Historical Events
- Mar 3 Union forces under General Pope lay siege to New Madrid, Missouri (US Civil War)
- Mar 5 Union troops under Brigadier General Wright occupy Fernandina, Florida (US Civil War)
- Mar 6 Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas (Elkhorn Tavern)
- Mar 7 US Civil War: Battle of Pea Ridge (aka Elkhorn Tavern) (Arkansas), Day 2, Confederate Generals Ben McCulloch & James McIntosh killed
- Mar 8 Battle of Elkhorn Tavern ends with Confederate withdrawal
- Mar 8 Confederate ironclad "Merrimack" launched
- Mar 8 Naval Engagement at Hampton Roads, VA CSS Virginia, Jamestown & Yorktown vs USS Cumberland, Congress & Monitor
- Mar 9 USS Monitor and CSS Merrimack battle in Hampton Roads
- Mar 10 Great Britain & France recognise independence of Zanzibar
- Mar 10 US issues 1st paper money in the form of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000 notes
Lincoln removes McClellan
Mar 11 Abraham Lincoln removes George McClellan as General-in-Chief of the US Army
Evacuation of Winchester
Mar 11 Confederate General Stonewall Jackson begins evacuation of Winchester, Virginia
- Mar 12 24th Grand National: Harry Lamplugh wins aboard The Huntsman; first French trained winner; only human fatality recorded in the event, jockey Joe Wynne
- Mar 14 Battle of New Bern North Carolina: General Burnside conquers New Bern
- Mar 16 Battle at Pound Gap, Kentucky: Confederates separate battles
- Mar 22 San Marino & Italy conclude treaty of friendship & cooperation
- Mar 23 Battle of Kernstown Virginia, Jackson begins his Valley Campaign
- Mar 26 Battle of La Glorieta Pass, New Mexico Territory (Apache Canyon, Pigeon's Ranch)
- Mar 28 Skirmish at Bealeton Station, Virginia
- Mar 31 Civil War action at Island #10 on Mississippi River
Famous Birthdays
- Mar 2 Boris Borisovich Galitzine, Russian physicist (d. 1916)
- Mar 2 John Jay Chapman, American poet, and writer (Learning & Other Essays), born in New York City (d. 1933)
- Mar 4 Robert Emden, Swiss astronomer and physicist (book on Gas Spheres), born in St. Gallen, Switzerland (d. 1940)
- Mar 5 Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player (d. 1934)
- Mar 8 Joseph Lee, Father of Playgrounds movement, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1937)
- Mar 12 Jane Delano, American nurse and educator (Red Cross Nursing Service during WWI), born in Montour Falls, New York (d. 1919)
- Mar 13 Vasiliy Metallov, Russian composer and musical historian, born in Saratov, Russian Empire (d. 1926)
- Mar 14 Eva Thatcher, American actress, born in Omaha, Nebraska (d. 1942)
- Mar 14 Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian-American physicist and meteorologist, born in Christiania, Norway (d. 1951)
- Mar 17 Silvio Gesell, Belgian economist (d. 1930)
- Mar 23 Nathaniel Reed, American outlaw turned evangelist (d. 1950)
Aristide Briand (1862-1932)
Mar 28 11 time Prime Minister of France (1909-22) and 1926 Nobel Peace Prize winner, born in Nantes, France
- Mar 28 George William Louis Marshall-Hall, English composer, born in London (d. 1915)
Famous Deaths
- Mar 1 Peter Barlow, English mathematician, dies at 85
- Mar 2 Frederick West Lander, American Union brigadier general and poet, dies at 40
- Mar 7 Ben McCulloch, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), killed in Battle of Pea Ridge, in Arkansas 50
- Mar 7 James McIntosh, American general (Confederate Army), killed in Battle of Pea Ridge, in Arkansas at 32
- Mar 7 William Slack, US Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle
- Mar 8 Adrien de La Fage, composer, dies at 56
- Mar 17 Fromental Halévy, French composer, dies at 62
- Mar 19 Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow, German painter (Modern Vasari), dies at 73
- Mar 23 Karl Robert von Nesselrode, German-Russian chancellor, dies at 81
