Events January–March January 4 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang. January 6 – The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is perhaps born. January 9 – The Teutonia Männerchor in Pittsburgh, U.S.A. is founded to promote German culture. January 20 – The North Carolina General Assembly in the United States charters the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, to run from Goldsboro through New Bern, to the newly created seaport of Morehead City, near Beaufort. January 21 – The iron clipper runs aground off the east coast of Ireland, on her maiden voyage out of Liverpool, bound for Australia, with the loss of at least 300 out of 650 on board. February 11 – Major streets are lit by coal gas for the first time by the San Francisco Gas Company; 86 such lamps are turned on this evening in San Francisco, California. February 13 – Mexican troops force William Walker and his troops to retreat to Sonora. February 14 – Texas is linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States, when a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas is completed. February 17 – The British recognize the independence of the Orange Free State in Southern Africa; its official independence is declared six days later in the Orange River Convention. February 27 – Britain sends Russia an ultimatum to withdraw from two Romanian provinces it has conquered, Moldavia and Wallachia. March – The British East India Company annexes Jhansi State in India under the doctrine of lapse. March 1 The British Inman Line's sets out from Liverpool on passage to the United States with 480 on board; she is lost without a trace. German psychologist Friedrich Eduard Beneke disappears; 2 years later his remains are found in the canal near Charlottenburg. The Plan de Ayutla calls for liberal reforms and the ouster of President Antonio López de Santa Anna of Mexico. March 3 – Australia's first telegraph line, linking Melbourne and Williamstown, Victoria, opens. March 11 – A Royal Navy fleet sails from Britain, under Vice Admiral Sir Charles Napier. March 20 – In the United States: The Boston Public Library opens to the public. The Republican Party is formed by anti-slavery opponents of the Kansas–Nebraska Act in Ripon, Wisconsin. March 24 – Slavery is abolished in Venezuela. March 27 – Crimean War: The United Kingdom declares war on Russia. March 28 –