February 1862 in History

Events in History

Feb 1 Julia Howe publishes "Battle Hymn of Republic"

Historic Event

Feb 1 Ralph Waldo Emerson and Charles Sumner meet with President Abraham Lincoln at The White House, Washington

Victory in Battle

Feb 6 General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Henry in Tennessee

Feb 6 American Civil War: Naval engagement on Tennessee River, USS Conestago vs CSS Appleton Belle
Feb 6 Ulysses S. Grant begins military campaign in Mississippi
Feb 7 Federal fleet attack on Roanoke Island NC
Feb 8 Battle of Roanoke Island NC, Federals gain control of Pamlico Sound
Feb 10 Dutch 2nd government of Thorbecke forms
Feb 13 -Feb 16th) Siege of Ft Donelson, Tennessee
Feb 14 Galena, 1st US iron-clad warship for service at sea, launched, Connecticut
Feb 15 Grant's major assault on Ft Donelson, Tennessee
Feb 16 Fort Donelson is captured by General Ulysses S. Grant following the surrender of around 12,000 Confederate soldiers
Feb 21 US Confederate Constitution and presidency come into effect, last until the end of the Civil War in 1865

Victory in Battle

Feb 21 Texas Rangers win Confederate victory at Battle of Valverde, Confederate Arizona (now New Mexico)

1st US One-Dollar Notes

Feb 25 Congress forms US Bureau of Engraving and Printing to print newly issued US paper currency, the United States Notes

Image of the first US one-dollar note (United States Note) issued in 1862

Historic Event

Feb 25 First Legal Tender Act 1862 is passed by the US Congress, authorizing the United States Note (greenback) into circulation, the first fiat paper money that was legal tender in America

Feb 26 Battle of Woodburn, Kentucky

Birthdays in History

Feb 7 Bernard Maybeck, US architect (Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco)
Feb 17 Mori Ōgai, Japanese novelist and poet (d. 1922)
Feb 22 Karen Hulda Garborg[-Bergersen], Norwegian playwright (Mot Solen/Eli)

Deaths in History

Feb 3 Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist (Biot-Savart law), dies at 87
Feb 11 Elizabeth Siddal, British poet and artist (b. 1829)
Feb 20 Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet (Florante at Laura), dies at 73
Feb 21 Nathaniel Gordon is hanged in NYC for engaging in the slave trade, the only slave trader in US history to be convicted and executed under the Piracy Law of 1820
Feb 21 Justinus Kerner, German physician and medical writer (first detailed description of botulism), dies at 75
Feb 24 Bernhard Severin Ingemann, Danish author (Holger Danske), dies at 72
Feb 27 Gabriele dell' Addolorata, patron of Italian Catholic youth, dies at 23