Historical Events
- Feb 1 Auburn University is chartered as the East Alabama Male College.
- Feb 7 Colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the 1st piece of legislation (the Electoral Act of 1856) anywhere in the world providing for elections by way of a secret ballot
Historic Event
Feb 18 The American Party (Know-Nothings) convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate its first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
- Feb 19 Tin-type camera patented by Hamilton Smith, Gambier, Ohio
- Feb 20 The steam packet-ship John Rutledge, en route from Liverpool to New York, hits an iceberg and sinks with the loss of 120 passengers and 19 crew; only one survivor (Thomas Nye of New Bedford)
- Feb 22 1st national meeting of Republican Party (Pittsburgh)
- Feb 27 18th Grand National: George Stevens wins aboard 25/1 Freetrader; first of Stevens' record 5 GN victories
- Feb 29 Hostilities in Russo-Turkish War cease
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 2 Makar Ekmalyan, Armenian composer (Patarag - Divine Liturgy of Armenia), born in Vagharshapat, Erivan Governorate, Russian Empire (now Armenia) (d. 1905)
- Feb 5 Otto Brahm, German critic/founder (Neue Deutsche Rundschau)
- Feb 14 Frank Harris, Irish-American journalist and writer (My Life & Loves), born in Galway, Ireland (d. 1931)
- Feb 15 Emil Kraepelin, German psychiatrist who developed a classification system for mental illness, born in Munich, Germany (d. 1926)
- Feb 16 Willem Kes, Dutch violinist, composer and conductor (Parkorkest Amsterdam)
- Feb 16 Rudolph Karstadt, German entrepreneur and owner of chain of shops (Karstadt Warenhaus AG) (d. 1944)
- Feb 21 Hendrik Petrus Berlage, Dutch architect (Stock exchange Amsterdam), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1934)
