Today in History for Dec. 25, 2014

Dec. 25, 1642 - Scientist and physicist Sir Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England.

Dec. 25, 1802 – David Moniac, the first Native American graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, was born in Montgomery County, Ala.

Dec. 25, 1832 - Latter Day Saints prophet Joseph Smith predicted an American Civil War and said it would start with the rebellion of South Carolina.

Dec. 25, 1862 - Lieutenant Elisha Hunt Rhodes, famous diarist, spent Christmas Day with Union soldiers.

Dec. 25, 1864 - Union Admiral David Dixon Porter began a ground attack on Fort Fisher, North Carolina. The attack failed. The previous day Porter began a bombardment that failed to destroy the fort. The following January Union troops succeeded in taking the location.

Dec. 25, 1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion that resulted in the Civil War.

Dec. 25, 1869 - Angered over a card game dispute, 16-year-old John Wesley Hardin, who lived in Pollard, Ala. for about 18 months, shot James Bradley dead during a showdown on a deserted street in Towash, Texas. Bradley shot at Hardin but missed. Hardin killed Bradley with bullets to the head and chest.

Dec. 25, 1877 – Mary Elizabeth McCorvey Fountain died at Tunnel Springs. She was the mother of former Monroe County Probate Judge Murdock McCorvey Fountain.

Dec. 25, 1890 - “Ripley's Believe It or Not!” creator Robert Ripley was born in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Dec. 25, 1894 - The University of Chicago became the first Midwestern football team to play on the west coast. U.C. defeated Stanford, 24-4, in Palo Alto, Calif.

Dec. 25, 1914 – Judge J.T. Lackland of Grove Hill, Ala., judge of the first judicial circuit, passed away in a Selma hospital at the age of 62.

Dec. 25, 1924 – “The Twilight Zone” creator Rod Serling was born in Syracuse, N.Y.

Dec. 25, 1945 – NFL quarterback Ken “The Snake” Stabler was born in Foley, Ala. He would go on to play for Alabama, the Oakland Raiders, the Houston Oilers and the New Orleans Saints.

Dec. 25, 1946 – Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback Larry Csonka was born in Stow, Ohio. He would go on to play for Syracuse, the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants.

Dec. 25, 1946 – Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who grew up in Mobile, Ala., was born in Pascagoula, Miss.

Dec. 25, 1950 – The Stone of Scone, the traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, was taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turned up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.

Dec. 25, 1956 - The home of Birmingham minister and civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth was bombed. Although the structure was severely damaged, Shuttlesworth emerges uninjured, to the amazement of the gathering crowd. Undaunted, and interpreting his survival as a sign of God's favor, Shuttlesworth and other local activists proceeded with plans to challenge Birmingham bus segregation the next day.

Dec. 25, 1958 – Baseball Hall of Fame left fielder Rickey Henley Henderson was born in Chicago, Ill. He would go on to play for the Anaheim Angels, the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Mets, the New York Yankees, the Oakland’s Athletics, the San Diego Padres, the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Dec. 25, 1961 – “The Innocents,” a movie version of Henry James's book “The Turn of the Screw,” with screenplay written by William Archibald and Alabama author Truman Capote, was released.

Dec. 25, 1962 – The motion picture adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” a film based on the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Monroeville, Ala’s Harper Lee, opened in theaters. Directed by Robert Mulligan, the movie starred Gregory Peck, Robert Duvall, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford and John Megna. In 1995, the United States National Film Registry picked “To Kill a Mockingbird” for preservation in the Library of Congress as a “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” film.

Dec. 25, 1971 - The longest pro-football game to date finally ended when Garo Yepremian kicked a field goal in the second quarter of sudden death overtime. The Miami Dolphins defeated Kansas City, 27-24. The total game time was 82 minutes and 40 seconds.

Dec. 25, 1975 - In the early morning hours on this Christmas Day, George Lutz of “Amityville Horror” fame looked up at the house after checking on the boathouse and saw a pig standing behind his daughter Missy at her bedroom window. When he ran up to her room he found her fast asleep with her small rocking chair slowly rocking back and forth.

Dec. 25, 1989 - Former baseball player and manager Billy Martin died in a truck crash in Fenton, N.Y.

Dec. 25, 2002 - University of New Mexico junior place-kicker Katie Hnida attempted to kick an extra point in a game against UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl. Though her kick was blocked by UCLA, Hnida became the first woman to play in a Division I football game.

Dec. 25, 2003 - The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express, disappeared shortly before its scheduled landing on the Red Planet.

Dec. 25, 2007 – A two-vehicle accident on I-65 claimed the life of Cynthia McGill Till, 60, of Repton. The accident took place at 2:35 p.m. near the 57-mile marker, about one mile south of Atmore in Escambia County.