TODAY IN HISTORY ― FEBRUARY 8

February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 326 days remaining until the end of the year (327 in leap years). This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday (58 in 400 years each) than on Saturday or Sunday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Thursday (56).

NATIONAL KITE-FLYING DAY 


1587 – After 19 years of imprisonment, Mary Queen of Scots is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England for her complicity in a plot to murder Queen Elizabeth I.

1777 – Just six months after his release as a prisoner-of-war, Major Timothy Bigelow becomes colonel of the 15th Massachusetts Colonial Line of the Continental Army on this day in 1777.

1862 – On this day in the American Civil War, Union General Ambrose Burnside scores a major victory when his troops capture Roanoke Island in North Carolina. It was one of the first major Union victories of the Civil War and gave the Yankees control of the mouth of Albemarle Sound, allowing them to threaten the Rebel capital of Richmond, Virginia, from the south.

1887 – In a well-meaning but ultimately flawed attempt to assimilate Native Americans, President Grover Cleveland signs the Dawes Severalty Act to end tribal control of reservations and divide their land into individual holdings.

1904 – Following the Russian rejection of a Japanese plan to divide Manchuria and Korea into spheres of influence, Japan launches a surprise naval attack against Port Arthur, a Russian naval base in China. The Russian fleet was decimated, initiating the Russo-Japanese War.

1924 – The first execution by lethal gas in American history is carried out in Carson City, Nevada. The executed man was Gee Jon, a member of a Chinese gang who was convicted of murdering a rival tong member. Lethal gas was adopted by Nevada in 1921 as a more humane method of carrying out its death sentences, as opposed to the traditional techniques of execution by hanging, firing squad, or electrocution.

1943 – Under the command of Major General Orde Wingate, the 77th Indian Brigade, also called the Chindits, launch guerrilla raids behind Japanese lines in Burma.

1943 – On this day in WWII, Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal, leaving the island in Allied possession after a prolonged campaign. The American victory paved the way for other Allied wins in the Solomon Islands.

1949 – Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty, the highest Catholic official in Hungary, is convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Communist People's Court. Outraged observers in Western Europe and the United States condemned both the trial and Mindszenty's conviction as "perversions" and "lynchings."

1971 – South Vietnamese army forces invade southern Laos. Dubbed Operation Lam Son 719, the mission goal was to disrupt the communist supply and infiltration network along Route 9 in Laos, adjacent to the two northern provinces of South Vietnam.

1978 – A classic "Nor'easter" storm that brought a severe blizzard to New England finally subsides on this day in 1978, and the region begins to dig out from under several feet of snow. Over the previous 72 hours, some areas of Rhode Island and Massachusetts had received as many as 55 inches of snow.

1985 – Sir William Lyons, the founder of the British luxury automaker Jaguar, dies at the age of 84 in Warwickshire, England.

1993 – General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigs two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the next day.

1996 – The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act, the first notable attempt by the United States Congress to regulate pornographic material on the Internet.

1996 – The massive Internet collaboration 24 Hours in Cyberspace takes place. The project brought together the world's top photographers, editors, programmers, and interactive designers to create a digital time capsule of online life.

2005 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP A. Chandranehru dies of injuries sustained in an ambush the previous day.

2010 – A freak storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of at least 36 avalanches, burying over two miles of road, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 travelers.

2013 – A blizzard disrupts transportation and leaves hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in the Northeastern United States and parts of Canada.

TODAY'S BIRTHS

1700 – Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1782)

1820 – William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (d. 1891)

1834 – Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (d. 1907)

From Wikipedia and Google (images), ex as noted.