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December 27, 1787, edition of the Kentucky Gazette, Elijah Craig solicited scholars to study at an academy that would open in January 1788 in Lebanon town (Scott County) and would offer courses in Latin, Greek, and such branches of the sciences as are usually taught in public seminaries.  Ten years later the school was absorbed by the Rittenhouse Academy, which was given by the state some 5,900 acres in Christian and Cumberland counties so that they might sell the land to benefit their endowment fund.  The academy, in turn, was absorbed by Georgetown College in 1829.

December 27, 1860, Democratic Governor Magoffin called a special session to consider succession.
The Civil War in Kentucky by Lowell H. Harrison

December 27, 1862, Elizabethtown was captured by General John Hunt Morgan.  Morgan drove 4,000 of his confederate soldiers up the Louisville & Nashville Turnpike (now US Hwy 31W) and arrived at Union-controlled Elizabethtown.  Their goal was to disrupt the Union supply line via the L & N Railroad, wide open.   After exchanging messages with the Union commander, each side demanded the other’s surrender; Morgan made his move.  After a little more than an hour, white flags appeared at various windows as the Union troops surrendered without their commanders’ knowledge.  Each side wrote their account of the day; one pro-Union account reported widespread looting, some even by Morgan himself.  Other accounts give Morgan the details of establishing a headquarters and receiving calls from old friends and those who had heard of him and wanted to see the “Rebel Raider.”  He had just been promoted to Brigadier General on December 11 and was married on the 14th.

December 27, 1875, City Marshal Thomas H. Chandler, Lebanon Police Department was shot and killed as he and a posse attempted to arrest a man.  Marshal Chandler shot the man when he refused to surrender, and was then fatally shot by the man’s brother.  City Marshal Chandler was 56.

December 27, 1896, Officer Charles Lacey, Cynthiana Police Department, succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained on Christmas Eve while attempting to arrest a drunk subject.  The man was able to break away from ran down an alley.  As Officer Lacey chased him the man turned and shot him in the leg.  Despite the wound, Officer Lacey was able to catch him and struck him with his club.  During the ensuing struggle the subject shot Officer Lacey in the abdomen.  The man then fled as Officer Lacey fired at him.  The 16-year-old subject who shot him was acquitted.

December 27, 1908, Deputy Jailer Logan Young, Jessamine County Sheriff’s Department, succumbed to gunshot wounds when he and another deputy attempted arrest a mentally ill man who was threatening a family member.  When the deputies arrived to place the man under arrest, the man opened fire on them with a shotgun from behind his horse.  Several pellets struck Deputy Young in the face, causing a fatal injury.  The suspect was declared insane and was institutionalized.

December 27, 1952, Marine Corps PFC Durward A. Ray from Lancaster died in the Korean War.

December 27, 1960, Muhammad Ali fought Herb Siler in Miami Beach Auditorium.  Siler became Clay’s first knockout victim, going down in the fourth round of a scheduled eight-round fight.  Twelve years later, Siler was convicted of manslaughter and served a seven-year prison sentence.  He died in 2001 in Miami.

December 27, 1967, Marine Corps LCPL Mitchell Hughes Junior from Louisville died in the Vietnam War.

December 27, 1986, Rex Chapman prepared to take a shot as Louisville’s Craig Hawley defended during the Cats’ 85-51 win in Louisville.  Chapman, a freshman, lit up the Cards for 26 points, hitting 10 of his 20 shot attempts.  Despite playing only two years at Kentucky, Chapman is 50th on UK’s all-time scoring list with 1,073 points.

Kentucky Trivia:  Out of Kentucky’s two senators and six congressmen, only three are native Kentuckians; Hal Rogers, Andy Barr and John Yarmuth.

December 27, 1990, forward John Pelphrey launched a jump shot against Eastern Kentucky on at Rupp Arena.  Pelphrey had 12 points in the 74-60 UK win.

December 27, 1997, Denny Crum’s Louisville Cardinals meet #4 Kentucky and Tubby Smith in Lexington.  Kentucky unexpectedly lost 79-76, snapping a six year winning streak against non-conference opponents at home.

December 27, 2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service stated that Oaks and Hickories are claiming more ground in Appalachian Forest in the wake of a three-year siege by an army of pine beetles.  With the death of so many pine trees, the forest will replace them naturally with deciduous hardwoods.

December 27, 2001, Amazon.com Inc. said its holiday “Delight-O-Meter” showed it took more than 37.9 million orders for the holiday season as of midnight December 21.  Wall Street analysts were not impressed, and the stock continued to trade as it always has in the past.  The Delight-O-Meter number is meaningless and hard to interpret, said a Wall Street analyst.  In 2019 Amazon filled “tens of millions” holiday orders.

December 27, 2003, #20 Louisville visits #2 Kentucky and takes home the win 65-56.  Pitino entered Rupp to the sound of boos, but he again got the last laugh, beating UK for the second time in three tries since returning to the Commonwealth.

December 27, 2003, Zola Starnes was interviewed from prison and told how a friend received 90 20-milligram Oxycontin pills through Medicaid for a small co-pay each month.  She would pay her friend $15.00 apiece and then sell them for $25.00.  That is how she landed a seven-year prison sentence.  Local officials stated, “If the government was subsidizing the addiction, they need to pony up for some treatment.” At the time, Kentucky was not one of the 29 states paid for adults’ qualified drug treatment.

December 27, 2009, Rich Brooks coached his last game for the Kentucky Wildcat football team in a losing effort against Clemson in the Music City Bowl 13-21.

December 27, 2011, a survey commissioned by the horse industry said that 87% of Kentuckians want to vote on the question of expanded gambling and 64% would favor a constitutional amendment to allow casinos. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear spoke strongly in favor of legalizing sports betting in his State of the Commonwealth address in January of 2020. 

December 27, 2014, #1 UK defeats #4 UofL, 58-50 in Louisville.  Freshman guard Tyler Ulis stepped up with a career-best 14-point performance made more impressive by the fact he achieved it despite a bandaged right eye that made blinking difficult.  Kentucky ended Louisville’s 35-game nonconference home winning streak dating to December 2010. The last loss was to Kentucky.

December 27, 2017, eight former and current Kentucky employees sued Kentucky Retirement System (KRS) officials, consultants, selected board members, three hedge fund firms and their top executives.  The suit claimed KRS and their partners played roles in a “civil conspiracy” that gambled a 2.1 billion investment in risky hedge funds and masked the severity of the crisis for years.

On December 27, 2017, the general public became aware that a Paducah native was the mysterious individual that sent a pile of manure to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s home in Los Angles.