In Washington, the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War meets for the first time

Eleven days before, the newly assembled U.S. Senate, alarmed at the recent defeats, voted 33 to 3 to appoint a committee of to investigate the progress of the war. The House agreed and on December 20, 1861, the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War met, with Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio in the chair. Senators Zachariah Chandler and Andrew Johnson and Representatives Daniel W. Gooch, John Covode, George W. Julian, and Moses F. Odell were the other members. The Committee would meet throughout the war.  (By John Osborne)