Historical Events
- Feb 1 Julia Howe publishes "Battle Hymn of Republic"
Emerson and Sumner Meet Lincoln
Feb 1 Ralph Waldo Emerson and Charles Sumner meet with President Abraham Lincoln at The White House, Washington
- Feb 6 American Civil War: Naval engagement on Tennessee River, USS Conestago vs CSS Appleton Belle
Battle of Fort Henry
Feb 6 General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Henry in Tennessee
Lily of Killarney
Feb 10 Julius Benedict and Dion Boucicault's opera "Lily of Killarney" premieres at Convent Garden in London
- 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
Battle of Valverde
Feb 21 Texas Rangers win Confederate victory at Battle of Valverde, Confederate Arizona (now New Mexico)
- Feb 21 US Confederate Constitution and presidency come into effect, last until the end of the Civil War in 1865
United States One Dollar Bill
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
La Reine de Saba
Feb 28 Charles Gounod's opera "La Reine de Saba" premieres in Paris
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 5 Felipe Villanueva y Gutierrez, Mexican composer and violinist of the Porfiriato period, born in Tecámac, Mexico (d. 1893)
- Feb 7 Bernard Maybeck, American architect (Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco), born in New York City (d. 1957)
- Feb 13 Karel Weis, Czech composer and folk song collector, born in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia (d. 1944)
- Feb 17 Edward German (Jones), English composer (Merrie England), born in Whitchurch, Shropshire, England (d. 1936)
- Feb 17 Mori Ōgai, Japanese novelist and poet (d. 1922)
- Feb 22 Karen Hulda Garborg, Norwegian playwright (Mot Solen/Eli), born near Hamar, Norway (d. 1934)
- Feb 27 Anastasios Metaxas, Greek architect (restored Panathinaiko Stadium 1896 Olympics Athens) and shooter (Olympic bronze trap, single shot 1908), born in Athens, Greece (d. 1937)
Famous Deaths
- Feb 3 Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist (Biot-Savart law), dies at 87
- Feb 7 František Jan Škroup, Czech composer (Kde domov můj? - Czech national anthem), dies at 61
- Feb 11 Elizabeth Siddal, British poet and artist (b. 1829)
- Feb 20 Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet (Florante at Laura), dies at 73
- Feb 21 Justinus Kerner, German physician and medical writer (first detailed description of botulism), dies at 75
- 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 24 Bernhard Severin Ingemann, Danish author (Holger Danske), dies at 72
- Feb 27 Gabriele dell' Addolorata, [Francesco Possenti], Italian priest, saint and mystic, (patron of Italian Catholic youth), dies at 23
