November 26, 1789

1789 George Washington proclaimed this day (a Thursday) as a National Thanksgiving Day in honor of the new U.S. Constitution. Thereafter, other presidents periodically proclaimed national days of thanksgiving until 1863, when Abraham Lincoln inaugurated the annual practice of designating the fourth Thursday in November as a national Thanksgiving Day.

November 26, 1816

1816 U.S. and Confederate military officer William Henry Talbot Walker was born in Augusta, Ga. After graduating from West Point in 1837, Walker served in the Seminole War and Mexican War. Subsequently, he was commandant of cadets at West Point. In December 1860, Walker resigned from the U.S. Army and returned to Georgia. First serving as major general in the Georgia state volunteers in April 1861, he was appointed as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army in May 1861. Walker resigned his commission in Oct. 1861 to hold the post of major general of Georgia State Troops (March 1863). In May 1863, he returned as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army (May 1863) commanding Walker’s Brigade in the Vicksburg campaign. After the fall of Vicksburg, Walker commanded the reserve corps at Chickamauga. During Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, Walker commanded a division of Hardee’s Corps, dying in the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864.

November 26, 1869

1869 The Atlanta City Council voted to create a "liberal system of public instruction, free for all the children of the City," provided for the appointment of a board of education, and directed the board to submit a plan for "three Public School-Houses" for Atlanta.

November 26, 1979

1979 After experiencing three days of rain, members of the gold wagon train spending the last night of the trip in Piedmont Park, awoke to blue skies and bright sunshine. The wagon master led the long train of wagons and horseback riders for the final leg of the trip to Georgia’s state capitol. There, in ceremonies on the east side of the capitol, a chest containing 60 ounces of Georgia gold was presented to Gov. George Busbee. Later, the gold would be refined into gold leaf and applied to the capitol dome.

November 26, 1987

1987 Cuban detainees concerned about the possibility of being sent back to Cuba continued to hold hostages at the Atlanta Federal Prison as well as at a detention center in Oakdale, Louisiana.