On This Day

What Happened on February 16 in History

8 events that happened on February 16, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.

The Young Republic and the Civil War Era

1804
Stephen Decatur leads a night raid that burns the captured frigate Philadelphia in Tripoli harbor.
The American warship had run aground and fallen into the hands of Tripoli during the First Barbary War. Decatur's volunteers slipped into the harbor aboard a small ketch, set the frigate on fire so it could not be used against the U.S. Navy, and escaped.
Source: history.com; millercenter.org
1862
Confederate Fort Donelson in Tennessee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant.
Grant demanded unconditional surrender from the trapped garrison on the Cumberland River, and thousands of Confederate soldiers were taken prisoner. The victory opened a path into the South and made Grant a national figure in the North.
Source: battlefields.org

1923
Howard Carter opens the sealed burial chamber of King Tutankhamun.
The British archaeologist had found the tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings the previous November. Behind the sealed doorway stood a huge gilded shrine that protected the young pharaoh's sarcophagus, one of the richest finds in the history of archaeology.
Source: history.com; archive.nytimes.com
1945
American paratroopers drop onto Corregidor to retake the island fortress.
Soldiers of the 503rd Parachute Infantry landed on the rocky island at the mouth of Manila Bay as other troops came ashore by sea. Corregidor had fallen to Japan in 1942, and U.S. forces secured it after nearly two weeks of hard fighting.
Source: dyess.af.mil

1961
NASA's Explorer 9 balloon satellite becomes the first craft launched into orbit from Wallops Island.
A Scout rocket carried the inflatable sphere aloft from the Virginia coast. Scientists tracked the balloon's motion to measure the density of the upper atmosphere.
Source: nasa.gov
1968
The first 9-1-1 emergency call in the United States is placed in Haleyville, Alabama.
A state official dialed the new three-digit number from the mayor's office, and a congressman answered at the police station. The short ceremonial call launched a system that eventually spread across the country.
Source: history.com; ntia.gov
1971
A secret voice-activated taping system goes live in Richard Nixon's White House.
At the president's request, the Secret Service hid microphones in the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room. The recordings were revealed in 1973 during the Watergate investigation and later helped force Nixon to resign.
Source: nixonlibrary.gov; millercenter.org

2005
The Kyoto Protocol on climate change enters into force.
The treaty set binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for industrialized countries. It took effect ninety days after enough nations had ratified it, a threshold reached when Russia joined; the United States never ratified it.
Source: legal.un.org