From Historynet: Today in History February 9

1567          Lord Darnley , the second husband of 

Mary, Queen of Scots , is murdered in his sick-bed in a house in Edinburgh when the house blows up.

1799          The USS Constellation captures the French frigate Insurgente off the West Indies.

1825          The House of Representatives elects 

John Quincy Adams , sixth U.S. President.

1861          Jefferson F. Davis  is elected president of the Confederate States of America.

1864          Union General 

George Armstrong Custer  marries 

Elizabeth Bacon  in their hometown of Monroe, Mich.

1904          Japanese troops land near Seoul, Korea, after disabling two Russian cruisers.

1909          France agrees to recognize German economic interests in Morocco in exchange for political supremacy.

1916          Conscription begins in Great Britain as the Military Service Act becomes effective.

1922          The U.S. Congress establishes the World War Foreign Debt Commission.

1942          Chiang Kai-shek  meets with 

Sir Stafford Cripps , the British viceroy in India.

1943          The Red Army takes back Kursk 15 months after it fell to the Germans.

1946          Stalin  announces the new five-year plan for the Soviet Union, calling for production boosts of 50 percent.

1951          Actress Greta Garbo  gets U.S. citizenship.

1953          The French destroy six Viet Minh war factories hidden in the jungles of Vietnam.

1964          The U.S. embassy in Moscow is stoned by Chinese and Vietnamese students.

1978          Canada expels 11 Soviets in spying case.

1994          Nelson Mandela  becomes the first black president of South Africa.