On March 9, 1862, during the Civil War, the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) clashed for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Va.
On this date:
In 1796, the future emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, married Josephine de Beauharnais. (They divorced in 1809.)
In 1841, at the end of a historic case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, with only one dissent, that the African slaves who seized control of the Amistad slave ship had been illegally forced into slavery and thus were free under U.S. law.
In 1864, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was appointed commander in chief of Union forces in the U.S. Civil War.
In 1907, Indiana's General Assembly passed America's first involuntary sterilization law, one aimed at "confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles, and rapists" in state custody. (This law was struck down in 1921 by the Indiana Supreme Court, but a new law was passed in 1927 that was repealed in 1974.)
In 1910, American composer Samuel Barber, best remembered for his Adagio for Strings, was born in West Chester, Pa.
In 1916, Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, N.M., killing 18 Americans.
AP Highlight in History:
On March 9, 1933, Congress, called into special session by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, began its 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation.
In 1954, CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow critically reviewed Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy's anti-Communism campaign on "See It Now."
In 1959, Mattel's Barbie doll, created by Ruth Handler, made its public debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.
In 1964, the Supreme Court, in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, ruled that public officials who charged they'd been libeled by news reports could not recover damages unless they proved actual malice on the part of the news organization.
In 1975, work began on the Alaskan oil pipeline.
In 1977, about a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington, D.C., killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. (The siege ended two days later.)
AP correspondent Jim LimbachIn 1986, the module containing the bodies of the seven astronauts killed in the Jan. 28 explosion of the shuttle Challenger was located off Florida.
In 1989, the Senate rejected President George H.W. Bush's nomination of John Tower to be defense secretary on a 53-47 vote. (The next day, Bush tapped Wyoming Rep. Dick Cheney, who went on to win unanimous Senate approval.)
In 1990, Dr. Antonia Novello was sworn in as surgeon general, becoming the first woman and the first Hispanic to hold the job. Haitian dictator Gen. Prosper Avril stepped down from power under pressure and the military agreed to turn the nation over to civilian rule.
In 1991, Israeli troops fired on Palestinian protesters in the occupied Gaza Strip, wounding 55.
In 1992, a federal judge in New York announced a final $1.3 billion agreement to settle the civil suits growing out of the 1989 collapse of Drexel Burham Lambert, once the most powerful firm on Wall Street. Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin died at age 78.
In 1993, gunmen linked to the former Contra rebels stormed the Nicaraguan Embassy in Costa Rica and took the ambassador and at least 18 others hostage.
In 1999, RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. announced it was getting out of the cigarette business.
In 2000, John McCain suspended his presidential campaign, conceding the Republican nomination to George W. Bush. Bill Bradley ended his presidential bid, conceding the Democratic nomination to Vice President Al Gore.
In 2004, convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad was sentenced to death in Virginia. Former United Nations official Gerard Latortue was named Haiti's new prime minister. Also in 2004, a government report warned that obesity could soon become the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States.
In 2005, Michael Jackson's young accuser took the witness stand, saying he once considered the pop star being tried for allegedly molesting him "the coolest guy in the world." (Jackson was later acquitted.) Dan Rather signed off for the last time as principal anchorman of "The CBS Evening News."
In 2006, bowing to ferocious opposition in Congress, a Dubai-owned company relinquished its quest to take over operations at U.S. ports. Scientists reported evidence of water on a Saturn moon.
In 2007, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller acknowledged the FBI improperly used the Patriot Act to secretly pry out personal information about Americans.
In 2008, Pakistani Leaders voted to strip President Pervez Musharraf of certain crucial powers and reinstate the Supreme Court he had fired a week earlier. Also in 2008, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was re-elected to a second term. During his first term, among other things, he removed Spanish troops from Iraq and legalized same-sex marriage.
In 2009, President Barack Obama lifted George W. Bush-era limits on using federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research. Also in 2009, the U.N. reported the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe had claimed an estimated 4,000 lives with nearly 90,000 others having contracted the disease.
Today's Birthdays: Former Sen. James L. Buckley (Conservative-N.Y.) is 87. Singer-actress Keely Smith is 78. Singer Lloyd Price is 77. Actress Joyce Van Patten is 76. Actor-comedian Marty Ingels is 74. Country singer Mickey Gilley is 74. Actress Trish Van Devere is 69. Singer Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere and the Raiders) is 68. Former ABC anchorman Charles Gibson is 67. Rock musician Robin Trower is 65. Singer Jeffrey Osborne is 62. Country musician Jimmie Fadden (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is 62. Actress Jaime Lyn Bauer is 61. Magazine editor Michael Kinsley is 59. TV newscaster Faith Daniels is 53. Actor-director Lonny Price is 51. Actress Linda Fiorentino is 50. Country musician Rusty Hendrix (Confederate Railroad) is 50. Actress Juliette Binoche is 46. Rock musician Robert Sledge (Ben Folds Five) is 42. Rapper C-Murder is 39. Actor Emmanuel Lewis is 39. Actress Jean Louisa Kelly is 38. Actor Kerr Smith is 38. Rapper Chingy is 30. Actor Matthew Gray Gubler is 30. Actress Brittany Snow is 24. Rapper Bow Wow is 23.
Those Born On This Date Include: Leland Stanford, railroad builder and founder of California's Stanford University (1824); English novelist and poet Victoria Sackville-West (1892); detective novelist Mickey Spillane (1918); Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space (1934); actor Raul Julia (1940)); former world chess champion Bobby Fischer (1943).
March 9 In Entertainment
In 1969, the Smothers Brothers' TV show was canceled by CBS following a controversy over remarks made by Joan Baez. The brothers had refused to censor comments about her husband, who was going to jail for objecting to the draft.
In 1974, Bad Company performed its first concert in England. The band was made up of former members of Free, King Crimson and Mott the Hoople. Also in 1974, the Grand Ole Opry put on its last Saturday night show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
In 1976, Who drummer Keith Moon collapsed on stage during a concert in Boston. The incident briefly halted the band's tour.
In 1987, U2 released their album "The Joshua Tree."
In 1993, winners of People's Choice awards included actors Tim Allen, Candice Bergen, Kevin Costner and Whoopi Goldberg. Garth Brooks and Whitney Houston were named favorite male and female musical performers. Alabama won in the favorite musical group category.
In 1995, Scott Amedure, a talk-show guest on "The Jenny Jones Show," was shot to death by Jonathan Schmitz, a friend who also appeared on the show. Schmitz had been surprised three days earlier during the taping of the show about secret admirers when Amedure admitted he had a crush on Schmitz. The show never aired.
In 1996, comedian George Burns died at the age of 100.
In 1997, rapper the Notorious B.I.G. was shot to death while sitting in his car after a music industry party. He was 24.
Thought for Today: "Delay is the deadliest form of denial." — C. Northcote Parkinson, British author (1909-1993).
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