Major Events
- Apr 25 Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War
- Aug 10 US Act of Congress passes establishing the Smithsonian Institution, now world's largest museum and research complex
- Sep 10 Elias Howe takes out a US patent for a lockstitch sewing machine
- Sep 30 Anesthetic ether is used for the 1st time, by American dentist Dr William Morton who extracts a tooth
- More 1846 Events
Did You Know?
First printed copies of "Poems" by Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë received, published under pseudonym of Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell (2 copies sold)
George WestinghouseMore People Born in 1846
Who Died in 1846
- Jan 5 Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist, dies at 33
- Jan 10 Étienne Pivert de Senancour, French writer (De l'Amour), dies at 75
- Jan 30 Joseph Carpue, English surgeon who pioneered early plastic surgery in England, dies at 81
- Feb 3 Joseph Weigl, German-Austrian composer (La Principessa d’Amalfi; Emmeline), and conductor, dies at 79
- Feb 9 Henry Gally Knight, English writer of novels and on architecture, dies at 59
More 1846 Deaths
Famous Weddings in 1846
- Aug 16 Italian "The Barber of Seville" opera composer Gioachino Rossini (54) marries 2nd wife, French model Olympe Pélissier (47) in Paris, France
- Aug 30 Author and Seventh Day Adventist co-founder Ellen G. White (18) weds preacher James Springer White (25) in Portland, Maine
- Sep 12 Poet and playwright Robert Browning (34) weds fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett (40) at Marylebone Church in London
More Weddings in 1846
Charles Dickens
Giuseppe Verdi
James Knox Polk
John Russell