James Buchanan accepted the post of Secretary of State in the new Polk Administration. Buchanan had campaigned hard for Polk’s election to the Presidency with hopes of expanding his own influence in the party and he was rewarded. (By Joanne Williams)

President Pierce signed the law establishing the U.S. Court of Claims.  The Court first sat on May 5, 1855 with John James Gilchrist of New Hampshire at the head of its three judge panel.  It was the only court in which cases against the U.S. Government could be heard until 1887. By John Osborne)

The 3rd Company of the Foreign Regiment of the French Army in Mexico were escorting wagons when they came in contact in the early morning with an overwhelming force of Mexican irregulars.  The sixty-five men, under Captain Jean Danjou, fortified a ranch near Camarón, fifty miles southwest of Veracruz, and fought all day until wiped out.  Only five men survived.  The Legion today celebrates this action each year on this date. (By John Osborne) 

In mid-Atlantic, the Spartan, a new 1070-ton screw-driven steamer under British government contract to carry stores to Halifax in Canada, met severe weather two weeks into her voyage from Falmouth in England.  Heavy seas crushed some of the cabins, killing the captain and his family, and washed the second in command and two others overboard. Survivors abandoned ship but were later rescued. (By John Osborne) 

The 2200 ton steamship Ocean Monarch had sailed from New York for Liverpool loaded with meat and grain on March 3, 1862.  She encountered very heavy gales and began to founder.  Most of the crew took to the boats while the captain and others remained aboard till they were rescued by a passing vessel.  The men in the boats were also picked up alive after two days adrift.  The total value of the loss was £100,000.  (By John Osborne) 

Three children playing with unlocked points at a railway siding on the Brechin branch of the Scottish Northeastern Railway were suspected of causing a fatal accident.  A passenger train from Brechin was travelling at normal speed on the main track when the points the children had left in the wrong position suddenly diverted it into the small siding where it crashed before the engineer was able to stop. The driver was killed and the fireman, along with several passengers, injured seriously. (By John Osborne)