Editing 1868 (section)

=== January&ndash;March ===
[[File:Mutsuhito-Emperor-Meiji-1873.png|thumb|[[January 3]]: [[Emperor Meiji]].]]
* [[January 2]] &ndash; [[British Expedition to Abyssinia]]: [[Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala|Robert Napier]] leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries.<ref name="Pocket On This Day">{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref>
* [[January 3]] &ndash; The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, [[Emperor Meiji]] of Japan, declares the ''[[Meiji Restoration]]'', his own restoration to full power, under the influence of supporters from the [[Chōshū Domain|Chōshū]] and [[Satsuma Domain]]s, and against the supporters of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]], triggering the [[Boshin War]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Ernest|last=Satow|author-link=Ernest Mason Satow|title=A Diplomat in Japan: the inner history of the critical years in the evolution of Japan when the ports were opened and the monarchy restored|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.174127|location=London|publisher=Seeley, Service|year=1921}}</ref>
* [[January 5]] &ndash; [[Paraguayan War]]: Brazilian Army commander [[Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias]], enters [[Asunción]], [[Paraguay]]'s capital. Some days later he declares the war is over. Nevertheless, [[Francisco Solano López]], Paraguay's president, prepares guerrillas to fight in the countryside.
* [[January 7]] &ndash; The [[Arkansas Constitutional Convention of 1868|Arkansas constitutional convention]] meets in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]].
* [[January 9]] &ndash; [[Penal transportation]] from [[United Kingdom|Britain]] to [[Convicts in Australia|Australia]] ends, with arrival of the [[convict ship]] ''[[Hougoumont (ship)|Hougoumont]]'' in Western Australia, after an 89-day voyage from England. There are 62 [[Fenian]]s among the transportees.
* [[January 10]] &ndash; ''[[Shōgun]]'' [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] declares the emperor's declaration "illegal", and prepares to attack [[Kyoto]].
* [[January 27]]&ndash;[[January 31|31]] &ndash; [[Battle of Toba–Fushimi]]: forces of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] and the allied pro-Imperial forces of the Chōshū, Satsuma and [[Tosa Domain]]s clash near [[Fushimi, Kyoto]], ending in a decisive victory for the Imperial forces (although in the [[January 28]] naval [[Battle of Awa]], the Shogunate is victorious against Satsuma).
* February–May &ndash; [[Flying Foam massacre]], a massacre of [[Indigenous Australians]] around [[Flying Foam Passage]] in [[Western Australia]] by white colonial settlers.<ref>{{cite conference|last=Gara|first=T. J.|title=The Flying Foam Massacre: An Incident on North West Frontier, Western Australia|conference=Papers presented in Section 25A, Archaeology, of the 53rd [[Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science|ANZAAS]] Congress|editor-first=Moya|editor-last=Smith|publisher=Western Australian Museum|location=Perth|date=May 1983|pages=86–94|isbn=0724497501|oclc=16757628}}</ref>
* [[February]] &ndash; Foreign ministers meeting in [[Kobe|Hyōgo]] are persuaded to recognise the restored [[Emperor Meiji]] of Japan, with promises that harbours will be open in accordance with international treaties.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Christian Polak|last=Polak|first=Christian|year=2001|title=Soie et lumières: l'âge d'or des échanges franco-japonais (des origines aux années 1950)|location=Tokyo|publisher=Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie Française du Japon|page=75}}</ref>
* [[February 13]] &ndash; The British [[War Office]] sanctions the formation of what becomes the [[Post Office Rifles|Army Post Office Corps]].
* [[February 16]] &ndash; In New York City, the Jolly Corks organization is renamed the ''[[Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks]]'' (BPOE).
* [[February 19]]  &ndash; In the [[Passage of Humaitá]], a Brazilian naval force succeeds in dashing past a Paraguayan fortress on the [[River Paraguay]], considered by some the turning point in the [[Paraguayan War]].
* [[February 24]]
** [[Impeachment of Andrew Johnson]]: Three days after his action to dismiss [[United States Secretary of War]] [[Edwin M. Stanton]], the [[United States House of Representatives]] votes 126–47 in favor of a resolution to [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeach]] [[Andrew Johnson]], [[President of the United States]], the first of three Presidents to be impeached by the full House. Johnson is later acquitted by the [[United States Senate]].
** The first parade to have floats takes place at [[Mardi Gras]] in [[New Orleans]].
* [[March]] &ndash; French [[geologist]] [[Louis Lartet]] discovers the first identified skeletons of [[Cro-Magnon]], the first [[early modern humans]] (early ''Homo sapiens sapiens''), at Abri de Crô-Magnon, a rock shelter at [[Les Eyzies]], [[Dordogne]], France.
* [[March 12]]
** [[Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]], [[Duke of Edinburgh]], is shot in the back in Sydney, Australia, at a fundraising event for the Sydney Sailors Home, by Irishman [[Henry James O'Farrell]]. The prince survives and quickly recovers; O'Farrell is executed on [[April 21]], despite attempts by the prince to gain clemency for him.
** [[Lesotho|Basutoland]] is proclaimed a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Protectorate]], becoming independent in [[1966]] as Lesotho.
* [[March 23]] &ndash; The [[University of California]] is founded in [[Oakland, California]], when the Organic Act is signed into [[California]] law.
* [[March 24]] &ndash; The [[Metropolitan Life Insurance Company]] is formed, in [[New York City]].
* [[March 27]] &ndash; The [[Lake Ontario Shore Railroad]] Company is organized in [[Oswego, New York]].
* [[March]] &ndash; The first transnational women's organization, ''[[Association internationale des femmes]]'', is founded.