Historical March moments in Delaware history

Many important events took place in the month of March throughout First State history. Learn about some of those key moments in this list compiled by the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs:

March 29, 1638: The first Swedish colonists settle in Delaware in March 1638

March 22, 1682: King Charles II gave land (what is now Delaware) to brother James Stuart, Duke of York, who became King James II.

March 17, 1777: In Calvert County, Maryland, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney (1777-1864) was born.  Serving as the 5th Chief Justice, Taney is best known for the 1857 Dred Scott decision.  In 1848,  while acting as a federal judge riding the circuit in Delaware,  he found William Garrett guilty in a civil case of causing damage to two Maryland slaveholders by helping enslaved individuals escape. 

March 26, 1845: John M.  Clayton purchased the 325-acre Buena Vista property from Abraham Shannon for $12,000. Clayton, a Delaware lawyer and politician, would build his expansive home there from 1845-1847. His most notable accomplishment was the negotiation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850.

March 8, 1849: John M. Clayton starts his term as U.S. Secretary of State under President Zachary Taylor. Clayton lived at Buena Vista from 1847 until 1853.

March 20, 1852: Constance Margaret Douglass is born. In 1875, the 23-year-old Douglass inherits Buena Vista. She married Frances Buck in a ceremony at Buena Vista in 1884. Together they had four children, one of whom was Clayton Douglass Buck, who later becomes Governor of Delaware and lives at Buena Vista. The Financial Panic of 1893 forced the sale of Buena Vista by Douglass.

March 12, 1888: “The Great White Hurricane” hits Delaware and the northeastern U.S.  The storm lasted several days and closed cities across the state. 

March 21, 1890: Governor Clayton Douglass Buck is born at Buena Vista. Buck married Alice DuPont, daughter of T. Coleman DuPont, who inherited Buena Vista, where Buck was born. Alice and C. Douglass Buck renovated Buena Vista between 1930 and 1932. They added a large wing to south side of house and expanded the rear wing on the west and north sides of original house. Buck willed Buena Vista to the State of Delaware when he died in 1965. Buck served as Delaware’s governor for two successive terms from 1929-1937.

March 20, 1905: The pillory, the historically wooden structure with holes for the head and hands of abused prisoners, was outlawed in Delaware.

March 10, 1913: Harriet Tubman, the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad, dies in Auburn, New York. Born a slave in 1822, Tubman is credited with personally escorting over 300 slaves to freedom on more than 20 separate trips through Maryland and Delaware. These escapes included her own from a Dorchester County, Maryland, farm in 1849. In additional to being an abolitionist, Tubman was also a humanitarian and Union spy during the Civil War. Her 100% success rate in helping slaves escape to freedom made her a legend throughout the country. She is documented as traveling through Sussex and Kent counties in Delaware with the aid of local Black families, and she frequently collaborated with noted abolitionist Thomas Garrett of Wilmington.

March 22, 1920: Carrie Chapman Catt addresses the Delaware Legislature for Ratification of the 19th amendment.

March 22, 1920: Governor John G. Townsend called the General Assembly into special session to debate ratification of the 19th amendment and all eyes were on Delaware as the potential 36th state to ratify. As Carol Hoffecker’s “Democracy in Delaware” describes, parades and rallies on the Green featured suffragettes and their opponents arguing for legislators to see their side. Later in the month, the Senate passed the amendment. In an effort to delay a vote they knew they’d lose, the suffragettes kidnapped Representative Walter Hart of Townsend, the chair of the House committee that was supposed to report on the bill. After he was returned Mrs. Mary Wilson Thompson, leader of the antis, had him sign a proxy that she could vote in his place if something else happened to him again. After more than six weeks, on June 2, the House voted the amendment down.

March 6, 1923: Delaware showed its support for women’s suffrage by belatedly ratifying the 19th Amendment.

March 4, 1945: T. Coleman DuPont begins his term as U.S. Senator. DuPont lived at Buena Vista between 1914-1930. He was the founder of the Wilmington Trust Company and president of the DuPont Company from 1902-1915. He offered to build what we know now as DuPont Highway, named for T. Coleman DuPont, at no cost to the state or taxpayers. He turned the project over to the state after financing a large sum for the highway. The ceremonial stake of DuPont Highway is on display at Buena Vista.

March 25, 2013: The First State National Monument was created.