Historical Events
- Mar 3 Gold Coinage Act authorizes $20 Double Eagle gold coin and the $1 Gold Liberty coin in the USA
- Mar 3 Territory of Minnesota organizes
- Mar 3 US Home Department (later renamed the Department of the Interior) established by Congress
Zachary Taylor
Mar 4 US President Zachary Taylor delays his swearing-in and inauguration ceremony for one day due to religious reasons, rising to the false belief by some that Senator David Atchison (President pro tempore) technically assumed the office of President for one day
- Mar 5 Zachary Taylor sworn in as 12th US President
- Mar 9 Carl Nikolais opera "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor" premieres
Abraham Lincoln's Patent
Mar 10 Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent (only US President to do so) for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions
- Mar 12 1st gold seekers arrive in Nicaragua en route to California
- Mar 23 Battle of Novara (King Charles Albert vs Italian republic)
- Mar 27 Joseph Couch patents steam-powered percussion rock drill
- Mar 29 Great Britain formally annexs Punjab after defeat of Sikhs in India
- Mar 31 Colonel John W Geary arrives as 1st postmaster of San Francisco
Famous Birthdays
Luther Burbank (1849-1926)
Mar 7 American horticulturist who developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants, born in Lancaster, Massachusetts
- Mar 16 James E. Smith, American minister and "oldest new father known to medicine" at 102 with a woman 64 years younger, born in Williamsburg, Virginia [1]
- Mar 19 Alfred von Tirpitz, German architect of the Imperial Navy (Tirpitz Plan, Unrestricted U-boat Warfare) and World War I Grand Admiral, born in Küstrin, Province of Brandenburg, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1930)
- Mar 26 Edwin Evans, Australian cricket spin bowler (6 Tests; 7 wickets), born in Emu Plains, Australia (d. 1921)
- Mar 28 James Darmesteter, French author and antiquarian (translations of the Avesta, the sacred scripture of Zoroastrianism), born in Château-Salins, France (d. 1894)
Famous Divorces
- Mar 28 Dutch Princess Marianne and Prince Albert of Prussia separate after 18-1/2 years of marriage
Famous Deaths
- Mar 5 David Scott, Scottish painter (b. 1806)
- Mar 5 Mary Lyon, American educator and activist for woman's higher education (founded and first principal of Mt Holyoke Female Seminary), dies at 52
- Mar 15 Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti, Italian cardinal, linguist and hyperpolyglot (understood 70 languages), dies at 74
- Mar 17 William II, King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg (1840-49), dies at 56
- Mar 27 Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford (b. 1776)
- Mar 28 Stephan Endlicher, Austrian botanist, dies at 44
