1651 - St. Peter's Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people. [MORE]
1732 - George Washington (American general and politician, 1st President of the United States) - died 12/14/1799 at age 67 [MORE]
1819 - By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars. [MORE]
1847 - Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexicans troops. [MORE]
1853 - Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. [MORE]
1855 - The Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania). [MORE]
1856 - The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.
1862 - Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
1878 - In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores. [MORE]
1889 - President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states. [MORE]
1924 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President to deliver a radio address from the White House.
1942 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable. [MORE]
1950 - Julius Erving (American basketball player and sportscaster - "Dr.J") (75) [MORE]
1959 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500. [MORE]
1980 - Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3. [MORE]
1987 - Andy Warhol (American painter and photographer) - at age 58 [MORE]
2005 - The 6.4 Mw Zarand earthquake shakes the Kerman Province of Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 612 people dead and 1,411 injured. [MORE]
2011 - New Zealand's second deadliest earthquake strikes Christchurch, killing 185 people. [MORE]
2015 - A ferry carrying 100 passengers capsizes in the Padma River, killing 70 people. [MORE]
2018 - A man throws a grenade at the U.S embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro. He dies at the scene from a second explosion, with no one else hurt.

Remembering February 22