March 10
March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (70th in
Leap years). There are 296 days remaining.
- 241 BC - First Punic War: Battle of Aegusa - The Roman fleet sinks 50 Carthaginian ships.
- 1496 - Christopher Columbus leaves Hispaniola for Spain, ending his second visit to the Western Hemisphere.
- 1629 - Charles I of England dissolves Parliament starting the Eleven Years Tyranny in which there was no parliament.
- 1804 - Louisiana Purchase: In St. Louis, a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of Louisiana Territory from France to the United States.
- 1814 - Napoleon I of France is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.
- 1848 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican-American War.
- 1864 - American Civil War: The Red River Campaign begins as Union troops reach Alexandria, Louisiana.
- 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful telephone call by saying "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."
- 1880 - Members of the Salvation Army land in the United States and begin operations.
- 1893 - Ivory Coast becomes a French colony.
- 1902 - Boer War: South African Boers win their last battle over British forces, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.
- 1902 - A United States court of appeals rules that Thomas Edison did not invent the movie camera (see Edison v. American Mutoscope)
- 1912 - China becomes a republic following the overthrow of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
- 1933 - Earthquake in Long Beach, California kills 120 people.
- 1945 - World War II: In Japan, American B-29 bombers fire-bomb Tokyo killing 100,000.
- 1951 - Henri Queuille becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1952 - Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba
- 1966 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands marries Claus von Amsberg.
- 1969 - In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. Ray would later retract his guilty plea.
- 1975 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thout, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.
- 1982 - The United States places an embargo on Libyan oil imports because of their support of terrorist groups.
- 1982 - Syzygy: all 9 planets align on the same side of the Sun
- 1987 - Reproductive rights: The Vatican condemns the practice of surrogate motherhood along with test-tube babies and artificial insemination.
- 1990 - 18 months after seizing power in a coup, Prosper Avril is ousted in Haiti.
- 1991 - Gulf War: Operation Phase Echo - 540,000 American troops begin to leave the Persian Gulf.
- 1998 - American troops stationed in the Persian Gulf begin to receive the first vaccinations against anthrax.
- 2000 - The Nasdaq stock market index peaks at 5048.62, signaling the beginning of the end of the dot-com boom.
Births
- 1606 - Edmund Waller, English poet (+ 1687)
- 1709 - Georg Steller, German naturalist († 1746)
- 1772 - Friedrich von Schlegel, aesthetician, poet, and publicist (+ 1829)
- 1776 - Louise, queen of Prussia (+ 1810)
- 1788 - Joseph von Eichendorff, lyricist and narrator (+ 1857)
- 1844 - Pablo de Sarasate, violinist (+ 1908)
- 1848 - Albert Fraenkel, physician (+ 1916)
- 1880 - Broncho Billy Anderson, actor (+ 1971)
- 1888 - Barry Fitzgerald, actor (+ 1966)
- 1891 - Sam Jaffe, actor (+ 1984)
- 1892 - Arthur Honegger, composer (+ 1955)
- 1892 - Gregory La Cava, director, producer, writer (+ 1952)
- 1903 - Bix Beiderbecke, jazz musician (+ 1931)
- 1903 - Clare Boothe Luce, publisher, writer (+ 1987)
- 1918 - Heywood Hale Broun, sports journalist, commentator (+ 2001)
- 1927 - Paul Wunderlich, painter, graphic artist, sculptor
- 1927 - Jupp Derwall, football coach
- 1928 - James Earl Ray, assassin (+ 1998)
- 1940 - Dean Torrence, musician ("Jan and Dean")
- 1940 - Chuck Norris, actor, martial arts practitioner
- 1947 - Kim Campbell, nineteenth Prime Minister of Canada and first woman to hold that office
- 1957 - Osama Bin Laden, terrorist; Marlon Jackson, singer
- 1958 - Sharon Stone, actress
- 1963 - Neneh Cherry, musician
- 1964 - Edward, Earl of Wessex
- 1966 - Edie Brickell, singer
Deaths
- 1895 - Charles Frederick Worth, couturier
- 1913 - Harriet Tubman, Underground Railroad conductor, anti-slavery activist
- 1940 - Mikha�l Boulgakov, Russian writer
- 1948 - Zelda Fitzgerald (Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald)
- 1948 - Jan Masaryk, Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia
- 1973 - Eugene 'Bull' Connor, segregationist
- 1985 - Konstantin Chernenko, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- 1986 - Ray Milland, British actor
- 1988 - Andy Gibb, singer
- 1996 - Ross Hunter, producer
- 1997 - La Vern Baker, singer
- 1998 - Lloyd Bridges, actor
- 2003 - Barry Sheene, motorbike racer
Holidays and observances
See Also:
March 9 - March 11 - February 10 - April 10 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December