According to press reports, the editors of two of New Orleans leading French-language newspapers, Felix Limet of the New Orleans Bee and Emil Lefrance of La Renaissance Louisianaise, had fallen into disagreement and challenges had been exchanged with swords as the selected weapons.  Just before the duel began, however, New Orleans police intervened and took the two, and their seconds, into custody.  (By John Osborne)

A fire believed to be set by an inmate destroyed the main three-storey building of the Wisconsin State Industrial School in Waukesha, Wisconsin.  All inmates and staff escaped without serious injury but the fire was estimated to have cost $30,000 in damages.  The reform school had been opened in July 1860 and continued after the structure was rebuilt in the spring of 1866. (By John Osborne) 

A "fox-chase" was held at the Union Trotting Course on Long Island in the afternoon.  Six foxes were released, one by one, on the enclosed track, and chased down and killed by a pack of around a dozen hounds.  The event was well attended, including by area "sportsmen."  The press made an effort to compare the happenings to a traditional fox-hunt but no riders were involved and the event bore little such resemblance.  (By John Osborne) 

Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts introduced a bill in the Senate that would mandate the size of the peacetime army of the United States. The force would have seven regiments of artillery, ten regiments of cavalry, and sixty regiments of infantry. Two extra regiments of artillery would be added to the five now existing, one specifically of whites and one of African-Americans, officered by whites.  (By John Osborne)

On this day, more than a hundred major-general and brigadier-generals of volunteers were officially mustered out of the Union Army. They included some famous names from the Civil War, including Major-Generals William S. Rosecrans, David Hunter, Grenville Dodge, Wesley Merritt, Alfred Pleasanton, and George Armstrong Custer.  Regular Army officers were ordered to report to their "proper regiments" or department.  (By John Osborne)

A large fire broke out in Nashville's public square around one o'clock in the morning.  It burned for three hours before being brought under control, during which several buildings were completely destroyed. Firefighters were able to stop the blaze before it engulfed the neighboring International Hotel but examination of the ruins later revealed that an owner of one of the buildings burned, Charles A. Moore, perished in the fire.  (By John Osborne)

At two o'clock, former Union Army Major-General Jacob Dolson Cox was inaugurated at the state capitol in Columbus as the twenty-eighth governor of Ohio.  Cox had been elected before his discharge as a Republican.  He served until January 1868, having fallen foul of more radical Republican thanks to his conservative views on African-American suffrage and his support for President Andrew Johnson.  He later served as U.S. Grant's Secretary of the Interior. (By John Osborne) 

Extreme cold gripped much of New England and the Middle Atlantic under largely clear skies.  The temperature did not rise above zero in most places during the day and as night fell, dropped to minus ten degrees in New York, Boston, and elsewhere, reportedly the coldest levels recorded in these places since 1806. (By John Osborne)  

On the New Haven Railroad, the safes of the Adams Company express car, en route from New York to Boston, were rifled as the train made its progress through the night.  Thieves had probably boarded the car in New York and were thought to have left the train at Cos Cob Bridge near Greenwich, Connecticut. The robbery was not discovered till Boston and the loss was estimated at a massive $500,000 in cash and bonds. (By John Osborne)