December 29 in Military History

The USS Constitution, under Captain William Bainbridge, defeated and destroyed HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three-hour battle, further cementing "Old Ironsides" as the most feared frigate in the American fleet during the War of 1812.

USS Constitution defeated HMS Java in a three-hour single-ship action off the coast of Brazil, the third British frigate Constitution had sunk in the opening six months of the War of 1812. The victory, combined with the earlier defeats of HMS Guerriere and HMS Macedonian, produced a string of American frigate successes that shocked the Royal Navy and raised American morale during a war otherwise going poorly on land.

Texas was formally admitted to the Union as the 28th state, completing the annexation that would directly trigger the Mexican-American War, the conflict that added California, New Mexico, and the entire American Southwest to the United States.

Florida was admitted to the Union as the 27th state, extending federal authority across the southernmost part of the continental United States. The admission completed a four-decade transition from Spanish colonial rule through the First and Second Seminole Wars and integrated the strategic naval position at Pensacola, where American warships would operate throughout the Civil War, World War II, and every subsequent major conflict.

General Sherman ordered a frontal assault on the Confederate defenses at Chickasaw Bayou near Vicksburg, Mississippi, sending his troops across open ground into devastating fire that produced nearly 1,800 Union casualties against barely 200 Confederate losses.

The 7th Cavalry killed more than 250 Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, the last major armed confrontation of the American Indian Wars.

Soldiers of the 7th Cavalry Regiment killed approximately 250 to 300 Lakota men, women, and children, including Chief Spotted Elk, at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The engagement began when an attempt to disarm the Lakota band produced a struggle over a rifle and escalated into massed rifle and Hotchkiss mountain gun fire against a population that included large numbers of noncombatants. It was the last major armed confrontation between the United States Army and Plains Indians.

The Luftwaffe launched one of its most devastating incendiary raids on London, dropping thousands of fire bombs on the City of London and igniting a firestorm that destroyed vast swaths of the historic center, the worst fire since the Great Fire of 1666.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his "Arsenal of Democracy" fireside chat to a radio audience of 59 million Americans, arguing that the United States must become a great arsenal for the democracies fighting Germany, Italy, and Japan. The speech prepared the political ground for Lend-Lease, the most important industrial and logistical program supporting Allied operations through the first half of World War II.

A bomb concealed in a coin-operated locker at the TWA baggage claim area in LaGuardia Airport's Main Terminal exploded during the evening travel rush, killing 11 people and injuring 79. The attack remains the deadliest bombing of a U.S. airport in history. No organization ever claimed responsibility and no perpetrator has been identified despite continuous FBI investigation for half a century.