BIBLE VERSE

On This Day in:

1715 – James Stuart, the 'Old Pretender', landed at Petershead after his exile in France.

1775 – A Continental naval fleet was organized in the rebellious American colonies under the command of Ezek Hopkins.

1807 – The U.S. Congress passed the Embargo Act, designed to force peace between Britain and France by cutting off all trade with Europe.

1814 – The War of 1812 between the U.S. and Britain was ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium.

1818 – Franz Gruber of Oberndorf, Germany composed the music for 'Silent Night' to words written by Josef Mohr.

1828 – William Burke who, with his partner William Hare, dug up the dead and murdered to sell the corpses for dissection, went on trial in Edinburgh.

1851 – A fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, destroying about 35,000 volumes.

1864 – During the American Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent a message to U.S. President Lincoln from Georgia. The message read, 'I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah.'

1877 – The 'American Bicycling Journal' went on sale for the first time.

1894 – The United States Golf Association was formed in New York City.

1894 – French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was eventually vindicated.

1895 – German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen made the first X-ray, of his wife's hand.

1910 – U.S. Postal savings stamps were issued for the first time. They were discontinued in 1914.

1939 – Gloria Jacobs became the first girl to hold a world pistol record when she shot 299 out of a possible 300 points. She was 17 years old at the time.

1943 – Sporting goods manufacturers received permission to use synthetic rubber for the core of baseballs.

1941 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington for a wartime conference with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt.

1956 – Colo, the first gorilla to be born in captivity, was born at the Columbus, Ohio zoo.

1956 – The last British and French forces evacuated Egypt.

1961 – James Davis became the first U.S. soldier to die in Vietnam, while U.S. involvement was still limited to the provision of military advisers.

1976 – The last show of 'Let’s Make A Deal' was aired. The show was later revived in syndication in 1980, in 1986 and again in 2009.

1984 – New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shot four black youths on a Manhattan subway. Goetz claimed they were about to rob him.

1989 – Romania's hard-line Communist ruler, Nicolae Ceausescu, was overthrown in a popular uprising.

1990 – Lech Walesa was sworn in as Poland's first popularly elected president.

1991 – The body of Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, an American hostage murdered by his captors, was found along a highway in Lebanon.

1996 – A car bomb exploded in Belfast, injuring a known IRA supporter.

Police suspected that Protestant loyalists were responsible for the attack.

1998 – A unit of RJR Nabsico pled guilty to attempting to smuggle cigarettes into Canada.

2001 – Thirty Afghans, including two women, were sworn in as part of the new interim government in Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai was the head of the post-Taliban government.

“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

— Luke 10:19-20 (ESV)