Today in History - December 26th
268: Death of Pope Dionysuis
795: Election of Leo III as Pope
1076: Coronation of Boleslav II as King of Poland
1194: Frederick II, German Emperor born
1492: 1st Spanish settlement in New World founded, by Columbus
1519: Tapestries, designed by Raphael, first hung in the Sistine Chapel
1559: Election of Pope Pius IV
1606: William Shakespeare's "King Lear" is performed at court
1776: American forces under Gen. George Washington, having crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night, defeated Hessian mercenary troops fighting for the British at the Battle of Trenton (The Delaware Regiment, with less than 100 men led by Colonel John Haslet, helped capture the Hessians in Trenton when General Washington's troops crossed the Delaware River)
1786: Daniel Shay leads a rebellion in Massachusetts
1866: Native American's hand the U.S. Army their worst defeat prior to Little Big Horn at the Fetterman Fight in Powder River County in the Dakota territory.
1893: Mao Tse-tung, leader of the Chinese communist revolution born
1917: The federal government took over operation of American railroads for the duration of World War I.
1935: Rhythm-and-blues singer Abdul "Duke" Fakir (The Four Tops- songsBaby I Need Your Loving, I Can't Help Myself, Reach Out I'll Be There, Standing in the Shadows of Love, Seven Rooms of Gloom, Bernadette, Keeper of the Castle, Ain't No Woman like the One I've Got, When She Was My Girl, Don't Walk Away) born
1940: Record producer, singer and songwriter Phil Spector born
1941: Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of the US Congress.
1947: Retired baseball player, catcher Carlton Fisk born
1954: Baseball's `The Wizard of Oz' Ozzie Smith born
1972: The 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, died in Kansas City, Missouri, at the age of 88.
1989: Romanian television broadcast videotape showing ousted President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, at their secret trial as well as footage of the former leader's body following his execution. That same day, a provisional government took control of Romania.
1990: Nancy Cruzan, the young woman in an irreversible vegetative state whose case led to a US Supreme Court decision on the right to die, died at a Missouri hospital.