On This Day

February 1807 in History

Events in History

  • Feb 3 A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the city of Montevideo in the Battle of Montevideo, then part of the Spanish Empire now capital of Uruguay (Napoleonic Wars)

BattleBattle of Interest

Feb 8 Battle of Eylau ends inconclusively between Napoleon's forces and Russian Empire - 1st battle Napoleon isn't victorious

French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte
French Emperor
Napoléon Bonaparte
  • Feb 9 The Grand Sanhedrin (Jewish high court) is convened by Napoleon Bonaparte to give legal sanction to the principles in the Assembly of Notables
  • Feb 10 US Coast Survey authorized by Congress
  • Feb 19 British squadron under Admiral Duckworth attempts to force passage of Dardanelles

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Feb 19 US Vice President Aaron Burr arrested in Alabama for treason; later acquitted

3rd Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr
3rd Vice President of the United States
Aaron Burr
  • Feb 24 17 die & 15 wounded in a crush to witness execution of Holloway, Heggerty & Elizabeth Godfrey in England

Birthdays in History

  • Feb 1 William Bowen Campbell, American politician and Civil War Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Sumner County, Tennessee (d. 1867)

Person of interestJoseph E. Johnston

Feb 3 Joseph E. Johnston, American military officer (senior officer in Confederate Army and United States Army), born in Farmville, Virginia (d. 1891)

US Army Officer and Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston
US Army Officer and Confederate General
Joseph E. Johnston
  • Feb 8 Franciscus J van Vree, Dutch Catholic foreman
  • Feb 8 Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, English sculptor and naturalist (d. 1889)
  • Feb 10 Abner Clark Harding, American politician and Civil War Brigadier General (Union Army), born in East Hampton, Connecticut (d. 1874)
  • Feb 13 Bartolommea Capitanio, Italian monastery founder (Liefdezusters)
  • Feb 16 Lysander Cutler, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Royalston, Massachusetts (d. 1866)
  • Feb 25 George Trenholm, South Carolina plantation owner, Secretary of the Treasury for the Confederate States, (d. 1876)
  • Feb 27 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet (Song of Hiawatha), born in Portland, Maine (d. 1882)

Weddings in History


LoveWedding of Interest

Feb 21 US President Martin Van Buren (24) weds highschool sweetheart Hannah Hoes (23) in Catskill, New York

8th US President Martin Van Buren
8th US President
Martin Van Buren

Deaths in History

  • Feb 5 Pasquale Paoli, Corsican freedom fighter, dies at 80
  • Feb 18 August Gottlieb Meißner, German Enlightenment author who helped develop the detective story genre in German literature, dies at 53
  • Feb 18 Sophie von Laroche, German writer (History of Lady Sophia Sternheim), dies at 75