Celebrations Today – February 25

Holidays and observances

• Armed Forces Day (Dominican Republic)
• Christian feast day:
  • Æthelberht of Kent
  • Blessed Ciriaco María Sancha y Hervás
  • Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani, OSB
  • John Roberts (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • Tarasius (Eastern Orthodox Churches and Traditionalist Catholics)
  • Walburga
  • February 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Kitano Baika-sai or “Plum Blossom Festival” (Kitano Tenman-gū Shrine, Kyoto, Japan)
• Meher Baba’s birthday (followers of Meher Baba)
• Memorial Day for the Victims of the Communist Dictatorships (Hungary)
• National Day (Kuwait)
• People Power Day (Philippines)
• Revolution Day (Suriname)
• Soviet Occupation Day (Georgia)

Celebrations Today – USA: February 25

National Chocolate Covered Nut Day
National Clam Chowder Day
National Let’s All Eat Right Day
National Chocolate-Covered Peanuts Day
National Pistol Patent Day
National Quiet Day

Today in US History: February 25

Fort Sackville

Lieutenant Governor Hamilton engages to deliver up to Col. Clarke, Fort Sackville as it is at present with all the stores, ammunition, & provision &c. &c.”Account of the Expedition of Lieut. Gov. Hamilton,”Report of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan together with Reports of County Pioneer Societies [Historical Collections], 2d ed.
(Lansing: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Company, 1908): 504.
Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910

Clark Statue, Army and Navy [Soldiers’ and Sailors’] Monument,
Indianapolis, Indiana, 1904.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920

On the morning of February 25, 1779, Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark, elder brother of explorer William Clark, accepted British Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton’s unconditional surrender of Fort Sackville at Vincennes, Indiana.

Despite a 1763 prohibition against settlement of Kentucky and points west, hundreds of colonists and their families drifted beyond the Appalachians. With the Revolutionary War under way, these pioneers were vulnerable to attack from both British and Native American forces.

Clark believed that Hamilton rewarded Indians for raids on American settlements. With the support of Virginia’s Governor Patrick Henry, Clark marshalled volunteers from among the frontiersmen and successfully attacked British outposts along the Mississippi River.

To capture Fort Sackville, Clark relied on his men’s expert marksmanship and a classic military bluff. Although he commanded only two hundred buckskin-clad pioneers, Clark raised flags enough for a company of six hundred. Believing himself overwhelmed, Hamilton surrendered and was imprisoned at Williamsburg. The British never regained control of the fort.

Clark’s success was noted by Governor Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, and General George Washington:

Sir: On the 4th Instant I had the Honor to receive your Letter of the 19th of June. Your Excellency will permit me to offer you my sincere congratulations upon your appointment to the Government of Virginia.

I thank you much for the accounts Your Excellency has been pleased to transmit me of the successes of Cols. Clarke and Shelby. They are important and interesting, and do great honor to the Officers and Men engaged in the Enterprises. I hope these successes will be followed by very happy consequences. If Colo Clarke could by any means gain possession of Detroit, it would in all probability effectually secure the friendship or at least the neutrality of most of the Western Indians.

Letter from George Washington to Thomas Jefferson, July 10, 1779.
The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799

Clark’s bold defense of the trans-Appalachian frontier during the Revolution frustrated British attempts to drive Americans out of the region and legitimized American claims to the Northwest Territory—land ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Patrick Henry, photograph of a painting by George B. Matthews in the United States Capitol, copyright, 1904.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920

• The Today in History features on Illinois and Michigan contain more information about settlement of this region.
• Search the full text of Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910 on George Rogers Clark to retrieve over forty documents pertaining to the colonel including Clark’s Commission to a Fox Chief and Colonel Clark’s Memorandum to a Winnebago Chief.
• Search the George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799 on George Rogers Clark to retrieve correspondence related to Clark. These include an August 1779 letter from Washington to Jefferson, discussing the terms of Lieutenant Governor Hamilton’s imprisonment and a 1781 letter from Washington to Daniel Brodhead.

Today in History – February 25-External Links

Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia