On This Day

February 1831 in History

Events in History

  • Feb 5 Jan van Speijk blows up his gunboat in Antwerp, killing about 30
  • Feb 7 Belgium adopts its Constitution
  • Feb 14 Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay
  • Feb 19 1st practical US coal-burning locomotive makes 1st trial run in Pennsylvania
  • Feb 20 Polish revolutionaries defeat Russians in battle of Growchow

Birthdays in History

  • Feb 3 Cyrus Ballou Comstock, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Wrentham, Massachusetts (d. 1910)
  • Feb 4 Oliver Ames, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
  • Feb 13 John Aaron Rawlins, Bvt Major General (Union Army), (d. 1869)
  • Feb 16 Nikolai Leskow [M. Stebnitsky], Russian writer (The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea), born in Gorokhovo, Russia (d. 1895)
  • Feb 23 Hendrik W Mesdag, Dutch painter (Panorama Mesdag)
  • Feb 24 Georg Leo earl von Caprivi, German chancellor/premier of Prussia
  • Feb 27 Hiram Bond Everest, American co-founder of The Vacuum Oil Company (d. 1913)

Deaths in History

  • Feb 5 John CJ van Speijk, commits suicide at 29

ExecutionVicente Guerrero

Feb 14 Vicente Guerrero, Mexican revolutionary hero, general and 2nd President of Mexico (1829, executed by firing squad at 48

Vicente Guerrero
Revolutionary General and President of Mexico Vicente Guerrero
  • Feb 14 Henry Maudslay, English inventor of the metal lathe, dies at 59

Historical Figures

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