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Today in History, December 26th

On December 26, 1776, George Washington's army surprised the Hessians at Trenton. Plus Jack Johnson's title and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 2 min read Sources checked

Published December 26, 2025 · Last updated November 10, 2026

December 26 is best known for George Washington’s surprise victory over Hessian troops at Trenton, New Jersey, in 1776. The date also saw Jack Johnson become the first Black world heavyweight boxing champion in 1908 and a massive earthquake trigger the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.

The big story: Washington Wins at Trenton (1776)

By late 1776, the American cause looked close to finished. Washington’s army had been chased out of New York and across New Jersey, and many enlistments were about to run out at the new year. So Washington gambled. After a miserable night crossing the Delaware River, his column, nearly a mile long with horses, guns and wagons, slogged toward Trenton through rain, snow, sleet and hail. Shortly after 8 a.m. on December 26, the Americans hit the town from two directions. The garrison of Hessians, German soldiers hired by the British, scrambled to fight back. Their commander, Colonel Johann Rall, was mortally wounded, and his leaderless regiment fell back to an orchard and gave up. Nearly 900 Hessians were captured, along with muskets, swords and cannons the Continental Army badly needed. It was Washington’s first major victory of the war, and a jolt of hope at the moment the Revolution needed it most.

More events on December 26

Year	What happened
1805	Austria signed the Treaty of Pressburg with Napoleon, accepting harsh terms after its defeat at Austerlitz.
1908	Jack Johnson beat Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia, to become the first Black world heavyweight boxing champion.
1917	President Woodrow Wilson announced that the federal government would take control of most of the nation’s railroads to keep them running during World War I.
1941	President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill fixing Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November.
1944	General George Patton’s troops broke through to the surrounded defenders of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.
1946	Bugsy Siegel opened the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.
1963	The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was released in the U.S., helping set off Beatlemania.
1966	The first Kwanzaa celebration took place in Los Angeles.
1972	Former President Harry S. Truman died in Independence, Missouri.
2004	A powerful earthquake off Sumatra set off a tsunami that killed at least 225,000 people around the Indian Ocean.
2006	Gerald R. Ford, the 38th U.S. president, died in California.

Born on December 26

1791: Charles Babbage, English mathematician who designed early mechanical computers.
1891: Henry Miller, author of Tropic of Cancer.
1893: Mao Zedong, Chinese communist leader who founded the People’s Republic of China.