On Feb. 23, 1836, the Battle of the Alamo began with Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launching an assault on the Alamo Mission near modern-day San Antonio, Texas. The siege lasted 13 days until Mexican forces overwhelmed the mission.
On Feb. 23, 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington, D.C., after dodging opposition mobs in Baltimore, Maryland.
On Feb. 23, 1903, Cuba leased Guantánamo Bay to the U.S. “in perpetuity.”
On Feb. 23, 1945, during the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment of the 5th Division take the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island’s highest peak and most strategic position, and raise the U.S. flag.