A few of the great historical events that happened today in history, February 8th!

1587	Mary, Queen of Scots is beheaded in Fotheringhay Castle for her alleged part in the conspiracy to usurp Elizabeth I.
1693	A charter was granted for the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
1807	At Eylau, Napoleon’s Marshal Pierre Agureau attacks Russian forces in a heavy snowstorm.
1837	The Senate selected Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky as vice president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.
1861	Delegates from seceded states adopt a provisional Confederate Constitution.
1862	Union troops under Gen. Ambrose Burnside defeat a Confederate defense force at the Battle of Roanoke Island, N.C.
1865	Confederate raider William Quantrill and men attack a group of Federal wagons at New Market, Kentucky.
1887	Congress passes the Dawes Act, which gives citizenship to Indians living apart from their tribe.
1900	British General Buller is beaten at Ladysmith, South Africa as the British flee over the Tugela River.
1904	The Russo-Japanese War began.
1910	The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.
1915	D.W. Griffith’s silent movie epic about the Civil War, “The Birth of a Nation,” premiered in Los Angeles.
1922	President Warren G. Harding had a radio installed in the White House.
1924	The first execution by gas in the United States took place at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City.
1942	The Japanese land on Singapore.
1943	British General Orde Wingate leads a guerrilla force of “Chindits” against the Japanese in Burma.
1952	Elizabeth becomes Queen of England after her father, King George VI, dies.
1962	The U.S. Defense Department reports the creation of the Military Assistance Command in South Vietnam.
1965	South Vietnamese bomb the North Vietnamese communications center at Vinh Linh.
1968	Three college students died in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, S.C., during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley.
1971	South Vietnamese ground forces, backed by American air power, begin Operation Lam Son 719, a 17,000 man incursion into Laos that ends three weeks later in a disaster.
1971	NASDAQ, the world’s first electronic stock exchange, held its first trading day.
1990	CBS television temporarily suspends Andy Rooney for his anti-gay and ant-black remarks in a magazine interview.
1993	General Motors sued NBC, alleging that the program “Dateline NBC” had rigged two crashes to show that GM pickups were prone to fires. (NBC settled the lawsuit the following day.)
1999	The Senate heard closing arguments in President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial.
2007	Model and tabloid sensation Anna Nicole Smith died at age 39 of an accidental drug overdose.
2010	Michael Jackson’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of the pop superstar in Los Angeles Superior Court. (Murray was convicted and sentenced to four years in jail.)

Today in History facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.