Unforgettable Moments: February 22

Relive unforgettable moments from February 22 throughout history. Learn about significant events, famous birthdays, and more in this brief exploration of this date in history.

303 1st official Roman edict for persecution of Christians issued by Emperor Diocletian at Nicomedia, ordering all churches to be closed and scriptures burnt
1775 1st US joint stock company (to make cloth) offers shares at 10 cents
1784 1st US ship to trade with China, "Empress of China", sails from NY
1819 The Adams–Onís Treaty between Spain and the United States is signed, ceding Florida to the US and defining the boundary between the US and New Spain
1847 Battle of Buena Vista begins between US and Mexican troops
1854 1st meeting of Republican Party (Michigan)
1856 1st national meeting of Republican Party (Pittsburgh)
1860 Shoe-making workers of Lynn, Massachusetts, strike successfully for higher wages
1865 Tennessee adopts a new constitution abolishing slavery
1872 1st national convention of Prohibition Party (Columbus Ohio)
1879 First "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" opened by Frank Winfield Woolworth in Utica, New York. It fails almost immediately.
1888 “Father of American Golf” John Reid first demonstrates golf on a Yonkers cow pasture to friends
1889 US President Cleveland signs bill to admit Dakotas, Montana & Washington state to the union
1898 Black postmaster lynched, his wife & 3 daughters shot in Lake City, South Carolina
1909 Great White Fleet, 1st US fleet to circle the globe, returns to Virginia
1916 The House-Grey Memorandum, drafted by US and Britain, states: 'Should the Allies accept [the American idea of a conference to end the war] and should Germany refuse it, the United States would "probably" enter the war against Germany’
1923 Transcontinental airmail service begins
1932 Purple Heart (the Badge of Military Merit) award reinstituted
1935 Airplanes are no longer permitted to fly over the White House
1942 World War II: President Franklin Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defenses collapse
1966 Soviets launch Kosmos 110 with Veterok & Ugolek, 1st 2-dog crew
1967 25,000 US and South Vietnamese troops launch Operation Junction City against the Viet Cong. Largest US airborne assault since WWII.
1980 "Miracle on Ice": US ice hockey team beats heavily favoured Soviet Union, 4-3 at Lake Placid in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history; Americans go on to win gold medal
1995 Steve Fossett completes 1st air balloon over Pacific Ocean (9600 km)
1997 Dolly the Sheep, world's first cloned mammal (from an adult cell) is announced by the Roslin Institute in Scotland
2017 US President Donald Trump overturns Obama directive on Transgender rights to use toilets
2019 Actor Jussie Smollett suspended from US TV show "Empire" after revealed that actor made false claims about racist and homophobic attack
2019 Robert Kraft, owner of NFL team the New England Patriots, charged with soliciting prostitution, as part of human-trafficking sting operation in Jupiter, Florida
2021 US death toll from COVID-19 passes 500,000, higher than US deaths in World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War combined. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris hold a candle-lighting ceremony outside the White House and say "we must not grow numb to the sorrow”.
2021 Wife of drug cartel boss "El Chapo" Emma Coronel Aispuro arrested in the US on drug trafficking charges and conspiring to free her husband from prison
2023 Astronomers reveal Webb telescope data is upending existing theories of how early galaxies were formed, after finding six massive galaxies 100x larger than expected soon after the Big Bang
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