William Wallace Lincoln, called "Willie" by all, was the admired and precocious third son of President and Mrs. Lincoln.  He had fallen ill with symptoms of typhoid around two weeks before and died in the White House, after a long struggle, at around five o'clock in the afternoon of a cold, dull day.  He was eleven years old. The loss of their favorite son was a powerful blow for the family, especially Mary Todd Lincoln.  He died in the bed that now occupies the Lincoln bedroom in the White House.  (By John Osborne)

Three Union infantry brigades under Ambrose Burnside had marched on New Bern, North Carolina the day before and at dawn, in dense fog, began their attack on the defenses of the town, commanded by General L.O. Branch.  With support from naval units on the Neuve River under Captain Stephen C. Cowan, after fierce fighting, the federal troops finally broke the Confederate defense line and a rout began that resulted in a complete victory and the fall of New Bern.  The Union lost just under 500 killed and wounded, Branch lost almost the same number in killed, wounded, and captured.  (By John Osborne)

A combined Union taskforce sailed from Roanoke Island up the Neuse River towards the Confederate strongpoint of New Bern, North Carolina.  Troops under Brigadier General Ambrose Burnside landed at Slocum's Creek at dawn under cover of Commodore L. M. Goldsborugh's naval units.  The three brigades of infantry then began a difficult march through pouring rain to within four miles of New Bern and camped for the night. (By John Osborne)  

In order to calm disputes on the east coast of Africa between Oman and Zanzibar that threatened to disrupt the region, Britain and France competed a treaty agreement that declared Zanzibar a sovereign nation, under the rule of Sultan Majid, seperate from Oman but with a reinstatement of the annual tribute from Zanzibar to its more powerful neighbor. (By John Osborne)  

Mary Smith Peake died of tuberculosis in Hampton, Virginia.  She had been hired the previous year by the American Missionary Society to teach recently free slaves who had gathered in large numbers around the Union lines around Fort Monroe.  She reportedly held her first classes for "contrabands" on September 17, 1861, under a tree on the grounds that would become officially in 1868 the Hampton Institute. She was thirty-nine years old.  (By John Osborne)

In a further reflection of the impact of the appearance of the Confederate ironclad C.S.S. Virginia off Virginia the week before, the Massachusetts legislature voted unanimously to fund the construction of ironclad steam vessels of their own, for the protection of the Commonwealth's harbors and coastline. Similar alarm at the vulnerability of the northern coast manifest itself in New York and Philadelphia but soon faded with the containment of the Confederate Navy.  (By John Osborne)