The New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad finished the building of its link between New Orleans and Canton, Mississippi. This, with the previously section completed in 1856 between Canton and Jackson, Mississippi, meant that the four year effort to link New Orleans and Jackson is complete. (By John Osborne)

Governor Nathaniel Prentice Banks, the newly elected Republican governor of Massachusetts, signs the order removing Edward Greely Loring as Judge of Probate for Suffolk County. Judge Loring had become a particular target for abolitionists after his role in the rendition of Anthony Burns and Thomas Sims to southern slavery in 1851 under the terms of the federal Fugitive Slave Law. Several attempts had been made in 1855 and 1856 to legislate his removal in the Massachusetts house of representatives but the sitting governor had refused to remove him. The new "general address" of the Legislature had passed on March 11, 1858, and Governor Banks signs it on this day. (By John Osborne)

President Ramon Castilla finally puts down a sporadic series of local revolts led by his rival General Agostino Vivanco. These disturbances had broken out in December, 1856, and had smoldered on since then. Following this, Peru will enjoy more than two decades of political and civil peace. (By John Osborne)

Thomas Crawford's equestrian statue of George Washington is unveiled in Richmond, Virginia on the first president's birthday. The monument stands sixty foot tall. Crawford had worked on the statue for seven years and had overseen its casting in Munich, Germany, but had died the year before its dedication. (By John Osborne)

The ancient Greek city of Corinth was devastated by an earthquake. The destruction was such that the population took the opportunity to move the city a few miles to the coast and rebuild it there. (By John Osborne)

The 1,400 ton New Bedford based merchant ship John Milton loaded with guano from the Peruvian coast, foundered in a blinding snowstorm off the east end of Long Island, New York. The captain, Ephraim Harding, his teenage son, and the thirty man crew all drown; only twenty-four bodies were recovered. (By John Osborne)

The Pacific Hotel, at Seventh and Poplar Streets in St. Louis, Missouri, caught fire in the early hours of the morning and burned to the ground. There were around seventy guests in the hotel at the time. The majority survived but at least twenty died from smoke, fire, or jumping from the three story building. (By John Osborne)