1. On February 3, 1781, the Revolutionary War Battle of Cowpens took place in present-day Cherokee County, South Carolina. The battle was significant because it was a major victory for the American forces over the British, and it boosted morale for the Continental Army.

2. In 1809, John Mercer Langston was born in Louisa County, Virginia. Langston would go on to become the first Black person to hold elected office in the United States, when he was elected town clerk in Oberlin, Ohio in 1855.

3. On February 3, 1865, the 5th and 6th Virginia Cavalry clashed with Union troops at the Skirmish at Montevideo in Loudoun County, Virginia. The battle resulted in several Confederate casualties and the capture of several prisoners.

4. In 1894, the Virginia General Assembly approved legislation to establish Virginia State University, originally known as the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. The historically Black university is located in Petersburg, Virginia.

5. On February 3, 1943, four German saboteurs landed on the coast of Virginia as part of Operation Pastorius, a Nazi plan to carry out attacks in the United States. The saboteurs were eventually captured and six of them were executed for their roles in the plot.