1. On December 25, 1837, a group of Texan volunteers defeated a force of Mexican soldiers in the Battle of Linville Creek. The Texans were part of a rebellion against Mexico that ultimately led to the establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1836.
2. December 25, 1848 marked the first Christmas that Texas was officially part of the United States, after the state was admitted to the union earlier that year.
3. In 1863, during the Civil War, Confederate forces under General John Bankhead Magruder won a battle against Union troops led by General William B. Franklin in the Battle of Galveston on December 25.
4. On December 25, 1875, a group of Texas Rangers engaged in a shootout with a gang of Mexican bandits led by Gregorio Cortez in the town of Rio Grande City. The incident later became the subject of a popular folk ballad in Texas.
5. In 1926, Jesse James Jr., the son of the infamous outlaw Jesse James, died in Texas on December 25. James Jr. had been living under an assumed name and running a gas station in the town of Granbury before his death.