On This Day

December 1775 in History

Events in History

  • Dec 3 First official US flag raised (Grand Union Flag) aboard naval vessel USS Alfred
  • Dec 5 At Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

InventionHistoric Invention

Dec 16 Englishman Richard Arkwright receives a patent for his carding machine for use in cotton mills

Industrialist and Inventor Richard Arkwright
Industrialist and Inventor
Richard Arkwright
  • Dec 22 Continental navy organized with 7 ships

BeatificationCatholic Encyclical

Dec 25 Pope Pius VI encyclical on the problems of the pontificate

Pope Pius VI
Pope
Pius VI
  • Dec 31 Battle of Quebec in American Revolutionary War; Americans defeated trying to take British stronghold

Birthdays in History

  • Dec 14 Philander Chase, American Episcopal Church bishop and founder of Kenyon College, born in Cornish, New Hampshire (d. 1852)
  • Dec 14 Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, British admiral, born in Annsfield, Lanarkshire, Scotland (d. 1860)

Person of interestJane Austen

Dec 16 Jane Austen, English novelist (Pride and Prejudice), born in Steventon, England (d. 1817)

Novelist Jane Austen
Novelist
Jane Austen

Deaths in History

  • Dec 7 Charles Saunders, British admiral, First Lord of the Admiralty, dies at about 60
  • Dec 28 Peter A van de Parra, gov-gen of Neth Indies, dies at 61
  • Dec 31 Richard Montgomery, Irish General in Continental Army during American Revolutionary War, dies in attack on Quebec at 37