December 25
Today in America's Present Past
1621 | Plymouth Colony outlawed game playing on this day.
1651 | Massachusetts Colony levied a fine on Christmas observances.
1730 | Philosopher and farmer Philip Mazzei was born.
1757 | Revolutionary war hero Benjamin Pierce was born.
1760 | Jupiter Hammon, an American slave, composed a broadside poetry book titled “An Evening Thought.”
1776 | War of Independence: George Washington crossed the Delaware River.
1809 | Ephraim McDowell performs the first stomach surgery in the U.S. to remove a 22 lb ovarian tumor.
1815 | The Handel & Haydn Society, America’s oldest continually performing arts organization, gave its first performance.
1821 | Nurse Clara Barton was born.
1826 | The Eggnog Riot at West Point ends after starting the prior evening.
1829 | Composer Patrick Gilmore was born.
1831 | The first states to observe Christmas as a holiday: Louisiana & Arkansas.
1837 | Indian Wars: Seminoles were defeated at the Battle of Okeechobee.
1868 | POTUS: Democrat-Republican President Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern Confederacy.
1868 | Inventor Linus Yale, Jr. died.
1871 | Thomas Edison wed Mary Stilwell.
1878 | Entrepreneur Louis Chevrolet was born.
1887 | Entrepreneur Conrad Hilton was born.
1888 | The First indoor baseball game was played at fairgrounds in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1889 | Race riots start in Jessup, Georgia.
1889 | Publisher Lila Bell Wallace was born.
1892 | The “Mitcham War” stars in Clarke County, Alabama.
1896 | John Philip Sousa wrote “Stars & Stripes Forever.”
1899 | Actor Humphrey Bogart was born.
1907 | Entertainer Cab Calloway was born.
1924 | Writer Rod Serling was born.
1939 | Retailer Montgomery Ward introduced Rudolph, the 9th red-nosed reindeer.
1946 | Entertainer W. C. Fields died.
1946 | Entertainer Jimmy Buffett was born.
1951 | Civil Rights: A bomb exploded, killing Harry T. Moore in his home and wounding his wife Harriette.
1962 | Film: “To Kill a Mockingbird” debuted.
1977 | Comedian Charlie Chaplin died.
1992 | Film: “Godfather III” debuted.
1995 | Entertainer Dean Martin died.
2006 | Entertainer James Brown died.
2020 | War on Terror: A domestic terrorist detonated an RV in Nashville, Tennessee, killing three.
2021 | The James Webb Space Telescope was launched
2021 | Navy Seal and author Richard Marcinko died.