Historical Events
- Mar 2 American troops begin shelling the British in Boston
- Mar 3 American commodore Esek Hopkins occupies Nassau, Bahamas
- Mar 4 American War of Independence: The Americans capture Dorchester Heights dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts
Historic Publication
Mar 9 Adam Smith publishes the influential economics book "The Wealth of Nations"
- Mar 17 British forces evacuate Boston to Nova Scotia during Revolutionary War
Historic Event
Mar 25 Continental Congress authorizes a medal for George Washington
- Mar 28 Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco
Famous Birthdays
- Mar 10 Louise, Queen of Prussia, wife of Frederick William III (famously pleaded with Napoleon), born in Hanover (d. 1810)
- Mar 12 Hester Stanhope, English aristocrat, traveller and archaeologist, born in Chevening, England (d. 1839)
- Mar 16 Johan G Verstolk van Soelen, Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs
Famous Deaths
- Mar 5 Yeongjo of Joseon, 21st king of the Korean Joseon Dynasty, dies at 81
- Mar 10 Élie Catherine Fréron, French critic (b. 1719)
- Mar 10 Niclas Sahlgren, Swedish merchant and philanthropist (b. 1701)
- Mar 24 John Harrison, English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer to calculate longitude while at sea, dies at 82
- Mar 26 Samuel Ward, American politician (31st and 33rd Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations), dies at 50