Birthdays
Charles Dexter Cleveland
Turns 59 on this date
Alfred Iverson Sr.
Turns 63 on this date
Thomas Jefferson Jordan
Turns 40 on this date
William Clingan Lawson
Turns 44 on this date
George Brinton McClellan
Turns 35 on this date
James Foster McDowell
Turns 36 on this date
Finley B. Riddle
Turns 32 on this date
Henry Alexander Wise
Turns 55 on this date
Events
| Battles/Soldiers | In Salem, Missouri, Confederate raiders surprise the Union garrison but are driven from the town | 12/03/1861 |
| Lawmaking/Litigating | In Wheeling, the elected West Virginia convention is meeting to write a constitution for the new state |
11/26/1861 to 02/18/1862 |
| Lawmaking/Litigating | The second session of the 37th Congress is sitting in Washington, DC |
12/03/1861 to 07/16/1862 |
| Lawmaking/Litigating | The Wheeling Convention votes to drop the provisional name "Kanawha" in favor of "West Virginia" | 12/03/1861 |
| Battles/Soldiers | Union infantry arrives at Ship Island, Mississippi in the first build-up of forces intending to capture New Orleans | 12/03/1861 |
Documents
| Speech | Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861 | 12/03/1861 |