On February 23rd in History
Part I
Part I
On February 23rd in 1802 - Dewitt Clinton (1769-1828) began serving as US Senator from New York and continued to 1803.
On February 23rd in 1836 - The Alamo was besieged by Santa Anna. Thus began the siege of the Alamo, a 13-day moment in history that turned a ruined Spanish mission in San Antonio, Texas, into a shrine known and revered the world over.
On February 23rd in 1846 - The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia tolled for the last time, to mark George Washington’s birthday. A hairline fracture had developed since 1817 and a failed attempt to repair it resulted in the crack.
On February 23rd in 1861 - President-elect Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office after a suspected assassination plot was foiled in Baltimore. Allan Pinkerton, founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, may have saved Abraham Lincoln’s life by suspecting a plot to assassinate the president-elect in Baltimore, Md. At the detective’s suggestion, Lincoln avoided the threat by secretly slipping through the city at night. A few months later, Pinkerton joined Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s staff as chief intelligence officer. Using the name "Major Allen," the private detective remained with McClellan until late 1862, catching southern spies and running an espionage network in Confederate territory.
On February 23rd in 1945 - During World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised the American flag. John Bradley (d.1994), was one of the soldiers who raised the US flag at Iwo Jima. The carnage on the 8-sq.-mile island continued for another 31 days.
On February 23rd in 1967 - American troops began the largest offensive of the war, near the Cambodian border. In order to deny the Vietcong cover, and allow men to see through the dense vegetation, herbicides were dumped on the forests near the South Vietnamese borders as well as Cambodia and Laos.
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