- Feb 3 Cyrus Ballou Comstock, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Wrentham, Massachusetts (d. 1910)
- Feb 4 Oliver Ames, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
- Feb 12 John Morrissey, Irish born American boxer, US Congressman developer of Saratoga Springs horse race track, born in Templemore, Ireland (d. 1878)
- Feb 13 John Aaron Rawlins, Bvt Major General (Union Army), (d. 1869)
- Feb 16 Nikolai Leskov, Russian writer (The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), and playwright, born in Gorokhovo, Russia (d. 1895)
- Feb 17 Francisco Salvador Daniel, French composer, and ethnomusicologist, born in Bourges, France (d. 1871)
- Feb 18 Rebecca Lee Crumpler, American physician and medical writer (first African American woman to receive a medical degree), born in Delaware (d. 1895) [1]
- Feb 21 Eduard Rappoldi, Austrian composer and violinist, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1903)
- Feb 23 Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Dutch painter (Panorama Mesdag), born in Groningen, Netherlands (d. 1915)
- Feb 24 Leo von Caprivi, German politician (Chancellor of Germany 1890-94), born in Charlottenburg, Prussia (d. 1899)
- Feb 26 Filippo Marchetti, Italian opera composer, born in Bolognola, Papal States (d. 1902)
- Feb 27 Hiram Bond Everest, American co-founder of The Vacuum Oil Company (d. 1913)