Noted Philadelphian, George Mifflin Dallas, had served as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, as minister to Russia, and most notably as the nation's eleventh Vice-President under President James K. Polk. In his earlier days he had served as mayor of his home city.  He died at his home of a heart attack and was buried in the churchyard of St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Society Hill in Philadelphia. He was seventy-two years old. Secretary of State William H. Seward was among his pallbearers.  (By John Osborne)

In Philadelphia, the city's bishop John Wood celebrated mass and the new Archbishop of Baltimore Martin John Spalding preached the sermon at the dedication of the new Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul as the head church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of the city.  Designed by Napoleon LeBrun, the structure had been begun in 1846 but the war had delayed its completion significantly.  Philadelphia became an archdiocese in 1875 and the Basilica remains in use to this day on the east side of Logan Square. (By John Osborne)  

General David Bell Birney, who before the war had practiced law in Philadelphia, had been invalided home from his duties as a Corps commander in the Army of the James.  He had been suffering from dysentery for some time, with the possible involvement of malaria, and was only home a week when he died of a severe intestinal hemorrhage. Medical opinion posits that typhoid was the final cause of death for this very ill soldier.  He was buried with great ceremony in the city.  He was thirty-nine years old.  (By John Osborne) 

Built and launched at the shipyards of William Crump and Sons, the steam frigate Chattanooga she was turned over to the Philadelphia Naval Yard for completion.  The vessel was not commissioned until May 1866, with the Civil War long over. Decommissioned after only four months, she was mothballed in the Delaware River where in 1871 she was holed by ice and sank. The wreck was sold for scrap soon after.    (By John Osborne)

Pennsylvania's city, county, and congressional elections in the city of Philadelphia resulted in a sweeping victory for the National Union Party.  Four of the five surrounding congressional districts were carried as well as a strong majority in the city's Common Council .  The late arriving soldier's ballots only increased the margins, all pointing towards a growing Republican confidence for the upcoming presidential election.  (By John Osborne)