Editing 1862 (section)

=== December ===
[[File:Battle of Fredericksburg, Dec 13, 1862.png|thumb|[[December 13]]: [[Battle of Fredericksburg]].|alt=]]
* [[December 1]] &ndash; In his [[State of the Union address]], President [[Abraham Lincoln]] reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery, as he ordered ten weeks earlier in his [[Emancipation Proclamation]].
* [[December 2]] &ndash; The first [[United States Navy]] [[hospital ship]]s enter service.
*[[American Civil War]]: 
** [[December 12]] &ndash; [[Yazoo Pass Expedition]] &ndash; Union [[ironclad]] [[gunboat]] {{USS|Cairo}} is sunk by a remotely-detonated "torpedo" ([[naval mine]]) while clearing mines from the [[Yazoo River]], the first armored ship sunk by mine.
** [[December 13]] &ndash; [[Battle of Fredericksburg]] &ndash; The [[Union Army]] suffers massive casualties and abandons its attempts to capture the Confederate [[capital city]] of [[Richmond, Virginia]].
** [[December 17]] &ndash; ''[[General Order No. 11 (1862)|General Order No. 11]]'', which expels all Jews from his military district, is issued by General [[Ulysses S. Grant]]. This order is rescinded just a few weeks later.
** [[December 26]]&ndash;[[December 29|29]] &ndash; [[Battle of Chickasaw Bayou]] &ndash; Another victory for the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]], outnumbered two to one, results in six times as many Union casualties, defeating several assaults commanded by Union general [[William T. Sherman]].
** [[December 30]] &ndash; {{USS|Monitor}} sinks in a storm in the Atlantic, off [[Cape Hatteras, North Carolina]].
** [[December 31]] &ndash; [[American Civil War]]:
*** U.S. President [[Abraham Lincoln]] signs an act that admits [[West Virginia]] to the Union, thus dividing [[Virginia]] into two.
*** The [[Battle of Stones River]] opens near [[Murfreesboro, Tennessee]].
[[File:USS Monitor - H58758.jpg|thumb|180px|right| [[December 30|Dec. 30]]: ''[[USS Monitor|Monitor]]'' sinks.]]
* [[December]] &ndash; Peruvian slave raiders land on [[Easter Island]], beginning a decade of the [[Easter Island#Destruction of society and population|destruction of the society and population]] on the island.