March 1
1692 – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba are brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts, beginning what would become known as the Salem witch trials.
1781 – The Articles of Confederation go into effect in the United States.
1796 – The Batavian Republic nationalizes the Dutch East India Company.
1805 – Justice Samuel Chase is acquitted at the end of his impeachment trial before the U.S. Senate.
1811 – Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali kills the leaders of the Mamluk dynasty.
1815 – Napoleon returns to France from his banishment on Elba.
1836 – A convention of delegates from 57 Texas communities convenes in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to deliberate independence from Mexico.
1845 – United States President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas.
March 2
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia units attempt to prevent the capture of supply ships in and around the Savannah River by a small fleet of the Royal Navy in the Battle of the Rice Boats.
1791 – Claude Chappe demonstrates the first semaphore line near Paris.
1797 – The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound banknotes.
1807 – The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country.
1811 – Argentine War of Independence: A royalist fleet defeats a small flotilla of revolutionary ships in the Battle of San Nicolás on the River Plate.
1815 – Signing of the Kandyan Convention treaty by British invaders and the leaders of the Kingdom of Kandy.
1836 – Texas Revolution: The Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico is adopted.
March 3
1776 – American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army is routed at the Battle of Brier Creek near Savannah, Georgia.
1799 – The Russo-Ottoman siege of Corfu ends with the surrender of the French garrison.
March 4
1769 – Mozart departed Italy after the last of his three tours there.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.
1789 – In New York City, the first Congress of the United States meets, putting the United States Constitution into effect.
1790 – France is divided into 83 départements, cutting across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on ownership of land by the nobility.
1791 – Vermont is admitted to the United States as the fourteenth state.
1794 – The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed by the U.S. Congress.
1797 – John Adams is inaugurated as the 2nd President of the United States of America, becoming the first President to begin his presidency on March 4.
1804 – Castle Hill Rebellion: Irish convicts rebel against British colonial authority in the Colony of New South Wales.
1813 – Cyril VI of Constantinople is elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
1814 – War of 1812: Americans defeat British forces at the Battle of Longwoods between London, Ontario, and Thamesville, near present-day Wardsville, Ontario.
1837 – The city of Chicago is incorporated.
March 5
1766 – Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.
1770 – Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, are fatally shot by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later.
1811 – Peninsular War: A French force under the command of Marshal Victor is routed while trying to prevent an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese army from lifting the Siege of Cádiz in the Battle of Barrosa.
1824 – First Anglo-Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.
1825 – Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates, is defeated in combat and captured by authorities.
1836 – Samuel Colt established his first factory to produce the recently patented production-model revolver, the .34-caliber "Paterson".
March 6
1788 – The First Fleet arrives at Norfolk Island, Australia, to found a convict settlement.
1820 – The Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brings Maine into the Union as a free state, and makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.
1836 – Texas Revolution: Battle of the Alamo: After a thirteen-day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 187 Texas volunteers, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and Colonel Jim Bowie, defending the Alamo, are killed, and the fort is captured.
March 7
1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte captures Jaffa in Palestine, and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives.
1814 – Emperor Napoleon I of France wins the Battle of Craonne.
1826 – Shrigley abduction: 15-year-old Ellen Turner is abducted by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a future figure in the establishment of colonies in South Australia and New Zealand.
March 8
1702 – Queen Anne, the younger sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
1722 – The Safavid Empire of Iran is defeated by an army from Afghanistan at the Battle of Gulnabad.
1736 – Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, is crowned Shah of Iran.
1775 – An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes "African Slavery in America", the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.
1782 – Gnadenhutten massacre: Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity, are killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indian tribes.
1801 – War of the Second Coalition: At the Battle of Abukir, a British force under Sir Ralph Abercromby lands in Egypt, intending to end the French campaign in Egypt and Syria.
March 9
1701 – Safavid troops retreat from Basra, ending a three-year occupation.
1765 – After a campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son may have actually died by suicide.
1776 – Scottish philosopher Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations, ushering in the classical period of political economy.
1796 – Napoléon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais.
1811 – Paraguayan forces defeat Manuel Belgrano at the Battle of Tacuarí.
1815 – Francis Ronalds describes the first battery-operated clock in the Philosophical Magazine.
1841 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the United States v. The Amistad case that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally.
1842 – Giuseppe Verdi's third opera, Nabucco, receives its première performance in Milan; its success establishes Verdi as one of Italy's foremost opera composers.
1842 – The first documented discovery of gold in California occurs at Rancho San Francisco, six years before the California Gold Rush.
March 10
1735 – An agreement between Nader Shah and Russia is signed near Ganja, Azerbaijan, and Russian troops are withdrawn from the occupied territories.
1762 – French Huguenot Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform.
1814 – Emperor Napoleon I is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.
1830 – The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created.
1831 – The French Foreign Legion is created by Louis Philippe, the King of France, from the foreign regiments of the Kingdom of France.
March 11
1702 – The Daily Courant, England's first national daily newspaper, is published for the first time.
1708 – Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
1784 – The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.
1795 – The Battle of Kharda is fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the Nizam of Hyderabad, resulting in Maratha victory.
March 12
1811 – Peninsular War: A day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delays the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha.
March 13
1697 – Nojpetén, capital of the last independent Maya kingdom, falls to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.
1741 – The Battle of Cartagena de Indias (part of the War of Jenkins' Ear) begins.
1781 – William Herschel discovers Uranus.
1809 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden is deposed in the Coup of 1809.
1811 – A French and Italian fleet is defeated by a British squadron off the island of Vis in the Adriatic during the Napoleonic Wars.
1815 – Participants at the Congress of Vienna declare Napoleon an outlaw following his escape from Elba.
1826 – Pope Leo XII publishes the apostolic constitution Quo Graviora, in which he renewed the prohibition on Catholics joining freemasonry.
March 14
1757 – Admiral Sir John Byng is executed by firing squad aboard HMS Monarch for breach of the Articles of War.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: Spanish forces capture Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama, the last British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans.
1794 – Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.
March 15
1783 – In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. The plea is successful, and the threatened coup d'état never takes place.
1820 – Maine is admitted as the twenty-third U.S. state.
1823 – Sailor Benjamin Morrell erroneously reported the existence of the island of New South Greenland near Antarctica.
March 16
1696 – The Dutch bombard Givet during the Nine Years' War.
1792 – King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29.
1802 – The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.
1815 – Prince Willem proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.
March 17
1776 – American Revolution: The British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.
1805 – The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King of Italy.
1824 – The Anglo-Dutch Treaty is signed in London, dividing the Malay archipelago. As a result, the Malay Peninsula is dominated by the British, while Sumatra and Java, and the surrounding areas are dominated by the Dutch.
March 18
1741 – New York governor George Clarke's complex at Fort George is burned in an arson attack, starting the New York Conspiracy of 1741.
1766 – American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act.
1793 – The first modern republic in Germany, the Republic of Mainz, is declared by Andreas Joseph Hofmann.
1793 – Flanders Campaign of the French Revolution, Battle of Neerwinden.
1834 – Six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England, are sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union.
March 19
1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
1808 – Charles IV, king of Spain, abdicates after riots and a popular revolt at the winter palace of Aranjuez. His son, Ferdinand VII, takes the throne.
1812 – The Cortes of Cádiz promulgates the Spanish Constitution of 1812.
1824 – American explorer Benjamin Morrell departed Antarctica after a voyage later plagued by claims of fraud.
1831 – First documented bank heist in U.S. history, when burglars stole $245,000 (1831 values) from the City Bank (now Citibank) on Wall Street. Most of the money was recovered.
March 20
1760 – The Great Boston Fire of 1760 destroys 349 buildings.
1815 – After escaping from Elba, Napoleon entered Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
March 21
1788 – A fire in New Orleans leaves most of the town in ruins.
1800 – With the church leadership driven out of Rome during an armed conflict, Pius VII is crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.
1801 – The Battle of Alexandria is fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis near Alexandria in Egypt.
1804 – Code Napoléon is adopted as French civil law.
1814 – Napoleonic Wars: Austrian forces repel French troops in the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube.
1821 – Greek War of Independence: Greek revolutionaries seize Kalavryta.
1829 – The Wellington–Winchilsea duel takes place in London, involving the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington.
March 22
1739 – Nader Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.
1765 – The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act, which introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies.
1784 – The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current location in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.
1792 – Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets: Black slave insurgents gain a victory in the first major battle of the Haitian Revolution.
1794 – The Slave Trade Act of 1794 bans the export of slaves from the United States and prohibits American citizens from outfitting a ship for the purpose of importing slaves.
1829 – In the London Protocol, the three protecting powers (the United Kingdom, France, and Russia) established the borders of Greece.
March 23
1775 – American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his speech – "Give me liberty or give me death!" – at St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia.
1801 – Tsar Paul I of Russia is struck with a sword, then strangled, and finally trampled to death inside his bedroom at St. Michael's Castle.
1806 – After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery begin their arduous journey home.
1821 – Greek War of Independence: Battle and fall of the city of Kalamata.
1839 – A massive earthquake destroys the former capital Inwa of the Konbaung dynasty, present-day Myanmar.
March 24
1720 – Count Frederick of Hesse-Kassel is elected King of Sweden by the Riksdag of the Estates, after his consort Ulrika Eleonora abdicated the throne on 29 February.
1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051.
1765 – Great Britain passes the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
1794 – In Kraków, Tadeusz Kosciuszko announces a general uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia, and assumes the powers of the Commander in Chief of all of the Polish forces.
1829 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament.
1832 – In Hiram, Ohio, a group of men beat and tarred and feathered Mormon leader Joseph Smith.
March 25
1708 – A French fleet anchors near Fife Ness as part of the planned French invasion of Britain.
1725 – Bach's chorale cantata "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1" is first performed on the Feast of the Annunciation, coinciding with Palm Sunday.
1770 – Daskalogiannis leads the people of Sfakia in the first Greek uprising against Ottoman rule.
1776 – American Revolutionary War – American Patriots conduct a Raid on Tybee Island, primarily seeking to capture runaway slaves who sought refuge with British forces stationed there.
1802 – The Treaty of Amiens is signed as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace" between France and the United Kingdom.
1807 – The Swansea and Mumbles Railway, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger-carrying railway in the world.
1811 – Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism.
1821 – Greek War of Independence: Traditional date of the start of the Greek War of Independence. The war had actually begun on 23 February 1821 (Julian calendar).
March 26
1697 – Safavid government troops take control of Basra.
1700 – William Dampier is the first European to circumnavigate New Britain, discovering it is an island (which he names Nova Britannia) rather than part of New Guinea.
1812 – An earthquake devastates Caracas, Venezuela.
1812 – A political cartoon in the Boston-Gazette coins the term "gerrymander" to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelection.
1830 – The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, New York.
1839 – The first Henley Royal Regatta is held.
March 27
1782 – The Second Rockingham ministry assumes office in Great Britain and begins negotiations to end the American War of Independence.
1794 – The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.
1809 – Peninsular War: A combined Franco-Polish force defeats the Spanish in the Battle of Ciudad Real.
1814 – War of 1812: In central Alabama, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
1836 – Texas Revolution: On the orders of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican Army massacres 342 Texian Army POWs at Goliad, Texas.
March 28
1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: In the Battle of Vilshofen, Austrian forces defeat French forces.
1776 – Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
1795 – Partitions of Poland: The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a northern fief of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, ceases to exist and becomes part of Imperial Russia.
1801 – Treaty of Florence is signed, ending the war between the French Republic and the Kingdom of Naples.
1802 – Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid ever to be discovered.
1809 – Peninsular War: France defeats Spain in the Battle of Medellín.
1814 – War of 1812: In the Battle of Valparaíso, two American naval vessels are captured by two Royal Navy vessels.
1842 – First concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Otto Nicolai.
March 29
1792 – King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm's Royal Opera, 13 days earlier.
1806 – Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway.
1809 – King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after a coup d'état.
1809 – At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estates pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden.
March 30
1699 – Guru Gobind Singh establishes the Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.
1815 – Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Proclamation, among the earliest calls for Italian unification.
1818 – Physicist Augustin Fresnel reads a memoir on optical rotation to the French Academy of Sciences, reporting that when polarized light is "depolarized" by a Fresnel rhomb, its properties are preserved in any subsequent passage through an optically-rotating crystal or liquid.
1822 – The Florida Territory is created in the United States.
March 31
1706 – The last session of the history of the Catalan Courts, the parliamentary body of the Principality of Catalonia, ends. Catalonia's constitutional modernisation, passed by the Courts, aims to improve the guarantee of individual, political, and economic rights (among them, the secrecy of correspondence).
1717 – A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, preached in the presence of King George I of Great Britain, provokes the Bangorian Controversy.
1761 – The 1761 Lisbon earthquake struck off the Iberian Peninsula with an estimated magnitude of 8.5, six years after another quake destroyed the city.
1774 – American Revolution: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts, closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.
1814 – The Sixth Coalition occupies Paris after Napoleon's Grande Armée capitulates.