On This Day: March 12th

The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.

Paddle steamer Brother Jonathan docks in Fort Victoria (now Victoria, British Columbia), carrying smallpox-infected passengers from San Francisco. The ensuing epidemic killed an estimated two-thirds of First Nations in the province of British Columbia.

Peninsular War: A day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delays the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha.

James II of England lands at Kinsale, starting the Williamite War in Ireland.

Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Society of Jesus, are canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Start of the Siege of Maastricht, part of the Eighty Years' War.

Konrad von Wallenrode is elected the 24th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (date is O.S.).

German city Munich (München) is first mentioned as forum apud Munichen in the Augsburg arbitration by Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I.

Election of Urban II as the 159th Pope of the Catholic Church. He is best known for initiating the Crusades.

Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths, ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city to the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius.