26 December History
- 1776 - After crossing the Delaware River into New Jersey, George Washington leads an attack on Hessian mercenaries at Trenton, and takes 900 men prisoner.
- 1786 - Daniel Shay leads a rebellion in Massachusetts to protest the seizure of property for the non-payment of debt.
- 1806 - Napoleon's army is checked by the Russians at the Battle of Pultusk.
- 1862 - 38 Santee Sioux are hanged in Mankato, Minnesota for their part in the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota. Little Crow has fled the state.
- 1866 - Brig. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, head of the Department of the Platte, receives word of the Fetterman Fight in Powder River County in the Dakota territory.
- 1917 - As a wartime measure, President Woodrow Wilson places railroads under government control, with Secretary of War William McAdoo as director general.
- 1925 - Six U.S. destroyers are ordered from Manila to China to protect interests in the civil war that is being waged there.
- 1932 - Over 70,000 people are killed in a massive earthquake in China.
- 1941 - General Douglas MacArthur declares Manila an open city in the face of the onrushing Japanese Army.
- 1943 - The German battleship Scharnhorst is sunk by British ships in an Arctic fight.
- 1944 - Advancing Soviet troops complete their encirclement of Budapest in Hungary.
- 1945 - The United States, Soviet Union and Great Britain, end a 10-day meeting, seeking an atomic rule by the UN Council.
- 1953 - The United States announces the withdrawal of two divisions from Korea.
- 1962 - Eight East Berliners escape to West Berlin, crashing through gates in an armor-plated bus.
- 1966 - Dr. Maulana Karenga celebrates the first Kwanza, a seven-day African-American celebration of family and heritage.
- 1979 - The Soviet Union flies 5,000 troops to intervene in the Afghanistan conflict.
- 2006 - Former U.S. President Gerald R. Ford dies at age 93. Ford was the only unelected president in America's history.
26 December Birthdays
- 1716 - Thomas Gray, English poet.
- 1792 - Charles Babbage, English mathematician who perfected the calculating machine.
- 1891 - Henry Miller, American writer.
- 1893 - Mao Tse-tung, founding father of the People's Republic of China.