What Happened in December 1863

Historical Events

Dec 3 Confederate General James Longstreet abandons his siege at Knoxville, Tennessee

Dec 8 2,500 reported killed as result of fire at Jesuit Church of La Compana, Santiago, Chile

Dec 8 Abraham Lincoln issues his Amnesty Proclamation and plan for Reconstruction of the South

Dec 16 Braxton Bragg is replaced by Joseph E. Johnston as commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee

Dec 2 Charles Ringling, American circus owner (Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus), born in McGregor, Iowa (d. 1926)
Dec 2 Gustav Wohlgemuth, German composer, born in Leipzig, Germany (d. 1937)
Dec 5 Paul Painlevé, French Prime Minister (1917, 1925), born in Paris (d. 1933)
Dec 6 Charles Martin Hall, American chemist and investor, born in Thompson, Ohio (d. 1914)
Dec 7 Felix Calonder, Swiss politician (Free Democratic Party), born in Scuol, Switzerland (d. 1952)
Dec 7 John Ebenezer West, English composer, born in Hackney, London, England (d. 1929)
Dec 7 Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (Cavalleria Rusticana), born in Livorno, Italy (d. 1945)
Dec 7 Svetolik Ranković, Serbian writer (Forest King), born in Velika Moštanica, Principality of Serbia (d. 1899)

Dec 11 American stellar spectroscopist (Harvard-classification), born in Dover, Delaware

Dec 12 Norwegian painter and print maker (The Scream), born in Ådalsbruk, Løten, Norway

Dec 13 Johannes Weiss, German New Testament scholar, born in Kiel, Germany (d. 1914)
Dec 15 Arthur Dehon Little, American chemist (patented rayon), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1935)
Dec 16 George Santayana, Spanish-American philosopher, poet and humanist (Last Puritan), born in Madrid, Spain (d. 1952)
Dec 16 Ralph Adams Cram, American gothic architect (Cathedral of St Joan NYC), born in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire (d. 1942)
Dec 17 Ion Vidu, Romanian composer and conductor, born in Mânerău, Arad district, Hungarian Kingdom (now Romainia) (d. 1931)

Dec 18 Archduke of Austria whose assassination in 1914 led to declarations of war in WWI, born in Graz, Austria

Dec 22 Jean-Baptiste Marchand, French military officer and explorer in Africa, born in Thoissey, France (d. 1934)
Dec 25 Charles Pathé, French pioneer of film and record industries (Pathé Brothers, 1896), born in Paris, France (d. 1957)
Dec 31 Alfredo Panzini, Italian author (Dizionario Moderno), born in Senigallia, Italy (d. 1939)

Dec 2 Jane Appleton Pierce, American 1st lady (1853-57) and wife of Franklin Pierce, dies of tuberculosis at 57
Dec 13 Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and dramatist (Maria Magdalena), dies at 50
Dec 22 Michael Corcoran, Union brigadier general, dies at 36
Dec 24 William Makepeace Thackeray, British novelist (Vanity Fair), dies at 52