December 15

December 15 is the 350th day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1778 to 1978 — a span of 200 years. The entry that anchors it: American Civil War, 1864.

In the years around independence, the date turns political. In 1778, American Revolutionary War — at the Battle of St. Lucia, the Royal Navy prevented French Navy ships from reaching their garrison on Saint Lucia in the West Indies. Then, in 1791, the United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the date carries heavier freight. In 1836, the U.S. Patent Office building in Washington, D.C., nearly burns to the ground, destroying all 9,957 patents issued by the federal government to that date, as well as 7,000 related patent models. Then, in 1864, American Civil War — the Battle of Nashville begins at Nashville, Tennessee, and ends the following day with the destruction of the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General John Bell Hood as a fighting force by the Union Army of the Cumberland under General George H. Thomas.

In the postwar nineteenth century the date tracks a nation rebuilding. In 1890, Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.

In the first half of the twentieth century the date turns technological. In 1939, Gone with the Wind (highest inflation adjusted grossing film) receives its premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

The postwar entries show a nation both expanding and contesting itself. In 1960, Richard Pavlick is arrested for plotting to assassinate U.S. President-Elect John F. Kennedy. Then, in 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People's Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan)

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on December 15: Abner Powell (1860), American baseball player and manager; Charles Duryea (1861), American engineer and businessman, co-founded the Duryea Motor Wagon Company; Arthur Dehon Little (1863), American chemist and engineer; Florence Jepperson Madsen (1886), American contralto singer and professor of music; and Maxwell Anderson (1888), American journalist and playwright.

December 15 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Fats Waller (1943), American singer-songwriter and pianist; Glenn Miller (1944), American bandleader and composer; Charles Laughton (1962), English-American actor, director, and producer; and Walt Disney (1966), American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded The Walt Disney Company.

The date carries formal observance as well — Bill of Rights Day (United States) — 2nd Amendment Day (South Carolina). December 15 carries 8 entries spread across 200 years. None of the people in them knew they were sharing a date; that is a pattern only visible looking back.