Historical Events
- Feb 1 Jefferson Long of Georgia is first African American to make an official speech in US House of Representatives (opposing leniency to former Confederates)
- Feb 9 Federal fish protection office authorized by US Congress
- Feb 27 Meeting of Alabama claims commission
- Feb 28 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of congressional elections in US
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 4 Friedrich Ebert, German politician, 1st Reichspräsident of the Weimar Republic (d. 1925)
- Feb 5 Jovan Ducic, Serb poet (Blue Legends)
- Feb 7 Wilhelm Stenhammar [Carl Wilhelm Eugen Stenhammar], Swedish composer considered the finest Swedish pianist of his time, born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1927)
- Feb 9 Fran Saleški Finžgar, Slovene folk writer (Our Blood, Service Girls), born in Doslovče, Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1862)
- Feb 9 Howard T Ricketts, American pathologist (studied typhus fever), born in Findlay, Ohio (d. 1910)
- Feb 14 Gerda Lundequist, Swedish actress (The Saga of Gösta Berling), born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1959)
- Feb 18 Harry Brearley, English inventor (d. 1948)
- Feb 25 Oliver Samuel Campbell, tennis champ (US Open-1890)
Famous Deaths
- Feb 1 Alexander Nikoleyevich Serov, composer, dies at 51
- Feb 7 Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, piano manufacturer (Steinway & Sons) (b. 1797)
- Feb 19 John B. Magruder, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 63
- Feb 20 Paul Kane, Irish-Canadian painter, dies at 60
- Feb 26 Charles Niellon, Belgian brigade general, dies at 76
- Feb 26 Sophia Hawthorne, American writer, painter and illustator, dies at 61