On this date...

Harvey Logan

In 1753, Benjamin Franklin receives the Godfrey Copley medal "on account of his curious Experiments and Observations on Electricity".

In 1775, In a letter to General Philip Schuyler, Washington complains that, despite his best efforts, “No Troops were ever better provided or higher paid, yet their Backwardness to inlist for another Year is amazing: It grieves me to see so little of that patriotick Spirit, which I was taught to believe was Characteristick of this people.”

In 1776,  Admiral Richard Howe and General William Howe, issued a proclamation from New York City, offering a “free and general pardon” to anyone who within 60 days would "come forth and take an oath of allegiance" to the King, assuring the "preservation of their property" if they rejected their "Treasonable Actings and Doings."

In 1782, the preliminary Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War, signed.

In 1804, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial, accused of political bias. (He was acquitted by the Senate.)

In 1863, Confederate troops vacate Fort Esperanza, Texas, following the two-day Battle of Fort Esperanza

In 1864, the once proud Confederate Army of Tennessee suffers a devastating defeat after its commander, General John Bell Hood, orders a frontal assault on strong Union positions around Franklin, Tennessee. The loss cost Hood six of his finest generals and nearly a third of his force.

In 1876, Yale defeats Princeton, 2-0, in Hoboken, New Jersey in the first collegiate football game played on Thanksgiving. Nearly 1,000 fans attend the game, played in cold, rainy weather.

In 1902, American Old West: Second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang, Harvey "Kid Curry" Logan, is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor

In 1908, The United States and Japan signed the Root-Takahira Agreement, which averted a drift toward possible war through the mutual acknowledgment of certain international policies and spheres of influence in the Pacific.

In 1950, President Harry S. Truman announces during a press conference that he is prepared to authorize the use of atomic weapons in order to achieve peace in Korea.

In 1954, While napping on her couch, Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama, is hit by a 8.5-lb., 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite that tore through her roof, ricocheted off her radio cabinet and hit her torso. She’s the only known human injured by a meteorite.

In 1958, First US guided missile destroyer USS Dewey launches at Bath Iron Works, Maine.

In 1981, Representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union open talks to reduce their intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) in Europe.

In 1982, American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson released Thriller, which became the best-selling album in the world and won a record-setting eight Grammy Awards.

In 1993, During a White House ceremony attended by James S. Brady, President Bill Clinton signs the Brady handgun-control bill into law. The law requires a prospective handgun buyer to wait five business days while the authorities check on his or her background, during which time the sale is approved or prohibited based on an established set of criteria.

In 1993, Authorities in California arrested Richard Allen Davis, who confessed to abducting and killing 12 year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma.

In 1993, "Schindler's List," an American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Fiennes, premieres in Washington, D.C. (Academy Awards Best Picture 1994).

In 1995, President Bill Clinton became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Northern Ireland.

In 1999, Exxon and Mobil formally merged, becoming ExxonMobil, one of the world's leading oil and energy businesses.

In 1999, an estimated 40,000 demonstrators clashed with police as they protested against the World Trade Organization as the WTO convened in Seattle.

In 2001, The hunt for the Green River Killer ended as Gary Ridgway was arrested in Washington, and he later pled guilty to killing 48 women, though he claimed to have murdered as many as 80; he was the deadliest convicted serial killer in the United States.

In 2004, after winning 74 straight games and more than $2.5 million—a record for U.S. game shows—Jeopardy! contestant Ken Jennings loses.

In 2006, American folk artist "Grandma" Moses' 1943 painting "Sugaring Off" sells for a record $1.3 million for the artist, by Christie's in New York.

In 2010, Pentagon leaders called for scrapping the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" ban after releasing a survey about the prospect of openly gay troops.

In 2021, Josephine Baker becomes the first Black woman inducted into the Panthéon in Paris, France's highest honor.

In 2022, OpenAI releases the generative artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT to the public.

In 2022, House Democrats elected Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to be the first Black American to head a major political party in Congress as long-serving Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her team stepped aside.