- Mar 1 James Fleming Fagan, Major General (Confederate Army), (d. 1893)
- Mar 1 Vittorio Bersezio, [Carlo Nugelli], Italian playwright
- Mar 2 Jefferson Columbus Davis, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Clark County, Indiana (d. 1879)
- Mar 4 Elisha Franklin "Bull" Paxton, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
- Mar 17 Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, Major General (Confederate Army)
- Mar 18 William Randal Cremer, English politician and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1908)
- Mar 20 Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright (Peer Gynt, Hedda Gabler), born in Skien, Norway (d. 1906)