Historical Events
First US Cotton Mill
Dec 20 1st successful US cotton mill begins spinning yarn in Pawtucket, Rhode Island built by Samuel Slater based on Richard Arkwright's design
- Dec 22 Supposedly impenetrable Turkish fortress of Izmail stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92)
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 16 Leopold I, King of Belgium (1831-65), born in Ehrenburg Palace, Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1865)
- Dec 19 William Parry, English Arctic explorer (Parry Channel), born in Bath, England (d. 1855)
- Dec 23 Jean-François Champollion, French scolar who deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics with Rosetta Stone, born in Figeac, France (d. 1832)
