TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 28
202 BC Coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty’s rule over China
1066 Westminster Abbey, the most famous church in England, opens its doors
1646 Roger Scott was tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church
1692 Salem witch hunt begins
1574 On the orders of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, two Englishmen and an Irishman are burnt for heresy
1784 John Wesley issues “Deed of Declaration” formally establishing the Methodist Church.
1847 Colonel Alexander Doniphan and his ragtag Missouri Mounted Volunteers ride to victory at the Battle of Sacramento, during the Mexican War.1
1849 Regular steamboat service to California via Cape Horn arrived in San Francisco for the first time. The SS California had left New York Harbor on October 6, 1848. The trip took 4 months and 21 days.
1854 Republican Party formally organized in Ripon, Wisconsin
1861 The U.S. territory of Colorado was organized.
1916 Haiti becomes the first U.S. protectorate.
1947 February 28 Massacre: Anti-government uprising in Taiwan is violently put down by Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang-led Republic of China government with the loss of 18,000-28,000 lives. Marks the beginning of the White Terror.
1967 In Mississippi, 19 are indicted in the slayings of three civil rights workers.
1969 A Los Angeles court refuses Robert Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan’s request to be executed.
1983 The final episode of M*A*S*H aired. It was the most watched television program in history.
1991 Gulf War ends after Iraq accepts a ceasefire following their retreat from Kuwait
1993 Four federal agents were killed in Waco, Texas, after they tried to serve an arrest warrant for weapons charges on Branch Davidian sect leader David Koresh, starting a 51-day standoff.
1994 Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand gun in the USA, comes into effect
2004 Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947
2007 Jupiter flyby of the New Horizons Pluto-observer spacecraft.
2013 28 people are killed and 60 are injured after a series of bombings across Baghdad, Iraq
2018 700 illegal churches closed in Rwanda for being too noisy and lacking building permits
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
