- Jan 1 Michigan is 1st state to abolish capital punishment
"Wuthering Heights"
Jan 4 Manuscripts of Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" and Anne Brontë's "Agnes Grey" sent to publisher T.C. Newby (published December 1847)
Colt Revolver
Jan 4 Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government
- Jan 9 1st San Francisco newspaper published (California Star)
- Jan 15 1st Swedish magazine in US, Skandinavia, published in NYC
- Jan 16 John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory
- Jan 19 Mexican and indigenous Pueblo warriors kill territorial governor Charles Bent (47), and 5 others in a revolt against new American rulers in Taos, New Mexico Territory
- Jan 24 1,500 New Mexican Indians & Mexicans defeated by US Colonel Price
- Jan 30 Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies