December 13 is the 347th day of the year (348th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 18 days remain until the end of the year.
1577 – Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his roundthe- world voyage.[3] 1623 – The Plymouth Colony establishes the system of trial by 12-men jury in the American colonies
1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians, a date now considered the founding of the National Guard of the United States.
1862 – American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats Union Major General Ambrose Burnside.
1938 – The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.
1939 – The Battle of the River Plate is fought off the coast of Uruguay; the first naval battle of World War II. The Kriegsmarine's Deutschland-class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with three Royal Navy cruisers.
1943 – World War II: The Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece.
1949 – The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final extravehicular activity (EVA) or 'Moonwalk' of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.
1973 – The Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States House of Representatives votes 387–35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States. (On November 27, the Senate confirmed him 92–3.)
1981 – General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, largely due to the actions by Solidarity.
2002 – European Union enlargement: The EU announces that Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members on May 1, 2004.