TODAY IN HISTORY - FEBRUARY 18TH

1745 – Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist, invented the battery (d. 1827) is born.

1791 – Congress passes a law admitting the state of Vermont to the Union, effective 4 March 1791, after that state had existed for 14 years as a de facto independent largely unrecognized state.

1861 – In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

1862 – Charles M. Schwab, American businessman, co-founded Bethlehem Steel (d. 1939) is born.

1865 – American Civil War: Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set the South Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.

1878 – John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jesse Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

1885 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published in the United States.

1898 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded Ferrari (d. 1988) is born.

1902 – Charles Lewis Tiffany, American businessman, founded Tiffany & Co. (b. 1812) dies.

1906 – John Batterson Stetson, American businessman, founded the John B. Stetson Company (b. 1830) dies.

1925 – George Kennedy, American actor (d. 2016) is born.

1930 – While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.

1930 – Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.

1954 – John Travolta, American actor and producer is born.

1954 – The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles.

1957 – Vanna White, American model and game show host is born.

1970 – The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

1972 – The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, (6 Cal.3d 628) invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.

1977 – The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747.

1998 – Harry Caray, American sportscaster (b. 1914) dies.

2001 – Seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt dies in an accident during the Daytona 500.