Three of Richmond's newspapermen,  Henry R. Pollard of the Examiner and Nat Tyler and William D. Coleman of the Enquirer, arguing over an article in Pollard's paper, reportedly exchanged pistols shots in the halls of the Virginia State Capitol.  No-one was hit, except for a statue of George Washington caught in the crossfire, and all participants were arrested and held by the Virginia Capitol's sergeant-at-arms.  (By John Osborne)

The 125ft steamer Neptune was anchored off Sandy Hook in New York Bay just before dawn when her boiler exploded and she quickly sank.  Two of the seven crewmen went down with the vessel but the tugboat Resolute picked up the other five.  Remarkably, the Resolute then blew a section of her own boiler but managed to make for shore where the injured crew were hospitalized.  (By John Osborne)  

The influential and combative  former Maryland Congressman Henry Winter Davis had died of pneumonia on December 30, 1865 at his home in Baltimore, at the early age of 48. His funeral and burial at the Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore was remarkably well attended, with state officials, U.S. Congressmen and Senators from several states.  Among the pall-bearers were Secretary of War Stanton and U.S. Chief Justice Chase.  (By John Osborne)   

Three large buildings on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia took fire around one o'clock in the morning and despite the best efforts of firefighters were largely destroyed.  Walls collapsed into the street and losses in the businesses housed there were estimated at around $120,000.  No serious injuries were reported, however.  (By John Osborne) 

A fire in a large building housing a jewelry manufacturer in Providence, Rhode Island was estimated to have incurred around $60,000 in damage.  The city block enclosed by Broad, Dorrance, Eddy, and Middle Streets suffered the most but no serious injuries were reported.  (By John Osborne) 

For the second day in a row, shifting ice on the Mississippi River above St. Louis, Missouri played havoc with the Mississippi steamboats moored on the city's levee.  To the seven vessels destroyed the day before were added the Nebraska, City of Pekin, Hattie May, Diadem, Viola Belle, Reserve, and the Rosalie.  In two days river ice had reduced fourteen steamboats to kindling, for a total loss of an estimated $417,000. (By John Osborne)

For the second time in two months, the upper sections of the Mississippi River were frozen over during the particularly cold winter and ice "gorges" had formed both above and below St. Louis, Missouri. As in December, the great mass of ice shifted and carried away seven more Mississippi steamboats moored on the levee, the Belle Mempis, John Trendley, Prairie Rose, Julia, Omaha, Warsaw, and Underwriter No. 8. (By John Osborne)

The upper sections of the Mississippi River were frozen over during the particularly cold winter and ice "gorges" had formed both above and below St. Louis, Missouri.  When, as was inevitable, these masses of ice shifted, seven Mississippi river boats moored on the levee - the New Admiral, Old Sioux City, Empire City, Calypso, Highlander, Metropolitan, and Geneva - were crushed and destroyed. The loss was estimated at $185,000.  (By John Osborne)

Following the outcry against "dangerous" tubular boilers, the Atlantic and Mississippi Steamship Company had dispatched their three largest steamboats to St. Louis, Missouri, to have their tubular boilers replaced with the double-flue type. While moored on the levee, the Peytona, Luna, and Leviathan took fire in the evening and were completely destroyed.  (By John Osborne) 

Following the outcry over the massive loss of life in three steamboat disasters on American rivers in a week, the United States Mail Line, plying between Cincinnati and Louisville, Kentucky, withdrew its new steamboat United States and replaced its state-of-the-art tubular boilers with older double-flued boilers.  The new tubular boilers were thought to be the cause of the epidemic of deadly boiler explosions. (By John Osborne)