February 29 holidays in 2020

Historical Events on February 29

• 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 26^th 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.