1779: British surrender Fort Sackville: On this day in 1779, Fort Sackville is surrendered, marking the beginning of the end of British domination in America’s western frontier.

Eighteen days earlier, George Rogers Clark departed Kaskaskia on the Mississippi River with a force of approximately 170 men, including Kentucky militia and French volunteers. The party traveled over 200 miles of land covered by deep and icy flood water until they reached Fort Sackville at Vincennes (Indiana) on February 23, 1779. After brutally killing five captive British-allied Indians within view of the fort, Clark secured the surrender of the British garrison under Lieutenant-Governor Henry Hamilton at 10 a.m. on February 25. More here

1862: Legal Tender Act passed: The U.S. Congress passes the Legal Tender Act, authorizing the use of paper notes to pay the government’s bills. This ended the long-standing policy of using only gold or silver in transactions, and it allowed the government to finance the enormously costly war long after its gold and silver reserves were depleted. More here

1870: African American congressman sworn in: Hiram Rhoades Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, is sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress. More here and here

1964: Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 crashes in Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain, killing all 51 passengers and 7 crew: Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 was a Douglas DC-8 flying from New Orleans International Airport to Washington Dulles International Airport that crashed on February 25, 1964. All 51 passengers and 7 crew were killed. Among the passengers killed was American opera singer and actor Kenneth Lee Spencer.

The DC-8, Flight 304, which originated in Mexico City, left New Orleans International Airport for Atlanta at 3:01 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, and disappeared from radar at 3:10 a.m. Visibility was good, although there was a light rain. The winds were calm. The Coast Guard and other searchers sighted the wreckage around dawn in Lake Pontchartrain, about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of New Orleans. Eastern said 51 passengers and a crew of seven were aboard. The subsequent investigation concluded that the plane crashed into Lake Pontchartrain en route due to “degradation of aircraft stability characteristics in turbulence, because of abnormal longitudinal trim component positions.” More here

1984: Explosion kills hundreds in Brazil: On this day in 1984, a huge explosion destroys a shantytown in Brazil, killing at least 500 people, mostly young children. An investigation into the disaster later revealed that the true death count was impossible to know because so many bodies had in effect been cremated in the intense blaze. More here

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