 American troops under GeneralZachary Taylor use their superiority inartillery to drive off 15,000 Mexican troops underAntonio López de Santa Anna, defeating the Mexicans the next day.
• March 1 – The state ofMichigan formally abolishes thedeath penalty.
• March 9 –Mexican–American War: United States forces under GeneralWinfield Scott invadeMexico nearVeracruz in the first large-scaleamphibious assault conducted by U.S. military forces.
• March 28 – TheMassachusetts Donation of 1847 for Ireland sails fromBoston onUSSJamestown.
• March 29 –Mexican–American War: United States forces led by GeneralWinfield Scott takeVeracruz after asiege.

• May 7 – TheAmerican Medical Association (AMA) is founded inPhiladelphia.
• June 1 –Zeta Psi fraternity of North America is founded atNew York University.
• June 10 – TheChicago Tribune begins publication.

• July 1 – The United States issues its firstpostage stamps, featuringGeorge Washington andBenjamin Franklin.
• July 24 – After 17 months of travel,Brigham Young leads 148Mormon pioneers intoSalt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment ofSalt Lake City.
• July 29 – TheCumberland School of Law is founded atCumberland University in Lebanon,Tennessee. At the end of 1847 only 15 law schools exist in the United States.
• August 12 – U.S. troops of GeneralWinfield Scott begin to advance along theaqueduct aroundLake Chalco andLake Xochimilco in Mexico
• August 20 – U.S. troops defeat Mexican troops inValencia,Mexico

• October 31 –Theta Delta Chi is founded as a socialfraternity atUnion College,Schenectady, New York.
• November 29 – TheWhitman massacre:Oregon missionaries Dr.Marcus Whitman, his wifeNarcissa, and eleven others are killed in theOregon Country byCayuse andUmatilla Indians, starting theCayuse War.

• TheNorth Carolina General Assembly incorporates the railroad town ofGoldsborough, and theWayne county seat is moved to the new town.
• The candyNecco Wafers are first produced as "hub wafers" in New England, an origin of the candy industry.
• Hardware businessOrgill is established inMemphis, Tennessee.

• Mexican–American War (1846–1848)

• January 11
  • Alpheus Michael Bowman, politician and businessman (died1913)
  • Marion McKinley Bovard, academic administrator, 1st president of theUniversity of Southern California (died1891)
• January 16 –John Cutting Berry, physician and missionary (died1936)
• January 23 –Elijah Bond, lawyer and inventor (died1921)
• January 28 –William V. Allen, United States Senator from Nebraska from 1893 till 1899. (died1924)
• February 2 –Charles H. Baker, politician (died1919)
• February 11 –Thomas Edison, American inventor and businessman (died1931)
• February 26 –William A. B. Branch, politician (died1910)
• March 2 –Blanche Butler Ames, First Lady of Mississippi (d.1939)
• March 13 –Francis S. White, United States Senator from Alabama from 1914 till 1915. (died1922)
• March 18 –William O'Connell Bradley, United States Senator from Kentucky from 1895 till 1899. (died1914)
• March 21 –Oscar Bielaski, Major League Baseball player (died1911)
• March 27 –Warren Ives Bradley, children's author (died1868)
• March 29 –John D. Works, United States Senator from California from 1911 till 1917. (died1928)
• April 13 –J. Thompson Baker, politician from New Jersey (died1919)
• May 25 –John Green Brady, 5th Governor of the District of Alaska from 1897 till 1906 (d.1918)
• June 8 –Ida Saxton McKinley,First Lady of the United States, (died1907)
• June 26 –Daniel V. Asay, iceboat racer (died1930)
• June 29 –Brother Azarias, educator (d.1893)
• July 4 –James Anthony Bailey, circus ringmaster (d.1906)
• July 19 –Oliver Ernesto Branch, politician (d.1916)
• August 12 –William Rankin Ballard, businessman (d.1929)
• September 5 –Jesse James, American outlaw, guerrilla, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from Missouri. (died1882)
• September 10 –Franklin Bartlett, politician (died1909)
• September 11 –Mary Watson Whitney, American astronomer and academic (died1921)^[1]
• September 23 –Victoria Woodhull, American leader of the woman's suffrage movement (died1927)
• September 30 –James Taliaferro, United States Senator from Florida from 1899 till 1911. (died1934)
• October 18 –Emma Elizabeth Brown, author and artist (unknown year of death)
• October 23 –Gottfried Blocklinger, admiral (died1930)
• October 31 –Wendell P. Bowman, army major general (died1928)
• November 7 –Melvin O. Adams, attorney and railroad executive (died1920)
• November 10 –Frederick Arthur Bridgman, artist (died1928)
• November 23 –Joseph Ackroyd, politician, member of the New York State Senate (died1915)
• December 21 –Fletcher S. Bassett, founder of the Chicago Folk-Lore Society (died1893)
• December 30 –John Peter Altgeld, 20thgovernor of Illinois (died1902)
• December 31 –Wilson S. Bissell, politician,United States Postmaster General (died1903)

• January 19 –Charles Bent, first civilian governor of theNew Mexico territory (born1799)
• January 30 –Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe, wife ofEdgar Allan Poe (born1822)
• May 1 –Jesse Speight, United States Senator from Mississippi (1845–1847) (born1795)
• July 22 –Henry W. Edwards, United States Senator from Connecticut (1823–1838) (born1779)
• August 6 –Henry M. Ridgely, United States Senator from Delaware (1827–1829) (born 1779)
• November 1 –Jabez W. Huntington, United States Senator from Connecticut (1840 –1847) (born1788)
• November 29 –Narcissa Whitman, pioneer missionary (born1808)

• Timeline of United States history (1820–1859)

• Media related to1847 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons

• 1847 in the United States
• 1840s in the United States
• 1847 by country
• 1847 in North America
• Years of the 19th century in the United States

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