1813 Archives | HISTORY

On February 26, 1813, New York Patriot Robert R. Livingston dies.

After surviving two dangerous exploratory expeditions into uncharted areas of the West, Zebulon Pike dies during a battle in the War of 1812.

On May 27, 1813, former President Thomas Jefferson writes former President John Adams to let him know that their mutual friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush, has died.

At Vitoria, Spain, a massive allied British, Portuguese and Spanish force under British General Arthur Wellesley routs the French, pushing them out of Spain in the decisive battle of the Peninsular War.

On September 7, 1813, according to the most cited—and Congressionally approved—account, the United States gets its nickname, Uncle Sam. The name is linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied barrels of beef to the United States Army during the War of 1812. Wilson (1766-1854) stamped the barrels with “U.S.” for United States. But because Wilson was known locally as "Uncle Sam," soldiers began referring to the grub as “Uncle Sam’s.” The local newspaper, the Troy Post, picked up on the story and Uncle Sam eventually gained widespread acceptance as the nickname for—and personification of—the U.S. federal government.

In the first unqualified defeat of a British naval squadron in history, U.S. Captain Oliver Hazard Perry leads a fleet of nine American ships to victory over a squadron of six British warships at the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.

During the War of 1812, a combined British and Native American force is defeated by General William Harrison’s American army at the Battle of the Thames in Ontario, Canada. The leader of the Native forces was Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief who organized intertribal resistance to the encroachment of white settlers on Native lands. He was killed in the fighting.