Editing December 15 (section)

===1601–1900===
*[[1651]] &ndash; [[Castle Cornet]] in [[Guernsey]], the last stronghold which had supported the King in the [[Third English Civil War]], surrenders.
*[[1778]] &ndash; [[American Revolutionary War]]: [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] and French fleets clash in the [[Battle of St. Lucia]].
*[[1791]] &ndash; The [[United States Bill of Rights]] becomes law when ratified by the [[Virginia General Assembly]].
*[[1836]] &ndash; The [[Old Patent Office Building|U.S. Patent Office]] building in Washington, D.C., nearly [[1836 U.S. Patent Office fire|burns to the ground]], destroying all 9,957 patents issued by the federal government to that date, as well as 7,000 related [[patent model]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Niemann|first=Paul|title=More Invention Mysteries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tx9Zkz0XqA4C&q=%22In%201877%22|location=Quincy, Ill.|publisher=Horsefeathers Publishing Company|year=2006|isbn=9780974804118|page=130}}</ref>
*[[1862]] &ndash; [[American Civil War]]: The [[Battle of Fredericksburg]] ends in a [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] defeat as General [[Ambrose Burnside]] withdraws the [[Army of the Potomac]] across the [[Rappahannock River]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Battle of Fredericksburg History: Marye's Heights|url=https://www.nps.gov/frsp/learn/historyculture/fburg-hist-maryesh.htm|website=nps.gov|publisher=National Park Service|date=July 25, 2015|access-date=January 4, 2025}}</ref>
*[[1864]] &ndash; American Civil War: The [[Battle of Nashville]] begins at [[Nashville, Tennessee]], and ends the following day with the destruction of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[Army of Tennessee]] under General [[John Bell Hood]] as a fighting force by the Union [[Army of the Cumberland]] under General [[George Henry Thomas|George H. Thomas]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Rigdon|first=John C.|title=Historical Sketch and Roster of the Mississippi 29th Infantry Regiment|location=Cartersville, Ga.|publisher=Eastern Digital Resources|date=2005|isbn=9780359384303|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HlmIDwAAQBAJ|page=58}}</ref>
*[[1869]] &ndash; The short-lived [[Republic of Ezo]] is proclaimed in the [[Ezo]] area of [[Japan]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Lu|first=Sidney Xu|title=The Making of Japanese Settler Colonialism|location=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2019|isbn=9781108482424|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IDGdDwAAQBAJ|page=94, fn. 95}}</ref> It is the first attempt to establish a [[democracy]] in Japan.<ref>{{cite book|last=Willcock|first=Hiroko|title=The Japanese Political Thought of Uchimura Kanzō (1861-1930): Synthesizing Bushidō, Christianity, Nationalism, and Liberalism|location=Lewiston, N.Y.|publisher=Edwin Mellen Press|date=2008|isbn=9780773451513|page=10}}</ref>
*[[1871]] &ndash; Sixteen-year-old [[telegraphist]] [[Ella Stewart Udall|Ella Stewart]] keys and sends the first telegraphed message from [[Arizona Territory]] at the [[Deseret Telegraph Company]] office in [[Pipe Spring National Monument|Pipe Spring]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McKoy |first=Kathleen L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JsD9o6SQQ6UC&q=%22The%20first%20message%20was%20sent%20from%20there%20on%20December%2015,%201871.%22 |title=Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History of Pipe Spring National Monument |publisher=[[United States Department of the Interior|U. S. Department of the Interior]], [[National Park Service]], Intermountain Region |year=2000 |pages=35}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Boren |first=Ray |date=February 28, 2013 |title=A Visit to Pioneer Oasis: Arizona's Pipe Spring |work=Deseret News |url=https://www.deseret.com/2013/2/28/20515246/a-visit-to-pioneer-oasis-arizona-s-pipe-spring |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109160947/https://www.deseret.com/2013/2/28/20515246/a-visit-to-pioneer-oasis-arizona-s-pipe-spring#a-year-round-water-source-and-range-lands-south-of-the-vermilion-cliffs-drew-pioneer-cattlemen-to-pipe-spring-in-the-mid-1800s-however-drought-and-over-grazing-turned-the-once-grassy-plain-into-a-terrain-dominated-by-sagebrush-and-tumbleweeds-by-the-late-19th-century |archive-date=November 9, 2020}}</ref>
*[[1890]] &ndash; [[Hunkpapa]] [[Lakota people|Lakota]] leader [[Sitting Bull]] is killed on [[Standing Rock Indian Reservation]], leading to the [[Wounded Knee Massacre]].
*[[1893]] &ndash; [[Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák)|''Symphony No. 9'' ("From the New World" {{aka}} the "New World Symphony")]] by [[Antonín Dvořák]] premieres in a public afternoon rehearsal at [[Carnegie Hall]] in New York City, followed by a concert premiere on the evening of December 16.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Philharmonic Society|work=The New York Times|date=December 16, 1893|page=8|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/12/16/109271873.html?pageNumber=8|access-date=December 15, 2020|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|title=Dr. Dvorak's Latest Work|work=The New York Times|date=December 17, 1893|page=19|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/12/17/109272197.html?pageNumber=19|access-date=December 15, 2020}}</ref>
*[[1899]] &ndash; [[British Army]] forces are defeated at the [[Battle of Colenso]] in [[Natal (province)|Natal]], [[South Africa]], the third and final battle fought during the [[Black Week]] of the [[Second Boer War]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bunting|first=Tony|chapter=Colenso|title=1001 Battles That Changed the Course of World History|editor-last=Grant|editor-first=R.G.|location=New York|publisher=Chartwell Books|date=2017|isbn=9780785835530|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ZNADwAAQBAJ|page=683}}</ref>