Year 1815 Fun Facts, Trivia, and Historical Events

This quick read presents a collection of fun facts, trivia, and historical events from the year 1815. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, historic firsts, a famous marriage, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. President of the United States: James Madison (DR-Virginia)
2. Vice President: Vacant
3. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: John Marshall (Virginia)
4. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Langdon Cheves (DR-South Carolina)—until March 4
5. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Henry Clay (DR-Kentucky)—Starting December 4
6. In 1815, the 13th U.S. Congress was in session until March 4. On that date, the 14th U.S. Congress convened. Both chambers—the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives—had a Democratic-Republican majority.
7. Unemployment rate: A precise unemployment rate for 1815 does not exist.
8. Inflation rate: -12.50%
9. Consumer price index (CPI): 15.400
10. $100.00 in 1815 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $2,104.69 today. OfficialData clarifies that “The dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.45% per year between 1815 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 2,004.69%. This means that today's prices are 21.05 times as high as average prices since 1815, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index. A dollar today only buys 4.751% of what it could buy back then.”
11. American companies and brands established in 1815 included the Bethlehem Key Highway Shipyard, Louisville Stoneware, and the White Glass Company.
12. In 1815, the average life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was 40 to 45 years because of a high infant mortality rate. Americans who survived childhood often lived into their 50s, 60s, and even 70s.
13. In 1815, there were 18 U.S. states. In order of admission to the Union, they were Delaware (1787), Pennsylvania (1787), New Jersey (1787), Georgia (1788), Connecticut (1788), Massachusetts (1788), Maryland (1788), South Carolina (1788), New Hampshire (1788), Virginia (1788), New York (1788), North Carolina (1789), Rhode Island (1790), Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), Tennessee (1796), Ohio (1803), and Louisiana (1812).
14. On January 2, the popular Romantic poet, George Gordon Byron, more commonly known as Lord Byron, married Annabelle Milbanke, “a young lady with handsome prospects,” in London. (Ashleyhay.com reveals that fifty-four weeks after the marriage, Annabelle left Lord Byron and went home to her parents and never saw or spoke to her husband again. After months of verbal fencing matches, “and with London flooded with every possible nasty rumor about why his wife had left him,” Lord Byron and Annabelle both signed a Deed of Separation, and Byron left England. It is believed that Annabelle’s pivotal reason for leaving Lord Byron was his mental illness, which made him uncomfortable to be around.)
15. January 8: The United States won its greatest land victory of the War of 1812 at the Battle of New Orleans. American forces under Andrew Jackson, John Adair, John Coffee, and William Carroll “thwarted” a British effort to gain control of the critical American port.
16. On February 3, the world's first commercial cheese factory opened in Switzerland.
17. February 7 to 12: During the last land battle of the War of 1812, British forces captured Fort Bowyer, which is near Mobile, Alabama.
18. On February 15, the United States Senate ratified the Treaty of Ghent, a peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the U.S. and the UK.
19. On February 17, the War of 1812 officially ended.
20. On March 24, the Handel and Haydn Society—an oratorio society—was founded in Boston by a group of merchants and musicians.
21. On September 24, the Great September Gale of 1815 was the first hurricane to strike New England in 180 years.
22. On October 31, Andrew Jackson Downing, an American horticulturist and landscape designer, was born. He wrote The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America and edited The Horticulturist magazine.
23. On December 3, John Carroll, the first Roman Catholic bishop and archbishop in the United States, passed away in Baltimore. He founded Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and was also a pivotal figure in establishing the American Roman Catholic Church.
24. On December 19, Benjamin Smith Barton, an American physician and naturalist, passed away. In 1803, he wrote the first American botanical textbook, Elements of Botany.
25. On December 25, the Handel and Haydn Society gave its first performance at the King’s Chapel in Boston.
26. What was the typical American diet like in 1815? In 1815, “the United States was vastly agricultural, and many families lived off the land, cultivating their vegetable and herb gardens and raising their livestock and poultry. Hunting and fishing provided wild game and other meat alternatives.”
27. Key literary works published during 1815: Ann Hatton’s Secret Avengers, Barbara Holland’s A Father as He Should Be, Elizabeth Gunning’s The Victims of Seduction, E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Devils Elixirs, Jane Austen’s Emma, Jane Porter’s The Pastor’s Fireside, Mary Pilkington’s Celebrity, Mary Plkington’s The Unfortunate Choice, Sarah Green’s The Fugitive, Thomas Love Peacock’s Headlong Hall, and Thomas Skinner Surr’s The Magic of Wealth
28. Famous people born during 1815 included Ada Lovelace (mathematician), Anthony Trollope (novelist), Dan Emmett (composer), Elizabeth Cady Stanton (woman’s rights and suffrage activist), Emma Stebbins (sculptor), John Bosco (Roman Catholic religious leader), John McDouall Stuart (explorer), and Rufus Griswold (poet).
29. Notable people who died in 1815 included Abigail Bailey (American memoirist), John Singleton Copley (American portrait painter), and Robert Fulton (American engineer and inventor).
30. In 1815 as well, the words “backlash,” “ballerina,” “bureaucracy,” “cavalry,” “consommé,” “critical condition,” “diner,” “excavator,” “hee-haw,” “industrial arts,” “laryngitis,” “pessimism,” “picnic,” “root beer,” “Scottish terrier,” “self-worth,” “stiff upper lip,” “toddler,” “towboat,” and “wine cooler” all appeared in print for the first time.
31. 10 ounces of honey: Eight cents
32. Five pounds of cheese: 63 cents
33. Four pounds and 12 ounces of veal: 23 cents
34. One and a half bushels of beans: $2.25
35. One bushel of corn: 75 cents
36. One bushel of oats: 40 cents
37. One bushel of rye: 75 cents
38. One half bushel of onions: 50 cents
39. One half pound of candles: 12 cents
40. One scythe: $1.85 (A scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops)
41. One ton of plaster: $13.00
42. Seven pounds and 12 ounces of salted pork: $1.00
43. Six bushels of potatoes: $2.60
44. Six pounds of bear meat: 36 cents
45. Wages for one day of mowing clover: 80 cents
46. Wages for one day of splitting rails: 40 cents
47. Wages for one day of thrashing: 50 cents
48. Wages for three days of breaking flax: $1.50

References:

1. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1811.html
2. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1815.html
3. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1815.html
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1815_in_literature
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1815_in_the_United_States
6. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1815
7. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/january-8/the-battle-of-new-orleans
8. https://www.infoplease.com/history/world/1800-1899-ad-world-history
9. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1815
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_date_of_admission_to_the_Union

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor