Just before daybreak, the Britain Allan Line passenger steamer Indian struck the Seal Ledge of the coast of Nova Scotia, and broke in two.  The vessel had left Liverpool in England bound for Halifax on November 9, 1859 with 115 passengers and crew.  Local Nova Scotians were able to bring all but twenty-seven people aboard to safety and then, it is reported, returned to the wreck to plunder its cargo.  (By John Osborne) 

In Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, as well as far south as Washington D.C., observers witnessed the descent of a meteor of large size and brilliance, falling towards the south at an angle of around 20 degrees from the vertical.  People in Delaware heard what they claimed to be a loud but distant impact.  Scientists estimated the point of impact as being in the Delaware region but no strike was found.  (By John Osborne) 

A large and visible meteor was observed soon after nightfall from the slope of the Mauna Kea volcano on the main island of the Hawaiian chain.  Observers stated that it disappeared near the crater of Mauna Kea but no confirmation of a meteor strike was made.  Just a few hours later, coincidentally, a large meteor was observed over New Jersey descending into the region of Delaware and the Chesapeake Bay.  (By John Osborne)  

John Young Mason, former Secretary of the Navy and Attorney General, had died in early September in Paris where he had been the Minister to France.  His body had been returned to the United States and reached its final resting place in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia on this day in 1859.  (By John Osborne) 

About thirty miles off Long Point, Ontario on Lake Erie, the 441 ton steam propeller vessel Ohio had its boiler explode in the small hours of Sunday morning, December 6, 1859.  The Ohio sank almost immediately and in heavy seas two men were lost.  The other fifteen men aboard were able to man a small boat and stay afloat in the storm until they were rescued the following evening.  (By John Osborne) 

Georgia passed the latest in a recent set of laws designed to protect the institution of slavery with a statute that enable the sale at slave auction of any free black indicted for vagrancy.  Earlier the state had banned masters freeing slaves in their will and enacted a measure to ban free blacks from entering the state.  Under the law, a vagrant was  "any free person of color wandering or strolling about, or leading an idle, immoral or profligate course of life..." (By John Osborne)

Organized and presided over by Paulina Wright Davis, the first National Women's Rights Convention was held at the Brinley Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts.  Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Frederick Douglass as participated at the heavily attended gathering.  (By John Osborne)

The second National Women's Rights Convention was held at the Brinley Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts.  Pauline Wright Davis, assisted by Lucretia Mott, presided over a significant increase in attendees over the first convention. (By John Osborne)

The third National Women's Rights Convention was held at the City Hall in Syracuse, New York.  Lucretia Mott presided, with Martha Wright serving as secretary. (By John Osborne)