February 28
Today in America's Present Past
1646 | Civil Rights: Massachusetts colonist Roger Scott was tried for sleeping in church (convicted and punished to whipping).
1670 | Academic Benjamin Wadsworth was born.
1704 | Indian Wars: A massacre of 40 people and kidnapping of 100 settlers. During Queen Anne’s War, a force of French and Native American allies attacked Deerfield, Massachusetts.
1708 | Civil Rights: Newton Long Island, New York slave revolt.
1747 | Composer Justin Morgan was born.
1778 | Civil Rights: Rhode Island General Assembly enacted the enlistment of African Americans.
1781 | Founder Richard Stockton died.
1787 | The University of Pittsburgh was chartered.
1788 | Politician Thomas Cushing died.
1827 | The first commercial railroad was chartered in America, the Baltimore & Ohio. It marked the definitive shift from the “Canal Age” to the “Railroad Age.”
1844 | The USS Princeton Disaster. During a demonstration cruise on the Potomac, a massive “Peacemaker” gun exploded. It killed several high-ranking officials, including the Secretary of State and Secretary of the Navy. President John Tyler was below deck and narrowly escaped death.
1847 | Mexican-American War: US forces defeated a more significant Mexican force at the Battle of Sacramento River.
1848 | First boatload of gold rush prospectors arrived in northern California.
1850 | The University of Utah opened.
1863 | Civil War: The CSS Nashville sunk. The Confederate privateer was destroyed by the monitor USS Montauk in the Ogeechee River, Georgia.
1871 | Congress: Enacted the Enforcement Act. Also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1871 or the Ku Klux Klan Act. It empowered a President to use federal troops to combat the KKK and protect voting rights of Americans.
1891 | Entrepreneur George Hearst died.
1893 | Edward Acheson patented silicon carbide.
1901 | Chemist Linus Pauling was born.
1906 | Outlaw Bugsy Siegel was born.
1916 | Novelist Henry James died.
1929 | Architect Frank Gehry was born.
1933 | Civil Rights: The first female Cabinet member was appointed, Frances Perkins.
1942 | Civil Rights: Sojourner Truth Homes Riot, Detroit, Michigan.
1942 | WWII: German U-boats sank naval warships off the coast of New Jersey.
1953 | Economist Paul Krugman was born.
1959 | Author Maxwell Anderson died.
1961 | POTUS: Democrat President Kennedy appointed Henry Kissinger as special
advisor.
1967 | Publisher Henry Luce died.
1974 | POTUS: Republican President Nixon resumed diplomatic relations with Egypt.
1977 | The first “Killer Whale” was born in captivity (California).
1977 | Musician Jason Aldean was born.
1979 | TV: “Mr. Ed,” the horse, died.
1983 | TV: The last episode of M.A.S.H. aired. “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen.” With roughly 106 million viewers, it remains the most-watched finale of a television series.
1991 | Gulf War: Iraq retreated from Kuwait.
1993 | Civil Rights: A gun battle with federal agents in Waco, Texas. The ATF attempted to execute a search warrant at the Mount Carmel Center. The resulting action killed four federal agents and six Branch Davidians, initiating a 51-day standoff.
1997 | North Hollywood shootout in California. Two bank robbers armed with illegally modified automatic weapons and full-body armor engaged in a massive firefight with the LAPD. It led to a permanent change in how local police are armed (the “militarization” of patrol units).
1997 | FBI Agent Earl Pitts pled guilty to selling secrets to Russia.
2007 | Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. died.
2009 | Radio journalist Paul Harvey died.
2023 | FBI concluded the worldwide COVID-19 virus was likely a leak from a Chinese government lab.