Speaker Galusha Grow of Pennsylvania gaveled the second session of the Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States to a close. The House sat for for 228 days and was in adjournment till December 5, 1862. (By John Osborne)

The second session of the Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States sat in Washington, between early Decmber, 1861 and mid-July 1862, serving for 228 days with Galusha Grow of Pennsylvania as the Speaker of the House. This session adjourned on July 17, 1862. (By John Osborne)

The second session of the Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States opened in Washington, D.C. with Galusha Grow of Pennsylvania sitting as Speaker. This session sat for 228 days and adjourned on July 17, 1862. (By John Osborne)

In Washington, Speaker Galusha Grow brought down the gavel on the first House session of the Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States. Abraham Lincoln called this early first session by executive order at the outbreak of war. The chamber had been in session for 34 days and adjourned until the opening of its second session on December 2, 1861. (By John Osborne)

The early session of the Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States lasted until August 6, 1861.   Republican representative Galusha A. Grow was in the Speaker's chair. (By John Osborne)

Called early due the exigencies of war, the Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States opens in Washington, D.C. Its numbers have been decimated by secession and only 183 representatives will sit in the House, along with seven territorial delegates. There are 108 Republicans, 44 Democrats, and 26 Unionists. Two representatives, slave owner James S. Rollins of Missouri and William Appleton, sit as Constitutional Unionists, two are Union Party members, and one, James Kerrigan of New York, sits as an Independent Democrat. Republican Galusha A. Grow is elected Speaker of the House on this opening day. (By John Osborne)