Directory

1813 CE

War of 1812 in North America: General William Henry Harrison sends out an expedition to burn the British vessels at Fort Malden by going across Lake Erie via the Bass Islands in sleighs, but the ice is not hard enough, and the expedition returns. The Carabinieri, the national military police of Italy, are founded by Victor Emmanuel I as the police force of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Creek War – Fort Mims massacre: A force of Creeks, belonging to the Red Sticks faction, kills hundreds of settlers in Fort Mims, Alabama.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 31 – The Assembly of the Year XIII is inaugurated in Buenos Aires.source
  • February 9 – Prussia abolishes the canton system.source
  • June 6 – 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains: Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth succeed in crossing the Blue Mountains (New South Wales) and return home.source
  • July 21 – U.K. Parliament passes the Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813, repealing legal penalties for non-trinitarian sects such as Unitarians, and codifying religious tolerance in Great Britain (the Toleration Act of 1688 did not apply to Jews, non-trinitarians, or Roman Catholics).source
  • July 23 – Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony.source
  • September – Robert Southey becomes Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom.source
  • October 14 – After a ceremony in Caracas, Venezuela, the municipality gives Simón Bolívar the title of El Libertador.source
  • October 24–November 5 – Persia and Russia sign the Treaty of Gulistan at the end of the Russo-Persian War, by which Persia loses modern-day Georgia, Dagestan and most of Azerbaijan to Russia.source
  • November 21 – An independent government is restored in the Netherlands.source
  • The Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States of America is founded.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 18–23 – War of 1812: The Battle of Frenchtown is fought in modern-day Monroe, Michigan between the United States and a British and Native American alliance.source
  • February 3 – Argentine War of Independence: José de San Martín and his Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers gain a largely symbolic victory against a Spanish royalist army in the Battle of San Lorenzo.source
  • March 17 – Napoleonic Wars: Prussia declares war on France, and introduces the Iron Cross military award (backdated to March 10).source
  • March 29 – Mexican War of Independence: Battle of Rosillo Creek – The Republican Army of the North defeats the Spanish Royalist Army in modern-day Bexar County, Texas.source
  • April 8 – War of 1812: Colonel James Ball arrives at Fort Meigs with 200 dragoons.source
  • April 27 – War of 1812: Battle of York – United States troops raid and destroy but do not hold the capital of Upper Canada, York (modern-day Toronto).source
  • May 1–9 – War of 1812: Fort Meigs is first besieged, by British allied forces under General Henry Proctor and Chief Tecumseh.source
  • May 2 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Lützen – Napoleon wins against the German alliance.source
  • June 1 – War of 1812: Capture of USS Chesapeake in Boston Harbor by British Royal Navy frigate .source
  • June 6 – War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek – A British force of 700 under John Vincent defeats an American force three times its size, under William H. Winder and John Chandler.source
  • July 5 – War of 1812: Three weeks of British raids on Fort Schlosser, Black Rock and Plattsburgh, New York begin.source
  • July 13 – The Carabinieri, the national military police of Italy, are founded by Victor Emmanuel I as the police force of the Kingdom of Sardinia.source
  • August 23 – Napoleonic Wars – Battle of Großbeeren: Napoleon is defeated by Prussia and Sweden.source
  • August 26 – Napoleonic Wars – Battle of Katzbach: Napoleon's troops are defeated by Prussia and Russia.source
  • August 26–27 – Napoleonic Wars – Battle of Dresden: Napoleon's troops are victorious.source
  • August 30 – Creek War – Fort Mims massacre: A force of Creeks, belonging to the Red Sticks faction, kills hundreds of settlers in Fort Mims, Alabama.source
  • September 6 – Napoleonic Wars – Battle of Dennewitz: The armies of Napoleon I are again defeated by Prussia and Russia.source
  • September 10 – War of 1812 – Battle of Lake Erie: An American squadron under Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeats a British squadron, capturing 6 ships.source
  • October 5 – War of 1812 – Battle of the Thames in Upper Canada: William Henry Harrison defeats the British, and native leader Tecumseh is killed in battle.source
  • October 16–19 – Napoleonic Wars – Battle of Leipzig: Napoleon is defeated by the forces of the Sixth Coalition. More than 600,000 troops are in the field, with well over 10% killed, wounded or missing. Many of the German states forming the Confederation of the Rhine defect from Napoleon I to the Coalition, as a result of the battle.source
  • October 26 – War of 1812 – Battle of the Chateauguay: Charles de Salaberry defeats an American invasion.source
  • November 11 – War of 1812 – Battle of Crysler's Farm: An outnumbered British–Canadian force defeats the Americans, forcing them to give up their attempt to capture Montreal.source
  • December 8 – Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, together with his Wellington's Victory, are premiered in Vienna under the composer's baton, in a benefit concert for Austrian and Bavarian soldiers wounded at the Battle of Hanau.source
  • December 18–19 – War of 1812: British soldiers and native allies invade the United States, and are successful in the Capture of Fort Niagara, and attack Lewiston, New York.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February – War of 1812 in North America: General William Henry Harrison sends out an expedition to burn the British vessels at Fort Malden by going across Lake Erie via the Bass Islands in sleighs, but the ice is not hard enough, and the expedition returns.source
  • May 11 – 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains: Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth leave on an expedition to cross the Blue Mountains of Australia.source

Religion & Belief

  • March 4 – Cyril VI of Constantinople is elected Ecumenical Patriarch.source

Economy & Finance

  • January 5 – The Danish state bankruptcy of 1813 occurs.source

Science & Discovery

  • Probable date – George E. Clymer invents the Columbian press, used to print newspapers worldwide.source

Health & Medicine

  • March 28 – 1813–1814 Malta plague epidemic spreads from Egypt.source

Climate & Environment

  • Charles Waterton begins the process of turning his estate at Walton Hall, West Yorkshire, England into what is, in effect, the world's first nature reserve.source

Culture & Society

  • January 24 – The Philharmonic Society (later the Royal Philharmonic Society) is founded in London.source
  • January 28 – Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is published anonymously in London.source
  • July 13 – Missionaries Adoniram Judson and his wife, Ann Hasseltine Judson, arrive in Burma.source
  • September 4 – The name of Germany's national card game, "Scat" (modern-day Skat), appears for the first time, in the gaming records of Hans Carl Leopold von der Gabelentz.source
  • October 2 – The Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania is founded (the oldest continuously existing literary society in the United States).source
  • Mathieu Orfila publishes his groundbreaking Traité des poisons, formalizing the field of toxicology.source

Births

  • January 26 – Juan Pablo Duarte, founder of the Dominican Republic (d. 1876)source
  • February 12 – James Dwight Dana, American geologist, mineralogist (d. 1895)source
  • March 14 – Joseph P. Bradley, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1892)source
  • March 15 – John Snow, English doctor, pioneer of epidemiology (d. 1858)source
  • March 21 – James Strang, Mormon splinter group leader (d. 1856)source
  • April 23 – Stephen A. Douglas, American Senator from Illinois, presidential candidate (d. 1861)source
  • June 8 – David Dixon Porter, American admiral (d. 1891)source
  • June 8 – Maximilian Piotrowski, Polish painter, Kunstakademie Königsberg professor (d. 1875)source
  • June 24 – Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman, reformer (d. 1887)source
  • August 29 – Henry Bergh, American founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (d. 1888)source
  • September 17 – John Sedgwick, Union Army General, American Civil War (d. 1864)source
  • September 24 – Gerardo Barrios, President of El Salvador (d. 1865)source
  • November 30 – Charles-Valentin Alkan, French composer (d. 1888)source
  • December 29 – Alexander Parkes, English metallurgist and inventor (d. 1890)source

Deaths

  • January 24 – George Clymer, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1739)source
  • February 26 – Robert Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)source
  • March 23 – Princess Augusta of Great Britain, elder sibling of King George III (b. 1737)source
  • April 19 – Benjamin Rush, Founding Father of the United States (b. 1746)source
  • April 28 – Mikhail Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (b. 1745)source
  • May 1 – Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (killed in action) (b. 1768)source
  • June 17 – Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, English sailor, politician (b. 1726)source
  • July 6 – Granville Sharp, English abolitionist (b. 1735)source
  • August 15 – Abigail Amelia, First born daughter of John and Abigail Adams (b. 1765)source
  • August 21 – Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, Queen consort of Sweden (born 1746)source
  • September 2 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (mortally wounded in battle) (b. 1763)source
  • October 5 – Tecumseh, Native American (Shawnee) leader (b. 1768)source
  • October 19 – Józef Poniatowski, Polish prince, Marshal of France (friendly fire) (b. 1763)source
  • November 30 – Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (b. 1740)source