Historical Events
- Feb 16 Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions
- Feb 16 Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulu warriors
- Feb 25 London pedestrian walks 20 miles backward then forward in 8 hours
- Feb 28 Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Québec)
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 6 Henry Irving [John Brodribb], British Victorian actor, 1st actor to receive a knighthood (knighted 1895) and the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula, born in Bradford, England (d. 1905)
- Feb 6 Yisrael Meir Kagan [Chofetz Chayim], Belarusian rabbi, born in Dzyatlava, Belarus (d. 1933)
- Feb 12 Charles C. Walcutt, American general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, born in Columbus, Ohio (d. 1898)
- Feb 14 Margaret E. Knight, American inventor (flat-bottomed paper bag), described as a "female Thomas Edison", born in York, Maine (d. 1914)
- Feb 16 Arnoldus Pannevis, Dutch-born South African linguist (tried to get Afrikaans recognized as separate language), born in Ouderkerk aan den IJssel, Netherlands (d. 1884)
- Feb 16 Henry Adams, American historian and writer (Education of Henry Adams), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1918)
- Feb 18 Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist (shock waves, Mach number), philosopher and psychologist, born in Brno, Moravia, Austrian Empire (d. 1916)
- Feb 20 James Barbour Terrill, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1864)
- Feb 23 Gilbert Moxley Sorrel, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1901)
- Feb 24 Thomas Benton Smith, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1923)
- Feb 26 Wendelin Weißheimer, German composer and conductor, born in Osthofen, Rhine Province, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1910)
- Feb 28 Maurice Lévy, French engineer (d. 1910)
