This Day in History, February 18

1735 - Charleston, SC, hosts the first performance of a ballad opera, "Flora: Or Hob in the Well" by Colley Cibber, in the United States, at New World Theater.

1841 - The first ongoing filibuster in the U.S. Senate begins and lasts until March 11. (Democrat minority tried to block a bank bill favored by the Whig Majority. Senator Henry Clay, promoter of the bill, threatened to change Senate rules to allow majority to close debate. Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Barton rebuked Clay for trying to stifle Senate's right to unlimited debate and Clay unsuccessful in eliminating filibuster by a Senate majority vote.)

1861 - In Montgomery, Alabama - Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as Provisional President of Confederate States of America.

1885 - Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.

1929 - The first Academy Awards are announced.

1979 - Snow fell in the Sahara Desert in Southern Algeria for only recorded time in history.

2001- FBI Agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for Soviet Union. He is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison.