Historical Events
- Dec 17 Anaheim Township created in Los Angeles County
- Dec 18 South Carolina declared an "independent commonwealth"
- Dec 20 South Carolina secedes from the Union (US Civil War)
- Dec 24 Joseph Jefferson's "Rip Van Winkle" premieres in NYC
- Dec 26 Maiden voyage of 1st steamship owned by 1 man (C Vanderbilt)
- Dec 26 Major Robert Anderson, under cover of darkness, concentrates his small force at Ft Sumter
- Dec 26 First ever inter-club football match between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield, England
Event of Interest
Dec 28 Harriet Tubman arrives in Auburn, New York, on her last mission to free slaves, having evaded capture for 8 years on the Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman
- Dec 29 The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, HMS Warrior is launched
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 2 C T Studd, cricketer (brother of G B, five Tests for England)
- Dec 7 Joseph Cook, 6th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1947)
- Dec 13 Lucien Guitry, French actor (La Dame aux camélias), born in Paris, France (d. 1925)
- Dec 15 Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish physician/phototherapist (Nobel 1903)
- Dec 15 Abner Powell, American baseball player (d. 1953)
- Dec 18 Edward Alexander MacDowell, American composer (Indian Suite)
- Dec 20 Dan Leno, English entertainer (d. 1904)
- Dec 21 Henrietta Szold, founder (Hadassah)
- Dec 22 Austin Norman Palmer, American penmanship innovator (d. 1927)
- Dec 23 Harriet Monroe, poet/editor of Poetry magazine (You & I), born in Chicago, Illinois
- Dec 25 Manuel Dimech, Maltese philosopher and social reformer (d. 1921)
- Dec 28 Alexander von Fielitz, composer
- Dec 31 Joseph S. Cullinan, American oil industrialist (d. 1937)