March 2: Texas.

Events of 1836

January–March

• January 5 – Davy Crockett arrives in Texas.

• January 12 – HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin reaches Sydney.

• January 18 – Dade County, Florida, is formed.

• February 23 – The Alamo is surrounded by Santa Anna's army, in a 13-day ordeal.

• February 25 – Samuel Colt receives an American patent for the Colt revolver, the first revolving barrel multishot firearm.

• March 1

• *Antonio García Gutiérrez's play El Trovador is performed for the first time in Madrid, Spain.

• *A Convention of delegates from 57 Texas communities gathers in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to deliberate independence from Mexico.

• March 6 – The Battle of the Alamo ends; 182 Texans are slaughtered by about 5,000 Mexicans. (Numbers from The World Book Encyclopedia, (C) 1970, U.S.A., Library of Congress catalog card number 70-79247)

• March 17 – Texas abolishes the slave trade.

March 6: Battle of the Alamo.

April–June

• April 20 – The Territory of Wisconsin is created.

• April 21 – Battle of San Jacinto: Mexican forces under General Santa Anna are defeated at San Jacinto, Texas.

• April 22 – Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston capture Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.

• May 7 – The settlement of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico is elevated to the royal status of villa by the government of Spain.

April 21: Battle of San Jacinto.

• May 15 – Francis Baily, during an eclipse of the sun, observes the phenomenon named after him as Baily's beads.

• May 19 – Fort Parker massacre: Among those captured by Native Americans is 9-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker; she later gives birth to a son named Quanah, who becomes the last chief of the Comanche.

• June 15 – Arkansas is the 25th state admitted into the United States of America.

July–September

• July 13 – The first numbered U.S. patent #1 (after filing 9,957 unnumbered patents) is granted, for locomotive wheels.

• July 20 – Charles Darwin climbs Green Hill on Ascension Island.

• July 21 – The first Canadian railroad opens, between Laprairie and St. John, Quebec.

• July 27 – Adelaide, South Australia is founded.

• July 30 – The first English newspaper is published in Hawaii.

• August 17 – The HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin leaves South America, headed back to England.

• August 30 – The city of Houston, Texas is founded.

• September 1 – Rebuilding begins at the Synagogue of Rabbi Judah Hasid in Jerusalem.

• September 5 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.

Sam Houston.

Darwin.

October 2: Darwin returns aboard HMS Beagle.

October–December

• October 2 – Charles Darwin returns to Britain aboard the HMS Beagle with biological data he will later use to develop his theory of evolution.

• October 22 – Sam Houston is inaugurated as first elected President of the Republic of Texas.

• October 24 – A. Phillips patents the match.

• December 4 – Whig Party holds its first national convention, in Harrisburg, PA.

• December 7 – U.S. presidential election, 1836: Martin Van Buren defeats William Henry Harrison.

• December 15 – The U.S. Patent Office (USPTO) burns in Washington, DC.

• December 26 – The colony of South Australia is officially proclaimed (now celebrated in the state of South Australia as Proclamation Day).

• December 27 – An avalanche at Lewes Sussex, England kills 8 of 15 buried.

• December 28 – Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico.

• December 30 – In Saint Petersburg, the Lehman Theater is caught on fire; 800 people died.

Undated

• The first printed literature in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is produced by Justin Perkins, an American Presbyterian missionary.

• The New Board brokerage group is founded in New York City.

• Parliament passes a law making census data available to the public (a boon for genealogists and historians).

• James Peter Allaire's company, the Howell Works, is at its peak.

• George Catlin ends his 6-year tour of 50 tribes in the Dakota Territory.

• Chatsworth Head found near Tamassos on Cyprus.

Births

January–June

• January 2 – Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian Yiddish writer (d. 1917)

• January 10 – Charles Phillip Ingalls, Pioneer father of author Laura Ingalls Wilder (d. June 8, 1902)

• January 14 – Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter (d. 1904)

• January 27 – Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (d. 1895)

• February 16 – Robert Halpin, Irish mariner and cable layer (d. 1894)

• February 18 – Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Bengali religious leader (d. 1886)

• February 21 – Léo Delibes, French composer (d. 1891)

• February 24 – Winslow Homer, American painter. 1910)

• March 12 – Isabella Beeton, British cook and expert on household management (d. 1865)

• March 20

• *Ferris Jacobs, Jr., American politician (d. 1886)

• *Sir Edward Poynter, French-born artist (d. 1919)

• April 27 – Major Charles Bendire, U.S. Army captain and ornithologist (d. 1897)

• May 27 – Jay Gould, American financier (d. 1892)

• May 28 – Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist (d. 1918)

• May 31 – Jules Chéret, French printmaker (d. 1932)

• May 23 – Touch the Clouds, native American chieftain of Teton Lakota Sioux.

July–December

• July 8 – Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (d. 1914)

• July 9 – Camille de Renesse, Belgian Count (d. 1904)

• August 13 – Bishop Nikolai of Japan, Russian Orthodox priest (d. 1912)

• August 25 – Bret Harte, American writer (d. 1902)

• September 7 – Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1908)

• September 11 – Fitz Hugh Ludlow, American author (d. 1870)

• September 17 – William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs, Colorado (d. 1909)

• September 26 – Thomas Crapper, plumber, inventor (d. 1910)

• October 15 – James Tissot, French artist (d. 1902)

• November 11 – Thomas Bailey Aldrich, American poet and novelist (d. 1907)

• November 18 – W. S. Gilbert, British playwright and librettist best known for his collaborations with Arthur Sullivan (d. 1911)

• December 24 – Jacob Marley, fictional character

Deaths

January–June

• January 1 – Bernhard Meyer, German physician and ornithologist (b. 1767)

• January 11 – John Molson, Canadian entrepreneur (b. 1763)

• January 30 – Betsy Ross, Made the first American flag (b. 1752)

• January 31 – John Cheyne (physician), British physician, surgeon and author (b. 1777)

• March 6 (at the Alamo)

• *Davy Crockett, American frontiersman, Congressman and soldier (b. 1786)

• *William Barret Travis Texan revolutionary (b. 1809)

• *James Bowie Texan revolutionary (b. 1796)

• March 16 – Nathaniel Bowditch, American Mathematician (b. 1773)

• March 27 – James Fannin, Texas Revolutionary (b. 1804)

• April 29 – Simon Kenton, Frontiersman; American Revolutionary Militia General (b. 1755)

• June 10 – André-Marie Ampère, physicist (b. 1775)

• June 28 – James Madison, 4th President of the United States (b. 1751)

July–December

• August 21 – Claude-Louis Navier, French engineer and physicist (b. 1785)

• August 26 – Jeremiah Colegrove, Continental Army officer (b. 1758)

• September 5 – Ferdinand Raimund, Austrian playwright (b. 1790)

• September 11 – Proclamed Rio-Grandense Republic, in South America

• September 12 – Christian Dietrich Grabbe, German playwright (b. 1801)

• September 14 – Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States (b. 1756)

• September 17 – Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist (b. 1748)

• November 5 – Karel Hynek Mácha, Czech poet (b. 1810)

• November 6 – King Charles X of France (b. 1757)

• November 16 – Christian Hendrik Persoon, Dutch mycologist (b. 1761)

• December 27 – Stephen F. Austin, American pioneer (b. 1793)