1812

Years: 1809 1810 1811 - 1812 - 1813 1814 1815

Decades: 1780s 1790s 1800s - 1810s - 1820s 1830s 1840s

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1812 in art 1812 in literature 1812 in science 1812 in music 1812 in sports List of state leaders in 1812 List of religious leaders in 1812

Events

• February 2 - Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California
• February 7 - The strongest in a series of massive earthquakes near New Madrid, Missouri, est. >8 on Richter scale
• February 11 - Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry invents gerrymandering
• March 26 - An earthquake destroys Caracas, Venezuela
• April 30 - Louisiana is admitted as the 18th U.S. state.
• May 11 - Prime Minster Spencer Perceval is assassinated by a bankrupt banker in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
• June 1 - War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the United States Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom.
• June 4 - Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the territory by that name was renamed to Missouri Territory.
• June 18 - The War of 1812 begins between the United States and the United Kingdom.
• June 24 - Napoleon invades Russia (see Patriotic War)
• July 12 - Americans invade Canada at Windsor, Ontario.
• July 22 - Peninsular War: Battle of Salamanca - British forces led by Lord Wellington defeat French troops near Salamanca in Spain.
• August 5 - War of 1812: Tecumseh's Indian force ambushes Thomas Van Horne's 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
• August 16 - War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
• August 19 - War of 1812: USS Constitution defeats the British frigate Guerrière off the coast of Nova Scotia. The British shot is said to have bounced off the Constitutions sides, earning her the nickname "Old Ironsides".
• September 7 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Borodino - Napoleon defeats the Russian army of Alexander I near the village of Borodino.
• September 14 - Napoleon's invasion of Russia is thwarted by the burning of Moscow.
• October-December - Napoleon's retreat from Moscow.
• October 9 - War of 1812: In a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships; the HMS Detroit and the HMS Caledonia.
• October 13 - War of 1812: Battle of Queenston Heights - On the Niagara frontier in Ontario, Canada, United States forces under General Stephen Van Rensselaerof are repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops led by Sir Isaac Brock (although he dies during the battle).
• November - James Madison defeats De Witt Clinton in U.S. presidential election
• Bishop James Madison Society founded at the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.
• Spanish Cortes in exile at Cádiz create the first modern Spanish constitution.
• The Old Oscar Pepper Distillery (now the Labrot & Graham Distillery), the oldest Kentucky Bourbon distillery, is established along Glenn's Creek in Woodford County, Kentucky.
• Coffee banned in Sweden again
• Cholera in Jessore, India

Ongoing events

• Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815)-Peninsular War/Sixth Coalition/Patriotic War
• War of 1812 (1812-1815)

Births

• February 11 - Alexander Hamilton Stephens, Vice President (Confederate States of America).
• February 11 - Benjamin Franklin Sands, Commander (Union Navy).
• February 15 - Charles Louis Tiffany, jeweler (d. 1902)
• March 6 - Aaron Lufkin Dennison father of the American System of Watch Manufacturing in Freeport, Main, U.S.A.
• March 22 - Stephen Pearl Andrews Anarchist Abolitionist
• April 22 - Solomon Caesar Malan, Orientalist (d. 1894)
• June 9 - Johann Gottfried Galle, German astronomer (d. 1910)
• July 2 - Nathaniel de Rothschild, wine grower (d. 1870)
• December 24 - Karl Eduard Zachariae Expert on Byzantine Law.

Deaths

• May 11 - Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (assassination)
• October 13 - General Isaac Brock