This day in History - February 17

447 Historic Events for February 17
1857 Birth Samuel Sidney McClure, Irish-American newspaper editor/publisher
1858 Birth Ernest Ford, composer
1859 Event Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Un Ballo in maschera" premieres in Napoli
1862 Birth Edward German (Jones), Whitchurch Shropshire, British composer
1862 Birth Mori Ogai [Mori Rintar“), Japanese author (Maihime/Gan)
1864 Birth Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, NSW Australia, poet (Waltzing Matilda)
1864 Event Confederate sub "HL Hunley" sinks Union ship "Housatonic"
1865 Event Columbia SC burns down during Civil War
1865 Event -18] Battle of Charleston SC
1867 Birth William Cadbury, England, chocolate manufacturer (Cadbury)
1867 Event 1st ship passes through Suez Canal
1867 Event Gyula Andressy becomes premier of Hungary
1870 Event Esther Morris appointed 1st female judge
1870 Event Mississippi becomes 9th state readmitted to US after Civil War
1870 Birth Louis de Raet, Belgian economist/founder (Flemish People's Party)
1874 Birth Thomas J Watson, US, representative/founder (IBM)
1874 Death [Lambert] Adolphe J Quetelet, Belg astronomer/sociologist, dies at 77
1875 Death Lu¡s NF Varela, Brazilian romantic poet, dies at 33
1876 Event Sardines 1st canned (Julius Wolff-Eastport, Maine)
1877 Birth Henri Vandeputte, Belgian author/poet (L'homme Jeune)
1878 Event 1st telephone exchange in SF opens with 18 phones
1878 Death Jos‚ Amador de los R¡os, Spanish historian/poet, dies at 59
1879 Birth Dorothy Canfield Fisher, US, novelist (Book-of-Month-Club)
1880 Birth Alvaro Obregon, general/president Mexico (1920-24)
1880 Event Tsar Alexander II of Russia survives an assassination attempt