George Wallace Jones was a former Iowa and Wisconsin senator, congressman, and judge who had also been United States ambassador to Bolivia. He had been determined, through pre-war correspondence with Jefferson Davis and later letters to his wife and sons, two of whom served in the Confederate army, to be a flight risk and a danger to the Union. He was arrested in New York City and incarcerated at Fort Lafayette in New York Harbor. He was released in February, 1862 on giving his parole and retired in Dubuque, Iowa.  (By John Osborne)

A scouting force of the Third Brigade, Pennsylvania Reserves under Brigadier-General E.O.C. Ord encountered Brigadier-General J.E.B. Stuart's foraging force of infantry and cavalry near the crossroads town of Dranesville in Fairfax County, Virginia.  The battle began at around one in the afternoon and continued in sharp fighting for around two hours before Stuart withdrew.  The 230 Confederate casualties were three times that of the Pennsylvanians in a small but morale boosting victory for Union Army suffering from recent defeats in Virginia.  (By John Osborne)    

In a concerted attempt to disrupt Union supply lines, Confederate forces and local insurgents assembled to destroy track, trestles, depots, water tanks, telegraph lines and bridges on the North Missouri Railroad. In a single blow, railroad communications over a hundred miles between Hudson and Warrenton, Missouri were cut.  This lead directly to General Henry Halleck's order two days later to meet such actions with summary executions and other extreme measures.  (By John Osborne)  

The "Moccasin Rangers" was an irregular Confederate guerrilla group recruited in the summer of 1861 in the western counties of Virginia. Elements of the unit briefly took over Ripley, Virginia on December 19, 1861, robbed the post office and general store, and carried off the arms being stored there for Union recruiting. The leaders, Daniel Duskey and George Downs, were later captured, tried as common criminals, and served time in prison before Confederate authorities secured their exchange. (By John Osborne)