February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the shortest month and the only month with fewer than 30 days. The month has 28 days in common years or 29 days in leap years.
February symbols: Its birth flower is the violet (Viola) and the common primrose (Primula vulgaris). Its birthstone is the amethyst. It symbolizes piety, humility, spiritual wisdom, and sincerity. Its Zodiac signs are Aquarius (until February 18) and Pisces (February 19 onwards).
Historical Events for February, 1861
Day of Week 1st » American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
Day of Week 4th » American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America.
Day of Week 9th » American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Montgomery Convention named Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
Day of Week 10th » Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
Day of Week 11th » American Civil War: United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
Day of Week 13th » In Gaeta the capitulation of the fortress decreeing the end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is signed.
Day of Week 18th » In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
18th » With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy known as Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.
Day of Week 19th » Serfdom is Emancipation reform of 1861 named abolished in Russia.
Day of Week 23rd » President of the United States known as President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged Baltimore Plot or assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.
Day of Week 27th » Russian Empire known as Russian troops fire on a crowd in Warsaw protesting against Russian rule over Poland, killing five protesters.
Famous Birthdays on February in 1861
2nd » Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (d. 1949)