February 16, 1804 - In order to destroy the frigate USS Philadelphia, captured in October by Tripoli, a military mission in disguise slips into Tripoli harbor and sets fire to it.

February 16, 1852 - Henry and Clement Studebaker begin their blacksmith and wagon-building business, which would later develop into auto production.

February 16, 1857 - The first school in the world to focus on the education of the deaf at a college level, the National Deaf Mute College is incorporated in Washington, D.C. Later the school was renamed Gallaudet College.

February 16, 1862 - Union troops gain control of Fort Donelson in Tennessee, forcing the Confederacy to withdraw from central Tennessee.

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February 16, 1909 - The New York City subway system becomes the first in the nation to use cars with side doors.

February 16, 1937 - Wallace Carothers, chemist at DuPont, receives a patent for nylon and the process for making it.

February 16, 1945 - During World War II, U.S. forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. The Bataan Death March occurred in that area three years earlier.


 

"It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it." - Douglas MacArthur