TODAY IN HISTORY - FEBRUARY 1ST

1796 – The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York.

1861 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.

1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.

1901 – Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960) is born.

1940 – Philip Francis Nowlan, American author, created Buck Rogers (b. 1888) dies.

1942 – World War II: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls–Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.

1960 – Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.

1964 – The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with "I Want to Hold Your Hand".

1965 – The Hamilton River in Labrador, Canada is renamed the Churchill River in honour of Winston Churchill.

1966 – Buster Keaton, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1895) dies.

1968 – Lisa Marie Presley, American singer-songwriter and actress is born.

1968 – The New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad are merged to form Penn Central Transportation.

1979 – Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after nearly 15 years of exile.

1991 – A runway collision between USAir Flight 1493 and SkyWest Flight 5569 at Los Angeles International Airport results in the deaths of 34 people, and injuries to 30 others.

1994 – Harry Styles, English singer-songwriter is born.

1996 – The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.

1998 – Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.

2002 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors.

2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard – Michael P. Anderson, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1959), – David M. Brown, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1956), – Kalpana Chawla, Indian-American engineer and astronaut (b. 1961), – Laurel Clark, American captain, surgeon, and astronaut (b. 1961), – Rick Husband, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1957), – William C. McCool, American commander, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1961), – Ilan Ramon, Israeli colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1954).