What Happened in February 1847

Historical Events

  • Feb 4 1st US telegraph company established in Maryland
  • Feb 22 Battle of Buena Vista begins between US and Mexican troops

Little Civil War

Feb 22 Royalist troops of Queen Maria II of Portugal put down a revolutionary insurrection

Battle of Buena Vista

Feb 23 Battle of Buena Vista, Mexico; Zachary Taylor leads mostly volunteer troops against larger Mexican Army force; Mexico retreats, both sides claim victory

  • Feb 25 State University of Iowa is approved
  • Feb 28 US forces numbering less than 1,000 defeat a larger Mexico force in the Battle of the Sacramento River

Famous Birthdays

  • Feb 2 Jules François Blasini, Curaçaon-Corsican pianist and composer, born in Dutch Colony of Curaçao (d. 1887)
  • Feb 7 Ernst Franck, German composer and conductor, born in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria (d. 1889)
  • Feb 8 Hugh Price Hughes, Welsh social reformer, born in Carmarthen, Wales (d. 1902)
  • Feb 10 A. N. Hornby, English cricket batsman and captain (3 Tests; Lancashire CCC) and rugby union utility back & captain (9 Tests; Lancashire CRFC), born in Blackburn, England (d. 1925)

Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

Feb 11 American inventor (lightbulb, phonograph, motion picture camera), born in Milan, Ohio

  • Feb 14 Anna Howard Shaw, American suffragette, born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England (d. 1919)
  • Feb 15 Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer, and teacher (Vienna Conservatory, 1875-1912), born in Frauental, Austria (d. 1927)
  • Feb 16 (Ludwig) Philipp Scharwenka, German pianist, composer (Sakuntala; Album polonaise), and educator, born in Samter, Grand Duchy of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia (now of Szamotuły, Poland) (d. 1917)
  • Feb 25 John Watson, Canadian philosopher (Objective Idealism), born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1939)
  • Feb 27 Ellen Alice Terry, British Shakespearean actress and director (Imperial Theatre), born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England (d. 1928)

Famous Deaths

  • Feb 4 Henri Dutrochet, French physiologist (discovered & named process of osmosis), dies at 70
  • Feb 15 Germinal Pierre Dandelin, Belgian mathematician (geometry), dies at 52
  • Feb 17 William Collins, English landscape painter, dies at 58