On this date....

John Pulitzer

In 1775, From Albany, General Philip Schuyler writes Washington to report on cannon at Ticonderoga and Crown Point and lays out a bigger vision. Reinforce him with 3,000 men, he insists, and he can drive into Canada and help secure Quebec.

In 1775, At Fort Ticonderoga, New York, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of abandoned British artillery to Boston, Massachusetts, later forces the British to evacuate Boston.

In 1793, The first edition of the "American Minerva," New York's first daily newspaper, edited by Noah Webster, is published from Wall Street.

In 1835, Inspired by the leadership of Benjamin Rush Milam, the newly created Texan Army takes possession of the city of San Antonio, an important victory for the Republic of Texas in its war for independence from Mexico.

In 1861, American Civil War: The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War is established by the U.S. Congress.

In 1869, Uriah Smith Stephens, a descendant of Quaker settlers and a former indentured servant, founds a secret order of tailors in Philadelphia called the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor (or KOL). It would become the first major national labor organization in the United States.

In 1878, Joseph Pulitzer buys the St. Louis Dispatch for $2,500.

In 1889, US President Benjamin Harrison dedicates the Chicago Auditorium, designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, then largest building in the US.

In 1906, New York American newspaper report alleges that Belgian King Leopold II bribed the US Senate commission on the Congo to support his Congo Free State project.

In 1907, Christmas seals went on sale for the first time, at the Wilmington, Del., post office. The proceeds went to fight tuberculosis.

In 1934, the New York Giants win the NFL championship by beating the Chicago Bears, 30-13, in the famous "Sneakers Game." With the temperature at 9 degrees and the Polo Grounds field a sheet of ice, the Giants open the second half wearing basketball shoes and score 27 points in the final quarter to overcome a 13-3 Chicago lead.

In 1935, University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger won the first Heisman Trophy, an annual award that recognizes the finest college football player in the United States. The trophy was instituted by the Downtown Athletic Club of New York City, who renamed it in 1936 in honor of the club's first athletic director, John Heisman.

1958, The John Birch Society was founded in the United States by Robert H.W. Welch, Jr., to combat communism and promote various ultraconservative causes.

In 1965, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” debuts.

In 1971, Lewis F. Powell Jr. appointed to the US Supreme Court.

In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan authorization to prevent New York City from having to default.

In 1992, the first Marines made a pre-dawn beach landing in Somalia in support of Operation Restore Hope; they were met by hundreds of reporters awaiting their arrival.

In 1993, The Air Force destroyed the first of 500 Minuteman II missile silos marked for elimination under an arms control treaty.

In 2000, The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt in the Florida presidential vote count.

In 2002, United Airlines filed the biggest bankruptcy in aviation history after losing $4 billion in the previous two years.

In 2008, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested on corruption charges, including attempting to profit from filling the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

In 2013, scientists revealed that NASA’s Curiosity rover had uncovered signs of an ancient freshwater lake on Mars.