On This Day (October 26)

[MSFixR]

• 1597 – Imjin War: About twelve Korean ships commanded by Admiral Yi Sun-sin defeated a large Japanese invasion fleet of at least 300 at the Battle of Myeongnyang in the Myeongnyang Strait.
• 1685 - Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer born. (d. 1757)
• 1825 - The Erie Canal opens - passage from Albany, New York to Lake Erie.
• 1861 - The Pony Express officially ceased operations.
• 1863 – The Football Association, the oldest governing body in football, was founded at a pub in London's Great Queen Street.
• 1865 - Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman born. (d. 1912)
• 1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place in Tombstone, Arizona, USA between the Wyatt Earp faction and Ike Clanton's gang.
• 1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Xie Jinyuan and his 'Lone Battalion' of Chinese soldiers began the Defense of Sihang Warehouse against waves of Japanese attackers during the Battle of Shanghai.
• 1944 – World War II: In one of the largest naval battles in modern history, Allied forces defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the seas surrounding the Philippine island of Leyte.
• 1957 - Gerty Cori, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate died. (b. 1896)
• 1977 - The last natural case of smallpox was discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.
• 1994 - Announcement that Andrew Wiles correctly proved Fermat's last theorem.
• 2001 – U.S. President George W. Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act into law, significantly expanding the authority of U.S. law enforcement agencies in fighting terrorism in the United States and abroad.