January 26

1564 – The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

1699 – Under terms of the Treaty of Karlowitz, signed in Sremski Karlovci Serbia, the Great Turkish War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated at the Battle of Zenta by the Holy League, officially ends. The Ottomans ceding control of Central Europe, and establishing the Habsburg Monarchy as the dominant power in the region.

1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.

1838 – Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States.

1855 – Under terms of the The Point No Point Treaty signed at Point No Point, on the northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula. the  S’Klallam, Chimakum, and the Skokomish tribes cede the northern Kitsap Peninsula and Olympic Peninsula to the U.S.

1861 – The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.

1863 – Massachusetts Governor, John Albion Andrew receives permission from the Secretary of War to raise a militia regiment of men of African descent, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.

1870 – Virginia rejoins the Union under Reconstruction

1885 – Troops loyal to the purported Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, conquer Khartoum, killing the Governor-General Charles George Gordon.

1905 – The world’s largest diamond ever, the Cullinan, weighing 3,106.75 carats (that’s 1 pound 5 ounces) , is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa.

1911 – Glenn Curtiss flies the first successful American seaplane.

1915 – The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress.

1920 – Former Ford Motor Company executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company.

1945 – While in command of B Company 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, near Holtzwihr, France, 2nd Lieutenant Audie Murphy displays valor and bravery in action for which he will later be awarded the Medal of Honor.

1949 – The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming, at the time, the largest aperture optical telescope.

1980 – Under terms of the Camp David Accords, diplomatic and business relations between Egypt and Israel are formally established.

1991 – Flying F-15s over Iraq, USAF Cpts, Rhory Draeger, Tony Schiavi and Cesar Rodriguez each engage and shootdown Iraqi Mig-23 fighters.

1992 – Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.

1998 – On live T.V., President Clinton openly lies when he denies having had “sexual relations” with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

2009 – Nadya Suleman, the “Octomom” gives birth to the world’s first surviving octuplets at the Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Offices in Bellflower, California/

2020 – A Sikorsky S-76B helicopter flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport, crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all 9 aboard, including Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.