This Year in History:
1846
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
Their leader assassinated and their homes under attack, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints (also known as Mormons) of Nauvoo, Illinois, begin a long westward migration…
Before the United States formally declared war on Mexico, General Zachary Taylor defeats a superior Mexican force in the Battle of Palo Alto north of the Rio Grande River. The…
On May 13, 1846, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly votes in favor of President James K. Polk’s request to declare war on Mexico in a dispute over Texas. Under the threat…
Anticipating the outbreak of war with Mexico, American settlers in California rebel against the Mexican government and proclaim the short‑lived California Republic during the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846. The…
Representatives of Great Britain and the United States sign the Oregon Treaty, which settles a long‑standing dispute with Britain over who controlled the Oregon territory. The treaty established the 49th…
An American naval captain occupies the small settlement of Yerba Buena, a site that will later be renamed San Francisco. Europeans did not encounter the spectacular San Francisco Bay until…
In an ominous sign of the troubles to come, the Donner Party finds a note warning the emigrants that their expected route through the mountains ahead is nearly impassable. The…
After a decade of debate about how best to spend a bequest left to America from an obscure English scientist, President James K. Polk signs the Smithsonian Institution Act into…
Weeks behind schedule and the massive Sierra Nevada mountains still to be crossed, on what was likely September 10, 1846, the members of the ill‑fated Donner Party realize they are…
Elizabeth Barrett elopes with Robert Browning on September 12, 1846. Barrett was already a respected poet who had published literary criticism and Greek translations in addition to poetry. Her first…
German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovers the planet Neptune at the Berlin Observatory. Neptune, generally the eighth planet from the sun, was postulated by the French astronomer Urbain‑Jean‑Joseph Le Verrier,…
