December 26

1723 – Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performances of his first Christmas Cantata; Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes,  – For this the Son of God appeared – in the 2 main churches in Leipzig; Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche

1776 – Successfully crossing the Delaware river under cover of darkness during Christmas night, troops of the Continental Army under General Washington attack and defeat a garrison of Hessian forces at Trenton, New Jersey.

1799 – Representative Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee III’s Eulogy to George Washington in Congress Assembled, declares him as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen

1811 – A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills 72 people among them, the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and former Senator, Abraham B. Venable.

1862 – Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.

1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

1941 – President Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

1944 – The U.S. 3rd Army’s 4th Armored Division, under General George Patton breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.

1972 – During Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attack Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.

1989 – United Express Flight 2415, a BAe Jetstream 31, crashes on approach to the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco, Washington, killing all 6 passengers and crew on board.

1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union

1994 – Four armed moslem hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills them.

1996 – JonBenét Ramsey is found murdered in the basement of her home in Boulder Colorado.

2004 – A 9.3 Mw  earthquake in the Indian Ocean hits northern Sumatra and causes one of the largest observed tsunamis, affecting coastal Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, killing over 227,000 people.

2015 – A tornado outbreak strikes the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with multiple tornadoes from EF2 to EF4 power, killing 12 people and causing heavy damage to the suburb of Rowlett.