1804: Born in New Hampshire

1829-33: Serves as New Hampshire state representative

1833-37: Serves as U.S. representative

1837-42: Serves in U.S. Senate

1846: Enlists to fight in the Mexican War (1846-48); rises to the rank of brigadier general

1852: Emerges as dark-horse candidate and wins election on forty-ninth ballot

1853-57: Serves as fourteenth U.S. president

1856: Loses Democratic presidential nomination to James Buchanan

1869: Dies in New Hampshire