Birthdays
George Gordon Meade
Turns 45 on this date
Jonathan Kenyon Peck
Turns 36 on this date
Noah Pinkney
Turns 14 on this date
Theodore Medad Pomeroy
Turns 36 on this date
Charles Shiels Wainwright
Turns 34 on this date
Alfred Newton Weir
Turns 20 on this date
Events
| Lawmaking/Litigating | In the U.S. Senate, packed galleries cheer Senator Benjamin of Louisiana's defiant speech | 12/31/1860 |
| Business/Industry | Railroad deaths in 1860 down by more than half compared to 1859 | 12/31/1860 |
| Battles/Soldiers | Secretary of Navy orders U.S.S. Brooklyn to prepare to sail from Hampton Roads in Virginia | 12/31/1860 |
| Crime/Disasters | Several nights of heavy gales wreak havoc on shipping around coasts of Britain and northern France |
12/31/1860 to 01/01/1861 |
| Lawmaking/Litigating | The second session of the 36th Congress is sitting in Washington, DC |
12/04/1860 to 03/02/1861 |
Documents
| Newspaper | Boston (MA) Herald, "Disunion," December 31, 1860 | 12/31/1860 |
| Newspaper | Lowell (MA) Citizen & News, “Fort Sumter,” December 31, 1860 | 12/31/1860 |
| Newspaper | New York Times, “Flight of a Great Criminal,” December 31, 1860 | 12/31/1860 |
| Letter | Thomas Cadwallerder to Abraham Lincoln, December 31, 1860 | 12/31/1860 |