On this date...

Golfing on the moon

In 1776, Major General Charles Lee writes Washington from New York while seriously ill, having been carried part of the journey in a litter. He reports that British General Henry Clinton arrived in the city almost simultaneously, claiming he has come only to visit former royal governor William Tryon and had brought no troops. 

In 1778, the treaties of Amity and Commerce and Alliance were signed, and in May 1778, the Continental Congress ratified them.

In 1788, Massachusetts becomes 6th state to ratifythe Constitution.

In 1815, New Jersey issues 1st US railroad charter (John Stevens).

In 1820, the first organized immigration of freed enslaved people to Africa from the United States departed New York harbor on a journey to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. The immigration was largely the work of the American Colonization Society, a U.S. organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to return formerly enslaved African people to Africa.

In 1843, the first minstrel show in the United States, "The Virginia Minstrels," opened at the Bowery Amphitheatre in NYC

In 1862, Union naval commodore Andrew Foote, leading a flotilla of ironclads, captured Fort Henry in Tennessee, a strategic Confederate position during the American Civil War.

In 1865, on February 6, 1865, Confederate General John Pegram, age 33, was killed at the Battle of Hatcher's Run (also called Dabney’s Mill), Virginia.

In 1882, the Society of the Knights of Columbus was formed in New Haven, Connecticut

In 1891, the members of the Dalton Gang stage an unsuccessful train robbery near Alila, California—an inauspicious beginning to their careers as serious criminals.

In 1899, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain was ratified by the U.S. Senate; the treaty ended the Spanish-American War and ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States.

In 1921, “The Kid,” Charlie Chaplin’s first feature-length film, was released across the United States.

In 1928, a woman calling herself Anastasia Tschaikovsky and claiming to be the youngest daughter of the murdered Russian czar Nicholas II arrives in New York City.

In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which moved the start of presidential, vice-presidential, and congressional terms from March to January, was declared in effect.

In 1959, Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments patented the first microchip.

In 1971, during the Apollo 14 moon landing, astronaut Alan Shepard one-handedly whacked two balls with a moon-rock-collection-tool-turned-golf-club. He shanked the first shot into a nearby crater.

In 1985, in his State of the Union address, President Ronald Reagan defined some of the key concepts of his foreign policy, establishing what came to be known as the “Reagan Doctrine.”

In 1998, A judge reinstated the suspended sentence of schoolteacher Mary Kay Letourneau and sent her back to prison for seven years after she was caught violating a no-contact order with her former student Vili Fualaau, when she was found in a vehicle with the boy.

In 1998, Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, honoring the former president on his 87th birthday.

In 2000, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton launched her successful candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

In 2008, the Bush White House defended the use of the interrogation technique known as waterboarding, saying it was legal, not torture, and had saved American lives.

In 2013, toy maker Hasbro Inc. announced that Monopoly fans had voted online to add a cat token to the board game, replacing the iron.

In 2014, Comedian Jay Leno hosted his last episode of The Tonight Show. He had previously retired in 2009 but had returned the following year.

In 2018, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch vehicle had its first test flight; on board was a Tesla automobile owned by SpaceX's founder, Elon Musk, that was placed into orbit around the Sun. The company hoped Falcon Heavy would eventually transport astronauts into deep space.