Editing 1847 (section)

=== January–March ===
* [[January 4]] – [[Samuel Colt]] sells his first [[revolver]] pistol to the U.S. government.
* [[January 13]] – The [[Treaty of Cahuenga]] ends fighting in the [[Mexican–American War]] in [[California]].
* [[January 16]] – [[John C. Frémont]] is appointed Governor of the new [[California]] Territory.
* [[January 17]] – [[St. Anthony Hall]] fraternity is founded at [[Columbia University]], New York City.
* [[January 30]] – [[Yerba Buena, California]], is renamed [[San Francisco]].
* [[February 5]] – A rescue effort, called the First Relief, leaves Johnson's Ranch to save the ill-fated [[Donner Party]] of California-bound migrants who became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada earlier this winter. Some have resorted to survival by cannibalism.
* [[February 22]] – [[Mexican–American War]]: [[Battle of Buena Vista]] – 5,000 American troops under General [[Zachary Taylor]] use their superiority in [[artillery]] to drive off 15,000 Mexican troops under [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]], defeating the Mexicans the next day.
* [[February 25]] – [[State University of Iowa]] is founded in [[Iowa City, Iowa]].
* [[March 1]]
** The state of [[Michigan]] formally abolishes the [[death penalty]].
** [[Faustin Soulouque]] is elected President of [[Haiti]].
* [[March 4]] – The [[30th United States Congress]] is sworn into office.
* [[March 9]] – [[Mexican–American War]]: United States forces under General [[Winfield Scott]] invade Mexico near [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]].
* [[March 14]] – [[Verdi]]'s opera ''[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Macbeth]]'' premieres at the [[Teatro della Pergola]], in [[Florence]], Italy.
* [[March 29]] – [[Mexican–American War]]: United States forces under General [[Winfield Scott]] take [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]] after a [[siege]].
* [[March]] – The first known publication of the classic joke "[[Why did the chicken cross the road?]]" occurs in ''[[The Knickerbocker|The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine]]''.<ref>''The Knickerbocker, or The New York Monthly'', March 1847, p. 283.</ref>