- Feb 3 George Thomas "Tige" Anderson, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Covington, Georgia (d. 1901)
- Feb 3 Nathan George "Shanks" Evans, American Brigadier-General (Confederate States Army), born in Marion County, South Carolina (d. 1868)
- Feb 3 Ranald MacDonald, Canadian-born Scottish educator and interpreter (d. 1894)
- Feb 8 Barnard Elliot Bee, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1861)
- Feb 10 Samuel Plimsoll, English politician and social reformer (invented Plimsoll line for ships), born in Bristol, England (d. 1898)
- Feb 12 Dayananda Sarasvati, Indian hindu leader, founder of Arya Samaj reform movement, born in Tantara, India (d. 1883)
- Feb 14 Winfield Scott Hancock, American politician and Major General (Union Army), born in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania (d. 1886)
- Feb 16 Peter Kozler, Slovenian cartographer and geographer (d. 1879)
- Feb 17 William Farrar "Baldy" Smith, American Major General (Union Army), born in St. Albans, Vermont (d. 1903)
- Feb 22 Pierre Janssen, French astronomer, discovered helium, born in Paris, France (d. 1907)
- Feb 23 Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk, Dutch philologist (Tobasch' Grammar), born in Malacca, Dutch Malaya (d. 1894)
- Feb 23 Lewis Cass Hunt, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Brown County Wisconsin (d. 1886)
- Feb 24 John Crawford Vaughn, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1875)
- Feb 26 Carlos Calvo, Argentine historian, diplomat and human rights scholar (Calvo Clause), born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 1906)
- Feb 28 Charles Blondin, French acrobat and tight rope walker, born in St. Omer (d. 1897)
- Feb 28 John Creed Moore, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1910)