What Happened in March?

The unified Kingdom of Italy was formally proclaimed on March 17, 1861, by the first Italian Parliament, in Turin, with Victor Emmanuel II of the House of Savoy as its first king. Expand +

President Abraham Lincoln promotes Ulysses S. Grant, to lieutenant-general, on March 10, 1864, placing Grant in command of the Armies of the United States, replacing General-in-Chief Henry Halleck.  Expand +

Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated for his second term as the 16th President of the United States on March 4, 1865, at the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. He delivered a 700-word address focused on national reconciliation, famously calling for "malice toward none" and "charity for all" to "bind up the nation's wounds"

Nebraska is admitted to the United States Union on March 1, 1867, becoming the 37th State.

The United States Congress passes the first Reconstruction Act, on March 2, 1867, over President Andrew Johnson’s veto, targeting the South for reconstruction after the Civil War. and setting conditions for readmission into the Union. Congress went on to pass additional Reconstruction Acts in 1867, and 1868, to implement more efficient government in the Southern states following the Civil War. Expand +

The "Lancet" publishes the first of a series of articles by Doctor Joseph Lister on March 16, 1867; outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery. Lister was a prominent British surgeon and medical scientist who established the study of antisepsis by applying Louis Pasteur's germ theory of fermentation on wound putrefaction.  Expand +

The United States signs the agreement to buy Alaska from Russia for $7.2 Million on March 30, 1867. The agreement, negotiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward to purchase Alaska for roughly two cents per acre, ended Russia's presence in North America. The formal Transfer took place on October 18, 1867 (now celebrated as Alaska Day). Expand +

Ulysses S. Grant takes office as the 18th President of the United State for his first term on March 4,1869, succeeding Andrew Johnson.  Expand +

U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signs the bill creating the first U.S. national park at Yellowstone on March 1, 1872. The 2.2 Million acres National Park offers the unique opportunity to observe wildlife in an intact ecosystem hydrothermal and geologic features with about half the world’s active geysers and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. More

Alexander Graham Bell makes the first transmission of intelligible speech over electrical wires on March 10, 1876. He called out to his assistant Thomas Watson who was in another room“; Mr. Watson, come here! I want to see you.” Bell had received his patent for for the telephone, three days earlier.  Expand +

Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Ballet premieres on March 4, 1877, at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, featuring choreography by Julius Reisinger. Originally, the production was not well received bordering in failure. It achieved an iconic revival in 1895.

Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated as the 19th President of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. Hayes's administration was influenced by his belief in government providing equal treatment without regard to wealth, social standing, or race.  Expand +

The Salvation Army begins operations in the United States, holding their first Official Meeting on March 14, 1880, at Harry Hill’s Variety Theatre, a local dance hall and saloon in New York City.

James A. Garfield is inaugurated as the 20th President of the United States on March 4, 1881.

Alexander II, the Emperor of Russia, is assassinated in Saint Petersburg, Russia on his way back to the Winter Palace from Mikhailovsky Manège. The assassination was planned and executed by the Narodnaya Volya ("People's Will") organization. The assassination is popularly considered to be the most successful action by the Russian nihilist movement of the 19th century.

German physician, Robert Koch publishes his findings on Tuberculosis on March 24, 1882, stating that the disease was infectious and caused by a bacterium. The believe at the time was that tuberculosis was an inherited disease.  Expand +

German scientist Robert Koch identifies the tubercle bacillus responsible for tuberculosis on March 24, 1882. He also determined how the disease spread, primarily through bodily fluids, like sputum. For this work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1905. More

Grover Cleveland is inaugurated as the 22nd President of the United States on Wednesday, March 4, 1885, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. marking the start of his first four-year term as president.

The Great Blizzard of 1888, one of the most severe snowstorms in U.S. history reaches the East Coast of the United States. on March 11, 1888. The storm lasted three days, primarily affecting New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, creating 50-foot snowdrifts and complete whiteouts.  Expand +

The main structural work of the Eiffel Tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France is completed on March 31, 1889, in time for the opening of the 1889 world's fair (Exposition Universelle).  Expand +