Historical Events on December 29

  • 1778: Colonel Archibald Campbell and 3,000 British soldiers under his command seize Savannah, Georgia during the American Revolutionary War.
  • 1786: The Assembly of Notables is called together during the French Revolution.
  • 1812: Captain William Bainbridge leads the USS Constitution as it seizes the HMS Java just off the coast of Brazil.
  • 1845: After being independent as the Republic of Texas for nine years, Texas is admitted into the Union as the 28thS State.
  • 1851: The American branch of the YMCA opens for the first time in the city of Boston in Massachusetts.
  • 1876: Over 90 people are killed and another 60+ are injured at the Ashtabula River Railroad disaster in Ohio.
  • 1890: Three hundred Lakota Indians are killed by the U.S 7th Cavalry Regiment during the Wounded Knee Massacre which takes place on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
  • 1940: During World War II, the German Luftwaffe fire bombs parts of the city of London in England. This causes the Second Great Fire of London and results in the deaths of almost two hundred civilians.
  • 1949: The first UHF TV station to operate on a daily schedule begins broadcasting on this day in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The station is KC2XAK.
  • 1972: On approach to Miami International Airport, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashes. As a result, over one hundred people are killed.

Famous Birthdays on December 29

  • American general and 17th President of the U.S., Andrew Johnson is born in 1808.
  • English lawyer and Prime Minister of the U.K., William Ewart Gladstone is born in 1809.
  • German physician and physiologist, Carl Ludwig is born in 1916.
  • American general Billy Mitchell is born in 1879.
  • Mexican painter David Alfaro Siqueiros is born in 1896.
  • American actress Jo Van Fleet is born in 1915.
  • American lawyer and 38th Mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley is born in 1917.
  • American singer-songwriter Little Joe Cook is born in 1922.
  • American actress and businessman, Dina Merrill is born in 1923.
  • American actor Ed Flanders is born in 1934.
  • American actress and producer, Mary Tyler Moore is born in 1936.
  • American actor and producer, Jon Voight is born in 1938.
  • American author and illustrator, Molly Bang is born in 1943.