The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Athens Double-Barreled Cannon (April, 1862) - Feb. 14th, 2005

American’s Civil War | September 1997 | Lonnie R. Speer

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

.................................................................. .................... ...........................................

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John Gilleland Developed a Revolutionary
Double-Barreled Cannon
Meant to Sweep Union Infantry off the Field

On a spring morning in April 1862, a number of men gathered in a field near Newton's Bridge on the north side of Athens, Georgia, to witness a demonstration of a weapon that they believed would revolutionize the art of warfare. Rolled into position was a newly forged cannon ready for test-firing, one that everyone present could clearly see was no ordinary cannon.

Forged at the local Athens Steam Company and mounted on a regular carriage, the new gun was 4 feet 8 1/2 inches long and nearly 13 inches wide. Although a trained eye might have noticed that the cannon was slightly wider than a normal gun of that size, it did not look all that abnormal until one examined the muzzle end. There, two side-by-side 3-inch-diameter bores stared back at the observer, rather like a giant double-barreled shotgun. The breech end was also abnonnal; it had three touchholes, two permitting each barrel to be fired independently and one in the center allowing both barrels to be fired at once.

Its inventor, 53-year-old John Gilleland - an Athens carpenter and cabinetmaker before the war and now a private in the Mitchell Thunderbolts, a homeguard unit composed of men too old for active service - prepared the new gun for firing. Several of the spectators milling around the gun had contributed to its financing. Thirty-six men, many of whom belonged to the Thunderbolts, had raised a total of $350 through a subscription fund. Its casting at the foundry had been personally supervised by Thomas Bailey, a longtime Athens resident and member of the Thunderbolts.

A target of several upright posts was erected a short distance away. Gilleland, with the help of others, rammed balls of solid shot, connected to each other by a 10-foot length of chain, into each barrel. An excess length of chain was allowed to drape down toward the ground between the two barrels. The men gathered behind the gun as Gilleland approached the breech, attached a lanyard to a friction primer and carefully inserted the primer into the center vent.

Gilleland had designed his new weapon to fire mainly "chain shot," two cannonballs connected by heavy chain, intended to mow down large formations of enemy troops like so many acres of wheat. Gilleland's concept was not as impractical as it might have seemed. Chain shot had been used routinely in naval warfare as far back as the 1600s. It was invented by the French, who preferred to incapacitate opposing ships by knocking down and destroying their masts and rigging during pitched battles, as opposed to the British preference of pounding the hulls of enemy ships with shot aimed at the waterline to stop and sink them as quickly as possible.

The common procedure with chain shot was to load two balls connected by a chain into a single cannon barrel, fire it off, and watch the twirling projectiles shred the enemy's sails or wrap around and bring down their huge masts. Eventually, the use of chain shot became a common naval procedure, perfected by the Spanish. The outbreak of Civil War hostilities renewed efforts to find a successful method for using chain shot in field artillery. Various inventors submitted plans and prototypes to both the Union and Confederate governments, including forked cannons, but the strange-looking weapons proved impractical or else failed to produce the desired results.

Gilleland had read many newspaper stories and accounts of experienced troops returning to Athens after major battles; he realized that although the Confederate armies were often quite effective in the field, they suffered from a lack of manpower and were easily flanked by greater numbers of Union troops. In an effort to equalize the manpower situation, the Athens inventor set out to design a cannon that would bring down large numbers of enemy soldiers at one time.

The design that Gilleland settled on was a double-barreled 6-pounder, cast in one piece with a 3-degree divergence between the two bores that would fire the projectiles at a slight angle away from each other. Thus the projectiles, fired separately but simultaneously, would pull the chain taut between them as they hurtled across the battlefield, somewhere between waist- and chin-high, cutting down troops like a giant scythe.

At the first test-firing, observers watched intently as Gilleland stepped up to the cannon and gave the lanyard a hard yank. First one barrel and then the other thundered into action. The cannon jumped violently in recoil and spewed its connected shot erratically across the field, missing its intended target. "It [came out in] a kind of circular motion," reported one eyewitness, "plowed up about an acre of ground, tore up a cornfield, mowed down saplings, and [then] the chain broke, the two balls going in different directions."

>

Undaunted, Gilleland recharged the barrels and rammed more connected shot into each. Again the weapon was touched off, and again the twin barrels grudgingly bellowed, blasting the chain shot across the horizon and into a thicket of pine. "[The] thicket of young pines at which it was aimed looked as if a narrow cyclone or a giant mowing machine had passed through," reported another witness.

Several more firings were made in an effort to synchronize the barrels. Primed again and loaded with more shot, the gun again was touched off. This time the chain snapped immediately. One ball tore into a nearby cabin, knocking down its chimney; the other spun off erratically and struck a nearby cow, killing it instantly.

The gun had begun to demonstrate its desired effect - wanton killing and destruction - but not to the degree that the men had hoped. "When both barrels did happen to explode exactly together," complained a witness years later, "no chain was found strong enough to hold the balls together in flight."

Gilleland nevertheless considered the test-firings a success. Some of the investors were not so sure. The cannon was sent to the Confederate arsenal in Augusta, Ga., for further experimentation. After lengthy testing by Colonel George W. Rains, commandant of the arsenal, the cannon was sent back to Athens. In his report to the Confederate secretary of war, Rains judged that Gilleland's new cannon was not usable, since the balls created different levels of friction and the gunpowder charges burned at different rates.

Gilleland was incensed and fired off several angry letters to the Confederate government in Richmond. Unable to get the government to adopt the gun or to perfect its performance, Gilleland contacted Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown and tried to solicit his interest. That, too, failed.

The gun remained in front of the Athens town hall for use as a signal device in the event of enemy attack. In August 1864, when citizens learned that Brig. Gen. George Stoneman's Federal troops were approaching, they moved the cannon three miles out of town to the hills above Barber's Creek. There, on August 2, Gilleland's double-barreled weapon was positioned on a ridge in the bottom tier of several cannons rolled into place by Lumpkin's Artillery Company. Both barrels were loaded with canister. Upon the approach of Union troops, who greatly out-numbered the homeguard units, a four-shell barrage was fired, and the enemy quickly withdrew from the area.

The cannon saw no other action after that skirmish. It was moved back to town and sat in front of the town hall for some time. After the war, the gun was sold, and its whereabouts remained unknown until it was relocated in the 1890s and restored to its original condition. Today, the double-barreled cannon is on display in the City Hall Plaza in downtown Athens.

Thanks to FReeper Par35 for suggesting and researching this thread

[SAMWolf]

Clocked by Two Smoking Barrels
Michelle Delio

ATHENS, Georgia -- One of the most fabulous examples of flawed technology would have been located right on U.S Route 1, had the city of Augusta not opted to send it back from whence it came.

The world's only double-barreled cannon is now proudly displayed on the lawn of the Athens City Hall, about a hundred miles off Route 1. It is a monument to every geek who ever had what seemed to be a really good idea at the time.

Location: Corner of College and Hancock Ave., Athens, Clarke Co. GA.

"The cannon reminds me of all those 2 a.m. brainstorms I've had, plans to build some contraption that would save the world and make my fortune," said Atlanta-based computer programmer Mick Adams.

"It's the ultimate symbol of obsessed nerds and wacky technology," Adams said.

We couldn't resist detouring off Route 1 to see the infamous cannon, which was designed in 1862 by John Gilleland, identified in various historical records as either a dentist, builder or mechanic.

Built for $350, the cannon was cast in Athens in one piece, with a 3-degree divergence between its almost-parallel double barrels. The idea was to connect two cannonballs with a chain and fire them simultaneously in order to, according to a plaque that now stands near the cannon, "mow the enemy down like scythe cuts wheat."

"Connecting cannonballs by a chain wasn't a new idea; in fact it was common practice in naval battles," said military historian Jon Barnell of New York.

"But the navies would fire the connected cannonballs from a single barrel," Barnell said. "The primary problem with Gilleland's weapon is the precision needed to fire both cannonballs at precisely the same time and velocity was well beyond the technical capacities of his day."

On April 22, 1862, the cannon was fired for the first time. It was a rather spectacular failure.

According to the official report, printed on the cannon's plaque: "It was tested in a field on the Newton's Bridge Road against a target of upright poles. With both balls rammed home and the chain dangling from the twin muzzles, the piece was fired; but the lack of precise simultaneity caused uneven explosion of the propelling charges, which snapped the chain and gave each ball an erratic and unpredictable trajectory."

Unofficial contemporaneous reports describe a far more chaotic scene, with both balls circling madly around each other after they were fired from the cannon.

Screaming spectators ducked and covered as the twinned, spinning projectiles plowed through a nearby wood and destroyed a cornfield before the chain connecting the balls broke. One of the cannonballs then collided into and killed a cow; the other demolished the chimney of a nearby home.

But Gilleland was not discouraged by a mere dead cow, a ruined corn crop and a wrecked chimney. He had faith in his cannon.

He insisted it be sent to the Confederate Army's arsenal in Augusta, Georgia, for an independent evaluation. Col. George Washington Rains tested the cannon and said it was unfit for its intended scythe-like, mowing-down purposes. He refused to keep it in the arsenal.

But Gilleland would not give up. For several months he devoted himself to trying to prove the cannon's worth to other Augusta-based military leaders and politicians, but they all declined to become involved with the quirky weapon.

So the cannon eventually was returned to Athens and placed in front of Town Hall. The new plan was to fill it with buckshot and use it as a signal gun to warn locals of the approach of any damn Yankees.

[SAMWolf]

On July 27, 1864, The Watchman, a local newspaper of the time, reported that several thousand Yankees had been spotted down the road in Monroe. The cannon was fired, a militia was marshaled, but the Union army never showed up.

"Perhaps they'd heard about the incredible cow-killing cannon and decided to steer well clear of Athens," suggested Fred Sanders, an Athens resident and self-described amateur military historian. "But it's far more likely that those rumors of the impending Yankee arrival were completely unfounded."

After the war, the cannon was left to molder. It mysteriously disappeared sometime in 1891 and reappeared almost a decade later.



Newspaper reports stated that a young boy discovered the cannon in a rock pile while he was attempting to catch a lizard. He hauled the cannon into town and sold it to a junk shop for $4. The city purchased it for $5 shortly afterward.

Until recently, the cannon sat peacefully on the lawn of City Hall, though Athens' convention and visitors bureau helpfully notes in its tourist guide that the cannon is "pointing north ... just in case."

But the peace was shattered Sept. 22, 2003, when the cannon was accosted by a robot.

The robot was investigating the contents of a suspicious package that had been placed in one of the cannon's barrels. The package, which bore a tag reading "random act ..." sparked fears that a bomb had been placed in the cannon.

"They sent a robot with a camera over to the cannon, and used the camera to look at the package," said Athens resident Mary Clark, who witnessed the event.

"They couldn't figure out what it was, so the robot then removed the package, aimed a shotgun at it and blew it to bits. It was totally cool," Clark said.

It was later discovered that the package only contained candy, and had been left in the cannon by a local church group as, according to the tag on the package, a "random act of kindness" in the hopes a hungry person would find and eat the sweets.

"Seems like that cannon just has to get itself involved in some strange ruckus every so often," noted Sanders. "It's had a more interesting life than any other public monument that I know of."

Additional Sources:

www.ngeorgia.com
www.rootsweb.com
www.nscs.com
www.igougo.com

[SAMWolf]

The world’s only double-barreled cannon is now proudly displayed on the lawn of the Athens City Hall, about a hundred miles off Route 1. It is a monument to every geek who ever had what seemed to be a really good idea at the time.

Built for $350, the cannon was cast in Athens in one piece, with a 3-degree divergence between its almost-parallel double barrels. The idea was to connect two cannonballs with a chain and fire them simultaneously in order to, according to a plaque that now stands near the cannon, “mow the enemy down like scythe cuts wheat.”

According to the official report, printed on the cannon’s plaque: “It was tested in a field on the Newton’s Bridge Road against a target of upright poles. With both balls rammed home and the chain dangling from the twin muzzles, the piece was fired; but the lack of precise simultaneity caused uneven explosion of the propelling charges, which snapped the chain and gave each ball an erratic and unpredictable trajectory.”

Unofficial contemporaneous reports describe a far more chaotic scene, with both balls circling madly around each other after they were fired from the cannon.

Screaming spectators ducked and covered as the twinned, spinning projectiles plowed through a nearby wood and destroyed a cornfield before the chain connecting the balls broke. One of the cannonballs then collided into and killed a cow; the other demolished the chimney of a nearby home.

Oopsie…

[SAMWolf]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization. The primary area of concern to all VetsCoR members is that our national and local educational systems fall short in teaching students and all American citizens the history and underlying principles on which our Constitutional republic-based system of self-government was founded. VetsCoR members are also very concerned that the Federal government long ago over-stepped its limited authority as clearly specified in the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers' supporting letters, essays, and other public documents.

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Actively seeking volunteers to provide this valuable service to Veterans and their families.

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We here at Blue Stars For A Safe Return are working hard to honor all of our military, past and present, and their families. Inlcuding the veterans, and POW/MIA's. I feel that not enough is done to recognize the past efforts of the veterans, and remember those who have never been found.

I realized that our Veterans have no "official" seal, so we created one as part of that recognition. To see what it looks like and the Star that we have dedicated to you, the Veteran, please check out our site.

Veterans Wall of Honor

Blue Stars for a Safe Return

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UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004



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[snippy_about_it]

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[AZamericonnie]

To our men & women of the Military....

Supporting our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Coast Guardsmen at more than 1,000 places across the U. S. and around the world.

To All Our Mothers Children

[Neil E. Wright]

Hiya Sam and Snippy,

You guys find the most interesting little tidbits of history ... thanks for this story .... :)

±

"The Era of Osama lasted about an hour, from the time the first plane hit the tower to the moment the General Militia of Flight 93 reported for duty."
Toward FREEDOM

[Soaring Feather]

~You Are My Sunshine~

[alfa6]

Doubled Barrelled Bump for the Freeper Foxhole from the night shift guy this week :-)

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Iris7]

You know, Snippy, my kids say I am a nerd, geek, actually. Affectionately, of course. So I look at that cannon, and can see exactly what was done wrong.

You have to use one chamber for both barrels, not two. Then a precombustion chamber exactly in the center above the single chamber, so you get a good ignition. Make the powder bags out of paper so they break easily, and a ramp in each side of the single chamber to get a good break into the center of the shared chamber. The inner separation between the barrels should be about one inch. Use moderate charges so the chain does not break.

Easy as fishing.

Still, conventional chain shot from a single barreled piece would have worked better. You want something that would have really worked, build a real plant to make barbed wire, and another to make Maxim guns and cartridges. Gatlings are too big, too heavy, and too hard to make.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[radu]

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

[GailA]

Good morning

[The Mayor]

February 14, 2005

Sacrificial Love

Read:
John 15:9-17

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. -John 15:13

Bible In One Year: Leviticus 17-19

What does it mean to lay down our lives for Christ and for our friends? In John 15, notice Christ's logic as He taught about sacrificial love.

First He said, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (v.12). Then He described the fullest extent of such love: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends" (v.13). Jesus died willingly for us and we should be willing to die for Him and our friends.

Then He added, "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you" (v.14). Jesus didn't say we're His friends only if we die for Him. We are also His friends if we obey Him. In God's eyes, obeying Him as a living sacrifice is the way we lay down our life for Him (Romans 12:1).

Similarly, we may not have to die for our friends, but there are other ways to make sacrifices for them. We can lay down our plans or tight schedules to focus on someone in need. Or we can lay down our possessions to make provision for the poor.

Such sacrifices, though small, can be powerful ways to lay down our lives for our friends-if we sacrifice willingly and in the spirit of Christ's love. -Joanie Yoder

We say we love humanity,
But it is only true
If we're prepared to sacrifice-
For those God asks us to. -Sper

The closer you are to God, the bigger your heart for people.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
The Compassion Of Jesus
What Is Real Love?

[Calpernia]

Happy Valentine's Day!

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on February 14:
1483 Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah prince/founder Mogols-dynasty
1533 Christianus Adrichomius Dutch priest/writer (Vita Jesu Christi)
1679 Georg Friedrich Kauffman composer
1707 Claude-Prosper J de Crébillon French writer (Le sopha)
1760 Richard Allen Philadelphia PA, 1st black ordained by Methodist-Episcopal church
1813 John McNeil Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1891
1817 Frederick Douglass African-American abolitionist/lecturer/editor
1819 James Green Martin Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1878
1824 Winfield Scott Hancock Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1886
1829 Alfred Iverson Jr Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1911
1838 Margaret Knight inventor, "the female Thomas Edison"
1859 George Washington Gale Ferris engineer/inventor (Ferris Wheel)
1864 Israel Zangwill England, Jewish author/Zionist (Children of Ghetto)
1869 Charles Wilson English physicist (Wilson cloud chamber-Nobel)
1892 Nikolaj A Orloff Russian/British pianist (Chopin)
1894 Jack Benny [Benjamin Kubelski], Waukegan IL,
1898 Fritz Zwicky Swiss astronomer (super nova)
1902 Ray "Crash" Corrigan Milwaukee WI, cowboy (Crash Corrigan's Ranch)
1905 Thelma Ritter Brooklyn NY, actress (Miracle on 34th Street)
1913 Jimmy Hoffa Teamsters leader who disappeared in 1975
1913 Mel Allen Birmingham AL, sportscaster (voice of the New York Yankees)
1917 Herbert A Hauptman New York NY, x-ray crystallographer (Nobel 1985)
1921 Hugh Downs Akron OH, TV journalist (Jcak Parr show, 20/20, Concentration)
1921 Skeezix of "Gasoline Alley" discovered on Wallets' doorstep
1931 Phyllis McGuire Middletown OH, singer (McGuire Sisters)
1929 Vic Morrow Bronx NY, actor (Combat, Roots, Twilight Zone the Movie)
1934 Florence Henderson Dale IN, actress/singer (Carol-Brady Bunch)
1935 Mickey Wright San Diego CA, LPGA golfer (4 times LPGA champion)
1940 Porpoise 1st born in captivity in US (Marineland, Florida)
1941 Paul Tsongas (Senator-D-MA)
1944 Carl Bernstein Washington Post investigative reporter (Watergate)
1945 Gregory Hines New York NY, actor/dancer (White Nights, Taps)
1948 Raymond Joseph Teller Philadelphia PA, magician (Penn & Teller)
1956 Dave Dravecky pitcher (San Francisco Giants), had arm amputated
1960 Meg Tilly [Margaret], Los Angeles CA, actress (Big Chill, Impulse)
1972 Drew Bledsoe NFL quarterback (New England Patriots)
1972 Erika Rachael Schwarz Folsom LA, Miss Louisiana-America (1996-2nd)

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Deaths which occurred on February 14:
0869 Cyrillus Greek apostle of Slaves, dies
1400 Richard II British King (1377-99), murdered at 33 at Pontefract Castle
1405 Timur/Tamerlan "Lenk" [Crippled], Mongols monarch, dies at about 68
1779 James Cook British explorer, murdered by natives in fracas with Hawaiians
1780 William Blackstone English lawyer, dies at 56
1831 Vincente Guerrero Mexican revolutionary hero, dies
1891 William Tecumseh Sherman Union Civil War General (captured Atlanta), dies at 71
1943 Frieda Reiss French 11 month old baby, murdered in Auschwitz
1967 James Schneider actor (Keystone Kops), dies at 85
1969 Vito Genovese US mafia chief, dies at 71
1975 Pelham G Wodehouse English/US writer (Piccadilly Jim), dies at 93
1988 Frederick Loewe US composer (My Fair Lady), dies at 84
1994 Gary "BB" Coleman blues vocal/guitarist/producer, dies at 47
1999 John D. Ehrlichman, President Nixon's domestic adviser imprisoned for his role in the Watergate cover-up that ultimately led to Nixon's resignation, dies in Atlanta at age 73.

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 HILLS JOHN R.---SOUTH BEND IN.
1967 MARVIN ROBERT C.---DEXTER MI.
1968 DUNN JOSEPH P.---HULL MA.
1968 ELLIOT ROBERT M.---SPRINGFIELD MA
[SEVERAL OBSERVATIONS INDICATE CAPTURE, REMAINS RETURNED 12/27/99]
1968 MC MAHAN ROBERT C.---JACKSONVILLE IL.
[REMAINS RETURNED 9/90, 11/28/90 I.D.]
1969 CLARK STANLEY S.---MODESTO CA.
1969 STEVENS LARRY J.---CANOGA PARK CA.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
0842 Charles II & Louis the German sign treaty
1014 Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry II, Roman German emperor
1076 Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV
1349 2,000 Jews burned at the stake in Strasbourg France
1540 Emperor Charles V enters Ghent without resistance, executes rebels
1556 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer declared a heretic
1670 Roman Catholic emperor Leopold I chases Jews out of Vienna
1689 English parliament places Mary Stuart/Prince Willem III on the throne
1711 Händels opera Rinaldo, premieres
1778 "Stars & Stripes" arrives in foreign port for 1st time (France)
1794 1st US textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Philadelphia PA
1848 James K Polk became 1st President photographed in office (Matthew Brady)
1859 Oregon admitted as 33rd state
1862 Galena, 1st US iron-clad warship for service at sea, launched, Connecticut
1867 Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company issues 1st policy
1867 Morehouse College organizes (Augusta GA)
1872 1st state bird refuge authorized (Lake Merritt CA)
1876 A G Bell & Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents; Supreme Court eventually rules Bell rightful inventor
1879 Chilean troops occupy Antofagasta
1883 1st state labor union legislation; New Jersey legalizes unions
1889 1st trainload of fruit (oranges) leaves Los Angeles for the east
1894 Venus is both a morning star & evening star
1896 Stanley Cup Winnipeg Victorias beat Montréal Victorias, 2-0
1896 Theodor Herzl publishes "Der Judenstaat"
1899 US Congress begins using voting machines
1903 US Dept of Commerce & Labor established
1907 1st US fox hound association forms in New York NY
1912 1st US submarines with diesel engines commissioned, Groton CT
1912 Arizona becomes 48th state
1919 United Parcel Service forms
1920 League of Women Voters forms in Chicago
1921 Little Review faces obscenity charges for publishing "Ulysses", New York
1924 IBM Corporation founded by Thomas Watson
1929 St Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago IL, 7 gangsters killed
1936 National Negro Congress organizes in Chicago
1939 Victor Fleming replaces George Cukor as director of Gone With the Wind
1940 British merchant vessel fleet is armed
1941 1,000,000th vehicle traverses the New York Midtown Tunnel
1941 German Africa Corps lands in Tripoli, Libya
1942 Japanese parachutists land near oil center Palembang Sumatra
1943 German offensive through de Faid-pass Tunisia
1943 Soviets recapture Rostov
1944 Anti-Japanese revolt on Java
1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden
1946 Bank of England nationalized
1949 1st session of Knesset opens in Jerusalem
1950 USSR & China sign peace treaty
1951 "Sugar" Ray Robinson defeats Jake "Raging Bull" LaMotta & takes middleweight title
1954 Senator John Kennedy appears on "Meet the Press"
1956 Khrushchev denounces Stalin at USSR Communist Party Conference
1956 20th Congress of CPSU opens in Moscow
1957 Georgia Senate unanimously approves Senator Leon Butts' bill barring blacks from playing baseball with whites
1958 Arab Federation of Iraq & Jordan forms
1959 $3.6 million heroin seizure in New York NY
1960 Marshal Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan
1961 Element 103, Lawrencium, 1st produced in Berkeley CA
1962 1st lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts White House tour on TV
1963 US launches communications satellite Syncom 1
1966 Wilt Chamberlain breaks NBA career scoring record at 20,884 points
1967 Aretha Franklin records "Respect"
1971 Movie "Ben Hur" 1st shown on television
1971 Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in White House
1972 John & Yoko co-host "Mike Douglas Show" for entire week
1972 Luna 20 (Russia) launched to orbit & soft landing on Moon
1978 1st "micro on a chip" patented by Texas Instruments
1985 Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut
1988 Bobby Allison at 50 becomes oldest driver to win Daytona 500
1989 Robin Givens is granted a divorce from Mike Tyson in Dominican Republic
1989 Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million damages for Bhopol disaster
1989 Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1 million-$3 million bounty on Salman Rushdie's death due to his novel, "Satanic Verses"
1990 Space probe Voyager 1 takes photograph of entire solar system
1992 Cease fire in Somalia begins
1994 Alexander Golubev skates Olympics record 500 meter (36.33)
2000 Turkey, 8 people were killed in 2 clashes between Hezbollah and police.
2001 A Palestinian crashed a bus into Israeli soldiers and civilians standing at a bus stop in Azur, Israel, killing eight. (The driver, Khalil Abu Olbeh, was later sentenced to eight life terms.)
2002 In Bahrain Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa declared himself king and approved plans for a constitutional monarchy. Parliamentary elections were scheduled for October and municipal elections in May. Women were to be allowed to vote and stand as candidates for the 1st time. Foreigners would be allowed to vote under certain conditions.
2003 In Zimbabwe 2 Valentine's Day peace parades by women clutching roses and singing hymns were broken up by baton-wielding police who arrested at least 88 people as well as eight journalists.

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Arizona 1912, Oregon 1859 : Admission Day
Bulgaria : Viticulturists' Day/Trifon Zarezan, cult of Dionysus
Denmark : Gaekkebrev/Fjörtende Februar-gift exchanges by school kids
Mexico : Day of National Mourning (Vincent Guerrero-1831)
World : St Valentine's Day
US : Love and Laughter Keeps Us from Getting Dizzy Week Ends
International Boost Your Self-Esteem Month

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Religious Observances
Methodist : Race Relations Sunday (2nd Sunday in February)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Valentine, physician/martyr/patron of lovers
Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic : Memorial of Cyril, monk/missionary to the Slavs
Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Methodius, bishop/missionary to the Slavs

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Religious History
1760 Richard Allen, the first black ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church (1799), and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 1816, was born in slavery in Philadelphia.
1805 Colonial American theologian Henry Ware, 41, was confirmed as the first Unitarian professor to teach at Harvard University. Soon after, the Trinitarian Congregationalist teachers began withdrawing from the school, and in 1808 established Andover Theological Seminary.
1914 Birth of Ira F. Stanphill, Assemblies of God clergyman and song evangelist. He is best known today for the hymn, "Room at the Cross," which he penned in 1946.
1949 Russian-born English chemist and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, 74, was elected first president of the newly restored modern state of Israel.
1985 The U.S. Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism announced their decision to begin accepting women as rabbis.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."

[U S Army EOD]

I know what is wrong with the gun. First of all, the use of chain shot was pretty much a French idea. The concept was dead on arrival.

[U S Army EOD]

The world couldn't handle two of me which explains why I am single.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Snippy.