President reads part of Annual Message at cabinet meeting. Bates, Diary.

Writes Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase on behalf of William Johnson: "If you can find him the place [I] shall really be obliged." [Placed in Treasury Dept.] Abraham Lincoln to Salmon P. Chase, 29 November 1861, CW, 5:33.

Secretary of State William H. Seward introduces Admiral Renaud and Captain C. Marquis de Montaignac of the French fleet to the President. National Republican (Washington, DC), 2 December 1861, 2:2.

Receives an estimated 50 letters per week from officers of European armies offering their services to government. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 29 November 1861, 1:2.