February’s the month for love, ground hogs and spring weeds! It’s also a month rich in history!
February 1, 1960, four African American students sat down at a lunch counter inside a Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina and ordered coffee. They were refused service. They did not leave, instead they waited all day. The scene was repeated and by the third day 300 had joined the protest.
February 2, 1848 ,the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war between the U.S. and Mexico. The US paid $15 million to Mexico for areas encompassing parts or all of present day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and setting the Rio Grande as the border of Texas.
February 3, 1943, in the icy waters off Greenland the U.S. Army transport ship Dorchester was hit by a German torpedo and began to sink. With men scrambling for life jackets the four U.S. Army chaplains on board removed theirs and handed them to the soldiers. The chaplains were last seen on the ship’s deck with arms locked and praying.
February 9, 1943, U.S. troops captured Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands after six months of fighting.
February 14, 1929, The St. Valentine’s Day massacre occurred in Chicago as five suspected mobsters posing as police gunned down seven members of the Bugs Moran gang.
February 28, 1844, one of the 12 inch guns aboard the USS Princeton exploded. Six people died including several top U.S. government officials on the steamer ship, narrowly missed killing President John Tyler.