February

• 2/1/1861 - Texas secedes, by a vote of 166 to 7 1864 - U.S. Congress reinstitutes the rank of      
                      Lieutenant General for the military forces, intended to benefit U.S. Grant

• 2/1/1865 - Sherman begins Carolina Campaign

• 2/2/1803 - Gen. Albert S. Johnston, CS, born

• 2/3/1807 - Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, CS, born
  2/3/1864 - Meridian Campaign begins
  2/3/1865 - Peace Talks begin

• 2/4/1864 - Special Orders No. 32, issued at Charleston, S.C., direct that "All prisoners of war in this                       city (except officers and negroes) of the land and naval service of the United States will be                     sent forthwith and turned over to Brig. Gen. Winder at Richmond. All Officers...will be                           sent for further confinement to Columbia, S.C."

• 2/6/1833 - Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, CS, born
  2/6/1862 - Union forces capture Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River

• 2/8/1820 - Gen. William T. Sherman, US, born
  2/8/1862 - Battle of Roanoke Island

• 2/9/1861 - Jefferson Davis elected President of Confederacy
  2/9/1862 - Confederate Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow assumes command of Ft. Donelson
  2/9/1864 - Col. Thomas E. Rose of P.A., leads 109 Fed. Officers in an escape through a tunnel out                           of Libby Prison in Richmond. Eventually, 48 are recaptured, two drowned, and 59 make                       it back to Union lines.

• 2/9/1865 - Confederate Brig. Gen. Winder is buried in an unmarked grave because of the proximity                       of Gen. Sherman's troops. He is later reinterred in Maryland

• 2/12/1809 - Abraham Lincoln born

• 2/13/1862 - Confederate Brig. Gen. Floyd takes command of Ft. Donelson from Confederate Brig.                            Gen. Pillow, just prior to: Battle of Fort Donelson

• 2/14/1824 - Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, US, born

• 2/15/1861 - Lincoln speaks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  2/15/1864 - Gen. Sherman turns 10,000 of his men loose on Meridian, Miss. - they dismantle                                    EVERYTHING in a five-day spree

• 2/16/1861 - Lincoln speaks in Cleveland, Ohio                                                                        2/16/1862 - Fort Donelson, Tennessee captured with 15,000 Confederates - Confederate Brig. Gen.                          Simon B. Buckner asks Grant for terms of surrender, Grant replies "No terms except                               unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately                      upon your works."

• 2/17/1861 - Lincoln speaks in Buffalo, N.Y.
  2/17/1864 - Confederate submarine sinks Union warship off Charleston                                      2/17/1865 - Columbia surrenders to Sherman, and is destroyed by fire in the same night. Sherman                          marches toward the sea

• 2/18/1861 - Jefferson Davis inaugurated Provisional President of the Confederate States of America
                       at Montgomery, Alabama, AND Lincoln speaks in Albany, N.Y.                                  2/18/1865 - Fort Sumter is abandoned, Federals seize Charleston.

• 2/19/1861 - Lincoln speaks in New York, N.Y.

• 2/20/1864 - Union forces defeated at Olustee, Florida

• 2/21/1861- Lincoln speaks in Philadelphia, P.A.

• 2/22/1856 - The Know-nothing party, renamed the American party, nominates former President                              Millard Fillmore as Presidential candidate

• 2/23/1861- Lincoln speaks in Baltimore, Md.

• 2/24/1864 - Braxton Bragg appointed, effectively, chief of staff of the Confederate forces by Jeff.   
                       Davis                                                                                                                                2/24/1865 - Captain John Yates Beall, C.S.N., is hanged for treason, guerilla warfare, and being a                             spy...his tombstone reads "Died in the Service and Defense of his Country."

• 2/25/1862 - Confederates abandon Nashville, Tennessee

• 2/27/1862 - President Davis suspends the Writ of Habeas Corpus in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va.                             Brig. Gen. John H. Winder is appointed Provost-Marshal of Richmond and charged with                       implementing martial law in Henrico Co., Va.

• 2/28/1864 - Gen. Judson Kilpatrick leads a force of 3500 Fed. Cavalry south through the weakened                           defenses of Richmond, and frees Union prisoners held there