A few of the great historical events that happened today in history, December 26th!
| 1786 | Daniel Shay leads a rebellion in Massachusetts to protest the seizure of property for the non-payment of debt. |
| 1806 | Napoleon’s army is checked by the Russians at the Battle of Pultusk. |
| 1862 | 38 Santee Sioux are hanged in Mankato, Minnesota for their part in the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota. Little Crow has fled the state.  |
| 1865 | James H. Nason of Franklin, Mass., received a patent for a coffee percolator. |
| 1866 | Brig. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, head of the Department of the Platte, receives word of the Fetterman Fight in Powder River County in the Dakota territory. |
| 1893 | Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong was born in Hunan province. |
| 1908 | Jack Johnson became the first black heavyweight boxing champion when he knocked out Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.  |
| 1917 | As a wartime measure, President Woodrow Wilson places railroads under government control, with Secretary of War William McAdoo as director general. |
| 1917 | The U.S. government took over operation of the nation’s railroads. |
| 1925 | Six U.S. destroyers are ordered from Manila to China to protect interests in the civil war that is being waged there. |
| 1932 | Over 70,000 people are killed in a massive earthquake in China. |
| 1941 | General Douglas MacArthur declares Manila an open city in the face of the onrushing Japanese Army. |
| 1943 | The German battleship Scharnhorst is sunk by British ships in an Arctic fight. |
| 1944 | Advancing Soviet troops complete their encirclement of Budapest in Hungary. |
| 1944 | Tennessee Williams’ play “The Glass Menagerie” premiered at the Civic Theatre in Chicago. |
| 1945 | The United States, Soviet Union and Great Britain, end a 10-day meeting, seeking an atomic rule by the UN Council. |
| 1947 | Heavy snow blanketed the Northeast, burying New York City under 25.8 inches of snow in 16 hours; the severe weather was blamed for some 80 deaths. |
| 1953 | The United States announces the withdrawal of two divisions from Korea. |
| 1962 | Eight East Berliners escape to West Berlin, crashing through gates in an armor-plated bus. |
| 1966 | Dr. Maulana Karenga celebrates the first Kwanza, a seven-day African-American celebration of family and heritage.  |
| 1972 | Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, died in Kansas City, Mo., at age 88. |
| 1979 | The Soviet Union flies 5,000 troops to intervene in the Afghanistan conflict. |
| 1996 | Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colo. The slaying remains unsolved. |
| 2004 | Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts broke Dan Marino’s single-season touchdown pass record when he threw his 48th and 49th of the season in a victory over San Diego.  |
| 2006 | Former U.S. President Gerald R. Ford dies at age 93. Ford was the only unelected president in America’s history. |
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.
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