On February 17, the following occurred:

1801 - The House of Representatives breaks an electoral college tie and chooses Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr.

1864 - The Confederate submarine Hunley sinks the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.

1865 - The South Carolina capital city, Columbia, is destroyed by fire as Major General William Tecumseh Sherman marches through.

1909 - Apache chief Geronimo dies of pneumonia at age 80, while still in captivity at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

1919 - Germany signs an armistice giving up territory in Poland

1944 - U.S forces land on Eniwetok atoll in the South Pacific.

1945 - Gen. MacArthur's troops land on Corregidor in the Philippines.