Historical Events
- Dec 5 First US fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa (William & Mary College), forms
Washington's Army Crosses the Delaware
Dec 8 American Revolutionary War: George Washington's retreating army crosses the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania
American Crisis
Dec 19 Thomas Paine publishes his first "American Crisis" essay beginning "These are the times that try men's souls" (date disputed)
- Dec 23 Continental Congress negotiates a war loan of $181,500 from France
- Dec 25 American Revolutionary War: George Washington crosses the Delaware River into New Jersey, surprises and defeats 1,400 Hessians
- Dec 26 American Revolutionary War: George Washington leads US troops to defeat Hessians at Battle of Trenton, New Jersey
- Dec 31 Rhode Island establishes wage & price controls to curb inflation: Limit is 70 cents a day for carpenters, 42 cents for tailors
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 6 Paul Friedrich Struck, composer, born in Stralsund, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1820)
- Dec 16 Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German physicist (d. 1810)
- Dec 27 Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (d. 1811)
- Dec 29 Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and inventor (waterproof fabric), born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1843)
- Dec 31 Johann Spurzheim, German physician, born in Trier, Electorate of Trier, Germany (d. 1832)
Famous Deaths
- Dec 26 Johann Rall, German Hessian commander, dies in Battle of Trenton in American Revolutionary War at 50
