Birthdays
Elizabeth Buffum Chace
Turns 55 on this date
Ephraim Ralph Eckley
Turns 50 on this date
Thomas Saunders Gholson
Turns 53 on this date
John Jeremiah Jacob
Turns 32 on this date
William M. Line
Turns 38 on this date
Frederick Augustus Pike
Turns 45 on this date
Events
| Battles/Soldiers | In Indian Territory, Union and Confederate Native American troops clash at the Battle of Chusto-Talasah | 12/09/1861 |
| Crime/Disasters | In southern Italy, a serious eruption of Mount Vesuvius shatters the town of Torre del Greco |
12/08/1861 to 12/12/1861 |
| Lawmaking/Litigating | In Washington, the U.S. Senate votes 33 to 3 to set up the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War | 12/09/1861 |
| 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 |