| Business/Industry |
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In Philadelphia, the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon closes |
| Business/Industry |
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The International Ocean Telegraph Company is formed to extend telegraph lines into Central American and the Caribbean. |
| Battles/Soldiers |
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Famous navy veteran is laid to rest in the Brooklyn Naval Cemetery |
| Crime/Disasters |
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In New York City, a large fire in a cotton warehouse kills one fireman and injures several others |
| Crime/Disasters |
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Massive fire burns for hours and destroys a furniture business in Chicago |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
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House Republicans vote to set up a joint committee to determine the suitability of Southern representation |
| Crime/Disasters |
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On a New York City street, the collision of a express train and a streetcar kills a young boy and injures others |
| Legal/Political |
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On an unseasonably warm day, the 39th Congress opens in Washington, DC |
| Campaigns/Elections |
|
In Raleigh, the new North Carolina legislature elects William Graham as United States Senator |
| Science/Technology |
|
In Maryland, the people of Maryland enjoy freakish summer-like temperatures and sunshine |
| US/the World |
|
Peru and Chile negotiate an alliance against Spain, assuring full-scale war over the Chincha Islands dispute |
| Legal/Political |
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The first session of the 39th Congress is sitting at the capital from December 4 to December 21, 1865 |
| Campaigns/Elections |
|
City Recorder John Thompson Hoffman, a Democrat, is elected the Mayor of New York City |
| Education/Culture |
|
The third annual celebration of Thanksgiving Day takes place across the country |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Near Oswego, New York, a repairs train hits two cows and derails, killing a brakeman |
| US/the World |
|
The first king of Belgium, Leopold I, dies near Brussels |
| Campaigns/Elections |
|
In Montgomery, Robert Miller Patton is inaugurated as Alabama's first elected post-Civil War governor |
| US/the World |
|
In Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef opens the recently-called Hungarian Diet |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
In Washington D.C., the House names its nine members of the new Joint Committee on Reconstruction |
| Campaigns/Elections |
|
Charles Jones Jenkins is inaugurated as the first post-Civil War elected governor of Georgia |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
In Chicago, convicted murderers Patrick Fleming and William Corbett die on the gallows |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Shifting ice on the frozen Mississippi River crushes seven river boats on the St. Louis, Missouri levee |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
In the District of Columbia, an explosion kills seven men at the Washington Arsenal |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
The Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery is announced as now the law of the land. |
| Legal/Political |
|
The first session of the 39th Congress adjourns for a two-week holiday recess |
| Lawmaking/Litigating |
|
In Washington D.C., the U.S. Senate names its six members of the new Joint Committee on Reconstruction |
| Science/Technology |
|
Winter begins |
| Legal/Political |
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|
The first session of the 39th Congress is in a two-week holiday recess until January 5, 1866 |
| Crime/Disasters |
|
Catholic Bishop accosted and wounded by highwaymen near Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Education/Culture |
|
Six C.S.A. veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee found the first chapter of the Klu Klux Klan. |
