Typical of the small skirmishes occuring frequently in the theater, the engagement began in the pre-dawn hours as Confederate troops entered the town of Salem in Dent County, Missouri and surprised the Union cavalry garrison there, firing through windows into the quarters where they slept.  The Union troops regrouped and drove the raiders from the town in fierce street fighting.  Casualties were reported as six Union and thirteen Confederates killed in action.  (By John Osborne) 

The Washington Infirmary had been opened on E Street, in Washington D.C. in 1843 as a teaching institution for the George Washington University Medical School and was the first general hospital in the capital.  When war broke out, the government reclaimed the building and used it as a military hospital.  In the early morning hours of November 4, 1861, fire was discovered and very quickly the entire building was in flames.  Around a hundred patients were hastily evacuated.  Remarkably, no serious injuries were reported. (By John Osborne)