Today history 2/25

eturn to home1308        Feb 25, Edward II was crowned King of England.(AP, 2/25/07)1336      Feb 25, The Knights of the Cross sieged the Pilenai Castle in Samogitia. The defenders burned all their goods andcommitted suicide.(LHC, 2/25/03)1418      Feb 25, At the Constance church synod the Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Lithuania, Gregory Camblak, proposed a union between the Orthodox and Catholic church.(LHC, 2/25/03)1536        Feb 25, Jacob Hutter (d.1536), Anabaptist evangelist from South Tyrol, was burned as a heretic in Austria. He had founded of a "community of love" in 1528, whose members shared everything.(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Hutter)1570        Feb 25, Pope Pius V issued the bull Regnans in Excelsis which excommunicated Queen Elizabeth the First of England. This absolved her subjects from allegiance. Elizabeth responded by hanging and burning Jesuits.(TL-MB, p.22)(AP, 2/25/98)(HN, 2/25/99)(MC, 2/25/02)1601        Feb 25, Robert Devereux (b.1566), 2nd earl of Essex,was beheaded following a conviction of treason. His plan to capture London and the Tower had failed.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Devereux,_2nd_Earl_of_Essex)(HN, 2/25/99)1642        Feb 25, Dutch settlers slaughtered lower Hudson Valley Indians in New Netherland, North America, who sought refuge from Mohawk attackers.(HN, 2/25/99)1707        Feb 25, Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni (d.1793) was born in Venice. "He who talks much cannot always talk well."(AP, 6/1/98)(AP, 2/25/07)1713        Feb 25, Frederik I (b.1657), King of Prussia (1701-13), died.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_I_of_Prussia)1728        Feb 25, Peter II Alekseyevich (1715-1730) was crowned as czar of Russia.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_II_of_Russia)1751        Feb 25, The 1st performing monkey exhibited in America was in NYC.(MC, 2/25/02)1778        Feb 25, Jose Francisco de San Martin (d.1850) was born in Argentina. He liberated Argentina, Chile and Peru. Protector of Peru (1821-1822).(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_de_San_Mart%C3%ADn)(ON, 10/09, p.8)1779        Feb 25, Fort Sackville, originally named Fort Vincennes, was captured by Colonel George Rogers Clark in 1779. Col. Clark led a force of some 170 men from Kaskaskiato lay siege to Fort Sackville in January, and received Hamilton‘s surrender on February 25. With the surrender of Fort Sackville, American forces gained effective control of theOld Northwest, thereby affecting the outcome of the Revolutionary War. The fort, which Clark described as “a wretched stockade, surrounded by a dozen wretched cabins called houses," was located near present-day Vincennes, Indiana.(HNQ, 7/24/00)(AP, 2/25/08)1781        Feb 25, American General Nathanael Greene crossed the Dan River on his way to his March 15th confrontation with Lord Charles Cornwallis at Guilford Court House, N.C.(HN, 2/25/98)1791        Feb 25, President George Washington signed a bill creating the Bank of the United States.(HN, 2/25/99)1793        Feb 25, The department heads of the U.S. government met with President  Washington at his Mt. Vernon home for the first Cabinet meeting on record.(AP, 2/25/98)(MC, 2/25/02)1803        Feb 25, The 1,800 sovereign German states united into 60 states.(MC, 2/25/02)1804        Feb 25, Thomas Jefferson was nominated for president at the Democratic-Republican caucus.(HN, 2/25/98)1815        Feb 25, Napoleon left his exile on the Island of Elba, intending to return to France.(HN, 2/25/98)1831        Feb 25, The Polish army halted the Russian advance into their country at the Battle of Grochow.(HN, 2/25/99)1836        Feb 25, Samuel Colt patented the first revolving barrel multi-shot firearm. This allowed the shooter to fire 5 or 6 times before reloading.(AP, 2/25/98)(AH, 2/06, p.15)1837        Feb 25, Cheyney University was established in Pennsylvania through the bequest of Richard Humphreys, and became the oldest institution of higher learning for African Americans. It was initially named the African Institute. However, the name was changed several weeks later to the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY). In subsequent years, the university was renamed Cheyney Training School for Teachers(July 1914), Cheyney State Teacher’s College (1951), CheyneyState College (1959), and eventually Cheyney Univ. of Pennsylvania (1983).(www.cheyney.edu/pages/index.asp?p=428)1841        Feb 25, Pierre Auguste Renoir (d.1919), French painter, was born. He was an Impressionist painter, father of Jean Renoir, and founder of the French Impressionist movement. He was the son of a Paris tailor and began his career as a porcelain painter in the Sevres china factory. His paintings included “Luncheon of the Boating Party," “Self-portraits" (1875 & 1899) and “Sleeping Girl With a Cat" (1880). [see 1894, J. Renoir](HFA, '96, p.22)(WSJ, 8/13/96, p.A9)(DPCP 1984)(HN, 2/25/99)1850        Feb 25, Doro Eldengge Huwangdi (b.1782), the Daoguang emperor, died. He was the 8th emperor of the Manchurian Qing dynasty and the 6th Qing (1820-1850) emperor to rule over China.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daoguang_Emperor)1856        Feb 25, Charles Lang Freer, U.S. art collector, was born.(HN, 2/25/98)1859        Feb 25, The "insanity plea" was 1st used to prove innocence.(MC, 2/25/02)1862        Feb 25, Congress formed the US Bureau of Engraving & Printing. Greenbacks were introduced.(MC, 2/25/02)1862        Feb 25, Confederate troops abandoned Nashville, Tenn., in the face of Grant's advance.(HN, 2/25/98)1862        Feb 25, The ironclad Monitor was commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.(HN, 2/25/98)1863        Feb 25, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) was created as a bureau of the US Department of the Treasury by the National Currency Act. The OCC was charged with responsibility for organizing and administering a system of nationally chartered banks and a uniform national currency. It was passed to create a market ingovernment bonds needed to finance the Civil War. The act required that bank notes issued by commercial banks be uniform in appearance and that 90% be backed by collateral consisting of US Treasury securities. [see 1881-1890, currency decline] Prior to the Civil War virtually the only currency was local and issued by banks. The government issued "greenbacks" to finance the Civil War." The 1863 NCA was superseded by the National Bank Act of 1864.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bank_Act)(WSJ,11/24/95, p.A-8)(WSJ, 6/27/96, p.B1)(Wired, 10/96, p.143)(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A1)1865        Feb 25, General Joseph E. Johnston replaced John Bell Hood as Commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. Arthur Fremantle made a breathtaking tour of the Confederacy. Within three months he had met most of the topConfederate leaders, including Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, Joseph Johnston and Jefferson Davis.(HN, 2/25/98)1870        Feb 25, Hiram Revels (Sen-R-MS) was sworn in as the 1st black member of Congress.(MC, 2/25/02)1879        Feb 25, Congress passed the 1st Timberland Protection Act.(MC, 2/25/02)1885        Feb 25, US Congress condemned barbed wire around government grounds.(MC, 2/25/02)1888        Feb 25, John Foster Dulles was born. He served as Secretary of State to President Eisenhower (1953-1959).(HN, 2/25/98)(MC, 2/25/02)1894        Feb 25, Meher Baba, spiritual leader, was born.(HN, 2/25/01)1899        Feb 25, Paul Julius Reuter (b.1816), founder of the British news agency that bears his name, died in Nice, France. In 2003 Brian Mooney and Barry Simpson authored "Breaking news: How the Wheels Came off at Reuters."(AP, 2/25/99)(Econ, 11/1/03, p.81)1901        Feb 25, [Herbert] Zeppo Marx, comedian, actor (Marx Brothers), was born in NYC.(MC, 2/25/02)1901        Feb 25, United States Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan Charles Schwab and Andrew Carnegie. Morgan combined Federal Steel and Carnegie Steel to form US Steel. It was the biggest corporate merger of the time. As president of US Steel Schwab acquired the Bethlehem Steel. In 1904 Schwab resigned his position at US Steel to run Bethlehem Steel.(AP, 2/25/98)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(WSJ, 5/12/03, p.A6)(WSJ, 10/8/08, p.A15)1904        Feb 25, J.M. Synge's play “Riders to the Sea" openedin Dublin. [see Jan 25](HN, 2/25/01)1905        Feb 25, Adele Davis, nutritionist, was born.(HN, 2/25/01)1908        Feb 25, The 1st tunnel under Hudson River (railway tunnel) opened. The McAdoo Tunnel was completed March 8, 1904, but only officially opened on this date.(PCh, 1992, p.655)(MC, 2/25/02)1910        Feb 25, The Dalai Lama fled from the Chinese and took refuge in India.(HN, 2/25/98)1911        Feb 25, A rare snowstorm hit San Francisco.(SSFC, 2/20/11, DB p.46)1913        Feb 25, Jim Backus, actor (Mr. Magoo, Thurston Howell III-Gilligan's Island), was born in Cleveland.(MC, 2/25/02)1913        Feb 25, The 16th Amendment to the constitution was adopted, setting the legal basis for the income tax. The amendment, proposed by Congress at the urging of Pres. Taft, established a corporate tax. Churches and other religious organizations were exempted from federal taxation. Cordell Hull, author of the Revenue Act of 1913, said: “Of course any kind of society or corporation that is not doing business for profit and not acquiring profit would not come within the meaning of the taxing clause."(HN, 2/25/98)(WSJ, 3/11/98, p.A20)(AH, 4/07, p.31)(http://tinyurl.com/yg2j694)1914        Feb 25, John Tenniel (b.1820), English illustrator, died. He is best remembered for his illustrations in Lewis Carroll's “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and “Through the Looking-Glass."(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tenniel)1917        Feb 25, Anthony Burgess, English writer (A Clockwork Orange), was born.(HN, 2/25/01)1919        Feb 25, Oregon introduced the first state tax on gasoline at one cent per gallon, to be used for road construction.(HN, 2/25/98)(AP, 2/25/98)1926        Feb 25, Francisco Franco became Generalissimo of Spain.(MC, 2/25/02)1926        Feb 25, Poland demanded a permanent seat on the League Council.(HN, 2/25/98)1928        Feb 25, Larry Gelbart, writer, producer, actor (Oh God!, M*A*S*H), was born.(MC, 2/25/02)1928        Feb 25, Bell Labs introduced a new device to end thefluttering of the television image.(HN, 2/25/98)1928        Feb 25, In Mexico Toribio Romo Gonzalez (b.1900), a Catholic priest, was killed during the Cristero War. He was canonized as a saint on May  21, 2000, by Pope John Paul II, and later came to be regarded as the patron saint of migrants.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toribio_Romo_Gonz%C3%A1lez)(SFC, 7/17/14, p.D2)1932        Feb 25, The German state government of Brunswick,in which the Nazi Party participated, appointed Adolph Hitler of Austria to a minor administrative post this month and on this day gave him German citizenship. Hitler was thus able to stand against Hindenburg in the forthcoming Presidential election.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler)(www.secondworldwar.co.uk/ahitler.html)1933        Feb 25, The 1st genuine aircraft carrier was christened: USS Ranger.(MC, 2/25/02)1937        Feb 25, Basia Johnson, maid, was born. She later inherited the Johnson & Johnson fortune.(MC, 2/25/02)1937        Feb 25, Bob Schieffer, newscaster (CBS Weekend News), was born in Austin, Tx.(MC, 2/25/02)1940        Feb 25, A hockey game was televised for the first time, by New York City station W2XBS, as the New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 6-2, at Madison Square Garden.(AP, 2/25/00)1943        Feb 25, George Harrison (d. Nov 29, 2001) of the Beatles was born.(SFC, 11/30/01, p.A1)(SFC, 12/4/01, p.A2)1943        Feb 25, U.S. troops retook the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia, where they had been defeated five days before.(HN, 2/25/99)1944        Feb 25, U.S. forces destroyed 135 Japanese planes in Marianas and Guam.(HN, 2/25/02)1948        Feb 25, Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia in a coup d’etat.(AP, 2/25/98)(SFC, 3/13/98, p.A6)1950        Feb 25, The comedy-variety program "Your Show of Shows," starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and, later, Howard Morris, debuted on NBC-TV. The show’s writers included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon & Woody Allen.(AP, 2/25/00)(MC, 2/25/02)1950        Feb 25, George Richards Minot (b.1885), physician (Nobel-1934), died.(WUD, 1994 p.913)(Internet)1950        Feb 25, In Czechoslovakia Josef Toufar (b.1902), a Catholic priest was tortured to death by investigators after the secret police claimed he staged a fake miracle in his church in Cihost where a cross began to move for no obvious reason during a Mass.