TODAY IN HISTORY - DECEMBER 26TH

1799 – Four thousand people attend George Washington's funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen".

1811 – A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.

1860 – The first ever inter-club English association football match takes place between Hallam and Sheffield football clubs in Sheffield.

1862 – Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.

1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans died.

1871 – Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.

1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.

1921 – Steve Allen, American actor, singer, talk show host, and screenwriter (d. 2000) is born.

1931 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian and educator, created the Dewey Decimal Classification (b. 1851) dies.

1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

1944 – World War II: George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.

1945 – John Walsh, American television host, producer, and activist, created America's Most Wanted is born.

1963 – The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

1971 – Jared Leto, American actor and musician is born.

1972 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884) dies.

1974 – Jack Benny, American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, and violinist (b. 1894) dies.

1975 – Tu-144, the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach 2, went into service.

2006 – Gerald Ford, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913) dies.