1813 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government">Federal government of the United States">Federal Government

• President: James Madison
• Vice President: vacant, Elbridge Gerry
• Chief Justice: John Marshall
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Henry Clay
• Congress: 12th, 13th

  Governors

• Governor of Connecticut: John Cotton Smith
• Governor of Delaware: Joseph Haslet
• Governor of Georgia: David Brydie Mitchell , Peter Early
• Governor of Kentucky: Isaac Shelby
• Governor of Louisiana: William C. C. Claiborne
• Governor of Maryland: Levin Winder
• Governor of Massachusetts: Caleb Strong
• Governor of New Hampshire: William Plumer , John Taylor Gilman
• Governor of New Jersey: Aaron Ogden , William Sanford Pennington
• Governor of New York: Daniel D. Tompkins
• Governor of North Carolina: William Hawkins
• Governor of Ohio: Return J. Meigs, Jr.
• Governor of Pennsylvania: Simon Snyder
• Governor of Rhode Island: William Jones
• Governor of South Carolina: Joseph Alston
• Governor of Tennessee: Willie Blount
• Governor of Vermont: Jonas Galusha , Martin Chittenden
• Governor of Virginia: James Barbour

  Lieutenant Governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: John Cotton Smith , Chauncey Goodrich
• Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Richard Hickman
• Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: William Phillips, Jr.
• Lieutenant Governor of New York: DeWitt Clinton
• Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Simeon Martin
• Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Eldred Simkins
• Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Paul Brigham , William Chamberlain

  Events

January–March

• February - War of 1812:
• * Construction of Fort Meigs in Ohio begins under the command of Major Amos Stoddard.
• * General 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.
• February 19 - Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition: Manuel María de Salcedo, the governor of Spanish Texas, lifts his four-months long siege of Presidio La Bahía in Goliad, Texas and turns towards San Antonio de Bexar, the Republican Army of the North holds the Presidio until July or August.
• March 4 - James Madison is sworn in as President of the United States for his second term.
• March 22 - War of 1812: Col. Richard M. Johnson puts out an order for raising a regiment of mounted volunteers in Kentucky.
• March 29 - Mexican War of Independence - Battle of Rosillo Creek: The Republican Army of the North defeats the Spanish Royalist Army in present-day Bexar County, Texas.

  April–June

• April 27 - War of 1812 - Battle of York: United States troops raid and destroy but do not hold York, capital of Upper Canada.
• May 1-9 - War of 1812: First Siege of Fort Meigs: British allied forces, under General Henry Proctor and Chief Tecumseh, lay siege to the fort but do not capture it.
• May 5 - War of 1812: "Dudley's Massacre": A detachment under Colonel William Dudley attempting to relieve the siege of Fort Meigs is decimated.
• May 27 - War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
• June 1 - War of 1812: Capture of USS Chesapeake in Boston Harbor by British Royal Navy frigate.
• June 6 - War of 1812 - Battle of Stoney Creek: A British force of 700 under John Vincent defeat an American force three times its size under William Winder and John Chandler.
• June 20 - Battle of Alazan Creek: The Republican Army of the North defeats a Spanish force on the banks of the Alazán Creek, just west of San Antonio de Béxar.

  July–September

• July - War of 1812: Second Siege of Fort Meigs fails to defeat General Green Clay.
• July 5 - War of 1812: Three weeks of British raids on Fort Schlosser, Black Rock and Plattsburgh, New York begin.
• August 18 - Battle of Medina: the Spanish authorities in Texas finally crush the Republican Army of the North at the Battle of Medina, about 20 miles south of San Antonio de Béxar, and the deadliest battle ever fought on Texan soil. This crushing defeat marks the final end of the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition, a Filibustering expedition into Spanish Texas which had started the previous year.
• August 30 - Creek War - Fort Mims massacre: A force of Creeks belonging to the Red Sticks faction kill hundreds of settlers in Fort Mims in Alabama.
• September 10 - War of 1812 - Battle of Lake Erie: An American squadron under Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeats a British squadron, capturing six ships.

  October–December

• 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.
• October 26 - War of 1812 - Battle of Chateauguay: Charles de Salaberry defeats an American invasion
• November 11 - War of 1812 - Battle of Crysler's Farm: the Americans are defeated by the British.
• November 16 - The British announce a blockade of Long Island Sound, leaving only the New England coasts open to shipping.
• December 17 - A trade embargo comes into effect, aimed at New England merchants who have been supplying the British in Canada
• 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.
• December 30 - War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York.

  Undated

• The Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania is founded.

  Ongoing

• War of 1812
• Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition
• Creek War

  Births

• January 21 - John C. Frémont, soldier, explorer and U.S. Senator from California from 1850 to 1851
• February 11 - Harriet Ann Jacobs, African American memoirist and abolitionist
• February 15 - Frederick Holbrook, 27th Governor of Vermont from 1861 to 1863
• February 16 - Joseph R. Anderson, civil engineer, industrialist and Confederate Army general
• February 23 - John Murray Forbes, railroad magnate, merchant, philanthropist and abolitionist
• March 8 - Christopher Pearse Cranch, writer and artist
• March 21 - James Strang, Mormon splinter group leader
• March 27 - Nathaniel Currier, illustrator
• April 9 - Lewis V. Bogy, U.S. Senator from Missouri from 1873 to 1877
• April 23 - Stephen A. Douglas, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1847 to 1861 and Presidential candidate
• May 31 - Albert G. Brown, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1854 to 1861
• June 8 - David Dixon Porter, admiral
• June 20 - Charles Timothy Brooks, translator, poet, Transcendentalist and Unitarian pastor
• June 24 - Henry Ward Beecher, clergyman and reformer
• July 15 - George Peter Alexander Healy, American portrait painter
• July 19 - Samuel M. Kier, industrialist
• August 28 - Jones Very, poet, essayist, Transcendentalist and clergyman
• August 29 - Henry Bergh, founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
• September 1 - Mark Hopkins, Jr., entrepreneur
• September 17 - John Sedgwick, Union Army General
• September 27 - Epes Sargent, editor, poet and playwright
• October 12 - Lyman Trumbull, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1855 to 1873
• October 16 - Daniel D. Pratt, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1869 to 1875
• December 10 - Zachariah Chandler, U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1857 to 1875 and in 1879
• December 19 - Joseph P. Comegys, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1856 to 1857
• December 20 - Samuel J. Kirkwood, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1881 to 1882
• December 25 - Walker Brooke, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1852 to 1853
• Date unknown - John Miley, Methodist theologian

  Deaths

• January 23 - George Clymer, signer of the Declaration of Independence
• February 3 - Samuel Ashe, 9th Governor of North Carolina from 1795 to 1798
• February 6 - Augustus Magee, U.S Army Lieutenant and Filibuster, died from a long-standing illness
• February 26 - Robert R. Livingston, lawyer, politician, diplomat from New York and a Founding Father of the United States
• April 19 - Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, chemist, and physician
• April 27 - Zebulon Pike, General and explorer
• April 29 - John Andrews, clergyman, Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, "America's first scholar"
• August 9 - Abigail Amelia, first born daughter of John and Abigail Adams
• August 23 - Alexander Wilson, Scottish American ornithologist
• September 12 - Edmund Randolph, 2nd United States Secretary of State
• October 5 - Tecumseh, Shawnee leader
• October 22 - Charles Scott, army lieutenant, 4th Governor of Kentucky from 1808 to 1812
• November 12 - John Hector St. John, French American writer
• November 17 - William Franklin, last colonial Governor of New Jersey from 1763 to 1776, son of Benjamin Franklin