February 18: What Happened on This Day in History (High_school Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1861 - In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
2. 1865 - American Civil War: Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set theSouth Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.
3. 1885 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published in the United States.
4. 1911 - The first official flight with air mail takes place from Allahabad, United Provinces, British India (now India), when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away.
5. 1913 - Pedro Lascuráin becomes President of Mexico for 45 minutes; this is the shortest term to date of any person as president of any country.
6. 1930 - While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
7. 1955 - Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series.
8. 1965 - The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
9. 1977 - The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747.
10. 1979 - Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history.
11. Famous Birthdays: Jacques Cassini (French astronomer), Alessandro Volta (Italian physicist, invented the battery), Ernst Mach (Austrian physicist), Hans Asperger (Austrian pediatrician), Toni Morrison (American author, Nobel Prize laureate)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: February 17

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: February 19

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.