1504: Using his knowledge about a lunar eclipse that was going to occur that evening, Christopher Columbus manages to scare the hostile Jamaican Indians to provide him with supplies.
1704: During Queen Anne’s War, over 50 villagers at Deerfield in the Massachusetts Bay Colony are killed and more than 100 are taken captive by a combined French and Native American forces.
1768: The Bar Confederation is organized by Polish nobles.
1796: It’s the beginning of 10 years of peaceful trade between the U.S and Great Britain when the Jay Treaty goes into effect on this day.
1864: The Kilpatrick–Dahlgren Raid doesn’t work during the American Civil War. This raid was supposed to free over fifteen thousand Union soldiers held around Richmond, Virginia. However, the plan failed.
1892: The city of St. Petersburg in Florida is officially incorporated.
1916: The minimum working age for children working in factories, mines and miles is raised from 12 to 14-years of age in South Carolina.
1936: The February 26th Incident that took place in Tokyo comes to a conclusion.
1940: Hattie McDaniel wins an Academy Award for her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind. She’s the first African-American to win this award.
1940: Ernest Lawrence wins the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics. Because of WWII, the ceremony is held in Berkeley, California.
1944:S General Douglas MacArthur leads American forces on an invasion of the Admiralty Islands during World War II.
Famous Birthdays on February 29
American serial killer Aileen Wuornos is born in 1956.
American serial killer Richard Ramirez is born in 1960.
American motivational speaker and author, Tony Robbins is born in 1960.
American author and illustrator, Howard Tayler is born in 1968.
American soccer player Perry Kitchen is born in 1992.
American actress Caitlin EJ Meyer is born in 1992.
