Today in HistoryToday is Friday, February 16, the 47th day of 2007. There are 318 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE<$>

In 1862, during the US Civil War, some 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, earning Union general Ulysses S. Grant the nickname “Unconditional Surrender”.

In 1918, Lithuania proclaimed its independence, which lasted until the Second World War. It again declared independence in 1990.

In 1937, Nylon was patented by chemist Dr. Wallace Hume Carothers and his research team at the Du Pont company in the United States.

In 1977, Janani Luwum, the Anglican archbishop of Uganda, and two other men were killed in what Ugandan authorities said was an automobile accident.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

“Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900).