Birthdays
Henry Aurand
Turns 56 on this date
Portus Baxter
Turns 55 on this date
Charles Force Deems
Turns 41 on this date
William Wing Loring
Turns 43 on this date
Allen Thomas
Turns 31 on this date
Events
| 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 |
| Personal | Lillian Russell, famous American operetta singer, born in Clinton, Iowa | 12/04/1861 |
| Lawmaking/Litigating | The second session of the 37th Congress is sitting in Washington, DC |
12/03/1861 to 07/16/1862 |
| Battles/Soldiers | U.S.S. Hartford returns home from Asia with four officers who had declared for the Confederacy | 12/04/1861 |
Documents
| Military record | Brigadier General John W. Phelps, Proclamation to "The Loyal Citizens of the Southwest," December 4, 1861 | 12/04/1861 |
| Newspaper | New York Times, “The Slave Question,” December 4, 1861 | 12/04/1861 |
| Executive record | William H. Seward to George B. McClellan, Contrabands in District of Columbia, December 4, 1861 | 12/04/1861 |