Already!
Hey, remember last week when Sherman captured Savannah, and gave it to Lincoln for Christmas? Well on this date in 1778, the British under Lieutenant Colonel Campbell capture it and give it to King George for a New Years present. Though I doubt Campbell sent a whimsical telegraph message saying so. Mostly because the telegraph hadn't been invented yet. At any rate, it starts a couple bad years for the US, at least in the Southern States. But ultimately, it gets better. Sort of.
All Hail Old Ironsides!!!! On this date in 1812, Captain Bainbridge and the crew of the Constitution go at it with the HMS Java, off the coast of South America. How does it end? USA! USA! USA!
On the other hand, as was typical of the War of 1812, the very next year the British stung the US in a land engagement, and burned Buffalo. Which might not have been a particularly bad thing, from what I hear of Buffalo. Thank God they didn't get the top secret recipe for Buffalo Wings though. That would have been an unprecedented disaster! For the US at least. It would have improved the caliber of English Cuisine dramatically.
On this date in 1845, the US annexes Texas, and it becomes the 28th state. Or, as Richard Armour explained, that was when, according to Texas, the US joined Texas.
A small and probably unnoticed event, that was nevertheless going to be crucial in a few years, took place on this date in 1939. The US Army Air Force (or Air Corps, or whatever it was called in 1939) for the first time flew the B-24 Liberator bomber. In Germany, they would become quite familiar with the plane, and not in a good way.
And finally, in 1998, the leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge apologized for murdering large numbers of their own people in the 1970s. The million plus victims of genocide from the aptly named "Killing Fields" felt much better, I'm sure. If the men really wanted to make a positive impression, they could have gone and left teddy bears at a designated spot. Because that's such a terrific gesture, isn't it?
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